The students Samuel Hahnemann gathered around him in the early days of homeopathy and who supported his project were often well-educated, enthusiastic people with high idealistic values. Some comrades-in-arms - including the Rückert brothers - came from the environment of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, which was known for a high educational and work ethic. The Rückerts were among the first-period provers of medicines and left homeopathy with a substantial body of fundamental work. In the history of homoeopathy the two are often confused. Moreover, since the younger T.F. Rückert played a part in his childhood friend Constantin Hering also becoming involved in homeopathy, we present the Rückert brothers here.
The Brothers
When homeopathy speaks of a "Rückert", either Ernst Ferdinand (1795 - 1843) or Theodor Johannes Rückert (1801 - 1885) is meant. The brothers were among Hahnemann's first pupils. Both were physicians, homeopaths and authors of homeopathic works. It is not surprising if publications on the history of homeopathy occasionally lead to confusion.
Two other brothers belonged to the Rückert family: Leopold Immanuel (or Emanuel) (1797 - 1871), who was a well-known Protestant theologian and privy church councillor at the time, and Heinrich Moritz (1805 - 1851), rector at Zittau grammar school. All four siblings were born in Großhennersdorf near Herrnhut. Until they were about 12 years old, their father taught his sons himself, later they attended the Pädagogium in Niesky (near Görlitz) for some time to prepare for their studies, which was a respected educational institution of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine.
Except for the youngest, the Rückert brothers actively participated in many medical examinations. Even the later theologian Leopold Immanuel Rückert was infected by the enthusiasm of his brothers and tested 6 medicines. Since the test abbreviations in Hahnemann's pharmacopoeia were not always clear, Constantin Hering clarified the situation with his Uebersicht unserer Arzneiprüfungen nach den Prüfern[1]. He was able to correctly assign the examinations of the Rückert brothers, as the Herings and Rückerts were friends with each other.
Friendship with Constantin Hering
Constantin Hering casually tells of his special friendship with Theodor Johannes, who was of the same age, in an essay many years later - by then he was already an established homoeopath and had helped homoeopathy to make a breakthrough in America. He begins his memoir as follows:
"I do not blame anyone for feeling a mental jolt at the first dilution of the remedies. I remember very well how the matter seemed to me when I was already 'halfway there'. In my wisdom I thought at that time that there was something in Hahnemann's teaching, and now I wanted to free it from the errors, purify it, make it scientific (1822)." [2]
In order to get some Pulsatilla tincture from Theodor Johannes, he set off on foot to his friend's house (it was about 11 kilometres from his home town of Zittau to Großhennersdorf). He wanted to try the drops on his sister Ernestine, because he saw in her a "Pulsatilla realised in the flesh". He gave her a dilution prepared from Rückert's tincture. The effect must have been very convincing. For Hering's father is said to have rumbled in anger: "Do your infernal experiments on dogs and cats, but not on people! least of all in my house, on your sister, on your poor sick sister. At once the accursed poison must leave the house!" (Hering, 1861, p.162)
The subject of homeopathic remedy trials discussed in more detail elsewhere.
Whether Hering and Th. J. Rückert later corresponded or saw each other again is not known. Only a small greeting is found in sources still available today. Hering placed this in a footnote of an article that appeared in 1865 in the series of articles "Einige wohlmeinende Worte für Anfänger über unsre Arzneilehr" (Some well-meaning words for beginners about our medicine) of the Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung (AHZ):
"Do you remember, friend Rückert," he mused there, "how we discussed this in your little room and decided and put it into practice? - It was almost forty years ago! A greeting, a greeting from this far away place!" (Hering, 1865, p.101) Constantin Hering sent it to him from Philadelphia.
There is yet another testimony to the connections between the Rückerts and Herings, albeit a sad one.Zur Erinnerung an Julius Robert Hering 1805-1828 [4] is the title of a small memorial pamphlet written by Leopold Rückert in memory of Constantin Hering's younger brother. Robert Hering had studied philology in Leipzig and died in a bathing accident in the Elster in the summer of 1828.
Ernst Ferdinand Rückert
The Rückert brothers Ernst Ferdinand and Theodor Johannes had much in common. Despite having the same origins and similar educational backgrounds, their subsequent lives were fundamentally different.
Ernst Ferdinand Rückert, the eldest of the brothers, decided to pursue a medical career after having already begun studying theology and studied medicine in Leipzig from 1814 to 1816. At that time, he probably heard the lectures on homeopathy that Samuel Hahnemann had been giving as a private lecturer at the University of Leipzig since 1812. He belonged to the group of his students from which the first Society of Pharmaceutical Examiners emerged and with whose assistance Hahnemann's "Reine Arzneimittellehre" (Pure Theory of Medicines) came into being.
His younger brother Theodor Johannes memorialised the early deceased in a necrology published in the AHZ in 1849. In it, he described Ernst Ferdinand as a good-natured, extremely cheerful, entertaining and easily enthusiastic young man. Unfortunately, however, he lacked stamina. He is said to have been an unsteady spirit, easily impressed but not very patient.
He began his medical practice in Grimma in 1817, soon moving to Mutschen, then to Bernstadt (in Upper Lusatia). In contrast to his younger brother, Ernst Ferdinand let himself be discouraged by prejudices, hostility as well as some initial failures in his medical practice and therefore changed profession in 1822. For several years he made a fairly good living in Liefland (a Baltic region covering part of Latvia and Estonia) as a teacher at educational institutes and as a tutor. Due to his talent for languages, he soon became so proficient in Russian that he was able to translate historical works into German.
In 1829 he returned to Germany and visited Hahnemann, who received him kindly. Ernst Ferdinand stayed in Köthen until Easter 1830 and compiled a repertory[2] under Hahnemann's guidance. Theodor Johannes was pleased that his brother then also found the courage to practise again:
"Introduced to the art anew by the master, my brother now entered the practical career for the second time, first in Bautzen [...], then moved to Camenz [...] and finally found his last asylum under the special protection of the respectable family of the Count of Hohenthal at Königsbrück." [Trans. by author] (Rückert, 1849, p.86) He died at the age of 48 as a result of lung disease.
Ernst Ferdinand Rückert wrote several homeopathic works (see the attached bibliography). His first, Systematische Darstellung aller bis bisher gekannten homöopathischen Arzneien, was published in Leipzig in 1830 and was highly praised by Hahnemann[3]. A two-volume 2nd edition was published in 1835. Further books, which were intended to make the application of homoeopathy easier for the practitioner, followed.
With his two works Die Erkenntniß und Heilung der wichtigsten Krankheiten des Pferdes: nach homöopathischen Grundsätzen bearbeitet für Oeconomen und Pferdeliebhaber (1839) and Beschreibung der Krankheiten des Rindviehes, der Schafe, Schweine, Ziegen und Hunde: nebst Anleitung zu deren Heilung sowohl nach allöopathischen, wie nach homöopathische Grundsätzen; bearbeitet für Oekonomen und Gutsbesitzer (1841) he laid the foundations for the application and spread of homoeopathy in veterinary medicine. In addition, in 1840 the first volume of a comprehensive handbook on botany was published with the title Flora von Sachsen / ein practischer und bequemer Wegweiser auf heimathlichen botanischen Excursionen[4], a second volume appeared posthumously.
Theodor Johannes Rückert
Theodor Johannes Rückert was born like G.H.G Jahr in 1801. He went to school in Niesky and, as can be seen from archival documents of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, lived in the boarding school there from February 1814 (i.e. in the so-called Knabenchor, where G.H.G. Jahr also lived at the time). It is likely that the two later colleagues met here as boys. How well they knew each other and whether they were even friends is not mentioned anywhere. Apart from these similarities, they nevertheless grew up under unequal conditions and did not - as one would assume - go to school together. Theodor Johannes Rückert came to Niesky at the age of thirteen to prepare for his further academic education at a university at the Pädagogium (a secondary school). G.H.G. Jahr, on the other hand, had been in the Niesky boys' institution since the age of five. His path did not lead as straightforwardly as Rückert's via the Pädagogium to university. Since Jahr's parents were penniless, he had to submit to a shoemaker's apprenticeship after primary school, then fought his way through teacher training and only later, after a few years in the profession, was he able to fulfil his ambition of studying medicine.
Theodor Johannes Rückert, on the other hand, knew early on that he wanted to become a doctor and probably studied medicine in Dresden or Leipzig. After passing his exams, he was able to begin his professional career in Herrnhut as early as September 1821.
According to his own account, his enthusiasm for homeopathy had been ignited by a healing experience during his school days. In a preliminary note to a casuistry[5], which can be found in the Annalen der homöopathischen Klinik [7] published in 1830, he mentioned that.
"Already during my school course I was not unacquainted with homoeopathy, having been treated by one of its first disciples, and having experienced its efficacy in comparison with the allopathic remedies previously applied to me, it was inevitable that a preference for the former arose in me. This preference remained even afterwards, when I myself began my medical studies, and could not be damped, despite all the reasons given by my teachers at the time against it; It followed inevitably that I looked at the teachings of allopathy from a completely different angle than my fellow students, and after I had made myself more familiar with the homoeopathic writings in later years, and what had formerly been only preference had now become conviction, I could not fail to draw the attention of some of them to the truths of homoeopathy. [...] With joy, therefore, I used every remaining hour to study homoeopathy, and, having happily passed my examinations, returned to my native Upper Lusatia to begin my practical career there in September 1821, burning with zeal for homoeopathy". [Trans. by author] (Hartlaub & Trinks, 1830, p.3)
Theodor Johannes Rückert held the post of local medical officer in Herrnhut from 1821 and was the first to practise almost exclusively homeopathy in the area. According to his own words, he never regretted "having acted as a strict homoeopath from the very beginning." (Harlaub & Trinks, 1830, p.4) In 1832, together with colleagues such as H. Hartlaub, S.T. Thorer and W.A. Tietze, he founded the Lusatian-Silesian Association of Homeopathic Physicians.
As a down-to-earth, nature-loving person, he was an active member of the fruit-growers' association of Upper Lusatia and co-editor of OPORA, a journal for the promotion of fruit-growing in Germany. In addition to several books (see bibliography), he wrote numerous articles, first for Stapf's Archiv, then also for the Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung (AHZ) as well as for the Homöopathische Vierteljahresschrift (Homoeopathic Quarterly), in which he mainly passed on his extensive practical experience. The article on epilepsy that appeared in the AHZ shortly before his death in 1885 testifies to his vitality and mental clarity, which he retained into old age. Theodor Johannes Rückert was active in his profession until the end of his life. He was married to Caroline Emilie Henriette Glieher and had 2 children, the son Hermann Theodor Rückert (1827 - 1864) and the daughter Agnes Valerie Rückert, married Enkelmann (1835 - 1875).
Dr. med. Theodor Johannes Rückert died on 6 August 1885 in Herrnhut. The editors of the AHZ paid tribute to his constant quiet and faithful work as well as his human qualities in a succinct obituary: "
"His simple honest nature, his selflessness, his gentleness and kindness earned him the love of all those who came into contact with him." [Trans. by author] [8]
The most important publication of Theodor Johannes Rückert is his four-volume compilation entitled: Klinische Erfahrungen in der Homöopathie. Eine vollständige Sammlung aller in der deutschen und ins Deutsche übertragenen homöopathischen Literatur niedergelegten Heilungen und praktischen Bemerkungen, vom Jahre 1822 – 1850.
Bibliography
Ernst Ferdinand Rückert wrote:
- Systematische Darstellung aller bis jetzt gekannten homöopathischen Arzneien: mit Inbegriff der antipsorischen, in ihren reinen Wirkungen auf den gesunden menschlichen Körper, Verl. L. Schumann, Leipzig, 1st edition vol.1 1830, 2nd edition, vol. 1 and 2 1835.
Comment: As the number of tested remedies was constantly increasing and their effects were published in several scattered works, the need arose for a clear compilation of all medicinal effects in a systematic head-to-foot presentation. In this work he edited the remedy tests in such a way "that the symptoms of all remedies, which are identical and similar, and the complaints which they excite in the various parts, were compiled under certain headings".
Hahnemann praises and recommends Rückert's systematic presentation in a letter to Boenninghausen (16.01.1831)
- Die Wirkungen homöopathischer Arzneien unter gewissen Bedingungen, tabellarisch dargestellt, Verl. L. Schumann, Leipzig 1833
Comment: An treatment of the theory of medicines according to the exciting circumstances and modalities in alphabetical order. Begins with: Coincidences are excited or aggravated - In the evening and ends with - After drinking wine or other mental indulgences.
- Die Hautkrankheiten: oder systematische Darstellung der verschiedenen Ausschläge nach ihrer Form, published by L. Schumann, 1833.
- Kurze Uebersicht der Wirkungen homöopathischer Arzneien auf den gesunden menschlichen Körper, mit Hinweisung zu deren Anwendung in verschiedenen Krankheitsformen. 2 vols. L. Schumann, Leipzig vol.1 1831, vol. 2 1832, ; 2nd ed. 1834, 1835
Comment: This is a materia medica arranged alphabetically according to the Latin names, in which all the symptoms of each remedy have been put into a continuous flowing text. It was intended to introduce the remedies to the beginner, so that with this basic knowledge he could approach the more specific study "with pleasure".
- Grundzüge einer künftigen speciellen homöopathischen Therapie oder kurze Angaben gelungener homöopathischer Heilungen und praktischer Notizen, gesammelt aus den wichtigsten Zeitschriften der neuen Heillehre, Verl. Carl Andrä, Leipzig 1837
Comment: The successful cures achieved with a single or at most a few remedies are of great value for practice. The collection and compilation of cases (with indication of the exact source) where the same remedy was helpful, promotes knowledge of the remedy effect and gives indications for practice. The order of the case histories does not follow a nosological system, but a head-to-foot scheme. Two indexes complete the work. The first contains the remedies in alphabetical order as well as the disease forms in which they were used. The second register contains the alphabetically arranged diseases.
- Die Erkenntniß und Heilung der wichtigsten Krankheiten des Pferdes: nach homöopathischen Grundsätzen bearbeitet für Oeconomen und Pferdeliebhaber, Meißen: Klinikicht u. Sohn, 1839
- Beschreibung der Krankheiten des Rindviehes, der Schafe, Schweine, Ziegen und Hunde: nebst Anleitung zu deren Heilung sowohl nach allöopathischen, wie nach homöopathische Grundsätzen; bearbeitet für Oekonomen und Gutsbesitzer, Verlag Crayen, 1841
- a translation from the English: Jacob James: Praktische Erfahrungen im Gebiete der Homöopathie, 1842.
- Flora von Sachsen / ein practischer und bequemer Wegweiser auf heimathlichen botanischen Excursionen1 durch die Pflanzenwelt des Königreichs Sachsen, der sächsischen Herzogthümer und sächsischen Grenzprovinzen, für unstudirte Freunde vaterländischer Pflanzenkunde für unstudirte Freunde vaterländischer Pflanzenkunde, d.i. einfache und deutliche Beschreibung sämmtlicher, im Königreiche Sachsen und dessen anliegenden Provinzen wildwachsenden Pflanzen, mit genauer Angabe ihrer Standorte, wie ihres technischen und offiziellen Gebrauchs, zum Handgebrauch und Selbstunterricht beim Botanisiren, für Apotheker, Land- und Forstwirthe, Schullehrer und sonstige Freunde vaterländischer Gewächskunde, Grimma & Leipzig Volume 1 1840, Volume 2 1844.
Theodor Johannes Rückert wrote:
- Die Homöopathische Behandlung der asiatischen Cholera: Ein vollständiger Auszug der ganzen homöopathisch-klinischen Literatur bis zum Jahre 1850, Verlag Gebr. Katz, Dessau 1854.
- Klinische Erfahrungen in der Homöopathie: Eine vollständige Sammlung alles in der homöopath. Literatur niedergelegten Heilungen u. praktischen Bemerkungen vom Jahre 1822 bis 1850, 4 volumes, Verlag Gebr. Katz, Dessau: vol. 1 1854, vol. 2 1855, vol. 3 1857, vol. 4 1861 as well as supplementary volume to sections 1 - 12 1860
- as well as numerous articles in Stapf's' Archiv and in the AHZ, in which he shares practical experiences.
[1]Ernst Ferdinand R. examined: Aconit, Bryonia, Digitalis, Dulcamara, Helleborus, Pulsatilla, Rheum, Rhus toxicodendron.
Leopold Immanuel R. tested: Asarum, Belladonna, Cina, Colocynthis, Cuprum, Manganum aceticum.
Theodor Johann R. tested: Antimonium tartaricum, Baryta acetica, Cantharis, Carduus benedictus, Mezereum, Paris quadrifolia, Sabadilla, Zincum. [1]
[2]"[...] Of the antipsoric remedies alone, Dr Rückert (who subsequently published his systematic account) wrote me one here in Köthen four years ago, when he returned from Liefland in the autumn and did not immediately have a place to stay, where I then entertained him here for six months for this purpose. However, the latter register has not turned out as perfectly as I would have wished, as the execution of the symptoms is largely lacking according to the circumstances - with the exception of the night symptoms, which are well complete." S. Hahnemann in a letter to C. v. Boenninghausen of 25.11.1833 [Trans. by the author] (Stahl, 1997, p.92)
[3]In a letter of 16.01.1831 Hahnemann writes to Boenninghausen: "[...] On the other hand I draw your attention to Rückert's Systemat. Darstellung aller homöopathischen (bisher bekannten) Arzneien, which I can highly recommend." [Trans by author] (Stahl, 1997, p.43)
[4]The full title is: Flora von Sachsen / ein practischer und bequemer Wegweiser auf heimathlichen botanischen Excursionen durch die Pflanzenwelt des Königreichs Sachsen, der sächsischen Herzogthümer und sächsischen Grenzprovinzen, für unstudirte Freunde vaterländischer Pflanzenkunde für unstudirte Freunde vaterländischer Pflanzenkunde, d.i. einfache und deutliche Beschreibung sämmtlicher, im Königreiche Sachsen und dessen anliegenden Provinzen wildwachsenden Pflanzen, mit genauer Angabe ihrer Standorte, wie ihres technischen und offiziellen Gebrauchs, zum Handgebrauch und Selbstunterricht beim Botanisiren, für Apotheker, Land- und Forstwirthe, Schullehrer und sonstige Freunde vaterländischer Gewächskunde
[5]Gastrisch – fieberhafter Zustand; von Herrn Med. Pract. Rückert: nebst Vorwort. (Hartlaub & Trinks, 1830, p. 2f.)
Literature
[1] Hering, Constantin (1846): Uebersicht unserer Arzneiprüfungen nach den Prüfern geordnet. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte. AHZ (Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung) vol.31, p.22-30 u. 38-42 (see also in: Herings Medizinische Schriften, Vol. III, ed. by K.-H. Gypser, Göttingen, 1988, pp.945-964).
[2] Hering, Constantin (1861): Jenichen und kein Ende!, AHZ vol.62, pp.161-163. (See also in: Hering's Medical Writings, Vol. III, ed. by K.-H. Gypser, Göttingen, 1988, pp 1169-1178).
[3] Hering, Constantin (1865): Einige wohlmeinende Worte für Anfänger über unsre Arzneilehre. AHZ vol.70, p.101. (See also in: Herings Medizinische Schriften, Vol. III, ed. by K.-H. Gypser, Göttingen, 1988, p.1499-1520).
[4] Belger, Christian (1879): Moriz Haupt als academischer Lehrer. Publisher Weber, Berlin, p.56f.
[5] Stahl, Martin (ed.) (1997): Der Briefwechsel zwischen Samuel Hahnemann und Clemens von Bönninghausen, Haug Verlag, Heidelberg.
[6] Rückert, Theodor Johannes (1849): Nekrolog. AHZ vol 38, pp.81- 86.
[7] Hartlaub, C.G. Christian, Trinks, C. Friedrich (1830): Annalen der homöopathischen Klinik, Band 1, Leipzig by Friedrich Fleischer.
[8] Lorbacher, A. (1885): Todesanzeige Dr. med. Theodor Joh. Rückert. AHZ vol. 111, p. 56.
Authors: smi | Rev.: mnr | Ed.: pz | last modified Sept. 10, 2023