I have been in town only on very rare occasions, and even then I could not speak to you. How many times shall I again assure you that I am and remain the same for all my life, Your indebted friend, S.H.
Have you had your money? What does Muldner say? I read yesterday a story like Klockenbring’s in an old book which appealed to me very much. In Boneti medicine septentrionalis fol. Pars. I, pages 200-204.
When you can do so, read it! It has always been the same in the world, even 130 years ago.
In his article, ” Notes on the cure of Klockenbring,” which Hahnemann wrote at the end of 1795 or beginning of 1796 in Brunswick, he says in one annotation :
However wearying, even when followed by success, the uninterrupted and personal attention given to this kind of patient may be, seeing that it is capable of killing the joy of life more effectually than anything else, and sadly shakes the soul of the humane and thoughtful physician, yet I feel strongly the inward call to continue this work even here ( in my garden in Brunswick).
Konigslutter, November 15th, 1798.
Honourable friend ( Councillor Becker in Gotha),
You have just recently given me a proof of your unfailing friendship and affection by recommending me to young Hagenbuch from Muhlhausen, for which I thank you most heartily. That which is good will prove itself!
That I could not take him in, as he arrived here before I had made any preparations, and also was hurriedly left here by his brother-is a question which need not be raised here. You know how careful I am on this point, and have to be, on account of lot of little children who can be easily injured.
Otherwise I have a really pretty, comfortable and also favourable house which is the only possession I can boast of here apart from a dear family. I have already made some use of the house for patients; and you, dear friend, could contribute not a little if you would favour me by inserting, once or twice, this or a similar advertisement in your Messenger of the Gods the Reichsanzeiger, the omnipresence of which is well know-but I pray you to sign it with your own honourable name, for the patients in question could not confide for information in a more prudent man. You understand me.
Otherwise you may alter the wording of this advertisement as you please.
Altona, November 9th, 1799.
Dearest friend ( not to be mistaken for citizen Becker ),
Your agreeable letter would have been still more agreeable if it had been sent off six or seven weeks earlier, for it would then still have found me at Konigslutter and have persuaded me to begin a very much less expensive life at Sondershausen, besides which I should have been able to conform to your wishes much more easily.
However little I should like to try and persuade you to send the unhappy Wezel ( Johann Karl Wezel was born on October 31st, 1747, in Sondershausen. After much travelling he became a dramatist in Vienna, and was in special favour with Kaiser Joseph II. He became insane after his removal form Leipsic to his birthplace, in the year 1786, and he imagined that he was God. A small circle of literary friends interested themselves in him, and the Court at Sondershausen granted his landlady 5 groschen a day in payment for looking after him. Councillor Becker then sought to put him under the care of Hahnemann : the treatment was ineffective and he died on January 28th, 1819, in Sondershausen.) here, I can just as little grant that his cure could not be considered possible outside his own four walls, although they try to persuade us that, dragged out of his present position, he would be God knows how unmanageable, and impossible to cure. If arrangements were made to have him fetched by people who would lift him de facto into a carriage and drive away with him, the whole to be done silently, without telling him their reasons or intentions, and afterwards hardly speak two words to him in the 24 hours, attend to his needs only at his request, and then grudgingly, and treat him during the journey with martial countenance, so that he would be overwhelmed by a terrible feeling of being overpowered together with the awful silence, and so would behave well during the journey and would be the more satisfied with his kind doctor on arrival.
I have now come to live here on the advice of some prominent friends in a place where living is at least three times more expensive than in Gotha. I give 700 M.C. (about 840 marks) rent for my little house, and all other necessities bear the same relation to it. If I should take in the noteworthy unhappy Wezel (one room for one patient can be spared) I could just barely do it for the here existing currency of 120 Mark C, or nine pieces Friedrichsd’or (about 150 marks). I will take him for this price out of higher considerations, and will care for him as a father and a physician as if he were giving me a large income; in other words, I shall try most earnestly to cure him.
That he should lose his present free house and keep through such a temporary retreat ( supposing the worse came to happen and he returned uncured) is hardly to be expected.
A four months’ trial will be sufficient to ascertain if he can be cured.
I should not know what else to propose. Dr. Bledau in Sondershausen ( who I assume considers I am some authority) would have to watch him several times a day through observation openings, and carry out my instructions punctually. He would have to mix the medicine, which I would send, with his drinks himself, in order to see that the correct quantity was taken. This, of course, would be much cheaper, as I would make a charge of two speciesthaler (about 8 mark 4 pence ) for a letter, with or without medicine.
Judge for yourself which would be the more advisable or possible. Here only a practitioner. May Heaven help me to increase considerable the small practice which I have made during my six week’s sojourn. I need it if I am not to be out of pocket.
I, my wife, and my eight healthy growing children greet you and kiss you.
Altona, December 9th, 1799.
I should like to know what the Prince is doing for Wezel in order to make use of it at the right time. And now for the answer to your questions.
1. When can he come? The sooner the better.
2. How to bring him here? Let those who are going to bring him enter ( if possible with martial demeanour ) and announce in a loud voice : “On account of his delicate health, the Prince has ordered him ( even if it be not true ) to be driven to the physician.” Upon which they will lead him straight to the carriage, and if he not properly clothed attend to this only on the night or mid-day halt.
Talk very seriously and very little with him on the journey, satisfy his animal needs silently but fully, answer when he asks where he is going :
“To Dr. Hahnemann, in Altona, who will cure him.” There is no need for any other answer on this subject. However much he may remonstrate that he is not ill, answer nothing but. “Yes, you are ill.” Say this and no more as often as is necessary. Do not tell him any untruths about the future. On the road he must be searched, to make sure that he has no cutting instruments on his person which he may be bringing to me secretly.
3. The precise address where he is to be delivered? Here in Altona, straight to my place, Kleine Freiheit, No.65, in the house of the wine-merchant Rinks, at Dr. Hahnemann’s.
4. What he is to bring? At least six shirts, six pairs of woollen socks, two pairs of cotton ones, two pairs of trousers, two vests, one or two coats, a very warm and thick woollen scarf ( unless he has a fur), a feather bed ( but if he has incontinence of urine and faeces, a horse-hair mattress instead), two pillows and an eiderdown, perhaps two sheets and two bed- covers, two pairs of comfortable boots, one pair of shoes, four night-caps, one new and also one old hat, 8to 12 handkerchiefs, and old linen of some kind for cleaning and mending purposes, his pipe (if he needs one), his snuff-box (if he uses one), four towels, some neckties, preferably a couple of black silk ones.
As soon as he has been put onto the carriage, his room and especially his table must be searched for all written papers; they must be collected and put into a bag tied up together so as not to lose any, and brought here for my instructions.
An intelligent man in Sondershausen must question the people with whom he was living, especially those who were attending him and saw most of him, regarding his mental peculiarities. If he talked to himself and on what subjects chiefly? How he treated his attendant? If he tried to commit suicide, or to run away, or if he attacked strangers or acquaintances without provocation? What he mostly desired in the way of food, drinks, and other favourite things? What he had complained about, such as bodily ailments and and any other things, Whether he left his excreta and urine in the right place like ordinary people? Was he in the habit of laughing, whistling, scolding, swearing, shouting or weeping? How long he sleeps, and when he is in the habit of lying down, if dressed or undressed? If he is inclined to tear and break things?
Richard Haehl was also an editor and publisher of the homeopathic journal Allgemcine, and other homeopathic publications.
Haehl was responsible for saving many of the valuable artifacts of Samuel Hahnemann and retrieving the 6th edition of the Organon and publishing it in 1921.
Richard Haehl was the author of - Life and Work of Samuel Hahnemann