Joseph Hippolyt Pulte (born in

Meschede Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis. Education One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhoc ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...

, October 6, 1811 – died in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, February 24, 1884) was a

homeopath Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

ic physician.

Biography

He was educated in the gymnasium of Soest and received his medical degree at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

. He followed his brother, Dr. Hermann Pulte, to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1834, and practised in Cherrytown,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, but became a convert to

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

, and took an active interest in forming the homœopathic academy in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

, which closed in 1840. He then moved to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, where, in 1844, he co-founded the

American Institute of Homeopathy The American Institute of Homeopathy (AIH), established in 1844, is the oldest extant national physician’s organization in the United States. The founding president of the AIH was Constantine Hering. Past AIH presidents include Royal S. Cope ...

in New York City. In 1872, he established in the medical college that bears his name in Cicinatti, where he was professor of clinical medicine. In 1852, he was made professor of the same branch at the Homeopathic College of Cleveland, where he served as professor of

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

in 1853–55.

Plagiarism

Pulte was accused of plagiarism by J. W. Metcalf in ''The North American Journal of Homeopathy'', in 1851.Haller, John. (2005). ''The History of American Homeopathy: The Academic Years, 1820-1935''. Taylor & Francis. p. 233. According to Metcalf, Pulte's book ''Homeopathic Domestic Physician'' published in 1850 was a copy and paste job from the works of

Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland Christoph Wilhelm Friedrich Hufeland (12 August 1762, Langensalza – 25 August 1836, Berlin) was a German physician, naturopath and writer. He is famous as the most eminent practical physician of his time in Germany and as the author of numero ...

and others with parallel columns of text being almost identical. Metcalf also accused Pulte of plagiarizing entire sections of

Constantine Hering Constantine J. Hering (January 1, 1800 – July 23, 1880) was a physician who was an early pioneer of homeopathy in the United States. Biography Hering was born in Oschatz, and studied medicine at the University of Leipzig where his interest in ...

's ''Domestic Physician'' (1835), Joseph Laurie's ''Domestic Medicine'', Gottlieb Heinrich Georg Jahr's ''Manual'', Erastus Edgerton Marcy's ''Theory and Practice'' (1850) and Calvin Cutter's ''Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene'' (1850).

Selected publications

*''Organon der Weltgeschichte'' (Cincinnati, 1846; English ed., 1859)
''The Homœopathic Domestic Physician''
(1850, 1871) *''A Reply to Dr. Metcalf'' (1851) *''The Science of Medicine'' (Cleveland, 1852)
''The Woman's Medical Guide''
(Cincinnati, 1853) *''Civilization and its Heroes: an Oration'' (1855) He contributed to various homeopathic journals, was an editor of the ''American Magazine of Homeopathy and Hydropathy'' in 1852–54, and of the ''Quarterly Homeopathic Magazine'' in 1854. He edited Teste's ''Diseases of Children'', translated by Emma H. Cote (2d ed., Cincinnati, 1857).

Biography

Plagiarism

Selected publications

References

Further reading