NLM Home Page Paracelsus, Five Hundred Years: Three American Exhibits

The Paracelsus Collection at Hahnemann University

Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia was founded in 1848 as a school devoted to the homeopathic principles of Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843). It was the first successful center for homeopathic education in the world. Much as Paracelsus, breaking from the authority of Galen, taught that the basis of medical science should be the study of nature, observation of the patient, and experiment and experience, so too, some 300 years later, did Samuel Hahnemann break with the tradition of allopathic medicine in his effort to establish a more benign, sympathetic approach to treating medical ills.

Constantine Hering (1800-1880), a student and follower of Samuel Hahnemann, was a physician, chemist, and zoologist. Known as the father of homeopathy in America, he was one of the founders of Hahnemann University. His passion -- or one of them, for he was a man of enormous curiosity and many interest -- was to obtain a perfect collection of all the works by or pertaining to Paracelsus. He devoted nearly half a century to this pursuit. The fruits of his labour form one of the principal collections of works by and about Paracelsus. This collection, known as the Constantine Hering Collection, is now a part of the special collections of Hahnemann University. Housing over 200 volumes dating from 1502 -- many in Latin and Old German -- the collection, in addition to the original works of Paracelsus, includes early works on the philosopher's stone, alchemy, botany, and a first edition of Robert Browning's poem, Paracelsus. In 1881, a catalogue documenting the collection was published by Globe Publishing House and in 1932, Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital produced a second catalogue of the Constantine Hering Paracelsus Collection housed at the College.

In conjunction with the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Paracelsus, Hahnemann University Library will present an exhibit of books and memorabilia from this collection. The Paracelsus Exhibit will run from October through December, 1993 at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. On display will be selections from the original writings of Paracelsus, as well as material documenting the initial reaction to him and his work. The exhibit also will trace the thinking of Paracelsus and his philosophical progeny through Hahnemann and Hering, with books and memorabilia from the Hering Collection.

Carol H. Fenichel

| Next page |   | Previous page |  

dot Paracelsus, Five Hundred Years Home Page
dot Exhibition and Public Programs Home Page
dot History of Medicine Home Page
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health & Human Services
Copyright, Privacy, Accessibility
Last updated: 27 April 1998