Homeopathy in New York

By Dana Ullman MPH

For this and more amazing historical facts and quotes about homeopathy, consider purchasing Dana Ullman’s Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy

Homeopathic medicine was particularly popular in the 19th century in major urban areas. The more educated Americans tended to be homeopathy’s strongest supporters. These people included William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Daniel Webster, William Seward, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrison, Louisa May Alcott, and William James.

New York ‘s First Women’s Medical College was Homeopathic

The New York Medical College for Women was a homeopathic school, founded in 1863 with the help of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an ardent supporter of homeopathy.

(Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America, NY: Schocken, 1979)

The AMA’s Attack on Homeopathy

In the 1860s the AMA made it unethical for conventional physicians to consult with homeopathic physicians. Because so many of the most respected New York physicians were homeopathic physicians and because they were members of the New York medical society, this society did not accept the AMA dictum. As a result, the New York State Medical Society was expelled from the AMA in 1882 and were not admitted back until 1906.

Founder of the FDA: N.Y. Senator AND Homeopath–Dr. Royal Copeland

Dr. Royal Copeland graduated from the Homeopathic MedicalCollege at the University of Michigan in 1889. He was the Dean of the New York Homeopathic Medical College from 1908-1923. He was the Health Commissioner of New York City from 1918 to 1923. He was the President of the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1908. Then, in the late 1920s he was elected Senator representing New York , and in 1938 he authored the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938.

William Cullen Bryant and Homeopathy

William Cullen Bryant, famous journalist, was another ardent supporter of homeopathy.

He even served as the President of the New York Homeopathic Medical Society in 1845.

The Seal of NY Medical College Contains a Photo of Homeopathy’s Founder

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, is on the N.Y. Medical College ‘s Seal because this college was previously the New York Homeopathic Medical College , which in conjunction with the famous Flower Homeopathic Hospital , provided health care services to almost 30,000 patients a year.

Homeopathic Life Insurance

Atlantic Mutual Life Insurance Company was organized in 1866, and it offered life insur­ance at 25% of the ordinary rate of insurance. It was only available to patients of homeopathic physicians. Despite this discount, there is evidence that more life insurance money was paid to beneficiaries of homeopathic patients because these people lived longer.

Samuel Hahnemann, MD, made a “honorary member” of the Medical Society of the City and County of New York

Homeopathy’s founder was made an honorary member of this medical society in 1832. However, according to medical history Martin Kaufman, he was kicked out of the medical society “when orthodox physicians recognized the major ideological and financial threat symbolized by the growth of homeopathy.” This statement says it all: homeopathy was an “ideological and financial threat.”