Death of Hering


When Dr. Hering had finished supper in the garden, after an hours lively conversation, apparently in perfect health, he went to his study on the second floor to resume his writing. He was then working on the fourth volume of The Guiding Symptoms. About twenty minutes before ten he was seized with an acute attack of the heart. …


Dr. Hering died at ten p.m. of July 23, 1880. The cause of his death was angina pectoris. The end came suddenly and unexpectedly. Dr. Hering had attended to offices duties on the same day and had his family gathered about him at the supper table, under the elm tree in his garden. My home was then at Bryn Mawr, one of the suburbs of Philadelphia. I last saw my father- in-law seated at his office window where I placed into his hands a book on spiders lent me by Mrs. Furness, wife of the Shakespearian scholar, Dr. Horace Howard Furness, devoted patients of the doctor for many years.

When Dr. Hering had finished supper in the garden, after an hours lively conversation, apparently in perfect health, he went to his study on the second floor to resume his writing. He was then working on the fourth volume of The Guiding Symptoms. About twenty minutes before ten he was seized with an acute attack of the heart. There were only the wife and Mrs. Mertens, a friend of the family, present. His old friend and neighbor, Dr. Koch, Senior, was sent for in haste, but could give no help. When, shortly after, Dr. Bigler, Dr. Kochs son-in-law, arrived, Dr. Hering was already dying; his hands and wrists were cold, though he was perfectly conscious. He was restless and moved from side to side on his couch, suffering greatly from dyspnoea.

He very soon breathed his last, and before Dr. Raue, faithful friend and regular attendant, had arrived, who took one look at his dead friend and without a word passed out of the room in deepest grief. Just before the end Hering had said to Mrs. Mertens, a friend of the family, who was weeping by his side, I am dying now, which were his last words.

At the autopsy, performed by Dr. A.R. Thomas, made on the following day, Nothing abnormal was discovered in a healthy well- developed anatomy excepting a distinct calcification of the coronary arteries and some deposits of fat about the heart. The cause of death was pronounced to be paralysis of the heart.

Dr. Hering was laid away in Laurel Hill Cemetery in a private lot belonging to Curwen Stoddard, one of his oldest patients and faithful adherents, from which he was later removed to a lot in another part of the cemetery belonging to his son, Walter E. Hering. The funeral was held on the morning of July 28th. I quote the following account of this occasion from a Memorial published shortly after his demise:

A large number of the relatives and friends, including many homoeopathic physicians from other cities and the greater part of the profession of Philadelphia, assembled at the house, where the services were conducted by the Rev. S.S. Seward, pastor of the Swedenborgian Church of New York City.

The remains were placed in the rear parlor, and, according to the custom of the Swedenborgians, in which faith Dr. Hering was a believer, they were encased in a white cloth-covered casket and strewn with flowers. a number of floral tributes, placed around the room, testified to the affection of friends and relatives. Release from life and its cares is looked upon rather as an occasion for joy than sorrow, according to the articles of the Swedenborgian faith. The services were opened by the singing of Dr. Herings favorite hymn, Befiehl Du deine Wege (Commit thy ways unto Him), by a quartette choir.

At the Conclusion of Mr. Sewards address the choir sang a hymn, composed by Karl Eduard Hering, brother of the deceased, entitled Am Grabe (At the Grave) and at its close the casket was carried by the selected pallbearers to the hearse in waiting and then conveyed to North Laurel Hill Cemetery. Here the cortege was received by the members of Concordia and Saengerbund singing societies, who united in singing hymns during the interment. Which was very impressive, scarcely a dry eye being seen among the numerous persons surrounding the place of burial.

As the dull thud of mother earth was heard, shutting away from mortal sight the remains of the departed, the relatives and friends slowly and sadly wended their way homeward, feeling bereft of as sincere a friend as ever lived.

Doctors W.B.Trites, J.C.Guernsey and C. Mohr remained until the grave had been filled, and after playing a last tribute of respect and affection by placing on the new-made grave the floral devices stricken hearts had lovingly tendered, they too proceeded homeward, leaving all that was mortal of Constantine Hering to the watchful eye of his Creator.

MEMORIAL MEETINGS WITH EULOGIES. A Memorial meeting of the homoeopathic physicians was held in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, October 10, 1880, which was duplicated in various places in the world where Homoeopathic physicians were to be found, not all meetings being held on the same day, that being found impracticle.

Mention is made of meetings for the special purpose of doing honour to Dr. Hering in the following places, by the societies mentioned:

Onondago Country Homoeopathic Medical Society of Northern New York; Michigan College of Physicians and Surgeons; British Homoeopathic Congress; New York State Society; Homoeopathic Medical Society of Pennsylvania; New York Country Homoeopathic Medical Society; St. Louis Memorial Services; Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri; University of Michigan; cleveland, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Topeka, Kansas; Wilmington, Delaware; Washington, D.C.; Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; Paris, France; Canadian Homoeopathic Institute; Maryland State Society; West Jersey Society; American Institute Memorial Service; and a Tribute from Italy. Many notices appeared in foreign journals.

At meeting of the homoeopathic physicians of Philadelphia, held at the old Hahnemann Medical College at 1105 Filbert Street, on Sunday afternoon, July 25, 1880, at five o’clock, Dr. John K. Lee was called to the chair, and on motion, Dr. H.N. Guernsey was appointed secretary.

The Chairman, having called the meeting to order, requested Dr. Lippe to state the objects of the meeting, Dr. Lippe then spoke as follows:

The sad event that has called us together on this occasion is the sudden and unexpected death of our old and venerable colleague. Constantine Hering: Before I offer for your kind consideration and approval, a series of resolutions drawn up for this occasion, permit me to express my sentiments, and no doubt the sentiments of all those who have known our departed colleague best.

Dr. Constantine Hering deservedly and undisputedly was considered the father of the homoeopathic school of medicine in the United States. It is now almost half a century since he came here, attracted by the institutions of the Republic, and here he remained to enjoy for himself, and his chosen school of medicine the fruits of a republican form of government.

Even at the early day the name of Constantine Hering was well known, the world over. His contributions to homoeopathic literature, beginning in the Archives, secured him an honourable place among the foremost standard bearers of the law of cure.

Fifty years have passed since this scientist made his first observations on this sick-making properties of the poison of Lachesis trigonocephalus, and this observations and the deductions drawn from them as to its health restoring properties, would alone have made him what he was-a shining light among medical men.

The beginning of a great work was then made, and soon we find him giving us the first works on Homoeopathy in the English language, while engaged in teaching the new healing art at Allentown in this State. Later we find him publishing his Domestic Physician as a textbook for those who could not avail themselves of the assistance of the then few homoeopathic practitioners, a work which was translated into almost all languages; we find him a large contributor to the homoeopathic journals, especially and defending the teachings of Hahnemann, protesting against multiplying departures from the methods of the Master. Notwithstanding his increasing professional duties, we find him continually adding to the Homoeopathic Materia Medica; his numerous monographs on old and new remedies being an heirloom to posterity, so that his worker shall never be forgotten.

We find him teaching the principles and practices of the new school in private and in public. The caller on him who earnestly desired to learn, found him ever ready to give the wished for information; we find his enthusiasm not diminished as he grew older; his fidelity to our principles was as firm as were the enthusiastic hopes he entertained for the perpetuation of our school of medicine. Always ready to advance the true interests of homoeopathy, he took special pleasure in guiding the younger members of the profession, by explaining to them the great results obtainable for the cure of the sick by following, strictly, honestly and persistently the rules and directions to be found in the methods of Hahnemann.

As an individual who has known our departed colleague for more than forty years, who profited by his kind instructions and example, who with him as one of the early pioneers, saw the almost miraculous growth of our school of medicine. I can only faintly express the grief felt when so noble and so self- sacrificing a member of our school is removed from among us.

Calvin B Knerr
Calvin Knerr was born December 27, 1847 and grew up with a father who was a lay homeopath and an uncle who knew Hering at the Allentown Academy. He attended The Allentown College Institute and graduated from Hahnemann Medical College in 1869.He then entered the office of Dr. Constantine Hering as his assistant. The diary he kept while living in Hering's house became The Life of Hering, published in 1940.
In 1878 and 1879 he published 2 editions of his book, Sunstroke and Its Homeopathic Treatment.
Upon Hering's death in 1880 Knerr became responsible for the completion of the 10-volume Guiding Symptoms.
Dr. Knerr wrote 2-volume Repertory to the Guiding Symptoms,