Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler (also spelled Schuessler; 21 August 1821 – 30 March 1898) was a German
medical doctor
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
in
Oldenburg who searched for natural remedies and published the results of his experiments in a German
homeopathic
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 or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance tha ...
journal in March 1873, leading to a list of 12 so-called "biochemic cell salts" that remain popular in
alternative medicine
Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...
. Although he was firmly within the homeopathy movement of his day, the modern definition of
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 or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance that ...
tends to exclude his concept of
homeopathic potency, which favored remedies which, while very dilute, still retained small amounts of the original salt.
Influences and history
Samuel Hahnemann
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann ( , ; 10 April 1755 – 2 July 1843) was a German physician, best known for creating the pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine called homeopathy.
Early life
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann w ...
had proposed
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 or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance that ...
in 1796, based on the idea of using very dilute remedies including salts. An 1832 paper in Stapf's Archiv suggested such salts would be "essential component parts of the human body".
Schüßler was influenced by an 1852 paper by the Dutch physiologist
Jacob Moleschott (1812–1893). Serious discussion began only after Dr Lorbacher of Leipzig critically considered his ideas five months later. An English translation appeared in the Medical Investigator in May 1873, then in "The Twelve Tissue Remedies" by Dr C. Hering, and in 1888 in a book of the same name by
Boericke and Dewey, two medical doctors in San Francisco.
Around the beginning of the twentieth century,
Eli Jones and other doctors studied Schüßler's ideas and derived new ones;
by the end of that century Schüßler's name (in various forms of spelling) and list of twelve "tissue salts" were commonly found in health shops and
alternative medicine
Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...
books.
Schuessler salts are discussed in Western Australia's Government Gazette of 12 April 1946:
Works
* ''Eine abgekürzte Therapie: Anleitung zur biochemischen Behandlung der Krankheiten''. Schulze, Oldenburg 42nd ed. 191
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
...
See also
*
George W. Carey
References
External links
Dr. WH SchuesslerList of Schuessler Cell Salts and pharmacological picturesBiography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schussler, Wilhelm Heinrich
German homeopaths
People from Oldenburg (city)
1821 births
1898 deaths
19th-century German physicians