Wilhelm Heinrich Schuessler

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Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler 1821–1898
Schüßler bust in Bad Zwischenahn
Badge at the clinic in OL-Kurwickstrasse

Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler (born  August 21, 1821 in Bad Zwischenahn ; †  March 30, 1898 in Oldenburg ) was a homeopathic doctor and the founder of the "biochemical healing method", the therapy with the so-called Schüßler salts .

Live and act

Schüßler's parents were the incumbent Heinrich Nicolaus Schüßler and Margarethe Catharina née Heddin. He grew up in modest circumstances, but nevertheless acquired extensive knowledge in a wide variety of fields, especially in the field of languages. In addition to Latin and Greek, he mastered French, Italian, Spanish and English - mostly learned through self-study - and at times even dealt with Sanskrit .

Medical qualification

According to his own information, Schüßler studied medicine in Paris , Berlin and Gießen since 1852 . On March 1, 1855, he received his doctorate from the University of Giessen without submitting a dissertation , without performance records and in absence as a doctor of medicine. He then studied in Prague , where he attended lectures on homeopathy , among other things . The application for the medical state examination to obtain the license to practice as a doctor was rejected in 1855 because Schüßler not only had no proper study records, but also no high school diploma . Therefore, by 1857, he made up the final examination at the old grammar school in Oldenburg and thus finally obtained admission to the state examination, which was certified as passed on August 14, 1857.

Schüßler then applied for the concession to settle in the city of Oldenburg and started a collection of signatures addressed to the city council among the city's citizens. He finally received it on January 2, 1858, also because Schüßler assured him that he was exclusively homeopathic. He was the first doctor in Northern Germany to represent the homeopathic healing method practically and scientifically in the spirit of Mélanie Hahnemann . In 1861 he joined the German Central Association of Homeopathic Doctors .

Therapeutic concept

After practicing as a homeopathic doctor for 15 years, he developed a therapy in which diseases are treated with various " potentiated ", ie homeopathically prepared, salts , the deficiency of which, according to Schüßler, should cause the corresponding disease. In 1873 he published his theories for the first time in the Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung , the central organ of the German-speaking medical profession with a homeopathic orientation, and thus met with a lot of skepticism and criticism among homeopaths. In 1876 he left the Central Homeopathic Association again and justified this with the fact that "the men who set the tone there do not want to recognize my therapy as a homeopathic one."

Tomb of Dr. Schüßler at the Gertrudenfriedhof Oldenburg

In 1878 he wrote in his central work An Abbreviated Therapy: “I brought everything that I determined through theory and practice about the molecular effects of the 12 salts mentioned into a system, and gave my healing method the name 'Biochemistry'. Biochemistry is not identical to homeopathy. ”And further:“ Anyone who hears about small gifts usually immediately thinks of homeopathy. But my healing method is not a homeopathic one, because it is not based on the principle of similarity , but on the physiological-biochemical processes that take place in the human organism translated into all cultural languages.

Scientific reception

The biochemistry invented by Schüßler as a therapeutic method should not be confused with the scientific discipline of biochemistry . Schüßler's theses contradict generally accepted scientific knowledge about the functioning of organisms and the development of diseases ( pathology ). His simple and cheap healing system brought Schüßler an ever larger following, but also many opponents from the scientific circles of the medical profession, which led to disputes up to enmity and slander. That is why Schüßler was forced to publish smaller writings again and again, which were intended to “correct erroneous views” as well as to further deepen and disseminate his biochemistry. The Nazis were initially very impressed by Schuessler's “folk healing method”, but after a series of tests they let the process disappear into oblivion because of its proven ineffectiveness. Ernst Klee reports on experiments in the Dachau concentration camp in which prisoners were injected with pathogens to produce sepsis , which the attempt was made to treat with Schuessler's salts. But "all cases of sepsis died." In the 1980s, Schüßler's biochemistry experienced a rebirth in the wake of the growing interest in alternative healing methods and is particularly widespread among fans of alternative medicine in German-speaking countries .

Post fame

Schüßler remained a bachelor until his death and lived in seclusion. His grave is in the Gertrudenfriedhof in Oldenburg. He donated the extensive fortune he had acquired in his life for cross-denominational, charitable purposes.

In 1932, a Schüßler memorial was inaugurated on the site of the then headquarters of the Madaus factory on Radebeuler Gartenstrasse on the occasion of the Federal Congress of the Biochemical Federation of Germany , which later had to give way to an expansion of the company and therefore the family moved it to the park below on the after Emil Nackes Death acquired the Johannisberg winery in Zitzschewig . After the expropriation of the company premises in 1945, the Schüßler bust was sunk in the pond of what was then Madaus Park. In 2007 it was rediscovered and large parts of it were excavated.

Works (selection)

  • How do you judge homeopathy in Oldenburg. Oldenburg, 1861.
  • Popular representation of the essence of homeopathy. Oldenburg, 1863.
  • An abbreviated therapy based on histology and cellular pathology. Schulze, Oldenburg, 1874 ( digitized version of the 42nd edition, 1917, University and State Library Düsseldorf ; digitized version of the 46th edition, 1922).
  • An abbreviated therapy: instructions for the biochemical treatment of diseases. Schulze, Oldenburg, 1924. ( Digitized from the 49th edition.)
  • Special instructions for the homeopathic application of the physiological function remedies. Oldenburg 1874.
  • Dr. von Grauvogel's position on the "Abbreviated Therapy". Oldenburg, 1876.
  • The therapeutic importance of inorganic tissue builders. Oldenburg, 1876.
  • The healing of diphtheritis by biochemical means. Oldenburg, 1879.
  • Cholera from a biochemical point of view. Oldenburg, 1892.
  • Kneipp's water cure. Thoughts about it. Oldenburg, 1895.
  • Allopathy, Biochemistry and Homeopathy. Oldenburg, 1895.
  • Misconceptions about biochemistry. Rectification of the same. Oldenburg, 1926.

literature

Web links

sources

  1. ↑ a b Colin Goldner: The healing twelve. Article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung from May 11, 2010.
  2. ↑ Dr. med. Wilhelm Heinrich Schuessler. His life and work. Pp. 23-24.
  3. ^ Ernst Klee: Auschwitz, the Nazi medicine and its victims , Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt, 2001, pp. 144–145.
  4. ↑ Essays on the medical history of the city of Oldenburg. Pp. 390-396.
  5. ↑ Peter Redlich: SZ from November 20, 2007, page 17.
personal data
SURNAME Schuessler, Wilhelm Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physician, founder of the "biochemical healing method"
BIRTH DATE August 21, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Zwischenahn
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1898
PLACE OF DEATH Oldenburg (Oldb)