The whole homoeopathic world is grieved and saddened by the death of Frederica E.Gladwin, which occurred on May 7.
Dr. Gladwin was one of those rare souls who combined in her makeup a grasp of the great principles of Hahnemann in no small measure with the missionary spirit and the power to give of her knowledge to others. It was given her to sound the depths of homoeopathic philosophy, and particularly given her the powder to apply those principles to the healing of the sick. Dr. Gladwin was one of the greatest teachers that our school of medicine has possessed.
Reared in the rural part of Connecticut, from an ancestry rich in family traditions and with the true New England love of learning, she spent herself in preparation for the work of teaching; then grasping the wonderful truths of homoeopathy, she pressed on and made herself a physician where she attained great success in her profession. She studied under Kent and became one of his greatest followers. Probably no one in this country had her knowledge of the repertory, having worked with Dr. Kent in helping to prepare it.
She was one of the founders of the American Foundation for Homoeopathy and became a Trustee of that Foundation, where she served for several years. She taught the use of the repertory in every session but on of the Foundation Post-Graduate School, and was only absent for that period because she had been called, by special request, to attend the London Homoeopathic Congress in order to present a paper before that body on the repertory. In her position as teacher in the Post-Graduate School her ability was fully demonstrated, in spite of her extreme deafness, a handicap that would have spoiled the life of many a weaker individual.
She was a woman of lovable character and personality, with a clear determination to do that which was right and to help the cause of homoeopathy to her utmost. While teaching in the Post- Graduate School one summer she found a one cent piece on the sidewalk as she left the classroom. Characteristic of her interest in homoeopathy and her determination to let pass no opportunity for furthering the cause she loved, she picked up the penny with the remark that she was going to potentize it for the students of homoeopathy.
Through her manipulations of that one cent, and seeking contributions toward that end of “potentizing” the original penny, she was able to create a loan scholarship fund of about 800 for the use of the students. This was to a large extent done by the odd change in the pocketbooks of her down patients, for not only was Dr.Gladwin a teacher to medical students, but she never failed to try to instil some understanding of homoeopathic principles into her patients.
Her attitude, personally and homoeopathically, was well summed up in an admonition which she wrote for The Recorder in 1928:.
“Are you one who carries a chip on his shoulder for those who do not see the homoeopathic truth as you see it? Knock it off yourself immediately and forget it. Concentrate your thought on the truth of homoeopathy as you have found it. Make it so vivid that all the world must get the vision but even then dont expect all to register it alike. When a ray of light is thrown upon a diamond it flashes back red or blue or gold but the diamond remains steadfastly clear.”.
It is not give to many to leave so profound an impress of their personality upon Hahnemannian homoeopathy but Dr. Gladwin gave to the world a demonstration of the true loveliness of the jewel which is entrusted to our care and keeping.- H.A.R.
Since the time of Hahnemann, and indeed, by his pointing the way, the homoeopathic school has constantly felt the urge to work from the crude drug to higher potencies. This urge was prompted by the effects, which were more prompt and far-reaching as the potencies mounted. Hahnemann, during the latter part of his life, used the 30th potency, which was as high as had ever been attempted at that time. Since then the followers of Hahnemann have constantly gone forward in the upward reach of the potencies until all crude substance has been eliminated from the menstrum, as far as human ability to detect can be exercised.
For years the Hahnemannians have realized this gap between the known and the unknown-known by the action of the higher potencies, but as yet unknown by demonstration. There has naturally arisen a question among many as to the why and wherefore of the action of the higher potencies; it has not been enough to know that the higher potencies do act, but there has been a worthy desire that this be demonstrable from the physical point of view,
Undoubtedly it has been the back of an answer to this question that has kept the vast majority of medical men, in their honest search for light, from looking upon the higher potencies except with scepticism. Possibly it has been due to the inability of many minds to penetrate the seemingly inanimate realm of matter, and the silence of the laboratories on this question, that has held back many honest seekers from the use of the potencies; and it is undoubtedly due to this that so many of the graduates of homoeopathic medical colleges see their way to deal with the lower potencies only, since the trend of the colleges today in to deal with what may be demonstrated by laboratory methods rather than to test by result.
In this issue of The Homoeopathic Recorder we are printing an epoch-making article by Dr.Guy Beckley Stearns on The Physics of High Dilutions. We trust that this will be thoughtfully studied by the Hahnemannian, the “low potency men”, and the intelligent students and honest thinkers of the ordinary school of medicine, for it throws an illuminating light upon the question which has been a stumbling-block to many searchers.
Allan D. Sutherland was born in Northfield, Vermont in 1897, delivered by the local homeopathic physician. The son of a Canadian Episcopalian minister, his father had arrived there to lead the local parish five years earlier and met his mother, who was the daughter of the president of the University of Norwich. Four years after Allan’s birth, ministerial work lead the family first to North Carolina and then to Connecticut a few years afterward.
Starting in 1920, Sutherland began his premedical studies and a year later, he began his medical education at Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia.
Sutherland graduated in 1925 and went on to intern at both Children’s Homeopathic Hospital and St. Luke’s Homeopathic Hospital. He then was appointed the chief resident at Children’s. With the conclusion of his residency and 2 years of clinical experience under his belt, Sutherland opened his own practice in Philadelphia while retaining a position at Children’s in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.
In 1928, Sutherland decided to set up practice in Brattleboro.