Hahnemann, Part 2: Early Medical Career

In Part 1 of my series, you learned a little about Dr. Samuel Hahnemann's boyhood and training. In this part, you'll learn how he met his wife, about his early days as a physician, and how he dealt with his disillusionment of the current medical practices.

Hahnemann's first official job after getting his medical degree was in the mining town of Hettstadt. He left after nine months to find a more intellectually fulfilling place to practice, choosing Dessau on the Mulde River. He certainly found "more congenial society" there, as he put it in his autobiography, and he also continued his study of chemistry. Jöns Jacob Berzelius, a famous Swedish chemist who remained steadfast against homeopathy, says of Hahnemann: "That man would have made a great chemist, had he not turned out a great quack."

Hahnemann's interest in chemistry led him to study with an apothecary so that he could fully understand the topic in relation to pharmacy. Herr Haseler was his main teacher, and the man also happened to have a "young and charming," 17-year-old step-daughter, Johanna Kuchler. [Her father had owned the apothecary shop but had died, and her mother married Herr Haseler, another apothecary.] Hahnemann and Johanna fell in love, and now Hahnemann had to consider how he could best support a wife and future children. He became a parish doctor in Gommern, 43 miles northeast of Dessau, marrying his beloved "Elise" almost 2 years later, once he was established there.

Hahnemann was the first physician to practice in the small town of Gommern, and he says in his autobiography, "the people had no idea concerning such a person." Therefore, his practice was not large and he didn't do much to increase it because he was happy immersing himself in studies, particularly of chemistry. He also did translations, and one translation was of French chemist Demachy's Art of Manufacturing Chemical Products. Demachy had published it so that his countrymen could have the tightly held trade secrets of the manufacturers, and Hahnemann wanted to do the same for his German countrymen. He did other translation work and each manuscript showcased his extensive knowledge through his insertions of corrections and additions. For example, Demachy claimed that he knew of no work on carbonification of turf but Hahnemann mentions six in his additions to the book.

As happy as Hahnemann was with his chemistry work, he was growing less and less satisfied with what he considered to be ill-founded medical practices. He says "It was agony for me to walk always in darkness, with no other light than that which could be derived from books...and to prescribe according to such or such an hypothesis." The medicines, he said, "so easily occasion death, or produce new affections and chronic maladies, often more difficult to remove than the original disease." [The "such or such" hypotheses that abounded were Hippocratico-vitalistic, Gelenic, Humoral, Electro-Galvanic and others.]

He also wrote, "To become thus the murderer or the tormentor of my brethren was to me an idea so frightful and overwhelming, that soon after my marriage, I renounced the practice of medicine, that I might no longer incur the risk of doing injury, and I engaged exclusively in chemistry and in literary occupations."

However, Hahnemann could not let the matter drop. When he became a father, he wrote, "Serious diseases threatened my beloved children, my flesh and blood. My scruples redoubled when I saw that I could afford them no certain relief." He eventually shunned all the prevailing hypotheses and took a simpler approach, using only medicines whose effects were well-known. He was also one of the first physicians to recommend a wholesome diet. And throughout his search for a better method, Hahnemann remained strong in his belief that God had ordained some certain method of healing the sick.

Despite shunning many medical practices, Hahnemann was a respected physician. In Gommern, he gained the influential position of medical officer, or "Stadtphysikus," and his position included inspecting drugs in the apothecary shops - a job that sowed the seeds of his dissatisfaction with such establishments. He was also a surgeon, as records indicate that he treated a necrotic bone by scraping it. But prestige did not go to his head; he is known to have said that most of his patients would have done as well without his aid.

He resigned the position in Gommern after almost three years. Too disgusted with the errors and uncertainties of the prevailing methods of medical practice to remain, he moved his growing family to Dresden. His fervent wish was to determine some better method, and if he had to sacrifice money and prestige, so be it. In Dresden, he did not start his own practice, largely devoting himself to translation work and his favorite study of chemistry.  But he met "venerable Dr. Wagner," the town physician, and formed a lasting friendship - even taking over care of patients at the town hospitals when Dr. Wagner needed a sabbatical due to illness.

Dresden was a more cultured and enlightened city than Gommern. There was an Electoral Library on the first and second stories of a Japanese palace there, which was full of historical and antiquarian works. Hahnemann must have felt that he was back in Hermannstadt as Baron Brukenthal's librarian (see part 1), and he relished his time in Dresden, staying for about five years. It was a time of growth for him - mentally and otherwise. At the start of his time in Dresden, Hahnemann and Johanna had one daughter, and by the time they left, in 1789, they had three daughters and a son. [Dresden is within 20 miles of Meissen, where Hahnemann grew up, so I like to imagine that his parents made periodic trips to see their grandchildren; perhaps he, Johanna, and the children traveled to Meissen for holidays.]

Other friendships that developed in Dresden were with the superintendent of the Electoral Library, John Christopher Adelung,  and with the librarian, Karl Wilhelm Dassdorf. Hahnemann was given free reign at the library, and formed additional friendships with author Blumenbach and chemist Levoisier (who was guillotined during the Reign of Terror in 1794). Needless to say, Hahnemann's thirst for knowledge was deeply satisfied during these years.

Hahnemann completed many translations in Dresden (with accompanying notes and corrections), but he also introduced new concepts based on his understanding of chemistry. For instance, he developed a method for the detection of adulteration in medicines—the Wine Test—which effectively detected dangerous metals in wine manufactured during that time. A writer in the "Journal of Pharmacy" stated that "ignorance of Hahnemann's Wine Test was damning evidence of the incompetence of many apothecaries." At times, he branched away from science. One of his praised translations was The History of the Lives of Abelard and Heloise.  Critics said the translation was "correct and fluent, and of value to romantic history."

Hahnemann also published some books during his time in Dresden. One was Poisoning by Arsenic: Its Treatment and Judicial Investigation, and he was one of the first to suggest that poisonous substances should be kept under lock and key and strictly regulated. He also wrote Instructions Concerning Venereal Diseases, Together with a new Mercurial Preparation, and his new preparation was greatly praised by physicians and chemists. He wrote many journal articles too, and his peers highly respected his ideas and writings. But he by no means wanted to rest on his laurels. In 1789, he moved to Leipzig "in order to be nearer to the fountain of science." In his mind, he still had much work to do.

Next time: Hahnemann explores the fundamental Law of Similars and homeopathy is born.

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Hahnemann was 29 when he moved his growing family to Dresden; he was 58 when the Castlewood Trilogy begins. In Love on the Vine, the first book of the series, Lord Featherstone (a secondary character) has traveled to Leipzig, met Hahnemann, and tells Fiona, the heroine, how his burn from a hot drink was cured by one of Hahnemann's students. The experience caused Lord Featherstone to devote the rest of his life to the study of homeopathy, and he tries to convince Fiona to join him on his path. If you haven't read the Castlewood Trilogy, you can find it on Amazon!