Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Hering, Constantin

HERING, Constantin, physician, b. in Oschatz, Saxony, 1 Jan., 1800; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 23 July, 1880. He studied medicine at Leipsic, at Würzburg, where he was graduated as doctor of medicine, obstetrics, and surgery in 1826, and at the surgical academy in Dresden. Having been engaged to write a book confuting homœopathy, he read Hahnemann's works, became a convert, sought out the author, and became his personal friend. He was for a time instructor in mathematics and natural science in Berckmann's institute, Dresden, and was sent by the king of Saxony to Surinam to make botanical and zoölogical collections. After practising medicine for a time in Paramaribo he sailed for Philadelphia, where he arrived in January, 1833. There he founded a homœopathic school, the first of its kind in any country. From 1845 till 1869 he filled the chairs of institutes of medicine and materia medica in the Philadelphia college of homœopathy. He devoted much study to cures for the bites of venomous serpents and for hydrophobia, and developed many of Hahnemann's theories. He was joint editor of the “Medical Correspondent” (Allentown, 1835-'6), of the “Miscellanies of Homœopathy” (Philadelphia, 1839), of the “North American Homœopathic Quarterly” (New York, 1851-'2), and of the “Homœopathic News” (1854), and founded and edited the “American Journal of Homœopathic Materia Medica.” He published many books in both German and English, including “Rise and Progress of Homoeopathy” (Philadelphia, 1834), which was translated into several languages; “Condensed Materia Medica”; “Effects of Snake Poison” (1837); “Guiding Symptoms and Analytical Therapeutics”; “Bering's Domestic Physician” (6th ed., 1858); and “American Drug Provings” (vol. i., Leipsic, 1853).