History of Homeopathy - Decline of homeopathy from most knowledgeable person
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 7:35 pm
Decline of homeopathy from most knowledgeable person
From Julian Winston, famous homeopathy historian (who died 9+ years
ago and miss im so!)
The decline in homeopathy in the USA was precipitated by many
factors. The major factor that I see was the complete failure on the
part of the homeopathic schools to teach *homeopathy*. They were,
almost to a school, teaching pure therapeutics (use this for that)
and not teaching any principles or structure. They were also teaching
allopathic therapeutics at the same time.
When those who graduated tried using the little they were taught
they, more often than not, met with failure, and fell back onto
allopathic therapeutics.
Yes... it was "mongrel" but in the sense that they had no sufficient
background and certainly mixed their therapeutics.
The only schools in the 1890s who were teaching *the method* were
Dunham and Hering in Chicago. BY the time it all started to go under
in the 1920s, those few who were interested in learning the *method*
attended the 6 week Post Graduate instruction from the American
Foundation. Most of the teachers (at the beginning) were graduates of
either Dunham, Hering, or Kent's Postgraduate School.
I am presently working on a database of American Homeopaths. In 1925,
the AIH published a director of homeopathic practitioners in the USA.
There were 8,720 names listed. Of the list, only 527 of the folks
trained prior to 1880-- the time when it all started downhill.
Another directory was issued in 1941. There were 6,937 names in
there. of them, only 3,500 remained from the 1925 listing. What
happened to the other 5,200? Certainly a number of them died, but not all.
My assumption is that they were poorly trained in homeopathy. They
got out of school between 1900 and 1924. They began practice. And by
the time 1941 rolled around, there were a bunch who stopped the
practice of homeopathy because they had no success with it, or found
no support network to help them.
Allen Sutherland graduated from Hahnenmann Philadelphia in 1925. He
had no success in his practice. At one point he met HA Roberts who
took him under wing and got him to go to the Postgrad course of the
AFH. If it wasn't for THAT meeting, Sutherland would have drifted
into allopathy.
George Nitsche graduated Hahnemann in 1938. He loved homeopathy. He
had some instruction from Calvin Knerr. But he had to do his
residency, and he went to a hospital in Minnesota. There he found no
one to talk to about homeopathy and no support. He put away his kit
(which I now have) and became an allopath.
It is a typical story.
THAT is what shut homeopathy down in the USA-- not the fighting
between the "highs" and the "lows" but poor education.
The piece of homeopathy that survived was kept alive by those who
WERE doing it-- Roberts, Grimmer, Hayes, Pulford, Green, Neiswander
(the elder), Rabe-- and they kept their patients happy. But when THAT
group died, there was almost nothing left. The supportive patients,
finding no one nearby, drifted into allopathy, or bought themselves
homeopathic kits and tried their best.
JW
From Julian Winston, famous homeopathy historian (who died 9+ years
ago and miss im so!)
The decline in homeopathy in the USA was precipitated by many
factors. The major factor that I see was the complete failure on the
part of the homeopathic schools to teach *homeopathy*. They were,
almost to a school, teaching pure therapeutics (use this for that)
and not teaching any principles or structure. They were also teaching
allopathic therapeutics at the same time.
When those who graduated tried using the little they were taught
they, more often than not, met with failure, and fell back onto
allopathic therapeutics.
Yes... it was "mongrel" but in the sense that they had no sufficient
background and certainly mixed their therapeutics.
The only schools in the 1890s who were teaching *the method* were
Dunham and Hering in Chicago. BY the time it all started to go under
in the 1920s, those few who were interested in learning the *method*
attended the 6 week Post Graduate instruction from the American
Foundation. Most of the teachers (at the beginning) were graduates of
either Dunham, Hering, or Kent's Postgraduate School.
I am presently working on a database of American Homeopaths. In 1925,
the AIH published a director of homeopathic practitioners in the USA.
There were 8,720 names listed. Of the list, only 527 of the folks
trained prior to 1880-- the time when it all started downhill.
Another directory was issued in 1941. There were 6,937 names in
there. of them, only 3,500 remained from the 1925 listing. What
happened to the other 5,200? Certainly a number of them died, but not all.
My assumption is that they were poorly trained in homeopathy. They
got out of school between 1900 and 1924. They began practice. And by
the time 1941 rolled around, there were a bunch who stopped the
practice of homeopathy because they had no success with it, or found
no support network to help them.
Allen Sutherland graduated from Hahnenmann Philadelphia in 1925. He
had no success in his practice. At one point he met HA Roberts who
took him under wing and got him to go to the Postgrad course of the
AFH. If it wasn't for THAT meeting, Sutherland would have drifted
into allopathy.
George Nitsche graduated Hahnemann in 1938. He loved homeopathy. He
had some instruction from Calvin Knerr. But he had to do his
residency, and he went to a hospital in Minnesota. There he found no
one to talk to about homeopathy and no support. He put away his kit
(which I now have) and became an allopath.
It is a typical story.
THAT is what shut homeopathy down in the USA-- not the fighting
between the "highs" and the "lows" but poor education.
The piece of homeopathy that survived was kept alive by those who
WERE doing it-- Roberts, Grimmer, Hayes, Pulford, Green, Neiswander
(the elder), Rabe-- and they kept their patients happy. But when THAT
group died, there was almost nothing left. The supportive patients,
finding no one nearby, drifted into allopathy, or bought themselves
homeopathic kits and tried their best.
JW