Drexel University College of Medicine - Medic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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The New Hahnemann ournal of Medicine Volume 1 JUNE 4, 1930 Number l HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE REVISITED SAMUEL HAHNEMANN, M.D. Abstract. Hahnemann Medical College was initially estab- lished as a school where the controversial principles of homeopathy could be taught. The course of Hahnemann has varied from periods of financial and academic instability to periods of expansion of facilities and academic recogni- N 1790, while experimenting on myself with cinchona bark iquininel, I developed the symptoms of intermittent fever, the same disorder for which the bark was prescribed. This was my first observation of the fundamental principle of homeopathy: Similia similibus curantur , or like cures like. After years of research, in 1810 I set forth the principles of my new system of medicine in the Organon of the Art of Healing, opposing the barbaric medical methods of the day, and advocating the use of single remedies in small doses to stimulate the body's natural mechanisms for combatting disease. Although homeopathic ideas were not universally accepted, they were introduced into America by Dr. Hans Burch Gram when he settled in New York City in 1825. Since that time homeopathy has been both ridiculed and accepted as equivalent to allopathic medicine. The purposefof this paper is to follow the indroduction of homeopathy into American medicine and to determine its effects on and the subsequent development of an institution which bears my name, Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS On July 24, 1828, Dr. Henry Detwiller of Hellertown adminis- tered the first homeopathic medication in Pennsylvania: Pulsa- tilla to treat a case of retarded menstruation with severe colic. A later epidemic of dysentery was effectively controlled in 1829 with the resultant conversion of many allopathic physicians in Lehigh and Northampton counties to homeopathy. Under the guidance of Dr. Wesselhoeft of Bath and Dr. Detwiller, the Homeopathic Society of Northampton and Adjoining Coun- ties was formed August 23, 1834. On April 10, 1835 the North American Academy of the Homeopathic Healing Art, later known as the Allentown Academy fFig. lj, was founded as the first school of homeopathy in the world. Dr. Constantine Hering was president, with Drs. Romig, Praeses, Wesselhoeft, Detwiller, Freytag and Pulte as faculty. The academy published a periodi- cal and taught courses in physical examination, semeiotics, fsymptomatologyj, pharmacodymanics, therapeutics, botany, pathology, physiology, anatomy, zoology, surgery, midwifery, diseases of women and children, medical jurisprudence, phyto- logy, physics, mineralogy, chemistry, geology, astronomy, math- ematics and the history of medicine during sessions from No- vember to August. Diplomates, of which there were 16, were required to pass a Colloquium, to present a Curriculum Vitae and to write a dissertation on a medical subject. However, such factors as lack of funds and the exclusive use of the German language for teaching contributed to the Academyis eventual failure in 1843. Two years after the academy closed, the American Institute of Homeopathy was organized and contemplated the establishment of a homeopathic medical college. In 1847, the National Medi- tion. The most recent expansion effort has been the con- struction of the New Hospital Tower which will provide improved facilities for administering and teaching the art of medicine. CN Hahn J Med 1:1-6, 19807 cal Convention iof allopathic physiciansj, predecessor to the American,Medical Association, resolved that allopathic medical schools were not to accept students on the certificate of physi- cians not of allopathic training, thus denying those interested in homeopathy a medical education. RESU LTS These developments led to a meeting in early February of 1848 among Drs. Constantine Hering, Jacob Jeanes, and Walter Wil- liamson for the purpose of petitioning the legislature for the incorporation ofa homeopathic medical college. The charter was granted April 8, 1848, forming the Homeopathic Medical Col- lege of Pennsylvania, the first successful homeopathic college in the world. The first 2-year course of lectures began on October 16, 1848 in rooms at the rear of a building at 229 Arch Street fFig. 21. Fifteen students, paying a S100 course fee were enrolled under a faculty of nine professors fFig. 35. Six doctors who had already attended lectures elsewhere graduated on March 15, 1849 in the Musical Fund Hall. In September 1849 the college was moved to more spacious quarters on 1105 Filbert Street, a building formerly occupied by the Pennsylvania College of Medicine fFig. 41. Additions were made to the faculty, 55 students matriculated and 20 were graduated. From the college's inception, clinical instruction took place in a dispensary. On April 20, 1850 a charter was granted for the formation of the Homeopathic Hospital of Pennsylvania, which took physical existence in 1852 in a large building on Chestnut Street near the Schuylkill River fFig. SJ. The hospital had about 40 rooms, admitted accident cases at any hour, but did not admit infectious disease cases. Vincent L. Bradford was president. However, although 32,800 was raised at a 1853 fair in the Chinese Museum, Ninth and Sansom Streets, the hospital closed after two years of operation. Efforts continued to reestablish a hospital, succeeding September 9, 1862 with the formation of a women's association for the management of a hospital. Two dwellings at the rear of the college on Cuthbert Street were altered into a hospital, equipped with the furnishings of the old Chestnut Street Hospital, and opened for the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers. Although the United States Government would not allow their soldiers to be treated homeopathically until after their discharge, about 25 cases were seen daily. After the war the hospital remained opened with few patients, barely sur- viving on charity. In 1865 the faculty voted to allow women to listen to the college's lectures. Also the first issue of the Hahnemannian Monthly appeared this year, and Dr. Boericke was authorized to prepare a standard Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia the following year.