THE RISE OF HOMEOPATHY
By LUCY STONE HERTZOG, M. D.
In the course of correspondence
concerning this paper, Dr.
Frederick Waite wrote me: One of the
questions is, "What was
the previous relation of those who
became homeopaths in the
early era?" All the homeopathic
histories stress the point that
many of the homeopaths had previously
been in regular medicine
but he was unable to prove this true,
except of only a small
minority. Dr. Waite also raised the
question, "Whence come the
homeopaths" and advanced the idea
that the great majority are
lineal descendants from the Thomsonians
and Eclectics. Worthy
as these sources may be as ancestry,
nothing could be further
from the truth. Complete statistics on
the medical background
of all the individual homeopaths would
be difficult to procure--
but the facts concerning these earlier
days are matters of authentic
record to be found in the libraries of
our colleges in New York
and Philadelphia.
It seems fitting to answer these questions
as a logical start-
ing point in order that the early years
of Homeopathy in Ohio
may be presented with proper background,
in a truthful and or-
derly manner with appropriate
continuity.
Homeopathy is truly "the lengthened
shadow of one man."
It stems from but one source, the
founder, Samuel Christian Fred-
rich Hahnemann, born in Meissen,
Germany, in 1755. His father
was a painter on porcelain in the royal
establishment at Meissen.
He may seem remote from us but he has
been and still is a
very vibrant, vital influence in
medicine. His problems were in-
tensely human, so that we can feel close
to the precocious boy,
the first born of a large family, who
thirsted and hungered for
education in the face of extreme
poverty. He made himself a
little lamp of clay and used forbidden
oil to study while others
slept. His wise father must have divined
the possibilities in this
(332)
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 333
child for no matter where he was or what
he was doing, at a
certain time he always left saying,
"I must go home and give my
boy his lesson in thinking." In
their walks, he taught him nature.
He urged upon him the importance of
finding a reason for every-
thing.
When his father could no longer pay his
tuition in school, a
devoted teacher asked the privilege of
directing his intellectual
training until he was twenty. During
these years he became a
marvelous linguist, being adept in
English, French, German, Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Arabic.
Against his father's wishes
he decided to study medicine and this he
did with the assistance
of only twenty crowns from home. He
taught French and German
and translated books to pay his bills.
Every other night he sat
up all night to study. His remarkable
linguistic ability enabled
him to translate many important medical
works in later years.
The student ripened into a profound
scholar with an un-
usually logical mind. Hahnemann became
an expert chemist of
world-wide reputation. He insisted that
all drugs must be pure
to be effective. His insistence upon the
purity of mineral drugs
remained an innovation into the next
century. In 1793 he ad-
vocated the manufacture of tinctures
from fresh plants which
was the last word in practical
chemistry.
He voiced strong disapproval of the
universal purgation of
that day, of the blood-letting, used
often in hemorrhages, until
the patient fainted or died. Today they
would get transfusions.
He condemned severely the administration
of mercury until the
teeth fell out of the jaw. Today all the
world agrees with him.
Hahnemann unchained the insane and
demanded decent treatment
for them. He fought a bitter fight for
cleanliness in obstetrics.
He stood alone in expounding the need
for quarantine and public
sanitation in checking epidemics, and he
condemned hand-shaking,
kissing and using the same drinking
vessels. He advocated pre-
ventive medicine and mechanical
cleanliness in sick room and
hospital. He stressed baths, massage,
pure air, proper clothing
and hygiene for young and old, but above
all, diet. He was par-
ticularly anxious to discover the causes
of disease and remove
them. All of this is old stuff today but
in 1790
it was startling,
334
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
revolutionary and led inevitably to
persecution. As one of the
Mayo's said, "He was 100 years
ahead of his time."
In his day prescriptions of the most
revolting mixtures and
dangerous drugs were assembled numbering
anywhere from sixty
to 200 ingredients in one prescription.
The progress of modern
medicine in all schools toward smaller,
more accurate, much more
pleasant dosage began with Hahnemann's
fight on this one point
when he denounced the messes and the
apothecaries who concocted
them. His was the revolt of a thinking
man against the tyranny
of tradition, ignorance, bigotry,
intolerance, and medical aggres-
sion.
Hahnemann's logical and scholarly mind
rebelled at giving
unknown medical combinations to people
whose physical condition
no one understood fully. So he decided
to try drugs on himself
in order to learn at first-hand their
effect on a healthy person.
The nature of the work he was
translating at the time, led him to
take first Cinchona bark. It was the one
drug of that age that
was known to produce results, and on
Hahnemann it brought
startling results for it produced in him
the chill, fever and sweat
distinctive of the ague that Cinchona
was curing.
Hahnemann hoped and believed he had
chanced upon one of
nature's facts--a law or principle of
cure to the effect that a drug
would cure a disease similar to the
symptoms produced on a
healthy person by taking that drug. By
this proving Hahnemann
rediscovered the law of similars the
truth of which had always
existed--used even by savages, long
before Hahnemann, and it
will always exist--even though organized
Homeopathy becomes
a thing of the past. The doctrine has
been referred to in every
century of recorded medical thought.
Claudius Galen and Hip-
pocrates used "Helleboris which
caused mania, to cure mania."
This law is illustrated in the common
knowledge of the value
of heat for burns and cold for frost
bites.
The word "homeopathy" is derived
from Greek words mean-
ing like and disease, and is used as an
adjective by scholars and
writers to describe things
infinitesimally small. Homeopathy is
simply a method of treating the sick in
accordance with its formula
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 335
"similia similibus
curentur"--let similars be
treated by similars,
rather than by "contraria."
Hahnemann studied and experimented for
sixteeen years
before announcing his discovery, in the
first edition of his
Organon, published in 1810. It has been
translated into many
languages, and ran through five
editions.
Hahnemann insisted that drug action can
only be learned by
proving on healthy human subjects. He
contended that to treat
the sick scientifically and homeopathically,
but one remedy should
be used, and that in the minimum dose to
cure and not aggravate.
Hahnemann gave accurate instruction in
case taking, individual-
izing the case. The homeopath might give
a different remedy to
each of a number of cases of cough.
Hahnemann taught that the action of the
homeopathically
administered remedy is due to its power
of stimulating the cells
of the body to curative reactions. His
terms "dynamis" and
"spirit-like force" are the
equivalent of the modern term "vital
function of cells" and his logic
could have been written by a
modern immunologist. Bacteriology,
immunology, and allergy
have given substantiation to Homeopathy.
Vitamins and hormones
illustrate the potency of the minute
dose--the infinitesimal, that
the body works with. Antitoxins, serums,
and vaccines confirm
Homeopathy.
The modern Arndt-Schulz law which is
accepted by leading
medical thinkers is only another way of
stating Hahnemann's pri-
mary and secondary action of drugs. It
has been suggested that
this may prove to be the common ground
where minds of all
medical schools may meet, eventually, in
their need for a medical
principle in selecting a remedy.
Homeopathy and other methods
of drug therapy are not incompatible.
They may be comple-
mentary. Hahnemann never claimed to have
inaugurated an all-
sufficient law of cure.
The great reformation in medicine
brought about by Hahne-
mann's rebellion against the medical
orthodoxy of his day is not
appreciated solely by his immediate
followers. Queen Victoria's
physician said: Homeopathy is the remote
if not immediate cause
of more important fundamental changes in
the practice of the
336 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
healing art than any since Galen
himself. Sir William Osler fre-
quently said that no one individual had
done more good to the
medical profession than Hahnemann. A
long list of old school
clinicians such as Richard Clarke Cabot,
Benjamin Rush, Roberts
Bartholow, Jacob da Silva Solis Cohen
and Rudolf Virchow have
inadvertently advocated homeopathic
therapeutics.
In Hering Laboratory a file covering
five years from 1930 to
1935 shows 1200 references
substantiating homeopathic doctrines
in general practice from old school
sources.
As a profession we are growing more
tolerant, and we need
to. There have always been detractors of
every great leader of
any innovation in medicine. It took
fifty years for the doctors
to accept William Harvey's discovery of
the circulation of the
blood. They called him demented and he
lost his big practice,
and his life was in danger. Michael
Servetus who advanced the
same ideas was burned at the stake for
it in 1553. In this very
epoch, Ignaz Philipp Semmelweiss of
Budapest -- 1847 -- made
students wash their hands before going
into the obstetric wards,
in chloride of lime. Mortality dropped
but he was so persecuted
by the doctors he became insane. At the
same time Oliver Wendell
Holmes here, asserted child-bed fever
was contagious and trans-
mitted by the hands. He was ridiculed
and abused. So it is not
strange that Hahnemann was attacked on
all sides.
He lectured at the University of Leipsic
from 1812
to 1821
--and for a time was court physician.
During this time the
doctors and publishers determined to get
rid of him by fair
means or foul. A brilliant young medical
student Constantine
Hering was given the job, to get his
man. So he proceeded to
study every phase of his work and
philosophy. To the amaze-
ment of those who had hoped for
something different, he became
a convert to Hahnemann's teaching and
upon graduation his thesis
was entitled "Future
Medicine," a delineation of Homeopathy
completely in its favor. Hering came to
Philadelphia in 1833
and under his able leadership Hahnemann
College came into being.
Hahnemann's marvelous cures with single
remedies naturally
maddened the apothecaries, robbed of
their prescription revenues
--consequently they accused him of
breaking the law by dispensing
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858
337
his own medicine, and won their case in
court. Thus he was
forbidden to prepare or dispense his own
medicine in Saxony.
Denied the right to practice medicine he
left Leipsic, reduced to
poverty, hounded from town to town with
his family, yet he
persisted to tell the truth by pen,
precept and example. Gradually,
disciples gathered to his support and in
a quiet little town in
Germany under the protection of the
reigning duke, he studied
intensively, while patients came to him
from all over Europe,
because of the fame of his cures.
Hahnemann's last marriage was
to a pupil and patient, a titled French
woman. Through her in-
fluence he received a royal ordinance
granting him permission
to practice in Paris. At the age of
ninety, covered with honor
and glory, having kept the faith and
fought a good fight, he
departed this life.
Hahnemann had published seventy original
works on chemis-
try and medicine and had translated as
many at least into French,
Latin and English. He left ten volumes
of provings, among them
the story of ninety-nine drugs proved on
his own body. It is to
this brilliant medical pioneer, reformer
and teacher, Samuel
Hahnemann, whose name deserves to be
ranked among the im-
mortals in medicine, that Homeopathy
owes its existence, its prin-
ciples, its philosophy, and its law of
cure, and to no other source.
He had as lasting effect in the realm of
medicine as Louis
Pasteur, Lord Joseph Lister, Edward
Jenner and Harvey had
in other fields. All alike suffered
persecution.
"God sends his messengers to every
race and age
Illuminati, bearers of the light;
And here and there upon the dismal page
of history,
celestial, bright
Their names shine forth."
Homeopathy quickly found its way to
America, only fifty
years after the signing of the
Declaration of Independence. Hans
Burch Gram born in Boston, a Dane, went
to Copenhagen at the
age of eighteen to look after the family
estate. His uncle, then
physician to the king, encouraged him to
study medicine and so
338
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
gifted was he that he graduated from the
Copenhagen University
with the three highest honors it could
confer. Hearing of the
work of Hahnemann he studied, and
adopted it, and brought it to
America in 1825, the first direct line
from Hahnemann, just ten
years before the epoch we are
considering.
Gram's first converts were Drs. John F.
Gray and Thomas
Bellerby Wilson, medical students of
Drs. David Hosack and
Valentine Mott, who never forgave them
for their action nor for
their success. The prominent Dr. Federal
Vandenberg, who be-
came a convert, tells the story of a man
patient of his with a
toe set at right angles with his foot by
a contraction of the tendon.
He and Mott had advised him to have it
divided but the man
would have none of it. A month later he
met the man on the
street entirely cured who said Gram had
given him some sugar
pellets the size of a mustard seed which
had done the trick.
Cures which seemed miraculous except to
a homeopath
brought converts, and they were
graduates of the best universities
of Europe and of the allopathic schools
in America. They had to
be--because there were no homeopathic
schools. They were mem-
bers of identical societies and hospital
staffs.
Hahnemann himself was elected by ballot
in 1828 to mem-
bership in the New York Academy of
Medicine and the reason
given was that he was the founder of
Homeopathy. He is still
an honorary member.
It is difficult to understand why these
physicians who adopted
Homeopathy were so persecuted by their
fellows who saw red
and foamed at the mouth at the idea. All
homeopaths were barred
from membership in county societies,
hence from license to prac-
tice in those days, therefore they were
forced to organize to pro-
tect themselves and their patients. It
was not the wish nor inten-
tion of homeopathic physicians to form a
separate school. It was
the persecution of those bitter days,
and the action of the state in
extending equal protection to all of its
citizens that forced the
issue. For today physicians of all
schools hold their right to
practice from the state and not from a
medical society that could
be prejudiced.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY,
1835-1858 339
This freedom possessed by all schools
today we owe to the
rugged courage of those old homeopaths
who fought and won
their rights; that broke up the cliques
that decided what their
confreres should think and what medicine
they should or should
not prescribe.
The second direct line to the United
States from Hahnemann
came through his pupil Dr. Johann Ernst
Stapf. Because of
trouble in Saxony a number of
self-exiled physicians came to
America and settled in Northampton
County, Pennsylvania. All
were well educated in German
universities, not a quack or preten-
der among them. They often gathered
together, and on one
occasion Dr. Conrad Wesselhoeft showed
the others some books
and a box of homeopathic remedies sent
him by Stapf in Germany.
They were deeply interested and studied
and adopted Homeopathy.
When Constantine Hering came to
Philadelphia, being a born
leader of men, he organized these
brilliant German homeopaths
into a school at Allentown,
Pennsylvania, the first homeopathic
school in the United States which was
parent institution of twenty-
two homeopathic colleges, including
Hahnemann at Philadelphia.
Homeopathy grew step by step with the
young state of
Ohio and both became strong. A Dr. Cope
had come in 1836
to practice in the vicinity of Plymouth,
Richland County. He
must have been a believer in highly
diluted drugs, administering
only a single dose, repeating it in two
weeks if such "radical"
treatment were required. It is recorded
that he made remarkable
cures and had a large practice.
Tradition has it that a German doc-
tor settled in Delaware County about
this same time and treated
his patients with "very little
pills and whose habit in typhoid cases
was to give the patient one dose and
return at the end of a week
to see how it was working." These
men had the courage and
faith of their convictions.
Dr. William Sturm began practice in 1839
in Cincinnati. He
was educated in Germany, and was a
personal student of Hahne-
mann. He was first of the long line of
fine homeopaths in that
region. His skill and success gave him
fame and a large practice
all through the Ohio River Valley. The
second to come down the
river to Cincinnati under the
homeopathic banner was Joseph
340
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
H. Pulte in 1840. He was one of the
founders of the Allentown
Academy, the son of a distinguished
physician. He was a notable
physician of great learning and a
prolific writer. One of his books
on domestic practice reached the seventh
edition, and was trans-
lated into several foreign languages. He
translated many German
homeopathic works into English. It is
said of him that once when
a distinguished Greek visited the city,
Pulte was the only citizen
to be found able to converse with the
foreigner in his native
tongue. He was later the founder of
Pulte College.
Benjamin Ehrmann, whose father and
grandfather were
physicians in Germany, a graduate of
Allentown Academy, joined
the tide of western emigration and
became the partner of Pulte.
In 1849 an epidemic of Asiatic cholera
scourged the West. Along
with Pulte and Ehrmann worked Edwin C.
Wetherell, a New
York graduate who had spent some time in
the hospitals of Lon-
don and Paris, and Dr. F. A. Davis, who
had studied with Pulte,
who opened a free dispensary for the
cholera victims. Dr. James
G. Hunt, Dr. William Peck and a Dr.
Price--members of the
orthodox school, were converted to
Homeopathy because pri-
marily, it was so extremely successful
in curing this cholera.
During the cholera epidemic, the
homeopaths somehow did
not know about making reports to the
authorities as did the allo-
paths and Pulte and Ehrmann were haled
before the mayor for
trial--but were dismissed--the health
board not being lawfully
organized. At this time the editor of a
religious paper, being a
minister and also an orthodox physician
became irritated and irked
at the amazing results of homeopathic
practice, so he proceeded
to rip them up in his paper. The
homeopaths answered him
gentlemanly but firmly to no effect.
After the abuse had gone
far enough the grateful citizens of
Cincinnati formed an associa-
tion which appointed a committee to
investigate and report. As
a result, the homeopathic doctors were
exonerated, and the eminent
editor was asked to correct promptly his
published statement.
The period from 1849 to 1852 was very
important in the
history of Homeopathy in Ohio. The
Homeopathic Society of
Cincinnati, composed chiefly of laymen,
had a membership of
1,000. Its chief objectives were: to
vindicate Homeopathy, and
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 341
to uphold the truth regarding the
cholera epidemic; to petition
the General Assembly of 1849 for an act
establishing a homeo-
pathic college; to promulgate the
lectures delivered by Dr. Storm
Rosa at the Eclectic College in 1849;
and to organize a college in
Cleveland in 1850.
From the beginning many obstacles had
been thrown in the
path of progress of the homeopathic
practitioners in Cincinnati,
but in time of need this little bunch of
pioneers were offered
an educational home in the eclectic
school in that city. Dr. E. M.
Hale gives this narrative:
When the Eclectic Medical College was
organized it was understood
by the legislature that chartered it and
the original faculty, that it was to
be organized upon the broadest base of
pure Eclecticism. Drs. Morrow, Hill,
Gatchell and other able men were on the
faculty and Dr. Storm Rosa was
selected by the homeopaths of Ohio as a
suitable person to occupy the chair
of homeopathic practice. He had studied
medicine in New York, but after
practicing 25 years he began to
investigate homeopathy at the suggestion of
friends who had been helped by it and he
formally adopted it in 1843.
His labors in the Eclectic school mark
an era of homeopathy in the
west, and gave an impetus to the system
that is still felt. He had been
asked to prepare two courses of
lectures, but the first course had the effect
of converting not only one-third of the
class, but two of his most prominent
colleagues on the faculty--Drs. Hill and
Gatchell. This was a result not
relished by the Eclectic School and so
the Trustees formally abolished the
chair in 1850.
So thorough had been Rosa's teaching
that in the spring six
students received both eclectic and
homeopathic diplomas. These
were the first homeopathic diplomas
given in the West, and the
date preceded by nine days only, the
graduation of six men from
the Homeopathic Medical College of
Pennsylvania.
Just what the strong personality of Rosa
and the stronger
truths of Homeopathy had to do with the
decision of the board
of trustees may be left to the
imagination. A convention was
called at Columbus in 1851 to organize a
State Homeopathic So-
ciety. At that time and place Dr.
Benjamin L. Hill, a surgeon
of national reputation who had been
professor of anatomy and
surgery at the Eclectic Institute,
avowed his conversion to Homeo-
pathy and gave his reasons, later
published in a series of articles.
342
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Among other prominent eclectic graduates
who took up
Homeopathy about this time were: Dr.
William Owens, demon-
strator in the Eclectic Institute, later
holding the same position
in the Cleveland Homeopathic College,
and Dr. William Webster,
descendant of Noah and son of the
pioneer homeopath, Dr. Elias
Webster. He had settled in Middletown,
was converted to Homeo-
pathy by Rosa's teaching and later moved
to Dayton, where he
remained. Another, was the homeopathic
pioneer of Hamilton
County, Dr. Alfred Shepherd, who for
years was the only homeo-
path between Cincinnati and Dayton. Dr.
J. Beeman of Birming-
ham and Dr. T. W. Cuscaden of Lebanon
were the pioneers of
their districts. Dr. David H. Beckwith
who graduated at the
Eclectic Institute in 1849, later
settled in Cleveland.
The association of the homeopaths with
the Eclectic Institute
for the one year of 1849, added to the
fact that then and later,
so many other eclectics were converted
to Homeopathy, no doubt
explains the claims of outsiders that
the homeopaths stem from
Eclecticism.
Among others already mentioned of the
medical men of
the orthodox school who preferred
homeopathic practice in this
period were three from Cincinnati: Dr.
Jesse Garretson, Dr. John
Bigler and Dr. Gerald Saal, educated in
Germany. Dr. John Tifft
of Norwalk practiced Allopathy many
years before changing in
1852. After being an allopath for
twenty-five years, Dr. H. N.
Manter who was of superior literary and
medical education, began
practicing Homeopathy in Elyria. Dr.
Henry L. Sook said that
in 1844 a friend brought him a small
case of remedies and a
homeopathic book. He said: "Like
other simpletons I attempted
to make sport of the little pills, but
becoming convinced of their
superiority, I later studied the system
in opposition to all friends
and relatives." He graduated in
Homeopathy in Cleveland and
practiced at Pomeroy, Steubenville, and
Newark during his life.
Dr. E. W. Cowles, graduate of Jefferson
Medical College, became
a convert after practicing Allopathy for
thirteen years. He began
practicing Homeopathy in Cleveland in
1845.
Before this, Dr. R. E. W. Adams
introduced Homeopathy to
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 343
Cleveland in 1843. The next year, Dr.
Daniel O. Hoyt, an allo-
path, graduate of Dartmouth took up
Homeopathy and became a
partner of Adams. Dr. John Wheeler, also
a graduate of Dart-
mouth, became a convert after practicing
Allopathy twenty-seven
years. He was one of the best-known and
best-beloved of the
early homeopaths and was President of
the Cleveland Homeo-
pathic College many years. Dr. Alex H.
Burritt, graduate of
Physicians and Surgeons College in New
York, after practicing
Allopathy for nine years, visited his
relative, Dr. John Gray in
New York, saw his successes with
Homeopathy, and became a
convert. He was later appointed to the
chair of obstetrics in
1850
in Cleveland. Dr. Hamilton Ring graduated
at the Homeo-
pathic Medical College in 1851 and
located in Urbana.
Plans were begun in 1849 for a
homeopathic college in
Cleveland but they did not materialize
until the fall of 1850 when
the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical
College opened its doors in
a building at the corner of Prospect and
Ontario streets, with an
able faculty and a fine course of study
planned. It was the second
institution of its kind in America. It
was not the outgrowth of
any institution in the East--as claimed,
nor of any other school of
medical thought.
At the opening exercises a large,
enthusiastic, fashionable
audience greeted with cheers the opening
address of Prof. C. D.
Wiliams, who was to teach homeopathic
medicine. He was a
brilliant physician who had practiced a
number of years in New
York. It was he who drew up the charter
for the Western Homeo-
pathic College. Notable among the
teachers was Jehu Brainard,
A.M., M.D., a scholar with degrees from
many colleges. He now
taught the physical sciences, botany,
and anatomy--which he had
taught in other colleges. He was a
writer of note. He finally
removed to Washington, D. C., where he
helped get certain laws
repealed that had been passed by
Congress and which were ad-
verse and oppressive to the homeopathic
school. Dr. Storm Rosa
of Painesville, Ohio, who had made such
an impression with his
homeopathic teaching at the eclectic
school, was now called to
the chair of gynecology and obstetrics.
Dr. Benjamin Hill, the
344
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
surgeon, came from the eclectic school
to act as a founder of the
new school and to teach surgery. He
published a small domestic
medical book, The Epitome of the
Homeopathic Healing Art,
which ran through eighteen editions. In
1855-1856 James G.
Hunt came to teach surgery and with Hill
collaborated on an
outstanding book on surgery. Also in
that same year came Dr.
J. S. Douglas as professor of materia
medica. Douglas and Hill
proved black cohosh with great care on
forty students, male
and female. Hill finally went to
Nicaraugua as consul for one
year and served two terms in the State
legislature.
In the first year of the new school, Dr.
H. P. Gatchell came
from teaching in the Eclectic Institute
and was a tower of strength
to the institution. Dr. E. C. Wetherell
from New York, a man of
fine education and great ability held
the chair of anatomy eight
years. Dr. Lewis C. Dodge a man of
exceptional education taught
materia medica. Dr. John Wheeler, a man
of parts, was president
of the board of trustees during the
first ten years of the school's
existence and was always at the head of
the college directing and
advising its policy. He never shrank
from duty and when as-
sailed by enemies in the profession he
knew no fear.
In the first year the college had sixty
students. There were
then about fifty homeopathic physicians
in the State. During this
first year a disgraceful episode is
remembered regretfully by the
citizens of Cleveland. At that time
there was no proper provision
for bodies for the dissecting rooms.
They were provided by out-
side parties and sold to the medical
colleges. A grave was dis-
covered to have been robbed in a
Cleveland cemetery. This act
of vandalism created great excitement.
Probably because the
homeopathic school was newly started,
and so fresh in the public
mind, suspicion was directed at it.
Those interested easily got a
mob together to force an entrance and
search for the body. The
college doors were broken open, and the
mob became a riot. After
entering and searching fruitlessly, the
work of destruction began.
Windows were broken, extensive chemical
laboratories with con-
tents, were dismantled and destroyed.
The fine museum of Brain-
ard, the botanist, the result of years
of collection was entirely
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 345
destroyed. All anatomical models,
manikins, and charts were
ruined and every piece of furniture was
either thrown out of the
windows or carried away by the mob.
Several times the torch
was applied and it was only by excessive
effort the fire department
prevented the destruction of the
building. Just as the mob started
towards Williams' home to destroy it, a
force of State troops
appeared and quelled the riot. It was
later successfully proved
that the stolen body was never in the
homeopathic college. The
entire loss was sustained by the
faculty. They received no recom-
pense from the State or the city of
Cleveland.
In the spring there was a direct
reaction from the persecu-
tion during the winter and there came a
revival of good will of
the citizens, many of whom contributed
money with which the
trustees bought a building called the
Belvidere. In 1852 it was
deeded to the trustees. Many changes and
improvements were
made and the college moved into its new
home. There were now
required three years of study and two
courses of lectures--at a
cost of $99 per year.
Pulte came from Cincinnati to teach
clinical medicine but
finally took over gynecology and
obstetrics. Dr. John Ellis, an-
other of the strong men in Homeopathy,
the author of many
medical books was teacher of the
practice of medicine for six
years. The Beckwiths played important
parts in Homeopathy in
Cleveland. Dr. David H. Beckwith
graduated at the Eclectic
Institute in 1849, went East for
honorary degrees and settled in
Cleveland. In 1851-1852 he, with others,
had entire control of
the county buildings and they tested
thoroughly the comparative
methods of the two schools of medicine
in scarlet fever and
dysentery. The result was so favorable
to Homeopathy that the
old use of drugs was abolished. In the
next forty years it was
said of him that he rang more silver
door bells in Cleveland than
any other doctor in the city.
Dr. Seth R. Beckwith graduated from the
Cleveland Homeo-
pathic College in 1853 and located in
Norwalk. From there he
was called to teach surgical anatomy at
the college. He was the
surgeon of the railroads entering
Cleveland. He opened the first
346
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
organized hospital in Cleveland in
1856--the Cleveland Homeo-
pathic Hospital of twenty beds, on Lake
Street. Beckwith used
it for those injured on the railroads
and it was open to all surgical
cases. During 1855-1856 the name of the
college was changed to
the Western College of Homeopathy.
Including 1858, the years
of the college were successful in having
a strong faculty and
splendid graduating classes numbering
from twenty to thirty each
year.
In 1845 a homeopathic pharmacy was
opened in Cincinnati, an
agency for the Leipsic pharmacy in
Germany. In 1846 the first
homeopathic pharmacy was opened in
Cleveland at the corner of
Superior and the Public Square. A
homeopathic drug store was
opened in this epoch in Cleveland to be
owned eventually by
Beckwith and L. H. Witte.
During this epoch, the first woman to
practice medicine in
Ohio came to Cleveland in 1852, Dr. Myra
Merrick, educated in
medicine in Rochester, New York City and
New Haven, Con-
necticut. She was a great homeopath of
outstanding personality.
She was the first physician in Cleveland
to place her patients in
the Walcher position and hers was the
motive power behind the
Women's and Children's Dispensary, which
led eventually to the
present Women's Hospital in Cleveland.
All honor to the achievements of the
pioneer homeopaths.
Many more deserve special mention. There
were giants in those
days. The pioneers of all schools of
medical thought took their
religious and medical beliefs seriously,
militantly. With the
simplest equipment they became keen
observers, depending on
their senses, and their wits, instead of
instruments of precision.
They braved weather, no roads, danger,
ignorance, and primitive
conditions with salty courage and
resourcefulness in their battle
with the Grim Reaper when epidemics of
malaria, smallpox, dysen-
tery, and typhoid, raged. Each
generation is pioneer to the next.
Upon the work of these men was built the
medical structure of
today.