Harris Livermore Coulter: 8 October 1932–28 October 2009. Honouring Harris Coulter and his contribution to Homeopathy and to history

Harris Livermore Coulter was a man way ahead of his times, and this is an unusual compliment to a historian who dwelled so much in the past. He was the leading historian of homeopathy of the 20th century. More than that, he was also a leading figure in Western medical history. Harry (as his friends called him) was not, however, a typical medical historian. His four-volume treatise on the history of Western medicine, entitled Divided Legacy: The Schism in Medical Thought, may be the only academic historical review of this subject from the viewpoint of the Empirical (rather than Rational) school of thought.

While modern medicine represents the present-day evolution of the Rational school, homeopathic medicine and various natural treatment methods represent the latest state of the Empirical school. Anyone who has studied philosophy will recall that historically there have been two primary schools of thought in philosophy: the Rationalist school and the Empirical school. Harry Coulter’s greatest contribution to the writing of medical history is in his elucidation of these divergent schools of thought and how they created and shaped two separate schools of thought in medicine.

Each chapter in these four volumes contains over 100 references to primary sources, thereby creating a rich body of historical evidence of what said or written. It is this high standard of academic rigor that Harry Coulter embodied. It is commonly asserted that “history is recorded by the victors”. This is not only a truism historically; it is certainly true of medical history today. For instance, most historians write about homeopathy as some type of ‘medical heresy’ or as a ‘medical quackery’ or simply as some strange type of medical treatment which modern medicine has rightly replaced.

Harry Coulter countered these assumptions about homeopathy and of the Empirical school of medical thought; he showed and even proved that many of the Rational school’s explanations for diseases and treatments may have seemed rational when first proposed, but that rationale shifted with time as did their treatments. In contrast, the Empirical school’s understanding of disease and their treatment of sick people have had historical consistency and remarkable staying power.

Harry defended homeopathy at a time in history when it was at its lowest ebb, and he helped turn the tide. Coulter displayed immense intellect and a mighty backbone in his defense of and advocacy for homeopathy. He almost amounted to a one-man “Homeopathy Antidefamation League,” with his robust defence the name and reputation of homeopathy.

I sincerely wish that there were more people like Harry Coulter today.

I sincerely wish that more homeopaths would inform themselves of homeopathy’s auspicious history.

I sincerely wish that more homeopaths would stand up and defend homeopathy with a similar degree of intelligence and passion that Harry showed.

Although Harry has passed away, he has left us with a rich legacy of writings that will live on. I now raise a glass, and I toast the name HARRIS LIVERMORE COULTER.