Samuel Hahnemann(1755–1843)

Physician, chemist and founder of homeopathy; author of the Organon of Medicine

Samuel Hahnemann was the German physician and chemist who founded homeopathy, set out its method in the Organon of Medicine, and wrote the first homeopathic materia medica from provings on himself and his students.

M.D., University of Erlangen (1779)Founder of homeopathyAuthor of the Organon of Medicine

About Samuel Hahnemann

Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was born in Meissen, Saxony, in 1755 and qualified in medicine at Erlangen in 1779. Dissatisfied with the bloodletting and heroic drugging of his day, he withdrew from practice for a period and supported his family by translating medical and chemical works, during which his 1790 translation of Cullen's Materia Medica led him to test cinchona bark on himself and to formulate the principle that a substance which produces symptoms in the healthy can cure similar symptoms in the sick.

He published that principle in 1796 and developed it into a complete system in the Organon of the Rational Art of Healing (1810), revised through six editions, the last completed in 1842 and published only in 1921. Between 1811 and 1821 he issued the Materia Medica Pura, six volumes of proving symptoms, and in 1828 The Chronic Diseases, which introduced the theory of miasms and the antipsoric remedies.

Hahnemann taught at Leipzig, practised at Köthen under the protection of Duke Ferdinand, and in 1835 moved to Paris with his second wife, Mélanie d'Hervilly, where he practised until his death in 1843. He is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.

On Similia

Read Hahnemann's Materia Medica Pura and The Chronic Diseases free on Similia

Key works & contributions

Organon of Medicine · 1810–1842

Hahnemann's statement of the homeopathic method in numbered aphorisms, revised through six editions; the sixth introduced the LM (Q) potencies and remains the foundational text of classical training.

Materia Medica Pura · 1811–1821

The first homeopathic materia medica: six volumes of symptoms recorded in provings on healthy subjects, arranged from head to foot, for the remedies Hahnemann himself proved.

The Chronic Diseases, Their Peculiar Nature and Their Homoeopathic Cure · 1828

Introduced the theory of the three chronic miasms (psora, sycosis, syphilis) and the antipsoric remedies, and expanded the materia medica with remedies such as Calcarea carbonica, Silica and Sepia.

Areas of focus

Law of similarsProvingsPotentisationMiasmsOrganon of MedicineMateria Medica Pura

Frequently asked questions

Who was Samuel Hahnemann?

Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) was the German physician and chemist who founded homeopathy. He formulated the law of similars after testing cinchona bark on himself in 1790, set out the method in the Organon of Medicine, and wrote the first homeopathic materia medica from provings.

What did Hahnemann write?

The Organon of Medicine (1810, six editions), the Materia Medica Pura (1811–1821), and The Chronic Diseases (1828), which introduced the miasms. He also translated and annotated numerous medical and chemical works.

Where can I read Hahnemann's materia medica online?

The Materia Medica Pura and The Chronic Diseases are among the 21 classic materia medica books that are free to read and search on Similia.