[From the glorious time of homeopathy medicine chests in Nord-Schleswing (South Justland) about 1900].
The article deals with the origin, background and development of homoeopathy over a hundred years span, beginning with its "invention" in the early 19th century (Hahnemann). Leipzig became a center for a huge production of homoeopathic remedies through Dr. W. Schwabe's "Central-Apoteke", founded in 1878, with customers all over the world. The preparation of around one thousand products were described in 1880 in Schwabes "Pharmacopoea homoeopatica polyglotta", in five languages, and this article gives a survey of the principles in the production of the final remedies which were distributed as Schwabes homoeopatic house-chests of many varieties, containing from a few up to more than hundred bottles. Detailed instructions and guidance in the applications of the content of these popular and wide-spread chests were available for laymen from hand-books. However their use vanished gradually in the third decade of the 20th century and later, and the chests were either destroyed or put away. This was also true for the situation in South Jutland (before 1920 a german province called Nord Schleswig), nevertheless the author's research succeeded in detecting thirteen homoeopathic house-chests from the region, purchased about year 1900. An attempt is made to throw light on their origin, their use and their users at a time, when homoeopathy played a role for layman in the treatment of diseases, outside the authorized health service - or as a supplement to this.
Marckmann
Anton
A
D003718:Denmark; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006705:Homeopathy / Q000266:history*; D019026:Medicine Chests / Q000266:history*; D010603:Pharmacopoeias, Homeopathic as Topic / Q000266:history*