Arthur Lutze

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arthur Lutze, around 1860
Wife Eugenia Auguste b. Lautsch (1823-1900)

Arthur Lutze (born June 1, 1813 in Berlin , † April 11, 1870 in Koethen ) was a naturopath who acquired the reputation of a miracle healer in his time.

Life

As the son of a consul, Lutze was born in the Hanover consulate Unter den Linden , but shortly after his birth he was brought to the Arthursberg family estate near Stettin , which is named after him . He attended high school in Szczecin , later a private school in Bunzlau . After losing both parents, he hired himself as a post office clerk in 1830, first in Nordhausen , from where he was transferred several times. As a sideline, he was interested in Samuel Hahnemann's publications on homeopathy and, after years of private studies, decided to devote himself to this profession.

He therefore resigned from the postal service in Bad Langensalza in 1843 and gave an often printed, passionate speech in Mühlhausen on Hahnemann's demise, which was later to be turned into a manifesto of homeopathy. He began his career as an alternative practitioner at a poor hospital in Potsdam , where he gained practical experience by treating thousands of sick people, mostly free of charge. However, in the absence of a medical license, he was forbidden from any further activity in Prussia in 1845.

In August 1846 he therefore moved to Hahnemann's former place of work Köthen , where in Duke Heinrich von Anhalt-Köthen he met a prince who was benevolent towards homeopathy and who had previously promoted Hahnemann. Lutze therefore relocated his Potsdam practice entirely to Köthen, where it quickly enjoyed such popularity that the city almost resembled a place of pilgrimage. “There lives the great miracle man who can cure the whole world,” scoffed a contemporary. Lutze saw himself entirely as a messianic healer. The famous painter and writer Wilhelm von Kügelgen describes the imposing appearance of the charismatic miracle healer: “A short, stocky figure with a large but beautiful and intelligent head ... and an enormous prophet's beard ... not a conscious deceiver, but an involuntary swindler” (from: Memories of the Old Man , Berlin 1870).

Lutze Notwithstanding used by Hahnemann's rules, almost modern looking dietary "numerous self-developed wellness " -Heilpraktiken as well as the then fashionable Mesmersche he of his friend, naturalist and Magnetiseur Magnetisiermethode in the Julius Neuberth was introduced. In his popular booklet, rules of life for the new, natural medicine (64 editions), he forbids the consumption of tobacco, coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages, as well as hot spices and herbs. His naturopathy is against meat of all kinds, especially when fried, and recommends a vegetarian lifestyle with lots of vegetables and fruit, milk and butter. The caffeine-free " health coffee ", invented by Lutze himself, made from malted barley, rye and sugar beet with chicory as a bitter substance, found numerous buyers in the 20th century.

In order to master ophthalmology and thereby medically legitimize himself, he studied in the meantime in Halle (Saale) , where among other things he learned cataract surgery . With a dissertation De cataractae extractione he received his doctorate in Jena in 1848 .

Together with his three sons, the indefatigable Lutze set up a training institute for alternative practitioners in Köthen, and in 1854 he decided to build the largest homeopathic clinic in the world. Thanks to his immense popularity, he was able to sell 100,000 self-printed "Lutze-Taler" to private donors in a short time to finance this huge project. These are now sought-after collectibles. The neo-renaissance style clinic, which opened in 1855 and still exists today, had several large hospital wards and 72 rooms for paying private patients, a park, various spas, a library, an art gallery and an observatory. The poor were still treated for free.

The manufacture and worldwide dispatch of medicines and vegetarian products as well as the distribution of printed matter also formed part of the company. In 1864 alone, 21 assistants treated 26,690 patients and answered 162,000 inquiries from all five continents. The homeopathic guild, however, rejected Lutze's factory-made mass treatments from the start and tried repeatedly to force the closure of his controversial clinic. Nevertheless, it still existed until 1914.

Just like the Hahnemann House in Köthen, the long-neglected historic building of the Lutze Clinic has recently been restored and is to be used as a retirement home in the future. The Historical Museum in the nearby castle offers a permanent exhibition on the subject of homeopathy in Köthen.

Services

Although controversial among contemporary physicians and homeopaths because of his treatment methods, which were still unconventional for the time, Lutze's enormous successes cannot be denied. Thanks to the empirical experience he gained through free treatment of literally hundreds of thousands of destitute patients, he came to insights that others simply could not. With his diet regulations on a vegetarian diet and healthy lifestyle, which we consider modern today , he was a century ahead of his time. In a certain sense, his Köthen clinic can therefore be considered the first wellness clinic in the world.

Honors

Monument to Lutze (right) and Hahnemann (left)

On December 15, 1897, the large Lutze-Hahnemann monument by the sculptor Heinrich Pohlmann (1839-1917) was inaugurated. It is located in the palace gardens opposite the Lutze Clinic, on the corner of Springstrasse and Theaterstrasse in Köthen.

Works (selection)

  • Hahnemanns Todtenfeier: Essence of Homeopathy (1843). Cöthen 1850 u.ö., 47th edition Cöthen 1903 (50 editions)
  • Homeopathy textbook (1858).
  • (Ed.): Samuel Hahnemanns Organon der Heilkunst . 6th edition Cöthen 1865 (this version, which was greatly modified by Lutze, is rejected by homeopathy) (Ndr. Schirmer, Munich 1982)
  • Instruction for young women on natural behavior before, in and after childbirth. 4th edition Cöthen 1901
  • Arthur Lutze's autobiography. Cöthen 1866 ( digitized version )
  • Memory bridge for budding homeopaths . 6th edition Cöthen 1890

swell

  • Heinz Eppenich: History of the German homeopathic hospitals. Heidelberg: Haug 1995. ISBN 3-7760-1497-0
  • Herbert Fritsche: "Arthur Lutze", in: Samuel Hahnemann. Idea and Reality of Homeopathy (Appendix). 7th edition Göttingen: Burgdorf 1994. ISBN 3-922-345-10-7
  • Richard Haehl: Samuel Hahnemann: His life and work. 2 vols. Leipzig: Willmar Schwabe 1922 (Ndr. Dreieich 1988)
  • Wilhelm Hosäus:  Lutze, Arthur . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 717 f.

Web links

Wikisource: Arthur Lutze  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Arthur Lutze  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Lutze, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German homeopathic-vegetarian miracle healer
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1870
Place of death Koethen