Parentage. Birth. Inherited Characteristics.
From my father I learned uprightness and truth. From my grandfather Schroeder I learned humour and drollery. He was wont to say,’Here, boy, is threepence; run and buy me some snuff Run; tuck your feet under your arms, and don’t let the grass grow under you
My father was an organist, second to none in all Germany. He was headmaster at the school in Oschatz and played the organ in the church there. He often played in Leipzig, on which occasions the church was crowded. They called him Magister, a title signifying Master of Arts, or in later times Doctor of Philosophy.
On the first of January, 1800, about midnight, when my father was playing-in the New Year at the church organ, in Oschatz, it happened that my mother was in childbirth and I was being born. Our neighbor, Zoellner by name, was walking up and down before the house, which adjoined the church, waiting for the maid to bring word as soon as the child had arrived, so that he could carry the news to father, who was seated at the organ. He had not long to wait when godfather Zoellner hurried to father’s side and whispered in his ear, ‘Herr Magister, it is a boy’ Thereupon pealed forth a burst of praise in the good old Chorale of Martin Luther: Nun danket alle Gott, (Let all give thanks to God) so dear to every German heart. The trumpet-angels attached to the organ, sent forth their hallelujahs, heralding the advent of a new century and with it the birth of a son.
On the following day, when there was snow on the ground, the parents believing in the hardening process, the child was carried out of doors. My grandmother told me that the child was blue when he was brought into the house. My father, who had lost his first- born son, said: ‘This one must live The other one was weakened by too much coddling’
May 11, 1869. Biography. I received from Mrs. Hering a biographic sketch of Hering in pamphlet form.
Norton. A Patient I called this morning on a wealthy patient of Dr. Hering, who lives in a brown-stone mansion on Arch Street; a banker. This man has been a patient for a number of years, suffering from a chronic neuralgic affection of the head. Of late it was reported that this patient had, contrary to Hering’s advice, been taking sulphur baths. The object of my visit was to invite him to the Fair. Mrs. Hering had tried to induce the doctor to make this visit himself, hoping thereby to keep the man for a patient, but Hering proudly said: On no account will I make a visit to a patient unasked. Never Even if I had no practice at all
College Journal. Hering has trouble with Martin, co-editor on the College Journal, who arrogantly writes things which Hering neither hears of, nor sees, until they get into print.
Mortgage. Dr. Hering speaks of placing a mortgage upon his property for the benefit of the College and Hospital. He fears he might die and his family get the money. He says: My family shall not have it. I do not wish it so. It is for the case. For the cause he would sacrifice all.
Laus in History. In history there are laws. The laws bring about events. These laws are just as harmonious as those governing astronomy. Their workings are as certain as the motion of the planets. To what end, otherwise, are the countless multitudes of insects, called men, placed upon the earth
Martha Washington. Hahnemann. One time, in a debate, I maintained that America would never have been freed if it had not been for Martha Washington.
Mrs. Washington was a rich young widow belonging to one of the noblest families in the Colonies when she married the young lieutenant whose fine traits she admired. At Valley Forge, when almost dead from hardship, and loss of spirits, Washington declared that he would not give up but if necessary would retire with his army beyond the Rocky mountains, and keep fighting while retreating. It was Martha Washington who had the courage to make a long and dangerous journey from Virginia, through winter snows, to the camp at Valley Forge. She said to her husband: ‘You must keep on. You dare not lose courage’
We must always take into account the hardships people endure while working in the interest of a great cause. We think of Hahnemann flying from his persecutors in Leipzig with his family, in a wagon, which upset, killing one of his boys outright and making a cripple of another (Frederick) for life.
Revolutionary War. The Ginger Bread Baker. Before the revolution a German baker came to this country to make his gingerbread. He had a ready sale for his ware and made quite a sum of money. He used to peddle his stock on the streets. He was an amiable man who talked a mixture of languages. At the time Mrs. Washington came to Valley Forge the impossibility to succeed stared everyone in the face, for there was no money. A meeting was held in the State House, in Philadelphia, where the Gingerbread Man came and sat on a barrel listening to a report that General Washington could not carry on the war because there was no money in the treasury. The Gingerbread Man jumped on top of his barrel and made a speech in which he said: ‘Here is a hundred pounds, all the money I have; it is for General Washington to do with as he please.’ When he had finished his speech he dismounted from the barrel, swore like a trooper, and asked the men who were present to follow his example. All present followed his example, not the swearing, but the contributing of money for the cause. When Washington found out about the gingerbread baker’s act, he looked him up and thanked him in the Pennsylvania German dialect, which he had learned to speak, and offered the baker a position to bake for the army.
The story is told that in contraction for bread to be delivered for the army, Washington asked that an equivalent in weight of a pound of bread for as much flour, should be given. Again the Gingerbread Man began to swear, now, more than before, at the dishonesty of such a contract. He said to the General: ‘You have been tricked by a lot of scoundrels in accepting such a dishonest bargain.’ He explained the matter to Washington; how the weight of the water and other ingredients that go into the baking would have to be estimated as additional weight, which would demand a larger supply of bread. Washington patted him on the back, called him an honest man admitted that he had been cheated.
Hering thinks it likely that Martha Washington herself may have gone to Philadelphia to talk with the Ginger bread Man. It would have been like her, he says.
Married Life.
I have often observed that if a man loses his wife by death, who has given him a great deal of trouble during their married life, he will mourn her loss more than if their union had been a happier one. Vice versa also obtains. Thomas.
Dr. Thomas, who has been seriously ill, with typhlitis, is recovering, but looks haggard and is weak. Hering has a very high opinion of Thomas and would have been at a loss to replace him, in the chair of anatomy, if he had passed on. Dr. Martin had suggested Mc Clatchey as a substitute.
College. Carpenter. I never saw Hering so pleasantly excited as he is this evening while telling the following story: Dr. Koch hired an old carpenter to fix up the College museum. The old carpenter hired two more men to help him. They took it easy. The writer can testify that he never came to the museum but he found one, or all of these men resting or lounging about, and Dr. Hering says he sometimes found them asleep when he went there. In short they had worked six long weeks on a job that three carpenters could have easily done in half the time. Their contract called for the sum of one hundred and twenty-five, to thirty dollars. An order for some additional cases was given, which annulled the contract, so the carpenter now demands three hundred and fifty dollars for the entire job and threatens the college with a lawsuit if his demands are not complied with.
This afternoon the landlord of the carpenter came to Dr. Hering to ask if any money had been paid. One hundred and fifty dollars, was the answer. The man became furious. So he has lied to me, he said. I will turn him into the street tomorrow morning Wait, said the doctor, I will tell you how we can prevent two lawsuits In the first place you will not sue the carpenter for his rent, and in the second the carpenter will not have to sue the college; for if he does, the college will have to pay him the balance on the three hundred and fifty, since Judge and Jury, in America, generally decide in favour of the workingman. So do not turn the man out, for in that case you will receive nothing. Send him to me and I will pay him seventy-five dollars, the amount of rent he owes you, and he must give us a receipt in full for the amount received. The landlord gave Dr. Hering a look as if to say, After all you are a business man He went home, said he would talk to the man.
After supper I heard a medley of voices in the front office. First Dr. Koch’s then Dr. Hering’s, also the carpenter’s and that of his landlord. The carpenter: You promised so and so. I’ll go to court. The landlord: You may I’ll throw you out. The carpenter was obstinate, would not give a receipt in full for his excessive bill, and still threatened to go to court. After the combatants had gone, there was a tableau in the hall, of which Dr. Hering formed the centre; about him his wife, sons and daughters, all displaying the greatest anxiety. The old man fairly shook with laughter, mainly at Dr. Koch, who had bungled the matter, saying: This perhaps will teach him a lesson, and take him down a peg
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,