It happened that at this time Hahnemann advanced his theory of psor which met with considerable opposition. Hering, who with all his great veneration for Hahnemann, held to his own judgment, often said he could not follow Hahnemann in his theories, while adopting all of his practical rules, he could not help acknowledging the great results obtained from the action of the psoric remedies in the treatment of leprosy.
He made the acquaintance in Paramaribo of a German physician, Dr. Bute, who became his student, and later came to Philadelphia to cope with an epidemic of cholera which raged there at that time. Soon after, Dr. Bute called Hering to his aid, the latter reluctantly leaving his practice to come north. In order to leave a souvenir to the missionaries who had assisted him in making his experiments and in the care of the sick and to enable them to prescribe for themselves as first aid, he wrote his Domestic Physician, which translated into many languages reached an enormous circulation.
He founded the Hahnemannian Society in Philadelphia, and two years later, in 1835, at Allentown, Pa., with Drs. Wesselhoeft, Detwiller, Freytag, Rev. John Helfrich and other German friends, the North American Academy for the Homoeopathic Healing Art. This was the first educational institution for homoeopathy in the world. It was now that Hering more thoroughly became organizer and tactician. The enterprise failed partly because finances had to come from private sources; but mainly, through the dishonesty of a bank official.
Hering strove manfully, offering all his mental and financial resources, which were limited, to help the cause, and a certain amount of good sprang from the failure. Homoeopathy became known, general interest was aroused among the American people who were not so heavily burdened with prejudices. The scientific works on homoeopathy were translated into English and made accessible to American physician.
Hering continued to practise, wrote books, taught indefatigably, in order with his earnings, to further the cause and promote his ideas. In 1848 he founded the Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. What mattered the thirteen years of uncertainty, opposition, scanty means and care? A born leader is needed to weather so many years of war, unshakeable faith in his inner powers, and a belief in God such as Hering possessed.
The homoeopathic institutions in Philadelphia today represent a value of several millions. Material derived from more than fifty thousand patients furnished seventy professors with the opportunity to instruct about three hundred students clinically in the most modern way. About 3,500 students have graduated from these institutions and become pioneers to carry the work of Hahnemann into all parts of the world.
Later there followed the establishment of homoeopathic colleges and hospitals in Boston, St. Louis, Cleveland, Chicago and New York. Today there are 107 hospitals and colleges in America. This statement does not hold at the present time. – ED. At first there were established by private aid, later the government lent its support.
It cannot be said that Hering was one sided. At the age of seventy he founded a surgical hospital. His interest extended to institutions for the insane, lying-in hospitals, and county hospitals for the poor. In 1892, twelve years after his death, the Hering Institute was established in Chicago.
With all the numerous demands upon his time he was devoted to his family and remained true to his fatherland. A certain steadfastness was manifest in his matrimonial relations. He was married three times. His first wife died in Surinam, his second in Philadelphia. In 1833 when coming to this city, on his way to Germany, once more to visit his old home, he met Marianna Husmann who became his second wife who bore him two children, Max and Odelia. After her death he resolved to continue his journey to the fatherland, where in 1845 in Bautzen he married Therese Buchheim, the daughter of a physician.
In all he had thirteen children. His last wife outlived him a number of years. She was a true helpmate, mother, and companion who sustained him in his manifold labors. In this respect Hering had a happier life than his master Hahnemann for his second wife, Madame Melanie Hahnemann, a French woman, though likewise a clever and competent helper, in whose care he must have taken comfort in his last years, did not have the qualities of heart possessed by Therese Buchheim. This, however, is not the place to go further into the matter.
In other ways, also, Hahnemann might have had cause to envy his disciple, and so wrote in his letters to him. He congratulated him upon his living in the “land of liberty, action and newness,” where his activity was not hampered by restraint and the opposition even of those amongst ones closest colleagues. Hering knew how to appreciate his freedom because he had the proper insight into it. With the genuine high-minded skill of a general leading in battle against spirits he spoke the words: “May it grow green, flourish, blossom and ripen true fruit of freedom, ever hand in hand with law and order and the real science that never comes in conflict with religion and morals”.
In this purity of mind and sincerity he was enabled to push his methods of the utmost to arrive at his goal. He organized fairs and bazaars and entertainments to collect funds for the building of a hospital. His fertile imagination, active in all directions, served him well. He had an inexhaustible talent for writing, not only scientific works, but also novels, poems, fairy tales and verses for songs. He excelled in satire, always employed for the good of the cause, never to injure. In his scientific books there is always to be discovered a grain of Attic salt giving flavor to even the driest material.
As a teacher he excelled in the use of the most characteristic methods. With many a student to whom he wished to make a subject clear, he closed himself until the knowledge was hammered into his head. To students from strange races to whom access to colleges was then made difficult, he was particularly kind and helpful, often inviting them to his home to instruct them.
In a two fold manner, Hering has been compared to Lincoln. Like Lincoln he wished to see slavery abolished, and in another sense he may be said to have freed humanity from the bondage of sickness.
It was not science only that he taught to his students. He aimed to help them to form their characters. Philosophic subtleties he disregarded. His philosophy must be understood by shoemaker and tailor.
Upon himself he made great demands, but in himself he showed great humility. He made his bed in his study, surrounded by many notes and his writing material. When the drawn awoke him he must have everything at hand. At sunrise his soul was uplifted to God. He then, after preparing for himself his morning beverage, over a small flame, began his work. He joined his family at breakfast only twice a year, at Christmas and on New Years day, his birthday. Thus in the performance of his manifold activities as practising physician, humanitarian, and writer he became the “Father of Homoeopathy” in America. He was the recipient of countless honors on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary of doctor of medicine, and on the celebration of his eightieth birthday. He was always modest and retiring and constantly active.
In his eighty-first year, on July 23, 1880, he passed out while engaged in work upon the third volume of his Guiding Symptoms. Only a few hours before, he had prescribed for a patient in his office. In one of the memorial addresses it is remarked, “He who never rested, rests!” It may be said of him that he was the embodiment of unrest in the pursuit of the development of the new healing art.
He deservedly has the honour of spreading homoeopathy in America, admitting that conditions there were quite other than here. While there had been German homoeopaths over there before him they were far behind Constantine Hering in creative force and organizing ability. His outward unrest was counterbalanced by his deep inner repose. He was a plain, pious man who stood in the radiance that came from his God, and allowed himself to be filled by it. Commit Thy Ways Unto Him (Befiehl Du deine Wege) was his favorite hymn. When asked if he believed in a future life he replied: “If this were not so I would not care to live.” So he continues to live according to his belief and law, and he lives in our remembrance and in that of all those for whom he labored.
Once more I greet the beautiful town of Oschatz which today is about to honor her famous son in so fine and fitting a manner. Gratitude is a virtue of posterity. It is true gratitude to trace the vents that have happened in our own homes and to live over again the deeds of our citizens. To the honor of generals we erect monuments; poets are immortalized in all ways. Constantine Hering belonged to both classes. His great fight is not heralded by loud rumor. His instruments of war were different. As he was wont to write in his delicate yet manly handwriting, “Die milde Macht ist gross” (mild power is great), by which he meant the power of the finely prepared infinitesimal homoeopathic potencies. We also understand by it the all healing power of a pure heart, and the power of Christian love. May it radiate hence forward on you from above, upon your city, upon our German fatherland. God grant it.
