HAHNEMANN, SAMUEL. 1755-1843.


Autograph Letter Signed ("Samuel Hahnemann"), to his new wife, Melanie d'Hervilly [Hahnemann], being thoughts and expressions on the nature of love, 2 pp, 8vo, Paris, August 15, 1835, remnants of stub along left hand edge, verso.AN IMPASSIONED LOVE LETTER TO HIS NEW WIFE, headed "Thoughts and love offering to my dear wife, / Melanie d'Hervilly. / By Samuel Hahnemann." He begins, "My dear, protecting angel! Where is there among the many thousands whose name 'Marie' is celebrated to day only one who could equal you as regards even a single of your innumerable virtues and qualities?" He continues to explain that he is writing in English as she "would like to learn the characters used in German letter-writing," before providing two paragraphs meditating on love: "True love is joyful admiration and sincere veneration of the noble moral and physical qualities which we ourselves possess, or, at least, wish to possess ... Life without love is like a day without the sun — Hence, I cannot exist without thee, for, though art grown fast to my heart, separated from thee, even for a short time, my heart would break." A remarkably personal letter by the founder of homeopathy to his new French-born wife Melanie Hahnemann (1800-1878). They arrived in Paris in July 1835 and began practicing homeopathy in the city the following month. Hahnemann had spent part of his early life as a translator and teacher of English and several other languages. His letter explains why he wrote to his French wife in English. She studied homeopathy with him and is considered to be the first female homeopathic physician. See Hobhouse, Life of Christian Samuel Hahnemann: Founder of Homeopathy, (London, 1933). Accompanied by Handley, A Homeopathic Love Story: The Story of Samuel and Melanie Hahnemann, (Berkeley, 1990), an indispensable reference, as well as an engraved portrait of Samuel Hahnemann.