In Search of the Later Hahnemann

Even opponents of homoeopathy admit that Hahnemann was a remarkable man. Throughout his life he gave us evidence for this. At the age of 79 he fell in love with a 35-year old French woman who had come to see him as a patient (!). At that stage, he was entangled in a multitude of disputes in Saxony mostly with colleagues. This may have eased his decision to leave Germany, marry and settle in Paris. He was enthusiastically greeted by French homoeopaths, but soon found himself deeply entangled in disputes once again - essentially he told his French colleagues that they were not practising homoeopathy correctly. Perhaps understandably, not all of them were amused. His practice quickly became the ‘talk of the town’; everyone in high society wanted to consult him. This, in turn, led to envy from his allopathic colleagues as well.

Rima Handley has written a fascinating book about Hahnemann’s life in Paris. She is both a historian and a homoeopath, which explains why this book is so very well done. Hahnemann’s case notes of that time were thought to be lost. However, after the Second World War, they turned up at the Robert Bosch Institute for the History of Medicine in Germany. Ms Handley gives us selected excerpts and several samples of Hahnemann’s own writing from these notes (which comprise no less than 54 thick volumes). Interestingly they are written not in German but in French.

The reader witnesses how Hahnemann significantly modified homoeopathy during this period. About 6 years after his arrival in Paris – Hahnemann was then 85! – he developed LM potencies (1:50000), and took the idea of high dilutions a step further, working with ‘olfaction’. This meant that the patient merely smelled the remedy.

Much of the book comprises Hahnemann’s original case notes translated into English. This, no doubt, will provide fascinating reading for homoeopaths. They will see that Hahnemann changed his practice in more than one way during the last years of his life. Little of that has so far been appreciated by homoeopathy. We are told that the case notes will be published in full by a German publisher. Their sheer volume, however, means that this process will take 15 years. Thus Handley’s book offers a unique chance to have an early glimpse.

However, it is more than a book for practising homoeopaths. It is a very valuable book for anybody with an interest in the history of medicine. The author should be congratulated - she abstains from judgement and presents a most gripping story in a most readable way.