August Bier and German homoeopathy in the early 20th century

Abstract

At the end of the last century, debate on the pros and cons of homoeopathy was lively in Germany. By 1920 it had died down almost entirely and homoeopathy seemed to have gone into a decline. In 1925 the prominent surgeon August Bier published a paper which immediately revived the discussion and helped homoeopathy become a prevalent form of treatment again in Germany. His paper and the at times emotional exchanges that followed were directly responsible for a change of climate in the discussion between homoeopaths and representatives of the conventional school, a number of clinical investigations into the question of clinical efficacy and the creation of a university chair of homoeopathy in 1929. Reading this story one can hardly help being impressed and amused by similarities between then and now.