The Removal of Hahnemann’s Body



Berlin, February 10th, 1835.

To Mrs. Hahnemann: During the last days I received from Mr. Lux (Magister) of Leipsic, a letter in which he acquaints me with your wish to have the bust of your husband executed in marble for the Homoeopathic Hospital of Leipsic. I made a model from life eighteen months ago for my friend Dr. Meirhoff, of Kothen, who also wanted a reproduction in marble for which a subscription was projected, this however did not materialise. I may assure you that this pleasant work would be undertaken by me with the greatest care and devotion, if only on account of its general interest.

I would ask as low an honorarium as possible and undertake the work for the ordinary price asked by the local Art Masters, of one hundred Louis d’Or, making for that sum a bust on a colossal scale which would be more suitable for this purpose. If this expense should be more than you intended I should like to advise you to begin the work with twenty Louis d’Or, by which the cost of the marble and the rougher preliminary work would be defrayed. The balance could then very easily be procured by subscriptions as the honour of the homoeopathic practitioners would not allow the matter to remain unfinished.

Hahnemann remarked laconically upon this letter, “Declined.”

Steinhauser was born on July the 3rd 1813. He studied under Rauch from the year 1831; he went to Rome in 1836 where he created some very pleasing statuary, representing chiefly the fishing and shepherd classes. Later he became celebrated as the sculptor of several successful statues. In 1864 he became Professor at Karlsruhe where he died on December 9th, 1879.

HAHNEMANN’S RELIEF.

Sculptor Adolph Straube of Berlin to Hahnemann:

April, Ist, 1833.

I am sending you herewith the small portraits in iron, as you requested; they have however not been darkened as you wish to use them for rings and breast-pins, it is therefore better to leave them raw. As a small remembrance and a slight token of my unlimited veneration, I am sending you the original in steatite which I had made for the purpose of a mould, but as the stone is not very hard it must be protected from scratching, rubbing etc.

It will soon be a year since I spent such wonderful and precious days with your kind family and in your instructive company. At last I have commissioned Lenz with your model portrait as I could not resist the wish of so many of your friends and admirers here, although the profit will not be magnificent, as I must let Lenz have it at cost price and do not wish to make it dearer on that account.

He therefore asks Hahnemann to think of putting an advertisement in the Homoeopathic periodicals.

Berlin, June 15th, 1833.

You will receive herewith the small iron portraits as requested; there are one hundred altogether. I only hope that they will be what you require.

Berlin, July 15th, 1833.

I would very much like to stay quietly with you and yours again; yet such a happy time as I experienced when I was with you will not return for me. If I could see you I would come a few day before the celebration or remain behind for a few days after in accordance with your wish, and if you had a little time to spare I should have asked you to have a plaster cast taken of your face. I should then be obliged to ask you to let me know if good fine plaster for modelling could be procured in Kothen, or if I should have to order some to be sent there. I wish to alter something in the portrait; although they say here it must be an excellent likeness; yet from the point of view of art much is still lacking which I should like to alter. There is not the slightest danger in taking a cast, I have done it with several others. I could of course have done it before when I was with you, but at the time I was not so competent in this matter as I am now.

If you wish me to come to you and are willing to have a cast taken, I will ask you to let me know as soon as possible, and whether I am to come a few days before the celebration or remain after, and also when you are most likely to have a little leisure so that I may make arrangements accordingly.

Weimar, March 22nd, 1834.

(Straube sends two portraits of Dr. Lehmann, one for him, and then continues):

” I have not yet been able to induce myself to finish your portrait for the simple reason that it does not satisfy me. I consider it very like, but I am not satisfied with the style, yet I hesitate to make an altered copy of this one because it may not be equally good. You might therefore let me know how the bust turned out, and whether it is such a good likeness that one could make something of it use it as a guide. I will reconsider what can be done and will try to finish it.

If the expense, them risk and the harm done with an unsuccessful mould of a life-size bust were less considerable I would try to execute your bust in bronze (after Steinhauser). I would certainly put my whole heart into the work, because it would be a subject which would inspire me.

Weimar, April 10th, 1834.

I send you with the greatest pleasure the desired portrait of Dr. Lehmann and also one of yourself as a sample to see if I may put it before the public with confidence; should this be the case, I shall send you more for your family, and Dr.Lehmann; so far none have been given away, although several have been asked for.

On January 24th, 1835, Adolph Straube then wrote, completely satisfied, from Paris, where he had found a home with the homoeopathic physician, Dr. Roth, and could further devote himself to his art: “Here it is more possible to produce something perfect.” SUPPLEMENT 249.

DOCUMENT IN THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE HAHNEMANN MONUMENT AT LEIPSIC

In the name of the Divine Trinity.

we-lay, to-day, on the 23rd day of the fifth month of the year of Grace, 1851, on the day of Desiderii Friday, at 11 o’clock of the forenoon, the foundation stone of the monument of Samuel Hahnemann, the Discoverer of Science of Healing which he has called “Homoeopathy”.

In this Foundation Stone are to be found:

(a) His works, “Fragmenta de viribus medicamentorum positivis” (a present from the publishers) and his “Organon of the Healing Art.”

(b) His own defence against the apothecaries of Leipsic of the year 1820 ( in manuscript).

(c) A silver medal in honour of the 50th Jubilee of his Doctor’s degree.

(d) One Saxon and one Prussian thaler of the current year.

(e) “Retrospect of the history of Homoeopathy,” by Rummel.

(f) Festal address in honour of Hahnemann’s 50th Jubilee, 1829.

(g) A letter from the Town Clerk, Mr.Kietz. A letter from the town clerk, Mr.kietz:

My dear Dr.Haubold,

I promised you a valuable contribution for the Committee for the Erection of a Hahnemann monument. With the sanction of the Collegii I have made an attested copy of the original manuscript of the defensive representation of the late Dr. hahnemann against the local apothecaries, which he wrote on account of the prohibition to dispense his own remedies which was handed in, in the year 1820, to the Town Council. i have taken the original from the Documents and hand it over to you herewith for the faithful deposition under the pedestal of the celebrated man. May it be carefully protected form destructive influences, and be handed down and read by later generations as a documentum are perennius when no successor will remember:–

Acta h. No. 1224, The local apothecaries Heinrich Adolph Tascchner, u. Cons. c/a Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, against dispensing of medicinal remedies.

Handed in to the Town Council of Leipsic in the year 1820.

Your, Ad, Tr. KIETZ.

V. Rathhse.

May 8th 1851.

(h) A copy of Hahnemann’s Seal.

(i) A page of the “Neue Leipsiger Zeitung,” of May 22nd, 1851.

(k) Documents by Meyer and those here named. The document by Meyer contains as already stated the communication of the laying of the Foundation Stone, signed by Dr. Mellicher, Dr. Haubold and Dr. V. Meyer.

(l) finally, the invitation sent to the Physicians and laymen to take part in the Assembly of the Hom. Central Association of Leipsic on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of August of the year when the Hahnemann monument is to be unveiled.

The erection of the monument was resolved upon on August 10th, 1847, in Berlin, and the undersigned received the commission for its execution.

Hahnemann was modelled by Karl Steinhauser in a sitting position and reproduced in galvano-plastic bronze by Dr. Emil Braun (both in Rome). The statue stands on a marble pedestal surrounded by an iron railing, and is to be placed in the City of Science, Art and Commerce– Leipsic– which has joyfully granted a place for the monument. It shall be erected on this foundation stone. Friends of homoeopathy form all parts of the world have sent contributions for this purpose so that the master may honoured.

Leipsic. May 23rd, 1851.

(L.S) DR. FRANK XAVER MELICHER, of Berlin, Director of the Homoeopathic Central Association. Architect to the Court Stieler of Berlin, DR. C. HAUBOLD DR. F. RUMMEL, Medical Assessor.

SUPPLEMENT 250

EXTRACTS FROM RUMMEL’S CELEBRATION SPEECH FOR THE UNVEILING OF HAHNEMANN’S MONUMENT.

Richard Haehl
Richard M Haehl 1873 - 1932 MD, a German orthodox physician from Stuttgart and Kirchheim who converted to homeopathy, travelled to America to study homeopathy at the Hahnemann College of Philadelphia, to become the biographer of Samuel Hahnemann, and the Secretary of the German Homeopathic Society, the Hahnemannia.

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