Dr.Hering, as consulting physician has many times driven to Frankford to advise me on a bad case of sickness. How mightily he would apply himself to find the proper remedy He never resorted to any makeshift; but firmly relying upon the unfailing law of the Similars, he would persevere until the true Simillimum was found, and the cure effected. As an invariable rule, the more dangerous the case, the more mightily would he apply himself to the letter and spirit of the law bequeathed to us by Samuel Hahnemann.
After my removal the city proper, in 1856, the frequency of my visits to him increased, while my confidence in, and reliance upon my dear old friend’s judgment, were vastly heightened. His abiding faith in the true law of cure was exemplified in the treatment of his own person and that of his family, when ill, as well as in the treatment of all of his patients. Everybody was treated according to the same principles, and everybody shared equally with him one of the greatest blessing a merciful Heaven has vouched to mankind.
I will briefly refer to one or two of the many instances, which might be cited, to illustrate this point. Some years ago he suffered from a very painful attack of hemorrhoids, which confined him to his bed. Dr. Lippe had prescribed Causticum, one dose, admonished him to await the action of the drug for three days. The improvement appearing but slight, as the prescribed time drew near its close, he began to doubt that the true Simillimum had been found; so he took up his books and brought his own great mind to bear upon the search for a remedy, Finding no better one he concluded to await the full expiration of the time, as agreed upon. Soon afterwards he fell into a sweet sleep, lasting several hours, from which he awoke, well. He enjoyed telling of this triumph of the single dose, and the high potency, as an encouragement of all true healers to go and to do likewise.
Again, when one of his daughters was very ill with diphtheria, by my advice he had given a single dose of Lachesis, but which was followed by so little improvement in twenty-four hours, that he was sorely tempted to either repeat the dose or to change the remedy. But as the little patient was no worse, he concluded to wait twelve hours longer; at the expiration of which time he had the satisfaction of seeing her greatly improved.
He was ever faithful to the true cause he loved so well, because he believed it to be true. As with all true men, believing, with him, was synonymous with doing.
About seventeen years ago Dr.Ad.Lippe was greatly prostrated by an attack of typhoid fever. So fearfully did the disease rage that I feared he would not recover. As was my custom in all such bad cases. I repaired to Dr. Hering, who had not yet seen the case and told him my fears. Dr. Hering suddenly dropped his pen, and giving me one of his searching looks, apparently to see if I was in earnest, said with great emphasis. Dr. Lippe must not die yet; I will go with you.
For over an hour, with book in hand, he applied his great mind to the case and finally declared Silicea to be the remedy. Dr.P.P.Wells, and the late Carroll Dunham, who had been summoned, came in later and confirmed the wisdom of their teacher’s choice- for they too, had taken their first lesson in homoeopathy from Dr. Constantine Hering. Silicea stayed the ravages of the fever; its subject made a rapid recovery, and Dr.Lippe stands among us tonight, a living monument of one of Dr.Hering’s good worked.
And so it ever was with our lamented Father of homoeopathy, in this country. I never knew him to deviate from the true line of action in his efforts to heal the sick, or to relieve the dying. For he knew this to be the best, and indeed the only safe means that could be employed.
Dr.Hering above all men in out ranks, best understood the art of acquiring wealth, that real wealth which far transcends the value of such material dross as gold or silver.
Look at his Lachesis Is not this alone a work worth living a lifetime to accomplish? Surely it would be a sufficient consolation at the close of anyone’s life to be able to say, I have done thus much for the good of humanity.
Dr.Hering’s notebook was always at hand, and ever and anon.
Wherever he might be or with whomsoever conversing, he jotted down observations, precious nuggets as it were, to be deposited in his big strong-box so soon as he had retired to his private study. As yet, only a few peeps into that box have been granted to his heirs, for are not we his heirs and are we not to receive our respective shares of his valuable legacy pro bono publico? And we trust that all this will be dealt out to us in good time, by the publication of his invaluable work. The Guiding Symptoms.
Never did the slightest feeling of jealousy cross his mind. If any of his patients became restive and called upon other physicians, his first inquiry, on missing them. was, Where have they gone? If to another homoeopathic physician, then I am satisfied: there is no loss, but rather a gain to out cause, He was large-heated and liberal, seeming to take in the whole profession as one man and considered himself as one of the least.
As an observe, none equalled him. On entering the sickroom, for instance his all-seeing eyes took in at once the condition of things and his mind had often decided upon the proper course to pursue before a question had been asked; his interrogations, later, were often more to confirm and to place on record than to elicit facts for decision. Intuition was a powerful element in his mind, and this was cultivated to a high degree by his truthfulness of character, and his good thoughts and feelings toward everyone he knew. He never plotted evil and never sought revenge, but was as innocent-minded as a child. He reached out in all directions for truth, and wherever his investigations extended, all Nature seemed to yield up her treasures to him, for she found no corrupt or opposing influence in his mind to operate against her. Truth ever responds to the true-minded truth-seeker; and never was she better treated, never less perverted, than by Constantine Hering.
But, his race is run, and he has left us. He was almost the last one of Hahnemann’s pupils to remain upon this earth. Hahnemann and his faithful contemporaries are now reunited in a nearly completed phalanx, to stand enshrined in our memories as the noblest representatives of the cause they lived for in this world. It was a needful and an orderly step that our good doctor should go to the end, that he might be more fully conjoined to, and continue to labor with those faithful and powerful allies on the other side. And he departed, was almost translated, in the Lord’s own good time, and now we may reasonably expect a fuller, a more powerful and a more general display of the real Hahnemannian principles than ever before.
Let us profit by his example and cherish in out memories the truths which came worded from his tongue.
Dr. Robert J, mcClatchey spoke as follows:
If I have a proper understanding of the object and scope of this meeting it is to afford an opportunity to those who loved, and who revere the memory of Dr. Constantine Hering to testify their respect for his memory, and, at the same time, to give evidence in some way of their appreciation of his character as a man and as a physician; so that by the contributions thus made, the world may be able to know what was thought of our departed friend, by those who knew him best, and are most capable of estimating him at a proper value.
Upwards of thirty years age Dr. Hering wrote as follows, in an article entitled Requisites for a Correct Estimation of Hahnemann, published in the Hygeia, vol.22, p. 296.
If we would form an estimate of a man who belongs to history an estimate which shall itself lay claim to a place in history, and rise above the fleeting interest of ephemeral productions, we must found it upon a full consideration of the whole life and labors of him to whom it relates.
Thus should the historian accompany his hero to the time when a friendly beckoning hand withdraws him from things with out, his senses close to page and speech, unfold to sources of joy and hope, departs, at peace with himself, with God and the mantled world.
Then let the estimate follow-not in the work-not penned by the laborious biographer, but formed in the in most soul of him who shall have read and weighed the whole.
It has seemed to me that there was no more marked trait in Dr.Hering’s remarkably pronounced character that his steadfastness of purpose, in his endeavor to carry out to the utmost every task laid before him; and there is, in my opinion, a unity of purpose distinguishable through all of his work, and characterizing it, in a marked degree, as well as exhibiting this steadfastness.
Those of us who had the privilege and pleasure of personal inter course with Dr. Hering, well know what an instructive, and even fascinating conversationalist he was. And we now know that, while pursuing a subject in this way, his vast learning would often lead him away from the path that led directly to the subject under consideration, into what, at a superficial glance, seemed mere nothoroughfares of thought, that led no-whither. It would soon prove that these were, instead, pleasant and beautiful by-paths, which led directly into the main pathway, and which had served simply as an agreeable and momentary diversion, but not in any way distracting attention from the end in view. Even in such matters as those, of every day occurrence, and coming up in the way of chance, and every day conversation, he exhibited the utmost steadfastness of purpose. How much more marked, then, might we expect to find this steadfastness in his life’s work.
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,