The Hahnemann Monument, Its History and Its Architecture

The following remarks were presented on April 10, 2010 at the Hahnemann Monument in Washington D.C.

by Sandra M Chase, MD, DHt,

President, American Board of Homeotherapeutics (ABHt)

Past President, National Center for Homeopathy (NCH)

Past President, Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis (LIGA)
Trustee, American Institute of Homeopathy (AIH)
Chairman, AIH Hahnemann Monument Preservation Committee
Facilitator, Hahnemann Monument Restoration Project

 

Please cite Dr. Chase’s work when using any part or all of this information.

 

The Hahnemann Monument, Its History and Its Architecture

by Sandra M. Chase, MD, DHt, 04/10/2010

 

1881 1^st proposal, HMSSP, by Dr. J.H. McClelland, Pittsburgh, PA, prompted by

1) visit to birthplace & graveside of Galileo whose history of suffering of persecution for his discoveries and for Truth’s sake he was aware, and

2) his awareness of the largest gathering of medical men of 19^th century in England to honor, with a statue, William Harvey whose discovery of circulation brought persecution.

 

1892 2^nd proposal, AIH session, Washington, DC

• JH McClelland moved, Dr. Henry N Smith (NY) 2^nd

• $ >1,000 subscribed at the meeting at Willard Hotel

• $50,000 - $75,000 total estimated need

 

1892-1902 Monument Committee appointed and fundraising initiated

• publicized in homeopathic journals but Old School MD’s blocked general press coverage

 • project quickly grew from representing 1400 members of the AIH to 12,000 homeopathic physicians in the USA

 1893 Auxillary Committee appointed made up of each state and each college, $2500 pledged

 1894 47^th Annual Session of AIH, Denver, $15,000 pledged.

 • advised to pick a European, disposed to pick an American, determined to pick the best

 • consulted recognized head of American sculpture, Mr. J.Q.A. Ward

 

1896 Full sized model completed

• Bill introduced and passed Congress, President Cleveland did not sign it

 

1897 Meissen Society and Ladies Monument Association created to support the effort

• Dr. Nancy T. Williams (ME) largest single individual contributor, $4,510.

 1898 54^th Session of AIH, Omaha, NE

• Practical completion of the memorial

 - granite work by Maine & New Hampshire Granite Company

- bronzes by Gorham Manufacturing Company

 • New bill introduced in Congress to authorize site

 1899 55^th Session of AIH, Atlantic City, NJ

• Finance Committee appointed to amass the funds

 • Bill finally passed fall of 1899, President William McKinley signed in 24 hours

 Congressional objections that had to be allayed:

 - starting a sectarian precedent

 - Hahnemann not of our country

 

1895 51^st Session of AIH, Newport, RI

practically a reception for sculptor, C. H. Niehaus, and architect, Julius Harder

                    • model of their winning entry on display

                    • other submitted sketches on display

Hahnemann Monument Committee enlisted aid of the National Sculpture Society to judge the competition for the Hahnemann Monument.  NSS Pres Ward recommended to send letters to 60 sculptors, American and foreign, inviting submission of sketches as models for a monument with an heroic bronze statue, “…with a granite pedestal, having such elaboration and accessories as would commemorate Hahnemann’s life and work under conditions regarding the cost…” (≤$30,000), the likeness, the time of delivery (02/01/1895), erection of the monument, manner of payment, etc., and offering prizes of 1^st) $500, 2^nd) $300, and 3^rd) $200

30 sculptors accepted, 24 models received, representing American, French,         German, Italian, and Spanish sculptors, were placed on public display at  the American Gallery of Fine Arts, the finest in NYC

The Committee of the Sculpture society and the Monument Committee unanimously chose Charles H. Niehaus (Cincinnati, OH) as the winner

The Monument Committee also decided to have the monument erected in granite ($48,800) rather than Indiana limestone ($30,000)

The contract between AIH and Mr. Niehaus is contained in the transactions -Winning Entry

• Charles Henry Niehaus, Cincinnati, OH, prize-winning sculptor

• Julius H. Harder, New York, NY, Marsh, Israels, and Harder

Charles Henry Niehaus, born 24 Jan 1855, Cincinnati, OH, of John Conrad Niehaus and Sophia Block Niehaus, German immigrants

Youth: practiced wood carving, stone cutting, and marble carving

McMicken School of Design, Cincinnati

1877 Royal Academy, Munich, graduated 22y, 1^st American to win a medal went on to study in Rome

1880 married Letitia Gorman.  One daughter, Marie

1881 returned to OH, commissioned to sculpt recently assassinated Pres James Garfield

1897 Moses & Edward Gibbon, Library of Congress

 No less than 8 pieces of his sculpture are displayed in the US Capitol

1896 Completion of full-sized model in clay of Hahnemann

1898 Completion of the granite exedra and pedestal by Maine and New Hampshire Granite Company and of the bronze statue and entablatures by the Gorham Manufacturing Co.

1900 Married Regina Armstrong, an art critic

Worked until the final year of his life when health forced him from his NJ backyard studio

A Commission of the Site proposed a site at Scott Circle for the placement of the monument, it being in a direct line from the White House.  Approved.

A meeting was held in Washington, DC, in 1900 to determine the location and date of the AIH Annual Session that year.  The guarantee of the Monument Committee resulted in the selection of Washington, DC, as the site for the AIH Session and June 21, 1900, as the date of dedication of the monument.

The invited guests to the unveiling and dedication of the Hahnemann Monument included Guest of Honor President William McKinley, his Private Secretary George B. Cortelyou, President of the District Board of Commissioners Hon. Henry B.F. MacFarland, Chief of Engineers General John M. Wilson, USA, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds Col. Theodore A. Bingham, Attorney General John W. Griggs, President of the American Institute of Homeopathy Dr. Charles E. Walton,

Secretary of the AIH Dr. Eugene H. Porter, Poet of the Day Dr. William Tod Helmuth, Chairman of the Monument Committee Dr. James H. McClelland, Treasurer of the Monument Committee Dr. Henry M. Smith, Chairman of the Finance Committee Dr. George G. Shelton, Chairman of the Local Committee on the Monument Dedication, Dr. J. B. Gregg Custis, Largest individual contributor Dr. Nancy T. Williams, the Rev. Benjamin F. Bittinger, DD, President’s Own Marine Corps Band

Rededication Ceremony June 21, 2000

Brass Quintet of the Marine Corps Band

Uniformed Services Color Guard

Supporting state and regional homeopathic societies CA, NY, PA, IL, OH, SHMA

Participating Org. AVH, AAHP, AHPA, HANP, HNA, HPCUS, HRN, NCH, NASH, CHC, CHE

Officers, Trustees, and members of the American Institute of Homeopathy

Homeopathic dignitaries from around the world.

Participants in the AIH hosted Homeopathy 2000 Celebration and Rededication Conference

 Restoration fundraising started summer 2000; by 10/03 amassed >$30K. 10/29/03 meetingg my office with Glenn DeMarr of National Park Service. 11/13/03 meeting on site with NPS Officials.  04/05/04 transferred $20,600 to NPS’s Karen Cucurrulo to pay for Senior Conservator Judith Jacob (NY) to restore gold-leaf backed colored glass tesserae of arch.  Glass ordered from Italy via American supplier. Bronze cleaned. Granite cleaned, repointed; steps, plaza re-laid.

 

The Hahnemann Monument: The History Within

 

• Greek exedra form: large niche or recess, usually with a bench or seat, semicircular or rectangular, roofed or unroofed.

Elliptical shape, approached by four steps at the minor axis to the platform at the rear of which rises a superstructure. (donor list secreted somewhere in monument)

• Central portion composed of four columns, Hahnemann seated in front, above whom arises an attica bearing his name. (Sculptor’s signature at base of statue.)

• Behind the bronze statue of Hahnemann, between the two front columns is an elliptical niche in the vertical axis, terminating in a semicircular arch above the impost. The impost line stretches out to the right and the left, forming the vertical termination of the flanking walls, which end at the extremities of the major axis of the ellipse. The base courses of these curving granite walls form seats occupying the space between the central portion and the end terminations.

• Because the monument was erected in an open space, it was determined to make it attractive from all aspects. The main lines of the central portion repeat on the back, the niche being replaced with a flat curtain wall with decorated tympanum above the impost. Above that: MCM: 1900.

The two figures represent the art and science of medicine.

• The Tablet reads, Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, Doctor of Medicine, Hofrath, Leader of the Great Medical Reformation of the Nineteenth Century, Founder of the Homœopathic School. (Hofrath: Counselor to the Court, honorary title.)

• Inscription of birth date and place on the rear of the right wall, encirculed with laurel leaves.

• Inscription of death date and place on the rear of the left wall, encirculed with laurel  leaves.

• Erlangen: obtained his medical degree

          Dessau: began his chemistry studies

          Note lion heads: symbol of strength

• Leipzig: treated typhus patients successfully

Coethen: home, 14 years; wrote Chronic Disease (house restored by German Homoeopathic MD Association with worldwide fundraising)

• Latin phrases associated with Hahnemann, most characteristically, SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURENTUR (Let likes cure likes) on the pedestal under his statue, but also, AUDE SAPERE (Dare to discern) and IN OMNIBUS CARITAS (In all things charity). DIE MILDE MACHT IST GROSS (The gentle action is the powerful) according to historian, Julian Winston, is attributed to Hering, circa 1845.  

 Note, again, the Lion head in three places...

• ...including above the head of Hahnemann. (head modeled from a bust in life given by widow Melanie to one of the American homeopathic colleges)

• Upper right portion of niche: lamp and book, typifying knowledge and instruction (with laurel).

• Upper left portion of niche: bowl and serpent, symbolizing wisdom (with palm branch).

• Mosaic depicting stylistically the foliage and flower of Cinchona.

• Right bronze entablature: nightly vigils of the student (1775-1777) and the investigations of the chemist (1779-1789).

• Left bronze entablature: Self-experimentation and teaching (1790:Cinchona) and Successful treatment of the typhus patients at Leipzig (1813).

      (figures in entablatures depict disciples of Hahnemann: Dunham, Gross, Hartman, Hering, Stapf)

• Note that Hahnemann is dressed on the robe of the scholar, a brilliant device on the part of Niehaus, as it makes his statue timeless.

The model of this monument won the Gold Medal at the Pan American Exposition and was shown at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1903).

1913: Art critic, Charles Coffin: “...finest work...equaled by few others in the country.”

The National Cyclopedia of American Biography:

“A similar strength and adequacy of conception characterizes the statue of Hahnemann, discoverer of homeopathy, for the memorial in Washington, considered the most effective seated statue ever produced.”