Darwin. Cats. A Satire. A proposition declaring that raising clover seed depends upon old maids who keep cats, is thought by some to be very clever. Old maids keep cats, cats catch mice which destroy the nests of bumblebees, bumblebees fertilize the clover which enables the farmer to raise seed. All of which is nothing but a chain of stupidities supported by somersaults. A clever person can make a logical addition to every one of the statements mentioned. For instance this one, which is a variation on some Darwinistic propositions: viz, that increase of sturdy young men in Old England depends upon the number of old maids in that country. Old maids keep cats, cats kill mice, destroy bumblebees, bumblebees fertilize clover, clover makes pasture for steers, steers furnish meat on which young men thrive and grow strong.
On the other hand if the first crinoline originated in a struggle for the survival of the fittest, and thereby the necessity to expand, or to spread oneself, to be in the mode, later followed by the Grecian bend resembling the rear of an ostrich, and still later the coming into fashion of high heels which distorted the pelvis of growing young women, another parallel may be found therein to the chain of circumstances handed down by Darwinists. And again, in this, we have a pretty good imitation from the way naturalists introduce new and unnatural language in words that require an apology for lack of thought (Woerter die sich einstellen wo Begriffe fehlen). In such manner useful discoveries in science are bedizened and distorted.
A Doctor’s Catechism. When patients discharge their physicians they seldom, if ever, think it worth their while to give a reason for so doing. Exceptions are rare. In a practice of fifty years I can remember but one. A lady sent word that she was compelled to change her physician because she could not tolerate one who took snuff She sent for me later when it was too late to save her.
What is a doctor? A thing that comes when you send for it. Is the practice of medicine a business? It is, but should not be. Why not? Because there are many differences between this and any other business.
What is the main difference? In every other business the person interested may advertise his services. Not so the Physician. Not even when in dire need, but only when others are in need.
What other differences? The physician is always, and the only one, who works, against his own advantage, unless a criminal. He must prevent sickness wherever possible, cure his patients so that they may never have to return for his services, or at least as far as this may be made possible by strict homoeopathic treatment.
Napoleon. Lilienstein, a Fortress In Saxony. Prophet Hering. In 1810 Napoleon ordered two of the cannons, called the Twelve Apostles, to be moved to the fortress, on the Elbe, to find out if the Koenigstein opposite, could be bombarded from there. The cannon balls fell short of the mark. The Austrians surprised Napoleon, who fled and left the two cannons in their possession. These are now located in one of the fortresses of Theresenstadt, in Bohemia. See account of Prophet Hering who was named Shepherd Thomas. He predicted railroads, and that a certain bridge would be built over which horseless carriages would pass.
Science. Our position in the Universe is such that we appear to stand and to move upon a flat surface with the heavens above us. The area of ground under our feet, even when standing on highest mountain tops is very small compared to the wide canopy over our heads. In the course of time we have become acquainted with the three great kingdoms of our world: the minerals in the earth; the plants and animals on top of it: likewise with the wonders of the air, the moon and stars in their course about the sun. Science has taught us the composition and the uses in the wider of the three kingdoms-the mineral; the narrower, called the vegetable, and the still more limited. the animal kingdom; and finally, highest of all, that of man in their midst.
Remarks (to the author) by Saladin, A German Homoeopath in Berlin. Allium sativa. The juice of garlic helps children in convulsions from teething. Fever and Ague attacks are abated by the daily use of Chamomile tea. Convulsions. Valerianate of Zincum met. Dropsy. Chininum arsenicosum. Belladonna. When it fails to act try Sulphate of atropine. Belladonna and Glonoine should not be given after each other. Alumina Patient must not eat potatoes when taking it. Arnica. Is to be given for eight days before confinement, and for eight days after it Calendula. Pyemia. From Jahr’s Clinical Experience.
Hahnemann. A visit to Hahnemann’s Oldest Daughter, Frau Moosdorf, in Coethen, in 1872.
Madame Moosdorf spoke bitterly of Melanie, the second wife. Said she kept Hahnemann in a back room on a mattress where he died, calling for help. That she reviled his mother whom she did not know and prevented Hahnemann from revisiting Germany, which he longed for. She made him wear wooden shoes. We made no claim upon any property belonging to father. She did not write to the family when he was ill. Did not admit his daughter. It was on a morning that he spoke his last words. Rain fell in torrents on the day of the funeral. The pall bearers scraped the wall which made her feet. We had hopes of bringing father to his hundredth year.
From 12 to 1 he smoked his little pipe. The serpent on a rod is carved from a single piece of wood. Steinhauser was here at the age of seventeen. Hartlaub was Hahnemann’s favourite assistant. Lehman was strongly magnetic. Scoppe, from Berlin, painted a picture and delivered it when here through influence of the Duke in 1821. In 1835 father went away. In 1830 his mother had died. Melanie took him away secretly one morning. We wished to accompany him a distance and drove a long way by extra post. In the Crown Prince’s place, in Halle, we were assembled and wept at his going. We telegraphed from Leipzig and wrote to Melanie: ‘Why do you not write? What has become of our letters?’ The answer came: ‘I purposely hid them away that he might not get homesick;’ This angered father. Melanie’s mother died of the gout from grieving. Melanie spent two years at sea. At Paris she belonged to a Literary club, all men. She aimed to have Hahnemann made. President of a medical faculty. She made Doctor Roth very angry. She was a disgusting old coquette. She appeared, in 1821, as a very poor girl and in a few weeks was dressed in silk. She kept bringing bon bons. Father suddenly became estranged from us. They were married in father’s front room, the bride wearing a wreath of myrtle. ‘I am your servant,’ said father. ‘No, my son, said she. He left nothing behind but diploma and relics.
In 1862 Lotta died in this house. She had helped making potencies. I helped with writing. Melanie wore men’s clothes, arrived at the hotel in a hunting suit. She was fond of playing cards and was said to be proficient in the black arts.
Hahnemann. Coethen. As related by Hartlaub to the author.
Hahnemann did not go out to visit patients; they came to him in the forenoon up to 12 o’clock. The evenings he spent in his garden; he carried a lantern when dark, to go about among his flowers. His rooms were small. Against a wall stood a desk beside which was room for patients to sit. Hofrath Lehman occupied another corner with his patients. I was near by. Hahnemann was very frank, and surprised one by his kindly treatment. I was a favorite. Hahnemann attended to his correspondence in the afternoon, from two to six; supper was served at seven. He only ate bread and milk in the evening and liked to talk afterwards about homoeopathy and current events, before he went into his garden. Friends were invited in the evening. It was then that I occupied myself with studies of mesmerism. Lotta had a toothache. I touched her tooth and the pain was gone. The girl, Lotta and Frau Moosdorf, made sugar of milk powders, on a small table which was quickly covered when company came. Hahnemann, small of stature, stood erect and gestured with his hands, giving out magnetic force. His head was crowned with short white locks. He was always shaven clean. His pipe, which Lotta lit for him, never went out. On Sundays he rode to a farm, sometimes accompanied by myself and Lehman, where good grapes were to be found; the only place he visited.
Steinhauser, a young sculptor from Berlin, came to model Hahnemann’s bust in plaster. It is the best of all portrait busts of Hahnemann. Hirschfeldt, from Bremen, brought with him a phrenologist whose advice was asked on correcting contours of the head. The same wrote a small book on Homoeopathy and Respiration. Hahnemann received a letter asking about an infant that was to be vaccinated; he counselled that Sulphur should be given before and after the operation. Frederick Hahnemann. Provings.
Hartlaub says Frederick made provings on insane persons so drastic as to endanger lives; no one else would have submitted to like experiments. When mention was made of the son, Hahnemann always became very sad. A Visit to Aegidi. Cantharides. A Case of Dysentery. Remarks to the author.
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,