Journey of Organon

With the evolution of Homeopathy, the need of a rule book to serve as the guide was felt by our revered master, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. This magnum opus was named as Organon, for it was to be the instrument or tool that every physician would use as a beacon light illuminating their path leading them to the highest goal of human endeavour - to restore the sick to health.

What can one say about Organon, was it a one day work or a sudden idea? No! Organon developed slowly out of Hahnemann's thinking and experimentation. It appeared 20 years after Hahnemann's seminal experiment with Cinchona, 14 years after his ' Essay on a New Principal For Ascertaining the curative powersof drug, and some Examination of the previous principles', and five years after his essay on ' The Medicine of Experience', in Hufeland's journal. 

The journey of Organon starts with the origin of Hahnemann's ideas of thinking and writings. With regards to this the influence of Kant who was a German Idealist in 18 th century is seen in his writings in aphoristic style. 

The Organon was clearly modeled on some profound philosophical works (e.g. Bacon's Novum Organum, second part of Insaturatio magna) and he seems to have regarded the veracity of its aphorisms as sacrosanct. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) called his work Novum Organum, (The New Organon) in the belief that he had discovered new principals of inductive logic. But the term Organon was taken from Aristotle's works; Organon is the name given to the six logical treatise of Aristotle. Based on the examples of these two previous works, in 1810 was published the perfected form of his experiments called by Hahnemann as the Organon Der Rationellen Heilkunde-The Organon of Rational Healing which was to become the guidebook of Hahnemann's Homeopathy. From 1810 to 1842 Hahnemann wrote 6editions (5 published in his life time and 1 posthumously) of Organon exhibiting the gradual and progressive development of homeopathic doctrine.

The Precursors of Organon are:

1. Essay on a New Principle for Ascertaining the Curative Power of Drugs, 1796.
2. Aesculapius in the Balance, 1805.
3. Medicine of Experience, 1805.
4. On the value of Speculative System of Medicine, 1808.
5. Observations on the three Current methods of Treatment, 1809.

The above works by Dr. Hahnemann show the evolution and perfection of the new healing art of Homeopathy which he later explained in detail in his Organon (1810). In the next run, the Organon went through five editions during the author's life and the manuscript of 6 th edition was left ready by the master for printing in 1842, but unfortunately the driver i.e. Hahnemann died before it could be printed. In a letter written in 1842 he says, "after 18 months work I have just finished the 6 th edition of my Organon which is the most complete existing edition of my book." By March of 1843, a few months before his death, Hahnemann wrote, " I draw your attention to the last edition of the Organon which, if it please God, will be published in the near future, in the French version at least. You will find it satisfactory in every respect." 

Melanie Hahnemann kept the manuscript of 6 th edition and only made it presence known when several other versions were being claimed to be 'the sixth'. Melanie began negotiations with Hahnemann College in Philadelphia for publication in Germany, but the amount which she demanded was too large and so claims had to be dropped. In 1865 negotiations to obtain the book were conducted between Melanie and Hering, Lippe and Raue, but nothing materialized.   During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, all of Hahnemann's papers were moved from Paris to Darup ( Westphalia) and watched over by Melanie's adopted daughter who had married Carl Boenninghausen.  

Carrol Dunham negotiated for the purchase of Organon in 1877, but he died before completing the process. In 1877, Dr Bayes, from the London School of Homeopathy asked to publish the manuscript. Melanie replied that she would be willing to supervise the translation so there could ' no malicious or deceptive alterations of the text,' and she asked for a sum (50,000$), the yearly interest of which would equal her yearly professional incomes. The matter was then dropped.

Melanie died on May 27 th, 1878, almost forgotten and the manuscripts passed to her only heir, her daughter Frau Von Boenninghausen (daughter-in-law of Baron Clemens Maria Franz von Boenninghausen). In 1880, Dr H. N. Guernsey met Frau von Boenninghausen while in Europe; to increase the pace of negotiations she demanded 25,000$.

But before anything fruitful could happen Frau von Boenninghausen passed away in 1899 and the book remained with her husband Carl Boenninghausen who too died soon in 1902 with no descendents.

Just before the turn of the century, Dr Richard Haehl contacted the Boenninghausen family, and Dr William Boericke offered to buy the manuscripts were it ever available. Hahnemann's papers were again nearly lost during the military operation of Westphalia during the World War of 1914-18. Shortly after this, Haehl negotiated the purchase of the Organon from the Boenninghausen family. 

Dr William Boericke and James William Ward paid the $ 10,000 being asked, and Dr Haehl received the whole of Hahnemann's posthumous scripts which he brought to the United States. No French edition was ever found. The sixth edition finally appeared in print in Germany in 1921 and in the United States in1922. In June, 1920 Boericke presented the manuscripts of 6 th Edition to AIH; in 1929 after the death of Boericke the scripts was passed on to James Ward. He in 1933 presented them to Homeopathic Foundation, California.

The manuscripts of the most perfected, most completed work of Dr. Hahnemann now reside in the school of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.

Hahnemann clearly intended his Organon (first published in 1810) to become refined over time such that its principals could be amplified, clarified and updated, to be elevated eventually to the status of 'natural laws'. That he wrote a further five editions over the next 30 years, might well be seen as good evidence of this tendency to revise and elevate.

The Major Milestones