(1785-1864)
Clemens Maria Franz Baron
von Boenninghausen was one of the closest follower and friend of Hahnemann. He
was born in Netherlands on 12 March 1785, on the ancestral estate of
Heringhaven in Oberyssel. He was the son of Ludwig Ernest von Boenninghausen
and Theresia. He was a Baron by inheritance, a lawyer by profession and an
agriculturist by inclination.
His early life was spent in
the open, and he entered late upon his education; but after starting, his
progress was rapid. In 1806, he graduated from the Dutch university at
Groningen – degree of Doctor of Civil and Criminal Law and thereafter for
several years he held influential positions at the court of Louis Napoleon,
King of Holland, remaining in the Dutch Civil Service until the resignation of
the king in July 1810.
He then returned home and
devoted himself to the study of agriculture and botany. He married in 1812 and
went to his hereditary estate. Through his interest in the development of agricultural
resources, he came in touch with the most prominent agriculturists of Germany,
and he formed the first agricultural society in the western part of Germany. In
1816 he became President of the Provincial Court of Justice for Westphalia, a
position he retained until 1822. He then became one of the Commissioners for
the registration of lands and his constant travels gave him ample opportunity
to study the Flora of Rhineland and Westphalia and he published a book on the
subject: "Prodromus Florae Monasteriensis." In 1824 he became
Director of the Botanical Gardens of Munster, retaining this position for
several years. He came to be known as “Sage of
Munster”.
In autumn
of 1827 he suffered from pulmonary purulent tuberculosis. His health continued
to decline until the spring of 1828, when all hope of his recovery was given
up. At this time he wrote a letter to his close friend, Dr. August Weihe, who
was the first homoeopathic physician in the province of Rhineland and Westphalia, though Boenninghausen was
ignorant of this fact. Weihe was deeply moved by the news and replied to
Boenninghausen's letter immediately, requesting a detailed account of his
symptoms and expressing the hope that he might be able to save a friend whom he
valued so highly. In response to the reply that Boenninghausen sent to this
letter, Weihe prescribed ‘Pulsatilla’, which Boenninghausen took, following
also the course of advice that Weihe gave him regarding hygienic measures.
Boenninghausen's recovery was gradual but constant, so that by the end of the
summer he was considered as cured.
This event transformed
Boenninghausen into a firm believer in Homœopathy. He revived his knowledge of
medicine and began to practice. But he had no license to practice as a
physician and for this reason he devoted himself to Homœopathy. Most of the
systematic works written by Boenninghausen concerning Homoeopathy were
published between 1828 and 1846. By this time Bœnninghausen's fame had spread
to France, Holland and America, and he had gained many converts to the new
doctrine of healing among physicians in these lands, by correspondence and
literary efforts, which were extended in the effort of making the work of
practicing homoeopathy easier. There was no shortcut method to the study of
homoeopathy. There were no repertories and many precious hours had to be
devoted to the study of remedy after remedy before the true picture was seen.
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV,
on 11 July 1843, permitted Boenninghausen to practice medicine without any
restraint.
From 1830 Boenninghausen was
in close touch with Hahnemann, until the end of Hahnemann's life. His literary
work was hampered by the permission to practice freely, and he did not publish
his books as frequently after that event, although he spent much time at that
labor.
Boenninghausen founded the
Society for Homoeopathic Physicians in Westphalia, which flourished for many
years. He also was made member of nearly all the existing homoeopathic
societies. The Western Homoeopathic Medical College, in Cleveland, in 1854,
gave him an honorary diploma; the Emperor of France appointed him a Knight of
the Legion of Honor on April 20, 1861.
Boenninghausen lived for
many years in Munster. He received patients daily from nine to two o'clock,
from two to five he spent in walking about the suburbs and in the Botanical
Gardens. He lived to attain the age of seventy-nine years, dying of apoplexy on
January 26, 1864.
Boenninghausen left a deep
impression upon the literature of Homoeopathy. His Therapeutic Pocket Book, first
published in1846, is one of the classics. He devoted himself to presenting the
Materia Medica so that the chief characteristics of each remedy might be
thoroughly understood by the practitioner and his writings are mostly devoted
to that object.
Of his seven sons the two
eldest chose homoeopathy as their profession, which was a great joy to him. The
elder of these sons later went to Paris where he married the adopted daughter
of Hahnemann's widow. He lived with Madame Hahnemann and her daughter, and had
access to Hahnemann's library and manuscripts.
CONTRIBUTIONS
v
The Cure of Cholera and
Its Preventatives, 1831
v
Repertory of the
Antipsoric Medicines, with a preface by Hahnemann, 1932
v
Summary View of the
Chief Sphere of Operation of the Antipsoric Remedies and of their
Characteristic Peculiarities, as an Appendix to their Repertory, 1833
v
An Attempt at a
Homoeopathic Therapy of Intermittent Fever, 1833
v
Contributions to a
Knowledge of the Peculiarities of Homoeopathic Remedies, 1833
v
Homoeopathic Diet and a
Complete Image of a Disease, 1833
v
Homoeopathy, a Manual
for the Non-Medical Public, 1834
v
Repertory of the
Medicines which are not Antipsoric, 1935
v
Attempt at Showing the
Relative Kinship of Homoeopathic Medicines, 1836
v
Therapeutic Manual for
Homoeopathic Physicians, for use at the sickbed and in the study of the Materia
Medica Pura, 1846
v
Brief Instructions for
Non-Physicians as to the Prevention and Cure of Cholera, 1849
v
The Two Sides of the
Human Body and Relationships. Homoeopathic Studies, 1853
v
The Homoeopathic
Domestic Physician in Brief, Therapeutic Diagnoses – An Attempt, 1853
v
The Homoeopathic
Treatment of Whooping Cough in its Various Forms, 1860
v
The Aphorisms of
Hippocrates, with Notes by a Homoeopath, 1863
v
Attempt at a
Homœopathic Therapy of Intermittent and Other Fevers, especially for would be
homoeopaths – Second augmented and revised edition. Part 1. The Pyrexy, 1864
Boenninghausen’s Classics
include his Classification of characteristic symptoms and the compilation of
the repertory of antipsoric remedies. He classified characteristic symptoms
into Quis, Quid, Ubi, Quibus auxilus, Cur, Quomodo and Quando.
DR. SUMIT GOEL M.D. (Hom)
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