Dr. S.B. Parsons prefaced the reading of the following poem by saying. The theme of this poem was suggested by an incident in the life of Dr. Hering, which was, that in the early part of his professional career in Philadelphia, he was called to attend a little girl an only child, who had been given up to die by the physicians that had seen her.
Dr. Hering was summoned to the case, not because the parents had any faith in the homoeopathic mode of practice, but they had heard of him as a gentleman of culture a man of scientific attainments, and hoped something might be found in his treatment that would restore their loves one to health.
Dr. Hering’s treatment was successful and when his little patient was out of danger, and able to talk and laugh with her mother, the parents overwhelmed him with expressions of gratitude, complimenting him in the warmest terms on his skill and ability, and drew a bright picture of his future life and the high eminence he would someday attain in his profession. When they had ceased, he thanked them kindly, and replied: I am nothing, God is great
Could we draw the veil aside. From the night of infant state. Mortal eyes would se the guide- I am nothing, God is great
Happy childwood – morn of life – Chasing shadows drawn by fate, Knows but faintly in the strife – I am nothing, God is great
Ever smiling, sunny youth, Weaving webs to captivate, Then unfolds the spirit’s truth – I am nothing God is great
Resting on the fair mid -land Tween the in and outer gate, Building manhood’s thoughts expand – I am nothing God is great
I n the bloom of life’s bright day Lurid storms may devastate; Through the darkness beams a ray – I am nothing God is great
Nearer draws futurity, Nor asks the pentinent to wait Clearer sees maturity – I am nothing God is great
Gentle comes life’s winter day, When the heart seems desolate; In true faith will be its lay – I am nothing God is great
The following tribute was paid by Dr.J. Martin Kershaw:
As the majestic river passes to the far sea beyond, so has the life of him we have come to honor, gone to the unknown country like the grand old oak ever erect and noble he bore all the storms of adversity and beclouded sunshine throughout the scores of years that were his to work in and to be faithful.
Towering above his fellows, working and waiting for what he knew was truth, he was rightfully and indeed a king among men in his God-like work for humanity.
The truth the pure snow white spotless truth was that for which he labored and toiled from the early springtime of life until the frosty winter of old age had come upon him when full of years and full of honors he crossed over to that land the Deity has given to those who work faithfully and well.
His priceless treasures he has bequeathed to us and to the multitude of God’s sick and suffering creatures, in every climate and country, and the world is richer and better today, because Constantine Hering lived and worked in it.
In the quiet city of the dead where countless weary toilers sleep the sad song of the autumn winds is heard above the resting place of him for whom we mourn tonight: but the earnest lifework and the more than human deeds of the departed still live for us and the coming worlds of people.
Dr. C.W. Spalding next addressed the meeting as follows:
There are epochs in human history that are occasioned by the discovery and introduction of new principles or laws, which in their operation have a direct relation to human happiness and the welfare of society. Not that there is anything absolutely new; for all things exist potentially in the Creator from eternity; and are called new, when they come into actual existence in the material universe.
The discovery and announcement of the law of Similia Similibus curantur constitutes such an epoch. Upon this great basic verity has now been founded a school of medicine differing from all previous schools, in the adoption and application to practice of this therapeutic lay. The fundamental principles of medical science are the same in all schools of medicine; the differences being chiefly in their systems of therapeutic.
In order that the beneficent of a new therapeutic system should be made available for the alleviation of human suffering by the removal of diseases, it became necessary to develop and establish, by study and experiment a system of medication in agreement therewith. Homoeopathic Materia Medica has arisen from this necessity. The proper presentation, and the ultimate establishment of new methods in their habits of life, call into activity the labors of a class of minds peculiarly fitted for the performance of their definite tasks. As the knowledge of the discovery of this new therapeutic law was disseminated, it arrested the attention of such medical minds as were endowed with sufficient independence of thought to allow them to be open to conviction: and prominently among these was the man, whose life, and not whose death, we are now assembled to commemorate. His first study of the new system was occasioned, we are told, by his being assigned to refuting it. This is not the first time that the individual, chosen by his fellows, as the one most capable among them of disproving the new ideas, has become an able instrument in establishing them upon surer foundations and of spreading among mankind a better knowledge of their transcendent merits. In relating the new law to practice, the great problem to be worked out was the ascertainment by trial of the specific action of drugs upon the human system and subsequently the orderly arrangement of the great mass of experimental knowledge thus obtained into such form as to render it readily available in the practice of medicine. For the successful accomplishment of this important task, it was requisite that individuals peculiarly qualified by nature and education for this particular work should devote their lives to its development and perfection. In this arduous labor Dr. Hering has spent the best years of his life. To him, in very large degree, the homoeopathic physician is indebted for the completeness of our system of medication. Patience, industry and untiring perseverence have been brought to the work and if any man more than any other is entitled to be called the apostle of Homoeopathic Materia Media, that man is Constantine Hering. Dr.J.P. Frohne then spoke as follows:
The gentlemen who spoke before me have eloquently dwelt upon the merits of the departed as propagator of homoeopathy in this country.
Therefore, allow me to remember and make mention of his love for his native country of which especially during the Franco- German war he bore brilliant testimony; celebrating the victory of the German arms most solemnly at his own house. He thus manifested that he was proud of being a native of Germany of that country which sent many a great man over the ocean to sow the seeds of German thought and German art among distant nation.
The departed has shown his love for his native country and his interest in science by a multitude of articles printed in homoeopathic journals, here and abroad. His essays are as genial as they are instructive, and his memory is, in due appreciation of his merits, this day celebrated in the cities of all Germany.
And wherever upon the face of the world homoeopathy has gained permanent ground, the name of Constantine Hering will be known and be ever memorable since he has, by his works secured for himself an immortal name.
To but very few of us mortals is granted to do as much for suffering humanity as he has done, for Providence has laid in him the talents of a true therapeutist, as well as those of an author of which during his long life, he has made the most salutary use, saving the lives of thousands, who in the sense of gratitude lament his loss. The life and works of our Hering to be a shining model for us younger physician and may his memory be everlasting.
The following remarks were then made by Dr. Charles L. Carriers:
Grand is the celebration of today The fact that all homoeopathists of the world join in a Memorial Service of one so universally known, esteemed and beloved as Dr. Constantine Hering makes this celebration one of the grandest of the kind. It is proper therefore that on this occasion everything should be thought of which may add to the honor of our departed friend.
I have chosen to me to draw your attention to the fact that Dr.Hering was not only a man of great culture and a most successful practitioner of the Healing Art but in addition to his excellent qualities and his superiority he was also on the progressive path of a christian; not a christian by name only but one who did believe in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Still his faith differed from the generally acknowledged doctrines of the church of the path. As he had left the old school of medicine and adopted the doctrine of similia and became one of the founders of homoeopathy. So he also left the old church and became a receiver of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem. Thus he was one of the beginners and promoters of the New Era both in Medicine and Religion.
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,