Alexander Wilder

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Alexander Wilder

Alexander Wilder (born May 14, 1823 in Verona , New York , † September 18, 1908 in Newark , New Jersey ) was an American physician , journalist , author , Rosicrucian and theosophist .

life and work

childhood and education

Wilder was born on May 14, 1823 in Verona , New York State, the only child of Abel Wilder (1783–1869) and Arsenath Smith (1801–1835). [1] His parents were farmers and he spent his childhood on his parents' farm. After attending primary school, Wilder worked as a teacher in the village school from 1838, when he was 15 years old. He also worked on his parents' farm and as a typesetter . He taught himself Latin , Greek and Hebrew and began studying medicine in the mid-1840s. In 1850 he graduated from Syracuse Medical College (now the Health Science Center Syracuse ) to the Medical Doctor (MD). Wilder never married.

As a Rosicrucian and theosophist

Alexander Wilder was a member of the Rosicrucian Order Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis and joined the Theosophical Society in 1876 , where he rose to Vice-President in 1878. With Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott friends, Wilder had significant influence on Blavatsky's first major work Isis Unveiled . Most of the introduction and the index in Isis were his work, and Wilder coordinated the publication with the publisher JW Bouton . The chapters on Ammonios Sakkas and Neoplatonism in Isis were visibly influenced by Wilder's work Neo Platonism and Alchemy (1869) and ten quotations were taken from it. [2], [3, page 477ff.]

Above all, Wilder used the word "Theosophy" in 1869 in the sense that Blavatsky and Olcott gave him in the first edition of The Theosophist in 1879 and which was in part the inspiration for the later goals of the Theosophical Society . [3, page 476, 478f.] Wilder wrote:

“The first main proposition established by Ammonius was the existence of a primeval theosophical system that was initially essentially one and the same in all countries.

All the expressions of the ancient worship services point to a single theosophy that already existed before them. The key to one of these forms of worship must also be the right one for all others, otherwise it is the wrong key. [3, page 478] "

As a journalist and author

At the beginning of the 1850s he became interested in politics and began to become involved in journalism. 1852 as associate editor of the daily Syracuse Star , 1854 as editor of the College Review and the New York Teacher . After moving to New York in 1857, he was co-editor of the New York Evening Post (now the New York Post ).

Numerous publications on medicine, Neoplatonism and occultism , both as an author and as a translator. His monumental work A History of Medicine , published in 1901, was a treasure trove of information at the time, but is now out of date. In addition to Greek and Hebrew texts, he also translated works by Éliphas Lévi and Paracelsus .

He was against the compulsory vaccination and advocated natural medicine.

Footnotes

Works (selection)

  • History of medicine. A brief outline of medical, history and sects of physicians, from the earliest historic period . New England eclectic publishing co., New Sharon 1901.
  • New platonism and alchemy, a sketch of the doctrines and principal teachers of the Eclectic or Alexandrian school; also an outline of the interior doctrines of the alchemists of the middle ages . (First printing: Albany NY, 1869). Wizards Bookshelf, Minneapolis 1975, ISBN 0-913510-18-1 .
  • The Rosicrucian Brotherhood . Kessinger, Whitefish 2006, ISBN 1-4254-9453-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HP Blavatsky: The key to theosophy . Ed .: New, only authorized edition. Max Altmann, Leipzig 1907, p. 251 .
personal data
SURNAME Wilder, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American medic, journalist, author, Rosicrucian, and theosophist
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Verona (New York) , USA
DATE OF DEATH September 18, 1908
Place of death Newark, New Jersey , USA