Constantine Hering(1800–1880)

Physician, founder of the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia and author of The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica

Constantine Hering was the German-born physician who established homeopathy in the United States, founded its first schools, and compiled the ten-volume Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica, the largest clinical materia medica of the nineteenth century.

M.D., University of Würzburg (1826)Co-founder, Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia (1848)First president of the American Institute of Homeopathy (1844)

About Constantine Hering

Constantine Hering was born in Oschatz, Saxony, in 1800 and studied medicine at Leipzig and Würzburg, where he received his degree in 1826. Assigned as a student to write a refutation of homeopathy, he was converted by his investigation of it, and after a period of medical and botanical work in Suriname he emigrated to the United States in 1833.

In Philadelphia he helped found the Allentown Academy (1835), the first homeopathic school in the world, and in 1848 co-founded the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, later the Hahnemann Medical College, where he taught materia medica for the rest of his life. He introduced and proved a number of remedies, among them Lachesis and Glonoinum, and edited several journals.

Hering's observation that cure proceeds from above downwards, from within outwards and in the reverse order of the appearance of symptoms became known as Hering's law. His Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica, completed after his death by his colleagues, records the confirmed clinical symptoms of the remedies in ten volumes.

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Key works & contributions

The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica · 1879–1891

Ten volumes of clinically verified symptoms arranged by region, with a grading of verification; the largest of the classical clinical materia medicas and the source of many of Kent's higher-grade rubrics.

Hering's law of cure

The principle that healing moves from above downwards, from within outwards, from more to less vital organs, and in the reverse order of the symptoms' appearance; used to judge whether a remedy's action is curative.

Proving and introduction of Lachesis · 1828

Hering proved the venom of the bushmaster snake on himself in Suriname, introducing one of the most widely used remedies in the materia medica.

Areas of focus

Clinical materia medicaProvingsHering's lawLachesisHomeopathic education

Frequently asked questions

Who was Constantine Hering?

Constantine Hering (1800–1880) was the German-born physician who brought homeopathy to the United States, founded its first schools including the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, and compiled The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica.

What is Hering's law?

The observation that cure proceeds from above downwards, from within outwards, from more important to less important organs, and in the reverse order in which the symptoms appeared. Practitioners use it to distinguish curative action from suppression.

Where can I read The Guiding Symptoms online?

Hering's Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica is one of the 21 classic books free to read and search on Similia.