Back to the Source
by Richard Pitt
On a hill in San Franciso, overlooking the northern part of the city, with the Golden Gate Bridge shimmering in the distance, lies the University of California, San Francisco Medical Hospital, one of the most prestigous teaching hospitals in the country. In the summer, it is often swimming in the cold fog being sucked inland from the ocean, attracted by the warm inland air of the California central valley.
A while ago, a visiting homeopathic friend and I made an appointment with the head librarian in the special books section of the reference library. We were going to see one of the most important books in homeopathic history – the original 6th edition of the Organon. In this book, Hahnemann’s own extraordinarily small yet tidy handwritten additions are interwoven into the existing aphorisms of the 5th edition, at times on the same page and often with additional pages stuck in between each of the pages. These additional pages are often folded up haphazardly, and when opened reveal complex notations by Hahnemann barely legible to the naked eye. Hahnemann mainly wrote in the original German of the 5th edition but occasionally chose French or Greek.
This is the book that caused such controversy after Hahnemann died. It was his last word on homeopathic medicine as he saw it and it was the only copy that had his additions and that would become the 6th edition of the Organon. To look at the book, to feel the pages and to realize that Hahnemann spent many hours going over each page making additions and subtractions was an awe-inspiring experience, and this is from a person who feels the adulation given to Hahnemann has been somewhat cultish at times! The book is kept in an air conditioned vault, among hundreds of other important books, including many other homeopathic ones. It is kept in a leather box and when we accompanied the librarian back to the vault, we watched as she put the book on the bottom shelf, in a non-descript place, just one more book in the annals of medical history. And yet, despite its anonymity among other historical books of medical knowledge, this book symbolizes the quest for knowledge that has been the core of Hahnemann’s journey and the story of homeopathy, and as a result this place has become one of the pilgrimage sites for many homeopaths from all over the world.
It is one of the most popular book requests for the librarian and as a result she has become fairly well versed in its history and the amazing journey that has ended with the book being looked after by the library of the UCSF medical library. It seems strangely appropriate that a book steeped in medical history, philosophically connecting the world of medieval and alchemical knowledge to the analytical and rational model of modern science has ended up on a narrow peninsula in a buoyant city that symbolizes the exuberance of the new world. San Francisco, a sophisticated and confident city has had a long history with homeopathy, despite its foundation only in 1849, when the famed forty-niner’s established the city during the first waves of gold mining in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada less than 100 miles away. One of the first and largest homeopathic pharmacies, Boericke and Runyon, becoming Boericke and Tafel, was established on Folsom St, in San Francisco and the Hahnemann Medical College was to be found in the city, its original name being retained long after homeopathy had been evicted from its doors. It had originally been founded in 1883, Dr William Boericke being instrumental in its opening and at the same time being editor of the journal, The California Homeopath. It was directly through the effort of William Boericke and Richard Haehl that Hahnemann’s Organon finally ended up in San Francisco.
The story of the manuscript of the 6th edition is a famous one in the annals of homeopathy. Hahnemann died before its publication, entrusting it to his beloved wife Melanie. The reason why Melanie didn’t release the manuscript for publication after his death depends on who you read, but eventually it was bought by William Boericke and brought to San Francisco in 1920. From this original manuscript, a new translation was made and published in English in 1922. After that time, the original version of the 6th edition was kept in a variety of places, under the responsbility of the California Homeopathic Womens’ association. For a while, it was being stored in safety deposit box in a local bank. It was only in 1973 that the Organon and other homeopathic books were given to the UCSF medical library for safekeeping and preservation.
Since then, the Organon has been just one medical history book on the shelf in a windowless air-controlled room. When visiting the library, the librarian brings it out to the reading room of the Special Books section, still separated from the rest of the library and only accessible through appointment. It is taken out of its box and laid on polystyrene blocks to support it when opened. The library used to make guests wear protective gloves but now feel that it is safer if handled directly as people have more control in its handling. Given its age, most of the pages are in remarkably good condition. However, it’s the spirit of Hahnemann that comes through, that fastidious mind dedicated to the knowledge of truth – Audere Sapere – revealed in the detailed handwritten notations and additions to the book. For all who’ve read Hahnemann’s writings, to experience the source through his personal handwriting is a moving experience, one that all homeopaths should attempt to see.