Medizin, Gesellschaft, und Geschichte : Jahrbuch des Instituts für Geschichte der Medizin der Robert Bosch Stiftung
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Historical Article
[Homoeopathy, a contentious issue: clinical experiments to support homeopathy in the military and in the Berlin Charité, 1820-1840].
This article investigates a series of clinical trials undertaken at Berlin's Charité hospital between 1820 and 1840. Part of the administrative practices associated with Prussian medical policy, these trials were used to decide whether a new method resulted in better, faster or less costly cures. The article demonstrates that the hopes of homopaths that these trials would clearly demonstrate the superiority of their relatively new method were not fulfilled. The essay investigates the role of the medical experts; medical claims and arguments; the areas of dispute and agreement in academic and homeopathic medical communities; and the role of public opinion and censorship laws.
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This paper deals with the so-called "mysterious" Q-potencies, the dilution of a substance according to particular augmentation methods, dating back to Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy. Hahnemann's method consists of a step by step dilution of substances. ⋯ This is the reason why the Q-potency is still a mystery in Hahnemann's casebooks. This article examines the hidden references to the notations referring to the Q-potency and presents preliminary results.
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Biography Historical Article
[Expulsion from Leipzig? Hahnemann's medical praxis in Leipzig: reasons for transferring to Kothen in 1821 - frequency of patients and polemics].
Recent research has concurred that Samuel Hahnemann enjoyed a flourishing medical practice in Leipzig. However, a close look at the physician's years in Leipzig reveals that his patient list was not exactly growing. Rather, his medical practice followed a trajectory similar to that of a roller coaster: due to crucial events - successful treatment during the typhus epidemic, lecturing at the University of Leipzig, treating influential public figures - Hahnemann was able to restructure the composition of his clientele. ⋯ Hahnemann's reputation attracted patients from all over Germany and even neighboring countries. The improvement in the social structure of Hahnemann's clientele also reflects important changes in the spread of homeopathy. Hahnemann's transfer to Kothen can be explained by a number of factors: his prohibition against dispensing medicines, declining personal prestige, decreasing number of patients and ensuing financial difficulties, fruitless university employment, continually increasing subjective and objective pressures and last but not least, the privileges of leadership.
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Biography Historical Article
["Thus it passes from the patient's purse into that of the doctor without causing displeasure" - Samuel Hahnemann and medical fees].
In 1834, Hahnemann gave the following advice to his pupil Dr. Karl Julius Aegidi: "We are not allopaths who have high medical fees and can legally demand high sums for evil deeds. We must take what we have earned on the spot, since we are not considered worthy of ordinary justice." In an earlier letter to the same addressee, Hahnemann wrote: "No one enters my house if he does not have with him the money to pay me, unless he is paying me monthly, in advance [...]." There can be no doubt that in Hahnemann's times, fees were the most important component in a physician's income. ⋯ However, he used a sliding fee structure to allow for the different economic circumstances of his patients, who came from all walks of life. The very poor he treated for free, while members of the rural and urban middle class had to pay considerable fees. In some cases, Hahnemann was able to charge very high fees, and his numerous enemies used this against him.