OF PERE LA HAISE: MONUMENTS AND RELICS.
SUPPLEMENT 245
CONCERNING THE UNCERTAINTY REGARDING HAHNEMANN’S TOMB.
Dr. Gaillard writes in the French periodical, “L’Homoeopathic Militante,” of the year 1878.
Where are the last mortal remains of the Founder of Homoeopathy? People think, in Paris. But no one in the world knows in which cemetery. One of my colleagues in Paris assured me, fourteen years ago, that Hahnemann’s body had been temporarily laid in the vault of the famous painter Le Thiere.
During the assembly of the International Congress of Homoeopathic Physicians, of Suggest 14th, Dr. van der Heuvel of Antwerp, proposed in the name of the Homoeopathic Medical Service of Belgium that a monument should be erected over the grave of the Founder of the Homoeopathic School of Medicine. The President, Dr. L. Simon (Homoeopathic physician of Paris — R.H.) replied to this tat the burial place was unknown.
Dr. Petit, who knew Hahnemann’s family more intimately, stated at the same meeting that the remains were resting in the place where Madame hahnemann had laid them. But he could not exactly say where.
Two French periodicals, published in October — signed by Apothecary Catellan — that Hahnemann was at rest in the Cemetery Pere La Chaise.
In consequences of this contradictory report, Gaillard wrote to the Administration of the Cemeteries and received the information that Hahnemann had been laid in the cemetery Montmartre, 16 V. first row along wall No.9. Madame Hahnemann, his widow, was interred next to him as it was a tomb purchased in perpetuity. But that there was neither a wreath nor a border round Madame Hahnemann’s grave. There were only a few flowers to be found which had been put there a few months previously.
Dr. Platt, Professor of Chemistry at the Hahnemann College, Philadelphia, wrote on the 2nd May, 1896, to Dr. Bradford in Philadelphia:
I have called on several French physicians, but these apparently know as little about Hahnemann’s life in Paris as I do. They know nothing about the Rue de Helder or Rue de Milan. They even did not know that Hahnemann had died in Paris and was buried in Montmartre.
German description of Hahnemann’s grave in Montmartre.
Dr. Puhlmann wrote in the” Hom. Kalender,”1892, and in the “Leips. Pop. Ztg.,” 1891, 22nd year, page 10:
The monument which we here reproduce was erected by his widow very soon after his death; it is decidedly a worthy monument. The memorial stone contains the inscription;
“Chretien Frederic Samuel Hahnemann.”
It belongs as we were assured to the so-called historical graves, that is, to those which are kept in order at the expense of the French nation when the family no longer attends to them.
The cemetery keepers of Montmartre know very well where it is guide every German who asks for Hahnemann’s burial place. It can easily be found, if immediately on entering the cemetery one keeps to the 16th Division, to the left along the wall where the conspicuous tomb of Madame Marie Champeaux is to be found. It is close to that. The protecting roof which had been placed above the tomb seems to have been removed later, at least, thirteen years ago this August it was no longer present.
Puhlmann seems according to this, to have mistaken Madame Melanie Hahnemann’s tomb for the actual tomb of Hahnemann. This can be shown by the reports of Dr. Platt and the Parisian physician Dr. Cartier, of the year 1896 — therefore three years later.
Concerning the picture it is related in the same passage:
The picture originates from S. Hahnemann’s legacy, namely from his daughter in Kothen, and was presented to the Homoeopathic Hospital of Leipsic. The words inscribed under it read: “Mausolee S. Hahnemann.” The following note is added in writing; “Etched after a drawing by Suss-Hahnemann.”
SUPPLEMENT 246
THE EXCUSE OF THE FRENCH
Dr. FranCosis Cartier wrote in the” Reveu Homoeopathique FranCaise” of June 30th, 1896 (S. “Allg.hom. Ztg,” 1896, Vol.133, page 105)
It is a very modest and very neglected tomb which contains the earthly remains of the Founder of Homoeopathy! Hahnemann lies in the Cemetery of Montmartre in Paris, completely forgotten and whilst Washington has erected a monument in a public square, costing 500,000 francs, his lonely tomb is left to the ravages of time.
The French homoeopaths are not to blame form his. When Hahnemann died in 1843, paris had enough physicians and followers of his teachings who could have collected, by subscriptions, the means to erect a worthy tomb for their master. But we had to reckon with the difficulty of obtaining permission from the family, and Madame Hahnemann, his widow, who alone could dispose of her husband’s body, had a mind of her own, and had Hahnemann almost secretly buried.
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