Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/528

 HERDMAN

HERING

pathic Hospital was largely the result of his thought and fine work — preeminently his monument for all time. Dr. Herdman enlisted in United States military service April 5, 1S65, as private, Company F, 19Sth regiment, Ohio Infantry; dis- charged May 8, 1S65, by general orders. Member Welch Post G. A. R. 1886. Herdman was about six feet high, per- fectly proportioned with a large head covered with luxuriant brown hair, high forehead, brown, bushy eyebrows shield- ing the deep set eyes, long curly mustache, keen glance, kindly manner and of re- markable dignity. On September 15, 1873, Dr. Herdman married Nancy Brad- ley Thomas, who with three children sur- vived him; the son, Elliot Kent, became a practising physician.

Dr. W. J. Herdman died December 14, 1906, in Johns Hopkins Hospital, Balti- more, following operation for malignant disease of the abdomen.

Papers :

" Burgeon's Method of Treating Chronic Diseases of the Lungs by Medicated Gas- eous Enemata." ("Transactions Mich- igan State Medical Society," 1887.)

" Clinical Observations on the Functions of the Right Temporosphenoidal Lobe." ("Journal of Nervous and Mental Dis- eases," New York, 1893, vol. xx.)

" Best Methods of Counteracting Psy- choses, due to the Strain and Stress Incident to our Public School System." ("Journal Amercian Medical Associa- tion," vol. xli.)

"Ascending Neuritis." ("The Physi- cian and Surgeon," vol. xxvii.)

"Primary Lateral Sclerosis." ("Trans- actions Michigan State Medical Society," 18S9.)

"Some Forms of Trophoneurosis," with illustrations. (Ibid., 1894.)

"Dupuytren's Finger Contraction." (Ibid., 18S6.)

"Vascular Disease as a Factor in the Etiology of Epilepsy." ("Journal Mich- igan State Medical Society," vol. iii.)

L. C.

History Univ. of Mich., The University Press, 1906.

Hering, Constantine (1800-1880).

A scientist and a pioneer in home- opathy both in Europe and in the States, Constantine Hering was born in Os- chatz, Saxony, on January 1, 1800. As a lad he went to school in Zittau, and in his playtime followed his natural bent and roamed the country gathering speci- mens, the nucleus of a collection of min- erals, plants and skulls. His medical studies were made in the Surgical Acad- emy of Dresden and the University of Leipzig, where he was assistant to Dr. J. Henry Robbi; his M. D. was from Wurzburg. Soon after, Robbi was asked by a publishing house to prepare a work demolishing homeopathy and he referred them to young Hering who, in two years, had nearly completed the book but was struck by some statements in Hahne- mann's book and resolved to test their truth. The result was he became a convert and openly avowed his belief. Ostracism, persecution and poverty followed. In his surgical practice he received a wound which apparently necessitated amputation. Hering went to a homeopathist and promised to de- vote his life to homeopathy if the hand was saved, which being done, he kept his promise.

Soon after graduation, while teach- ing in a college for young noblemen, he was appointed to go to Surinam to make zoological researches under royal patronage. His old friend Chris- tophe Weigel went with him as botanist and the reports were satisfactory but some articles on homeopathy contrib- uted to "Stapf's Homeopathic Archives" gave offense to the royal physician and Hering was told to attend more exclu- sively to his researches. Result: Hering greatly indignant and a sending in of his resignation, continuing his investiga- tion privately by taking up practice in Paramaribo. His fine collection went as a gift to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

While in Surinam he was a visitor to the leper colony, seeking to alleviate the terrible suffering and enriching