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Homeopathy in Canada: A Synopsis |
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by Fernando Ania,
N.D., H.D. |
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In 1996 we celebrated
the 200th anniversary of the birth of homeopathy. In 1796 after six
years of experimentation, Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy,
published his findings in a German medical journal. Since then, homeopathy
has expanded throughout the entire world, having had its splendor
at the beginning of the 20th century in Philadelphia and the East
coast of the United States. |
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By 1892, the USA had
over four hundred state and county associations (Bradford, 1892),
and by 1912, there were one hundred and ninety-five homeopathic hospitals,
nine of which had over one thousand beds (Cleave, 1912). With immigrants
coming into Canada and Canadians traveling to the USA, the enormous
homeopathic influence in the USA soon reached Canada. An immigrant
most likely from the Netherlands, Dr. J. 0. Rosenstein, is recorded
as practicing homeopathy in 1845, in Montreal, Quebec (Epps,1845). |
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The Homeopathic Hospital |
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In 1846, Rosenstein published
what may be the first Canadian book on homeopathy (Rosenstein, 1846).
Before Rosenstein, Arthur Fisher, M.D. was practicing homeopathy in
Montreal. Dr. Fisher and Dr. Rosenstein may have been the first homeopathic
doctors practicing in Canada. Joseph J. Lancaster (1813-1884) was
practicing homeopathy in Norwich, Ontario in 1846 (Campbell, 1892),
and then in London, Ontario in 1848. He went to the U.S.A. to further
his studies in homeopathy and graduated from the Philadelphia Homeopathic
College in 1857 (Cleave, 1873). Dr. Lancaster was one of the first
doctors to use disinfectants and when the cholera epidemic reached
London, Ontario, he suggested using disinfectants to control it. Despite
the opposition of orthodox physicians, the Board of Health acted on
his advice and the epidemic was contained. |
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