Frederick Humphreys

This article is about the homeopath Frederick Humphreys; for the tug of war of the same name, see Frederick Humphreys (tug of war) .

Frederick Humphreys

Frederick Humphreys (born March 11, 1816 in Marcellus , New York ; † July 18, 1900 , Monmouth Beach, New Jersey ) was an American homeopath and founder of the Humphreys Homoeopathic Medicine Co. , which still exists today as Humphreys Pharmacal Inc. .

Humphreys was also the co-founder of the Central New York Homoeopathic Medical Society , which later became the New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society . He was also temporarily chairman of the Bureau for the Augmentation and Improvement of the Materia Medica within the American Institute of Homeopathy and chairman of the homeopathic institute at his former school, the Pennsylvania Homeopathic Medical College .

origin

Frederick Humphreys was the son of Erastus Humphreys and came from a very long-established and influential American family, which had resided on the continent almost from the beginning of the British colonization of North America .
Allegedly, the Humphreys family can trace their origins back to William the Conqueror .

Life

In 1823 the Humphreys family moved to Auburn, New York State, where the young Frederick grew up and was initially taught at the Auburn Academy by the Quaker Josiah Underhill .

For two years, from his fourteenth to sixteenth year of life, Humphreys then hired himself after completing school as a clerk in a shop before he moved south with his uncle and brother to do various business there.

In 1837 Humphreys returned to New York, where his father had since bought a farm. In the same year he married Cornelia E. Palmer there and moved with her to Chillicothe in Ohio near his in-laws. Through his father-in-law, Humphreys came under the strong influence of the Episcopal Methodist Church .

Humphreys' wife died in 1839 and Humphreys returned to Auburn, where he lived a life as an itinerant preacher under precarious living conditions for a full five years . In 1844 he finally moved to Utica and gave up preaching. Instead, Humphreys began working with his father in the field of medicine from now on .

In 1843 Humphreys married Frances Maria Jefferson Sperry , a daughter of Alvah Jefferson and Maria Polly Tuttle Sperry from Ludlowville, New York, with whom he had 4 children.

From 1848 Humphreys studied homeopathy at the Pennsylvania Homoeopathic Medical College in Philadelphia, where he was trained by Constantine Hering . In 1850, Humphreys received his doctorate in homeopathic medicine .

In 1853, Humphreys moved to New York City to work in the homeopathic field with his father, and very quickly became a leader in the city's homeopathic circles. In the same year he founded his company The Humphreys Homeopathic Medicine Co. , which traded in homeopathic medicines .

Humphreys was instrumental in founding the Central New York Homoeopathic Medical Society , which later became the New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society . Humphreys was soon named chairman of the Bureau for the Augmentation and Improvement of the Materia Medica within the American Institute of Homeopathy . He later also became chairman of the homeopathic institute at his former school , Pennsylvania Homoeopathic Medical College , and taught there for three years.

From 1854 onwards, Humphreys devoted himself to various combinations of conventional medicine with homeopathy, which in his opinion had great potential for curing certain diseases and ailments. In this regard, Humphreys and his company The Humphreys Homoeopathic Medicine Co. produced and sold drugs that were developed in-house, which produced symptoms similar to those of the disease to be treated, but in this way stimulated the body to heal the disease itself. These drugs called Humphreys "Homeopathic Specifics" ( dt. Homeopathic specifics ).

Because of these undertakings by Humphries, there was ultimately a break with his school and with almost all of his professional supporters, friends and companions, the majority of whom scolded him as a fraud and quack .

After around 25 years, which were relatively difficult due to a lack of support from homeopathic circles, Frederick Humphreys finally managed to successfully establish his The Humphreys Homeopathic Medicine Co. on the market. The company continues to exist today as Humphreys Pharmacal Inc. and sells homeopathic medicines worldwide that are manufactured according to its own formulations .

Publications

In addition to his studies, Humphreys wrote scientific and medical publications and later drew attention to himself through various publications.

Together with his father, Humphreys wrote several essays for the New York Times , which dealt with the then relatively new methods of homeopathy. In addition, Humphries et al. a. "The Cholera, and its Homoeopathic Treatment" ( Eng. Cholera and its homeopathic treatment ) as well as a separate treatise on the homeopathic treatment of diarrhea . Far more important, however, was his work "Proving of the Apis Mellifica, or Poison of the Honey Bee" ( Eng. The test of the Apis Mellifica, or the venom of the honey bee ). The best known work by Frederick Humphreys remains his "History of the Humphreys Family" ( Eng. The story of the Humphreys family ), which was published in 1883.

children

Frederick Humphreys had 4 children with his second wife, Frances Maria Jefferson Sperry :

Others

Frederick Humphreys was very active in the church throughout his life . He supported the establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church in West Utica financially. Humphreys also supported Trinity Church in Asbury Park and was its head for 14 years .

His grandson Frederick Erastus Humphreys (1883–1941) was one of the first three military pilots to be trained in flight by the Wright brothers and the first to fly solo.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x} Frederick K. Humphreys on Sueyounghistories.com , February 25, 2012 (English).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Frederick K. Humphreys on Bottles and Extras, Winter 2005 [1] (PDF; 106 kB), February 25, 2012 (English).
3. ↑ The life data of Frederick K. Humphreys on [2] Findagrave.com , February 25, 2012 (English).