Von Boenninghausen

In the spring of 1828, the great German/Dutch homeopath, Clemens Maria Franciscus von Boenninghausen, like many of us, came to homeopathy because of illness. In this case he was very ill and in the process of writing farewell letters. One such letter went to August Weihe Sr. (1797–1843), a good friend who practised homeopathy and herbal medicine.

Weihe, in a letter of encouragement, suggested Boenninghausen try homeopathy and send him his symptoms. Boenninghausen responded by forwarding a detailed symptomatology including concomitants, and Weihe provided the necessary homeopathic remedies, care and guidance to Clemens and, in about three months, Boenninghausen was cured.

So impressed, Boenninghausen solicited doctors in his area to adopt homeopathy or, at the very least, explore it. When those efforts met with apathy or resistance he began his own study of the newly hatched medical art. He first began experimenting on family and farm animals. As successes increased, so too did his interest and enthusiasm.

Boenninghausen, a nobleman who could trace his Prussian lineage coat of arms to the 13th century, was born in Heringhave, an estate in Overijssel (Netherlands). His early years were lived at the countryside estate where he developed his physicality while leaving his mental faculties and education somewhat unattended. After graduating from the Münster high school with just an average performance, he entered the University of Groningen (Netherlands) to study law. During those studies Boenninghausen also managed to attend courses in the natural sciences and medicine, subjects that appealed to him. In 1806, he successfully completed his law degree (Doctor of Civil and Criminal Law) and defended his dissertation.

In October of that year, he was appointed lawyer to the Supreme Court at Deventer. This position lasted but a year when, in the autumn of 1807, he journeyed with his father to Utrecht in order to experience official government business. While there his knowledge of the French language was noted and he was asked to serve as translator for several of the various committees. His abilities so impressed the members that he was requested to serve in upper levels of the government. A year later Boenninghausen was named Auditor to the King and then General Secretary “des requetes”[1]. He remained at these tasks as well as several others, e.g., Royal Librarian, Chief of the Topographical Bureau, etc., until King Louis Napoleon of Holland resigned in July of 1810. This change of circumstance was so upsetting to Boenninghausen that he resigned his Dutch Civil Service responsibilities to pursue agriculture and botany in the countryside.

In 1812, he married Sophia Franziska Freiin von Schade zu Ahausen and moved to Darup (Westphalia, Prussia), a family estate. There he cultivated the resources of that property and, in the process, developed a correspondence and friendship with a number of German agriculturalists, e.g., Thaer [2]. Boenninghausen began to publish articles on this subject and helped to establish, in 1819, the Agricultural Society of the Münster District.

The Prussian provinces underwent reorganization in 1826 and Boenninghausen accepted the presidency of the Provincial Court of Justice (Westphalia, Coesfeld). One of the duties of that position was to survey and register the lands of Westphalia and Rhineland. This required travel and provided Boenninghausen ample opportunity to become more intimately familiar with the flora of those regions. From those experiences he produced a monograph, Prodromus Florae Monasteriensis (1824). Boenninghausen continued to write about agriculture and botanical subjects for which he received a modest amount of recognition.

During this period, he assumed another position of importance, Director of the Münster Botanical Gardens. This was advantageous as it enabled him to develop contacts with many noted European botanical experts.

Fortunately for homeopathy his illness intervened when he received the diagnosis, in the autumn of 1827, of purulent pulmonary tuberculosis. By the spring of 1828 his physicians suggested that he write letters of farewell.

As mentioned, Weihe who was the first homeopathic doctor in the Westphalia and Rhineland provinces cared for him. Pulsatilla was the remedy that helped Boenninghausen regain his health. Boenninghausen steadily pursued homeopathy.

As his reputation grew, he was consulted by many physicians and noble families yet was still an unlicensed practitioner. However, this changed on July 11 of 1843 when King Friedrich Wilhelm IV granted him freedom to practice medicine without restriction[3]. By this time his practice had become immense and his writings already in the hands of homeopaths across Europe, e.g.,

Repertory of the Antipsoric Medicines (1832; preface by C. F. S. Hahnemann) Repertory of the Medicines Which Are Not Anti-Psoric (1835) Therapeutic Manual for Homoeopathic Physicians – For Use at the Sickbed and in the Study of the Materia Medica Pura (1846) The Two Sides of the Human Body and Relationships (1853) The Homoeopathic Treatment of Whooping Cough in its Various Forms (1860), and Aphorisms of Hippocrates with the Glosses of a Homoeopathist (1863), etc.

A book that is especially interesting, The Lesser Writings of C. M. F. von Boenninghausen (1908; various reprints by B. Jain) was compiled by Thomas Lindsley Bradford and translated from the German by L. H. Tafel. Bradford assembled this material after being prompted by a number of physicians expressing a desire to read Boenninghausen's shorter writings, many of which were inaccessible[4].

As one can imagine, Boenninghausen no longer had the time to write agricultural and botanical articles as his emphasis and passion had shifted to homeopathy. That energy went into contributing articles for l'Homoeopathe Belge and Allgemeine Homoeopathische Zeitung. About 1830 he began a correspondence with Hahnemann and over the years communicated with Stapf, Weihe, Gross, Muhlenbein, etc. It is said that, after Hahnemann, no one knew homeopathy more intimately than Boenninghausen.

By 1842, after years of experimentation, he became thoroughly convinced of the veracity of high potencies and despite using the full range of them considered 200 C as his favourite. Boenninghausen recorded all of his cases and, by 1862, possessed 112 case volumes. Eighty of these volumes contained cases that were almost exclusively managed with high potencies[5].

“On resigning the offices which he held under the Prussian Government, Boenninghausen removed to Münster, where he built the house in which he lived when the writer [C. Dunham] visited him, and in which he died.”

“In this house it was his custom to receive patients daily from 9 a. m. to 2 p. m. From 2 to 5 p. m. he spent in diversion, generally in walking about the suburbs, or along the beautiful promenade which surround the city occupying the site of the former ramparts, or else in the Botanical Garden attached to the Ducal Residence.” – Carroll Dunham, as quoted from www.homeoint.org

In 1846, he established the Society of Homoeopathic Physicians of the Rhineland and Westphalia regions, with conferences beginning in 1848.

Late in 1863, he developed a cold and lung infection. After taking well-selected remedies his recovery was assured yet he suffered a stroke on January 24, 1864, which caused left-sided paralysis.

This affected his lungs, with just the right one remaining active. Despite this further weakening his mind was left virtually unharmed and was able to take part in the selection of remedies for himself. Nonetheless, Boenninghausen became more and more debilitated and died on January 26th, 1864 in the middle of the night.

Boenninghausen's legacy was carried on not only through his writings but also by two of his sons who both became homeopathic physicians.

“His eldest son, Carl Anton Hubert Walburgis von Boenninghausen (1826 to 1902), in 1857, qualified as a physician. Carl took over Hahnemann's medical practice and also married the adopted daughter of Melanie, Sophie Bohrer (1838–1899). Boenninghausen's third son, Friedrich Paul Hubert von Boenninghausen (1828 to 1910), graduated in 1859 from the University of Berlin writing his thesis on diabetes mellitus. He also became a homeopath who practiced for some fifty years.” – Yasgur's Homeopathic Dictionary, Scholars' Edition.

References

• 1 Winston J. The Faces of Homoeopathy. Tawa (NZ): Great Auk Publishing; 1999
• 2 http://www.homeoint.org (accessed 19-8-2011)
• 3 von Boenninghausen C M F. The Lesser Writings of C. M. F. von Boenninghausen, 1908, reprinted. New Delhi: B. Jain; 2007
• 4 Winston J. The Heritage of homoeopathic Literature. Tawa (NZ): Great Auk Publishing; 2001
• 5 Yasgur J. Yasgur's Homeopathic Dictionary, Scholars' Edition. Greenville: Van Hoy Publishers; unpublished manuscript

1 “of requests”. In this position Boenninghausen oversaw petitions made against the king and/or government by its citizens.

2 Albrecht Daniel Thaer (1752–1828) was a noted German agronomist and researcher who stressed the importance of healthy and robust humus as an essential component for healthy plant development. He wrote the four volume Grundsätze der rationellen Landwirthschaft (1809–1812; Principles of Rational Agriculture, translated into English in 1844).

3 That “royal cabinet order” gave Boenninghausen “… permission to give homoeopathic advice and to administer homoeopathic medicines to patients who, in single cases, apply to you from their special confidence in you, you can in no wise derive more extended privileges for yourself than are legally granted even to approved physicians.” – p. 19, The Lesser Writings of C. M. F. von Boenninghausen (2007, B. Jain edition; the series of communications on this subject were originally published in the Allgemeine homoeopathische Zeitung. This quoted letter may be referenced in AHZ, #39, p. 339). Boenninghausen was in the habit of treating animals and this came to the attention of the authorities in 1850 when Boenninghausen received an official letter warning him not to engage in veterinarian activities: “… we must forbid you to medically treat mad animals or such domestic animals as have been bitten by mad animals, or such as are suspected of madness, as also in general cattle taken with an infectious or epidemic disease, if you would avoid a fine of from 5 to 10 dollars. – Münster, June 24, 1850 – Royal Minister of the Interior.” – ibid, p. 15.

4 The following is a list of some of the topics discussed in this work: the high potencies, typhoid fever and high potencies, traumatic ailments and high potencies, concerning the duration of the action, something about Borax, concerning expectoration, concerning whooping-cough, Aluminium metallicum, tabes dorsalis and Aluminium metallicum, the advantages of the high potencies, characteristic value of symptoms, Jenichen's high potencies, anamnesis of sycosis, concerning motion and rest, the smallness of the dose, the selection of the right remedy, the physician's record-book, cures of animals with high potencies, on toothache, homeopathic diet, directions for forming a complete image, and the sides of the body and drug affinities, homeopathic exercises, etc.

5 The following is an example of a case from one of those case volumes: “Case IV (Vol. 80, p. 138). H. L. ___, of H___, painter and glazier, aet. 20; suffered since last summer from stitches in right side of chest, accompanied by traction in the limbs, and beating in the forehead, particularly over the left eye; the symptoms are worse during wet, stormy weather, snow, hoar-frost [a white, heavy frozen dew on the earth], and in the evening when retiring to rest, and also when the patient takes a walk, or exerts himself in any way. Cannot sleep before midnight on account of a distressing cough, with spasms and difficult expectoration of saline mucus; after this expectoration, the patient feels his chest somewhat relieved. He can only lie on the left side (phthisis tuberculosa!). Bread, soups, pancakes, pork and all fat food disagree with him. He feels very cold, and is worse in the cold. Little thirst. His strength is completely gone; he can no longer work.” “The patient has been for nine months under allopathic treatment, and has been made to cultivate an extensive acquaintance with the preparations of the pharmacopoeia.” “Ammon. muriat. and Tart. stib. seemed to have been the principal favorites.” “His case had, however, grown worse and worse, until at length his physician left him to the curative virtues of copious draughts of tea of Lichen Islandicus, but with the same bad success.” “March 16th, 1851.-1, Kali carb. 2 c [2 c is the 200 C potency]; 2, Sulphur 2 c; 3, Kali carb. 2 c; 4, Sac. lac. One powder every fifth evening.” “April 7th.-Considerable improvement in all the symptoms, although not one of them has yet completely disappeared. The expectoration has lost its saline taste, and is now perfectly tasteless. In the evening, oppression of the chest when sitting. 1, Phosphorus 2 M; 2 to 4, Sac. lac.” “April 30th. The Phosphorus has not made a favorable impression upon the system; the oppression of the chest in the evening is worse than before. 1, Nux vomica 2 c; 2, Kali carb. 2 M; 4, Sac. lac. One powder every fifth evening.” “After these remedies the patient recovered his health completely. This is one of the serious cases witnessed by Dr. Dunham, of New York, during his stay here.” – p. 176, The Lesser Writings of C. M. F. von Boenninghausen (2007, B. Jain). [Carroll Dunham, 1828–1877, was an influential American homeopathic physician who studied for a period of time with Boenninghausen. He wrote two important early works, Homoeopathy: The Science of Therapeutics and Lectures on Materia Medica]