"My Conversion to Homoeopathy"

[Nilanjana Basu]

Dear Members,

I start this discussion by the name "My Conversion to Homoeopathy" and will try to put forward the story of conversion to homoeopathy from other fields, may it be our Master Dr.C.F.S.Hahnemann, or Dr. Boenninghausen, etc.

You can put in your story (If You have had similar experiences) or stories of someone you know.

This will add data to the history of homoeopathy.

 

Looking forward for your valuable participation.

 

Let us enter into the History!

 

Dr.Hahnemann, as all knows, was translating Cullen's Materia Medica came across a footnote under Cinchona or the peruvian bark that its curative eminence in malaria was due to its astringent properties. Hahnemann was not convinced with this explanation because there were other substances with more astringent properties used in medicine, but not useful to cure malaria. Dr. Hahnemann experimented on himself in 1790 by taking four drahms of a potion made from Peruvian bark. He experienced similar symptoms to that of malaria. This observation and its reconfirmation on other individuals made him record that "Peruvian bark, which is used as a remedy for intermittent fever, acts because it can produce symptoms similar to those of intermittent fever in healthy people". This led him formulate the principle, similia similibus curanter and from a clinician and chemist of his time he became the Father of Homoeopathy.

 

 

[Nilanjana Basu]

Dr. Clemens Maria Franz Baron von Boenninghausen was a lawyer by profession and an agriculturist by natural inclination. He turned into a homeopath on account of his personal experience. During the prime of his life he was attacked by pulmonary tuberculosis. When he did not find any relief from the best orthodox treatment, he wrote a letter to his friend Dr.A. Weihe experessing his hopelessness for life and bidding him his last goodbye. Incidently Dr.Weihe was a homoepath and asked Boenninghausen to try Homoeopathic treatment. He was prescribed Pulsatilla and fortunately for Boenninghausen and Homoeopathy, Dr.Weihe cured him. Boenninghausen was greatly impressed and got interested in homoeopathy.

[Nilanjana Basu]

Dr.Constantine Hering, at the age of 17 became interested in medicine ad joined University of Leipzig, where he was the favourite pupil of the eminent surgeon, Rabbi. At that time Hahnemann was an eyesore to the stalwarts of the orthodox medicine, because Organon was a challenge to their system of medicine. Rabbi was a critic of Hahnemann and like oher physicians used to ridicule homoeopathy and Hahnemann.

In 1821, when the campaign against Hahnemann was at its worst, C.Baumgartner, the founder of a publishing house in Leipzig wanted a book written against homoeopathy, a book which could quite finish the system. Rabbi was asked to write it, but he declined for want of time and reccommended his youngest assistant Hering. Hering was pleased with this mark of confidence and set about the work in right earniest and nearly finished it in winter of 1822. But going through Hahnemann's works for the sake of making quotations, he came across the famous "nota bene for my reveiwers" in the preface to the third volume of 'Materia Medica Pura', which said among other writings, "The doctrine appeals not only chiefly, but solely, to the verdict of experience ---- 'repeat the experiments', it cries aloud, 'repeat them carefully and accurately and you will find the doctrine confirmed at every step' -- and it does what no medical doctrine, no system of physic, no so called therapeutics ever idi or could do, it insists uopn being judged by the result."

Hering decided to accept th challenge. The first step was to repeat the cinchona experiment. The result was what Hahnemann had Predicted. Hering began to see the truth of homeopathy. Further study of homeopathic materia medica and his experiments made him more convinced about Hahnemann's conclusions. The book against homoeopathy thus never saw the light of day.

[Dr Ravindra Saraswat]

Dr. Kent was born in Woodhul, New York. He graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, and started practice in St. Louis as an Eclectic. He became interested in homoeopathy in 1878, when his wife's illness failed to respond either to eclectic or allopathic treatment and was cured by a homoeopath. Kent began practice with low potencies, but he was not satisfied. Later he resolved to test the 30th potency to see if there was any medicine present. He prepared with his own hands the 30th potency of Podophyllum according to Centesimal scale after the method of Hahnemann.

One day a child was brought in to his clinic in emergency and it appeared that the child would not live long. While it lay in the arms of its mother, a thin yellow fecal stool ran all over his carpet. The odor was like that of the Podophyllum stool. It was horribly offensive, and the stool was so copious that the mother made the remark that she did not know where it all came from. Dr. Kent thought to test Podophyllum 30 prepared by him for that case. Next morning he was surprised to learn from the grandmother of the child that he was doing well. One dose of Podophyllum cured a dangerously ill patient. He then realized the power of the potentized remedies, and he thought of using increasingly potentized remedies in his practice.

[Nilanjana Basu]

 

Thank you Dr.Sarswat for the Reply. Would also like to know more about anyone who you personally know about converting into homeopathy.

[Nilanjana Basu]

Dr.William Earnest Boyd, was educated at the Glasgow Academy and at the Glasgow University, from where he to ok the M.A., M.B., Ch.B. and M.D. degrees. During the World War I, he served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. Later he joined the homeopathic Faculty in 1919. It was due to the influence of Dr.Gibson Miller that he owed his initial knowledge and interest in homeopathy.

 

 

[Dr Ravindra Saraswat]

James Compton Burnett (1840-1901). Burnett was born in Redlynch, England in 1840. He attended medical school in Vienna in 1865, where he remained 2 additional years studying anatomy, receiving a gold metal for his accomplishments in that field. He graduated from Glasgow in 1872, and completed an internship for his MD degree at Barnhill Parochial Hospital and Asylum in Glasgow in 1876.

Burnett was converted to homeopathy during his internship, by his friend and colleague Alfred Hawkes. He was contemporary with Richard Hughes (A Manual of Therapeutics, A Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy, A Manual of Pharmacodynamics), RE Dudgeon (Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Homoeopathy, and translator of many of Hahnemann's works into English), and JH Clarke (Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica and many other writings).

[Nilanjana Basu]

[Dr Ravindra Saraswat]

DR J H CLARKE.
In the first he had exceptional brains : He took his M. -B., C. M. at Edinburgh University in 1875 as gold medalist in several subjects followed it up with the M. D. and further academic successes and appointments in 1877.

His work in the homoeopathic field commenced almost immediately.

He became a keen follower of Dr. Compton Burnett who was himself in the direct hierarchy of Shuldham and the great Ruddock who died in 1876.

In April, 1885, Dr. Burnett edited his last number of The Homoeopathic World and the next month, May 1885, Dr. Clarke commenced as editor.

We must remember that at that time Homoeopathy was fighting a very uphill battle.

If it had not been for Dr. Clarke. it would never have won.

There is no doubt whatever about that ; but why do I, how can I, state it so positively ?

It is incontestable. Think for a moment of the situation.

Here was a science extraordinarily successful on the Continent, sweeping in fact over Germany, owing to the personality of Hahnemann.

But in England, though carried on with the greatest courage, it was faced with the conventional opposition of the deadliest kind.

True that Ruddock's Homoeopathic Vade Mecum of Modern Medicine and Surgery put Homoeopathy soundly on its feet, but few men have ever been able to write like Ruddock.

John Henry Clarke with his brilliant brain saw even further, that the science needed exposition which would teach the subject and bind it down to scientific principles.

It was not done hurriedly, for he told me he had been gathering notes and putting them down long after midnight for many years.

In 1895 we published for him the colossal undertaking, Clarke's Dictionary of Materia Medica and Clinical Repertory.

[Nilanjana Basu]

[Nilanjana Basu]

Conversion of Dr.Clarke:

One day he was walking with his friend in the streets of Edinburgh when he was in the full boom of his medical internship. His friend told him of homoeopathy but he rejected with scorn because of his masters prejudices. About two years later he was staying in Liverpool with a friend who was a homoeopath. In his dispensary, Clarke saw rather more than expected. A small boy had been scratched on the forehead two years before and on the site of the scratch a crop of warts developed. Under allopathic advice, his mother applied zinc ointment all without help. Thuja was given to the case and his warts were gone in 3 weeks. His believe and faith in homoeopathy thus proved good.

[Nilanjana Basu]

Dr. Babu Rajendra Lal Dutt may be called the Father of Indian Homoeopathy. He converted Dr. M. L. Sircar to Homoeopathy. He brought Homoeopathy into high esteem by curing illustrious luminaries like Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Sir Radhakanta Dev and scores of others. He was born in 1818 in the famous Dutt family of Wellington Square, Calcutta and amassed an immense fortune by dint of his personal talent in honest business and trade and spent the whole of it in various philanthropic works and mostly for Homoeopathy. He expired at the age of 71 years on June 5, 1889 leaving Homoeopathy in Bengal, on a firm, sound and wide footing.

[Nilanjana Basu]

He brought Dr.Tonnere to Calcutta and bore all his travelling expences. He founded the Native homoeopathic hospital and free dispensary. The hospital did not last long and DR.Tonnere did not prove himself to be a successful homoeopathic practitioner. Rajen babu, an ardent believer of homoeopathy, decided to practice in the year 1861.

One of his marvellous case was of Raja Sir Radhakanta Bahadur who was suffering from traumatic gangrenous foot. His cure of the hopeless case of the Raja turned attention of Dr.Mahendra Lal Sircar too.