[History of homeopathy in Franconia].

Abstract

The research for this paper was initiated by an Erlangen exhibition project on the history of homeopathy on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Samuel Hahnemann's birth in 2005. The founder of homeopathic medicine received his doctor of medicine degree at the University of Erlangen in 1779. As Hahnemann spent only four months in Erlangen, homeopathic physicians, patients and apothecaries in the region from Hahnemann's time until today were investigated. The aim was to provide a concise survey of the general problems in the history of homeopathy derived from regional cases which could be illustrated by objects suitable for an exhibition. Thus, the article is not only about the history of homeopathy in Northern Bavaria (Franconia), but also about a shift in the use of media and about doing science the other way round, viz. by starting at the presentation and ending with the sources. The outcome of the project was that most of the crucial topics of the history of homeopathy could be covered on a micro-historic scale: trials, pharmacy, hospital, patients, university, National Socialism.