In the hands of the printers there is: “Organon of the Healing Art,” by Samuel Hahnemann. Sixth improved and amplified edition. With the effigy of the author. Edited by Dr. L. Suss- Hahnemann of London. Berlin, 1865. Reichardt and Zander. Price I Thaler. In four parts at 72 Sgr.
There followed immediately
THE INTERPOSITION BY HAHNEMANN’S WIDOW.
Messrs. Reichardt and Zander.
Gentlemen,
I perceive from No. 14 of the Allgem. homoopath. Zeitung of April 3rd, that your firm is about to publish a new amplified and improved edition of Hahnemann’s “Organon,”edited by Dr. Suss of London. I beg to inform you, that I alone possess the manuscript of the sixth edition of the “Organon,” written by my late husband’s own hand. Dr. Suss’s work can have no claim whatever to be considered genuine. You, as booksellers, are no doubt aware of the stringent laws of Germany protecting the copyright of literary works, and therefore this notice I hope will be sufficient to warn you against the sale of Dr. Suss’s intended edition of the said work.
Yours truly, MELANIE HAHNEMANN.
Paris, 25th April, 1865.
Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, N.54.
At about the same time she addressed a letter to the editor of the “Allgemeinen homoop. Zeitung,” which read as follows:
Paris 21st April, 1865.
Dear Sir, To my great astonishment I perceive in No. 14 of the “Allg. homoop. Zeitung” of April 3rd, that Dr. Lutze and Dr. Suss of London, announce the publication of a sixth, considerably improved and enlarged edition of Hahnemann’s “Organon.”
I alone have the right to publish the sixth edition of the “Organon”; I alone possess the manuscript in my late husband’s own handwriting of this important work; to me alone were communicated all the improvements which the author made in the “Organon.” Dr. Lutze never saw Hahnemann, nor had he been in any way in communication with him. Dr. Suss of London, saw Hahnemann twice; the first time as a child of six, and afterwards when a student in Leipsic, the day before the death of my husband; it is, therefore, impossible he can have obtained from him anything new relating to Homoeopathy.
Now that it is pretended that something new is known, when it is intended to make a sort of romance of our holy “Organon,” now is the time to publish the genuine and real “Organon,” and I shall send it to press. Just as no one dares to improve, take away from, or add to the Holy Gospel or the other Holy Scriptures, so no one should dare to make any alterations in the “Organon,” the codex of human health; it must remain as its author created it, and it should only appear in its pure, unadulterated truth and genuineness.
I urgently beg of you to allow this letter to appear without any alterations in the next number of the Allg. Zeitung.
Your devotion to the true maxims of our beneficent doctrine and your sense of justice will induce you to grant me this favour, for which I thank you beforehand in my own name and in that of the true disciples of Hahnemann.
Accept, esteemed doctor, the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.
M. HAHNEMANN.
54, Faubourg St. Honore.
THE REPLY OF HAHNEMANN’S GRANDSON.
Dr. Suss-Hahnemann of London, the grandson of Hahnemann, replied to this letter of Madame Hahnemann, his step-grandmother, in the “British Journal of Homoeopathy” (1865, Vol. 23, page 422) which appeared in London:
Gentlemen,
You are no doubt aware that, in consequence of my grandfather’s German works having gone completely out of print, I have considered it my duty, due both to the memory of my departed great ancestor and to the cause of homoeopathy, to commence a re- issue of his literary productions; the “Organon,” as the most important work, has been taken in hand first, and my publishers in Berlin have announced its publication to be shortly completed.
Madame Hahnemann seems, however, to have taken great umbrage at my proceedings; not only has she threatened to intimidate my publishers by empty threats of legal prosecutions, but she has also published herself in the Allgem hom. Zeitung of May 1st an article by which she obviously wishes to damage and detract from the value of my publication in the estimation of my medical brethren. If the facts stated by her had been correct, I would most willingly have remained silent, as I believe my own age or personal acquaintance with my late grandfather cannot in the least deteriorate the value of the “Organon,” which I have had faithfully reprinted from one of the previous editions, which was considered by Hahnemann himself the most complete according to my late mother’s assertion.
In common fairness Madame Hahnemann should have waited until the work had been published, when it would have been time to criticise its correctness. My aunt, Hahnemann’s youngest daughter, is still alive and in possession of quite as valuable manuscripts as Madame Hahnemann alleges she herself possesses, and being on the most affectionate terms of relationship with her I have always received her willing and cordial assistance in all my literary pursuits.
Madame Hahnemann seems particularly anxious to make it known among the homoeopathic profession that I saw my grandfather but twice in all my life, once when six years old and the second time on the eye of his death, strongly insisting therefrom that my edition of the “Organon” ought not to be relied upon.
Madame Hahnemann having had little communication with the family of her late husband, I do not expect her to know much about my humble self, but if she wishes to inform the world of my young days, I might expect her to be truthful and correct in her statements. I was brought up and educated by my late grand father up to Mademoiselle d’Hervilly’s sudden appearance in Coethen, when I was sent to Halle to school, and at the time of Madame Hahnemann’s departure with my grandfather to Paris I was just eight years old; I was also present at my grandfather’s sorrowful leave-taking in Halle from the members of his family who had accompanied him from Coethen to that place.
Unfortunately, I was only present at the very last dying moments of my grandfather, not even on the eye of his death, although my late mother and I had arrived in Paris already a whole week previous to this sad event taking place; a circumstance Madame Hahnemann seems to have quite forgotten, at least she does not mention it in her article. In spite of our most earnest entreaties, in spite of Hahnemann’s own wish to see once more his favourite daughter. Madame Hahnemann resolutely and hard heartedly refused us an interview with our dying parent, when he would have been still able to speak to us and to bless us.
In her eagerness to damage any forthcoming edition of Hahnemann’s works she has betrayed a valuable secret by confessing that she possesses the manuscript sixth edition of the “Organon.” So sometimes good comes out of evil. I feel highly gratified to have thus indirectly rendered a service to the cause of homoeopathy; for Madame Hahnemann declares herself, after twenty-two years’ silence, ready to publish this manuscript. I hope she will soon do it; better late thin never, although this neglect amounts almost to contempt of the whole homoeopathic medical profession.
With the greatest esteem, I remain, DR. L. SUSS-HAHNEMANN.
London, May 30th, 1865.
EVASIVE ANSWER OF HAHNEMANN’S WIDOW
To the Homoeopathic College of Philadelphia.
In the summer of 1865 the faculty of the Homoeopathic College of Pennsylvania wrote to Madame Hahnemann in Paris, and received the following answer:
Dr. Constantine Hering of Philadelphia.
My very dear and excellent Doctor and friend,
I have received the letter which you and the physicians, who signed it, have collectively addressed to me concerning the literal translation of the sixth edition of the “Organon” into the English language, of which the original manuscript is in my possession.
I am very glad you will make this translation, because then I shall be certain it will be done with fidelity and perfection. It is certainly not from any indifference that I have delayed so long to say to you how much I approve of your proposition; this delay was caused by the desire that I might be able to announce the beginning of the printing of this book, of which I would immediately have sent you a copy.
A first copy, though made in my house and from the MS. proved so faulty and incorrect that it was impossible to make any use of it.
Like you, I would not permit that a single word of the original text should be changed. I have consequently been obliged to have a new copy made, and this time in my presence and under my eyes. This copy is now progressing at such hours as I can superintend it; this will delay the finishing of it a little. As soon as it is completed and the printing commenced, I will send you the sheets as they are printed. They will be forwarded to you through Mr. Bigelow, my friend and your Ambassador at Paris.
I regret very much that you have not received my previous letters, which contained communications respecting some unpublished medicines, which would have interested you.
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