An Address by Samuel Hahnemann, Delivered before the Paris meeting of the Gallican Homoeopathic Society held on September 15, 1835
Liga News 2014; No. 12 (June): 17.
by André Saine, N.D., F.C.A.H.
Hahnemann delivered the following address approximately three months after his arrival in Paris, which was on June 21, 1835. The French Homeopathic Society (la Société homoeopathique gallicane) had previously planned to welcome Hahnemann at the occasion of their three-day annual meeting in Paris "to show the great esteem in which he was held. On the 15th a deputation waited upon Hahnemann and his wife and invited them to be present at a public reunion of the society. Hahnemann, who had been elected honorary president, was introduced, and took his place upon the platform. M. Simon then read Hahnemann's opening address." Hahnemann's address has been re-translated here from the original French.
Four important points in this address are worth noting: one relates to whom Hahnemann recognizes as his disciples; second, the vital importance of practicing genuine homeopathy; third, the important responsibility Hahnemann associates with the practice of such a "divine art;" and, fourth, physicians should not try to practice homeopathy before they have studied it sufficiently to obtain assurance of success.
I came to France for the propagation of homeopathy, and I feel happy to be among you.
In the name of all homeopaths, I am thankful to the French government for the freedom it is granting to our meetings and labors. I hope that a greater number of facts will soon prove to it the excellence of our art, and it would then grant us the means to practice it appropriately for the greater benefit of humanity.
In a work soon to be published, I will address the public about how malevolence and a few errors have prevented homeopathy from being perfectly understood. I will mention what a homeopath must be and which virtues he must exercise when practicing such a beneficial art.
I acknowledge as disciples only those who practice pure homeopathy, and whose prescriptions are absolutely free from any combination with means employed by the old school of medicine. Based on my long-continued experience, I advise the public to only trust zealous sectarians of my doctrine who have entirely abandoned that homicidal practice of medicine.
My long and successful practice, attested to by my case-books, which I offer as evidence, proves that pure homeopathy practiced by those who have studied it in-depth and who understand it exactly, suffices alone for all the wants of suffering humanity.
I thank the Gallican Society for its labors. It is a great pleasure to see among you industrious and zealous men who will continue what they have so happily begun.
I am deeply touched by the sympathy I have received from all its members. I join in with the zeal that animates them, and I will support their efforts in propagating our divine art; as despite age, which has not slowed down its course, nor chilled my heart, nor enfeebled my mind, I will always remain devoted to homeopathy.
As for the Paris Society, if it has until now, with few exceptions that I am pleased to acknowledge, failed to provide a more in-depth instruction of our art, it is without a doubt on account of the novelty of its appearance in Paris. In exhorting the members of that society to an indispensable doubling effort of study, I will point out to them, and to you as well, that in an art whose aim is the saving of life, negligence in learning is a crime.
I am convinced that this reproach will not again be addressed to you; because, animated as you are by the love of humanity, you will not neglect anything in order to attain the end we are aiming for, and which you will certainly reach if, as I deeply wish, you remain united in heart and principles.
And you, studious French youth, who are not yet affected by the old errors, and who are endlessly seeking only the truth as you burn the mid-night oil, come to me! For I am imparting to you this much sought-after truth, the divine revelation of a principle of eternal nature. It is to the results already obtained that I am appealing in order to convince you; but do not try to obtain such results yourselves until you have been assured of success by conscientious and thorough study; then, like me, you will bless Providence for the immense gift that it has brought the world through my humble person, for I have been nothing but a feeble instrument of its power, before which all must bow. (2)
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