Homeopathy Papers

History of Homeopathic Medicine in Mexico

History of Homeopathic Medicine in Mexico. 150 years of history in this brief essay shows the development of homeopathic science in Mexico from its beginnings to the present, divided into five stages, according to the most important events that define each of them.

ABSTRACT

Speaking of 150 years of history in a few pages is not easy, nevertheless the objective of this brief essay is to show the development of homeopathic science in our country from its beginnings to the present, divided into five stages, according to the most important events that define each of them. Stage I (1849-1893) includes the first years of isolated practices of the homeopathic doctors. Stage II (1893-1921) explains the years of officialization and prosperity for associations and schools. Stage III (1921-1940) is characterized by conflicts with authorities. Stage IV is identified by the slow blooming of schools and study groups.That is when postgraduate studies appear and prosper in Mexico. In stage VI (1999-  ) the spread and growth of homeopathy continues, now under new perspectives and attitudes of 21st century Mexico.

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL FRAME (1)

Arrival of the first homeopathic doctors to Mexico in 1849 (82) coincides with the loss of more than half of the national territory (2.1 million square kilometers) after the war with the United States and the end of Antonio López de Santa Anna’s tenth presidency, a somber character in our country. Between the years 1848 and 1853 several interim military governments held power in the chaotic nation until Santa Anna installed himself in the presidency for the eleventh and last time, collecting taxes even for the number of doors, windows and pets in the houses.

Reformation wars, the Constitution of 1857, the three year war (1856-1860) the ephemeral empire of Maximilian and Charlotte (1864-1867) and the Restoration of the Republic give frame to the first years of homeopathy in Mexico.

The long period of peace and prosperity of the porfiriate (1867-1811, named after General and President Porfirio Díaz) allowed study groups to prosper and also allowed the foundation of homeopathic schools and hospitals (3). After the brief democratic government of Francisco I. Madero (15 months), again war and destruction stroke our fatherland, this time it was the Mexican Revolution, fratricide and nepharious war which lasted more than a decade.

Alter president Álvaro Obregón was murdered in 1924, General Plutarco Elías Calles became the dominant figure in Mexican politics. His government was characterized by Marxist tendencies, and because of the religious persecution, the Cristeros‘ War exploded (1927-1929), an event which occurred with more popular participation than the Mexican Revolution.

In 1928 a period called “maximate” begins, because Calles proclaims himself “The maximum chief of the revolution”.  After the brief interim governments of Emilio Portes Gil and Pascual Ortiz Rubio, General Lázaro Cárdenas held power and he was the last military president (1934-1940). In his term a social order was established and Calles was stripped of all political influence. It was in this period when homeopathic doctors fought their more intense battles defeating the President of the Republic (4).

During the next governments the country began a long recovery period, reaching its highest point in the governments of Adolfo Ruiz Cortínes (1952-1958), Adolfo López Mateos (1958-1964) and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964-1970). This period is known by economists as the “stabilizing development”, during which Mexico achieved a great economical stability.

During the next government (1970-1976) the national economy deteriorated and a great devaluation (from $12.50 pesos a dollar to more than $20.00) that stripped the Mexican peso of the fixed parity with the U.S. dollar, and was the first of the many that have happened up to date.

The last years have been characterized by inflation and monetary devaluations and by the economic crisis we are still living with today.

In January 1994 a guerilla movement  began in the south of the country with the movement led by the National Liberation Zapatista Army, with unresolved conflict to date.

In the year 2000, 71 years of the rule of a single party ended and a new era of democracy in the Mexican Republic began.

Stage I

THE FIRST ONES (1849-1893)

Spanish doctors arriving from Cuba introduced the practice of homeopathic medicine to our country.  As to the different chroniclers there are several versions, but after careful investigation we can say that the first one was Doctor Cornelio Andrade y Baz, who arrived in the Mexican coasts in 1849. He came as bedside doctor of the Bringas family and stayed for six years only, living at Orizaba in the State of Veracruz (2).

In 1850 Dr. Ramón Comellas (2), a Catalonian doctor, ex-professor of the University of Valencia among various other distinctions, was founder of the Valencian Medical Institute (3).  He is author of the first homeopathic publication in our country, the “Review on Homeopathy Dedicated to Mexicans” (5).  This small 24 page booklet has a brief historical introduction and the main indications that a patient of homeopathic medicine must follow. These accomplishments,  and the fact that he was the first to teach homeopathy to his main disciples, Julián González and Rafael Degollado, qualifies him as the person who introduced homeopathy to Mexico.

Dr. Salvador Riera, also a Spaniard, arrived in Mérdia, State of Yucatán, with degrees from the Universities of Madrid and Havana in 1851, where he was the protagonist of the initial chapters of homeopathy in Yucatán. (6).

In 1854 Dr. José María Carbó, Catalonian also, arrived from Cuba, and he did so specifically to fight the yellow fever epidemics in the port of Veracruz (7). His outstanding labour with the sick and his treatments in San Juan de Ulúa[*] earned him recognition by President Santa Anna, who granted him the first official permission to practice homeopathy in Mexico (8).

In 1855 el Dr. Narciso Sanchíz, arrived in Mexico; he instructed the first Mexican practitioners, Alfredo Domínguez Ugalde and Pablo Fuentes Herrera (9).

In 1861 Dr. Fuentes Herrera, and Pascual Bielsa, founded the first homeopathic group, the “Homeopathic Society of Mexico”, with the prime objective of exploring the national fauna and flora to elaborate a Mexican Materia Medica. The magazine edited by this group called “The Gazette” was the first of its kind in the country (9). Unfortunately the precarious political conditions determined that the life of this institution would only be a few months. (9).

The first convert Mexican Doctor was Dr. Crescencio Colín converted by Dr. José Puig in 1870. This man of exemplary dedication was the first to promote and help spread homeopathy, leading to the historical dawn of homeopathy in Mexico (10).

The controversial figure Julián González, played an important role in those years. Some authors consider him a doctor (10), and others like Ignacio Fernández de Lara (2) consider him an empirical practitioner.  This man born in Burgos, Spain in 1832, is Dr. Comellas first disciple, and the second to publish on homeopathy in our country. His book “Practical Homeopathy Treatise and Families’ guide” had two editions, in 1871 (10) and in 1879 (11). This text has among other things, a Materia Medica with clinical references and index of the 656 remedies with which his pharmacy was supplied. In this pharmacy don Julián practiced in person, and occasionally to residents in the interior of the country by mail (11).

Julián González also founded the first homeopathic drugstore in the country in 1867. In 1869, Dr. Joaquín Salas took the administration, installing it in San Francisco Street 12. Later, they changed to Avenue of 5 de Mayo 17, then to the streets of Tacuba, and finally to Belisario Domínguez 47 (8).

During 1869, the main homeopaths of the time joined ranks, thanks to the efforts of Herrera and Julián González, with the objective of founding a new homeopathic group. On August 18th the project that resulted in the “Mexican Homeopathic Institute was presented. This group began activities on April 10th 1870. Its objective was not only the study and propagation of the homeopathic method, but scientific and rational discussion also, which was published in the magazine “The homeopathic propagator”. This publication was under the charge of doctors Francisco Pérez Ortiz and José T. Hidalgo.

In 1871, Dr. Rafael Degollado founded the first homeopathic hospital in San Miguel Allende, State of Guanajuato. Unfortunately it was short-lived (8). This building is preserved nowadays in the street of Diez de Sollano 15. In 1980, The Association of Homeopathic Surgeons and Midwifery Doctors of the Center, Civilian Association, put up a commemorative sign, which is still in the façade. (12)

Homeopathy spread through diverse regions of the Republic: Dr. Francisco Marchena in Puebla (State of Puebla), Miguel Cruz y Canto in Toluca (State of Mexico), Nemesio de los Santos Rubio in the State of Yucatán and Dr. Ismael Tavera in the State of Veracruz continued the labor initiated by Ramón Comellas in 1851.

In 1874, the “Mexican Homeopathic Medical Society” was founded (13) by initiative of doctors Enrique Carrera Lardizábal Valdés y Morales, Barona, Medina, Chávez, Antonio Salas, Ramírez de Arellano, José T. Hidalgo, Rafael Navarrete and Pablo Fuentes y Herrera among others. They established a practice where 8,947 consultations were made the first year (8). The first number of its publication, “The Homeopathical Lighthouse” was published on April 15th 1874 (9).

The autumn of 1874 marked the reorganization of the “Mexican Homeopathic Institute” under new statutes and with more coordinated activity in the spread of homeopathy. Conferences were reassumed on November 21 (14).

Their new publication, called “The Medical Reform” was edited as the second epoch of “The Homeopathic Propagator” in January 1875.

Diplomas granted by the Institute were beautifully designed. They had the Image of Samuel Hahnemann in the upper part in a frame, and in the lower part an eagle with extended wings holding a snake in its beak and a paw. At the sides they had two columns with the signs “Materia Medica” and “Chronic sicknesses” in the left, and “Physiological experimentation” and “Vital dynamism” on the right side. They also had the seal of the institution, the signatures of the president and secretary, and the folia in the respective registration book (15).

In 1879, two state congresses recognized homeopathic medicine officially, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Francisco Marchena in Puebla and Dr. Ismael Talavera in Veracruz; both were of the oldest pioneers in the Mexican province. Juan Crisóstomo Bonilla, Governor of Puebla (16) and Gral. Luis Mier y Terán, Governor of Veracruz (17) issued decrees instituting the teaching and practice of homeopathy in their states.

In 1885 both the “Mexican Homeopathic Institute” and the “Mexican Homeopathic Medical Society had fallen into a long and deep sleep. It was thanks to Crescencio Colín, Dr. Oriard (a French national) and a young aristocratic doctor named Joaquín Segura y Pesado, that homeopathy survived to an new era (18).

Dr. Segura y Pesado had already had contact with homeopathy before through the reading of the Organon and some writings of León Simón. In fact he traveled through Germany and France to learn the new medical doctrine and had already prescribed homeopathic remedies, believed to have been a present from Dr. Crescencio Colín (19).

After Dr. Colín personally visited all the homeopathic doctors living in Mexico City (20), he called for further dissemination of homeopathy and formation of a study group. This new group called “Mexican Homeopathic Circle” would embrace all the followers of homeopathic medicine in Mexico and would try to establish a union of and fellowship links among them.

Their publication was called “The Medical Reform”, the same name it had when it was published by the “Mexican Homeopathic Institute”.  This publication included reports of the reunions of the members of the circle and homeopathic articles and communications of homeopaths from the interior of the country and abroad. In its first edition, edited on July 1st 1885, the use of high potencies is mentioned for the first time in Mexico, in this case the 200th ch used by Dr. Joaquín Segura y Pesado in various respiratory ailments (18).

It was soon demonstrated that this society fulfilled its goals. In every session new members were proposed and the ranks of the circle grew ever larger. When cholera threatened the port of Veracruz again, the homeopathic doctors  prepared to fight it with homeopathic remedies and in fact, they wrote a booklet (21, 22).

On April 11th 1886, during the celebration of Samuel Hahneman’s 131st birthday, and the first year of existence of the group, several personalities of the homeopathic media attended, like Bernardo de Mendizábal, collaborator and supporter of homeopathy since the time of the foundation of the “Mexican Homeopathic Institute” by Doctors Puig and Pérez Ortiz. In fact Mr. Mendizábal  helped in the foundation of the ill-born homeopathic hospital of the Architects neighborhood (23). Don Julián González and his son Joaquín were also present, specially invited to the celebration. During the toast, the secretary of the circle, Pablo Fuentes y Herrera, read a letter from Julián González to the authorities asking for the foundation of an official faculty of homeopathic medicine (23). All the homeopathic doctors agreed with the idea that it would crystallize the ideals and efforts of the first pioneers of homeopathic medicine in Mexico. The last toast of the celebration was dedicated to these first homeopaths in our country (23).

As a result of this celebration, there was a broader affiliation to the circle and a national disposition to continue fighting for the cause of homeopathy.

The following issue of the “homeopathic Reform” appeared with a 3 month delay in July 1886. It was no more a publication of the circle . Its cover had the name of the Mexican Homeopathic Institute. In its editorial, called “Ave Fénix”, editors, Joaquín Segura y Pesado, Joaquín González and Juan N. Arriaga explained this metamorphosis (24) By imitative of Francisco Aguilar and to retake the name of the prestigious institution recognized by the governments of Puebla and Veracruz, all members of the “Mexican Homeopathic Circle” and with the same regulations, decided to call the group “Mexican Homeopathic Institute” again. In this same editorial, the conflicts of the homeopaths in defense of their doctrine are mentioned, with a call to the Superior Court. This rebirth had the goal of an ordered and decided struggle for the future of homeopathic medicine in Mexico. Translations of Materia Medica were added to the traditional contents of the magazine, and the announcements of the reunions of the members didn’t appear any more (24, 25).

In the July 1st 1887 issue of the “Medical Reform”, Dr. Francisco Félix Mendoza presented an article called “The 3d constitutional article and the practice of Medicine”. After researching the antecedents of study and teaching of homeopathic medicine in other countries, he proposed to establish a homeopathic medicine faculty with the doctors of the institute, which would be recognized by the government. He planned the organization of a college and a chair of homeopathy. The last two paragraphs of the article are transcribed. (26):

“Mexican Government, thy mission is not to impose sciences, but to protect their liberty; fulfill that constitutional precept and only in that way thou will do as the times require”.

“Mexican Homeopathic Institute, go on and found as soon as possible schools to teach with perfection our doctrines and where true Mexican homeopathic doctors will graduate, with the official warranties thou must receive from the government as the only competent tribunal in the country, be the Alma Mater”.

In the beginnings of 188, the Mexican Homeopathic Institute opened a free dispensary under Dr. Ignacio Fernández de Lara. The site was facilitated by Dr. Pánfilo Carranza, then president of the institute in his own home (27).

The project of the school flourished under the second presidency of Dr. Joaquín Segura y Pesado en 1889, with the establishment of a Medicine Academy, which would teach general medicine and also homeopathic doctrine. This school began with Dr. Segura y Pesado as director and Dr. Bernabé Hernández as secretary. Chairs of homeopathy were occupied by: Dr. Joaquín Segura y Pesado, anatomy, Ignacio Fernández de Lara, clinical practice, Pablo Fuentes y Herrera, Materia Medica, Juan N. Arriaga, pathology, Miguel Bachiller, hygiene, Joaquín González, surgery, Pablo Barona, physiology, and Manuel M. de Legarreta, pharmacology (28).

The first site of the Academy was in the street of Canoa (canoe, today Donceles), and later in Santa Teresa 18 (today Republic of Guatemala St). The first qualified pupil was Fidel de Régules. In 1892, the labour of the Mexican Homeopathic Institute and its Academy was very important. Dr. Segura y Pesado had attended freely a great number of patients, registering their clinical histories carefully, with which he established the efficiency of homeopathic medicine (28). In fact it was a homeopathic healing which predisposed General Porfirio Díaz toward homeopathy.

According to a tale by one of his own daughters, the President was treated of an old osteomyelitis by Dr. Joaquín Segura y Pesado. The wound, a sequel of the battle of Veracruz healed in ten days (29).

Eighteen ninety three was a key year in the history of homeopathic medicine in México. The most important event was the foundation of the National Homeopathic Hospital, of which we will talk later. Also important was the foundation of the Hahnemann Society, which built on the origins of the “Mexican Homeopathic Society” (30). This new group was constituted initially of Drs. Luis Alva, Juan N. Arriaga, Pablo Barona, Rafael V. Castro, Manuel Córdoba y Aristi, Feliciano Gómez Puente, Lino Mora, José I. Muñoz, Librado Ocampo, R. C. de los Ríos, Amalio Romero y Mariano Valdéz (31). Soon they had new members in Mexico City and diverse states like Chihuahua, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, State of México, Hidalgo, and Tlaxcala (32). In its initial years, it counted with around 45 doctors (28).

The central publication of this group was called “Homeopathy”, a magazine that deserves mention for its contents and continuity. It was edited uninterruptedly until 1913, when political conditions of the country (the middle of the revolution), made it impossible to publish.

The editors were Juan N. Arriaga, Rafael V. Castro, and Amalio Romero. The Magazine had a social directory, a familiar section, a scientific section, clinical notes and varieties. It had supplements for doctors, like the second edition of Farrington’s Materia Medica, the fascicles “A Marvelous City” (illustrated themes of anatomy and physiology), written by Dr. Juan N. Arriaga, Characteristics of Allen’s Materia Medica, and Characteristics of Nash’s Homeopathic Therapeutics.

The first issue of “Homeopathy” was awarded a medal and corresponding diploma at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900 (28)

The second epoch of the magazine began in 1933, and the third in June 1941, when the Similia Laboratories republished the journal, in July of 1941; it took the name “Homeopathy in Mexico”, which it has up to this day (34).

The “Hahnemann Society” worked decidedly for the practice and diffusion of homeopathic medicine under the motto “Constancy and study” (35). It had ample recognition and its magazine had exchange in various countries in the world.

The edition of “Homeopathy”, the scientific sessions, and associated work were suspended by the end of 1913 due to the revolutionary war (33).

The “Mexican Homeopathic Medical Society” worked intermittently up to 1917. Its last board of directors was constituted by Juan N. Arriaga as President, Luis G. de Legarreta as Secretary, and Manuel A. Lizama as Prosecretary (13).

STAGE II

OFFICIALIZATION (1893-1921)

In the precise moment of trying to found a hospital, four doctors of the Homeopathic Medicine Academy, Joaquín Segura y Pesado, Ignacio Fernández de Lara, Ignacio María Montaño, and Fernando Gómez Suárez sent a petition to Licentiate Romero Rubio, Government Minister, to obtain a building where the efficiency of homeopathic medicine could be assayed. In this broad letter they identified the bounties of the Hahnemannian method, and the international situation of homeopathy at that time. They asked to be granted a facility that had recently been equipped as a hospital and was ready to be used (36).

This small building had been adapted to fight a typhus epidemic threatening Mexico City, and was known as the “old powder-magazine or the “vice royal powder-magazine” (37).

The building had in its façade stone many details, and bore proudly the emblem of Castile and Aragon. It was in the “Cuartelito” neighborhood and the government had built a bridge to connect it with the Resguardo Street (37).

With no other capital than their own media could grant them, these four doctors began working in the hospital, which became known as the “National Homeopathic Hospital”. Hospital statistics were published in “Homeopathy”, and were subject to scrutiny by the Government Ministry.

After a year of operation, the official inauguration took place, July 15th 1894, with the presence of the President of the Republic, General Porfirio Díaz, the Government Minister, Licentiate Manuel Romero Rubio, and the governor of the Federal District, Licentiate José Ives Limantour among other personalities. (38).

Alter a two year period, the government analyzed the results of the project, which were overwhelmingly favorable to homeopathic medicine. This  earned, by its own achievements the establishment of an official school for the first time in history.

On July 31st, 1895, General Porfirio Díaz issued the presidential decree that established the “National Homeopathic Medicine School”, which I transcribe (39):

August 10th, 1895.– Government Decree.- Establishes in the Federal District the studies of Homeopath Medical Surgeon.

The President of the Republic has sent me the following decree:

Porfirio Díaz, Constitutional President of the Mexican United States, to their inhabitants, know:

That in use of the faculties granted to the executive by the fraction I of 85th constitutional article, and the ones granted by the Congress of the Union of January 13th 1869, and considering: that since the year 1889, a Homeopathic Medicine School exists in this city, managed by private persons, which is in charge of a Hospital supported by the public beneficence funds, where the pupils of the same school study: that it is necessary for the public service to recognize the existence of that school so that the courses imparted manifest all the scientific knowledge required by law for the Medicine Studies in general, with which full warranty will be given to particulars that go to the homeopathic healing system, avoiding abuse by those who  practice it without knowledge and a degree that authorizes them; and last, that in the practical results obtained by patients assisted in the expressed Hospital are satisfactory, as demonstrated by statistics opportunely published, I have taken for good to decree the following:

ART. 1. The career of Homeopath Medical Surgeon is established in the Federal District.

2.- To obtain the degree of Homeopath Medical Surgeon , it is necessary to have been examined and approved in the preparatory studies required for the career of Medicine in general, and in the following professional disicplines : Descriptive Anatomy.- Histology.- Physiology.- Dissection.- Internal Pathology.- General Pathology-. External Pathology.- Topographical Anatomy.- Operatory Medicine.- Parturitions-. Hygiene.- Legal Medicine.- Materia Medica-. Therapeutics.- Exposition and fundaments of the homeopathic doctrine and  internal, external and obstetric clinics.

3. The professional studies made at the Homeopathic School founded by various particulars in 1889, and which only to this purpose is declared National, are valid. A special regulation will indicate the required courses to obtain the degree for this profession.

4. The Homeopath Medical Surgeons qualified according to this decree will have the same rights and obligations of the Allopath Medical Surgeons.

TRANSITORY

The present decree will begin to rule on January 1st, 1896.

Therefore, I order it printed, Published, circulated and be given full compliment.

Given in the Palace of the Executive Power of the Union, in México, July 31st, 1895-. Porfirio Díaz.

Liberty and Constitution. México, August 10th, 1895.-Romero Rubio(signature).

The rules that would direct the school were also formulated.  (40).

The newly founded school was installed at the National Homeopathic Hospital, and courses began alter a solemn inauguration ceremony on January 4th 1896. (41).

Under the direction of Dr. Segura y Pesado both institutions functioned without problems and protected by the government.

In 1900, the “Homeopathic Academy of Mexico” was founded, with the ideal of practicing and spreading an orthodox homeopathy, the closest to Hahnemann’s ideas. Its founders were Higinio G. Pérez, Francisco Castillo, and Luis F. Porragas.  Honorary Presidency and Vice-presidency were awarded to Joaquín Segura Pesado and Ignacio Fernández de Lara respectively (42). Soon, several Doctors joined the Academy and its Works, among them Rafael Isaías y Fernández, José M. Nicoli, Rafael Conde Perea, Manuel Machado Sosa and Manuel Lizama (42).

The group functioned less than a year. The last activity recorded was the commemoration of Hahnemann’s death on July 2nd, 1910, in a solemn evening (43).

The Homeopathic Academy of Mexico disappeared, nevertheless, its members played an important role in the history of Homeopathic Medicine in our country in the years to come.

On October 12, 1912, Dr. Higinio G. Pérez founded the Free School of Homeopathy, in very special circumstances, under the motto “for truth and wellness”.

The country experienced a spirit of liberty and democracy after the end of General Porfirio Diaz’s dictatorship, and it was living through a renovation period (1). Dr Pérez was a teacher at the National School of Homeopathic Medicine, which depended directly of the government. When he retired he was visited by a group of ex-pupils who asked him to give lectures on homeopathic medicine. In time, the idea developed of founding a school without the tutorship of the government, and orientated to the working class. Dr. Pérez, accompanied by a group of both homeopathic and traditional doctors, began the project (44).

The Free School of Homeopathy was founded under three premises:

-Freedom of professional teaching.

-Possibility for the working class to acquire a superior level education.

-Sticking to the orthodox canons of the teaching and practice of

homeopathic medicine.

The School operated in a very special way. It was installed in Dr, Higinio G. Pérez’s own house in the Streets of Santa Lucía 6, in the populous neighborhood of Peralvillo, and was supported from the founder’s own purse. Teachers didn’t collect a penny for teaching, and the small fees paid by the pupils were used to support fixed expenses of the institution. Classes began on January 1913, a little alter the “tragic decene”[†] and continued during the period of the Mexican revolution (45). Class schedules were orientated to the working class, so classes were given from 6:30 to 9:00 AM, and from 6:00 to 10PM. Dissection classes were held in the amphitheater of the Dolores Cemetery (the first civilian graveyard established in the 19th century in Mexico City), where the pupils made their practices. A special characteristic of the school was the great union and fellowship between pupils and teachers.  From 1917 on, the Junior High School and the High School annex to the institution began its functions. This allowed the students to regularize their studies, because finishing high school was a requisite to enter the school. This requisite was not demanded by all schools at that time (45).

From the beginning, the school had teaching dispensaries, and from 1918, it formed a network of popular consultories that served the population. The Dr. Higinio G. Pérez Hospital began functioning in 1917 as an annex of clinical teaching for the students.

In 1915, the School rented an old house in the street of La Paz 24 (today Jesús Carranza), to go later on to the beautiful baroque building of Academy 18. When the Secretary of education moved to the building, the Free School returned to Santa Lucía 6, where it remains to this day. (46).

The first legal support of the school was the 3d constitutional article, which consecrated the freedom of teaching.

During the difficult years of the Mexican revolution the pupils of the Free School, led by Pastor G. Rocha visited Venustiano Carranza’s camp, before he entered Mexico City, and explained to him the necessity of specific legislation for the Free School. The leader received them and promised his support.

On the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution, the XXVII fraction of the 73rd article supported the existence of superior education not causing expenses to the national budget (47); it was the answer of Carranza to the petition of the sons of the Free School.

That same year Dr. Alfredo Ortega founded the Free Homeopathic Institute of Mexico, which finally integrated in 1946 to the National School because it couldn’t obtain its officialization (28).

On July 2nd 1918, the first monument to Hahnemann in Latin America was inaugurated, thanks to the efforts of Higinio G. Pérez and the School of Homeopathy.

It was a bust sculpted at the National Fine Arts Academy by Dr. Trinidad Alvarado, a graduate from the Free School and an ornamented rectangular column that had the name of Hahnemann between two triumph lectors (45).

In spite of the Mexican Revolution, both schools and the Hospital worked without major problems; the situation in the country was too complicated to fix an eye on the homeopaths.

About the author

Fernando Daro Francois-Flores

Dr. Fernando D. Francois-Flores studied medicine & surgery in the Autonomous Metropolitan University & the Postgraduate School of Homeopati­a de Mexico, A.C. and obtained a homeopathic medical title in the Free Homeopathic School in 2004. Since 1986 he assisted the General Assemblies and Reunions of Homeopati­a de Mexico, A.C. where he served variously as Treasurer, Teaching Director & President.He was National V.P. for Mexico at the Liga Medicorum Homoeopathica Internationalis ( 2001-04)

2 Comments

  • I am a homeopath from USA who will be teaching in Mexico this next year and wanted to connect with the homeopathic societies there: could you give me the names and email address of contact in Mexico City or even Guanajuato? Thanks, Robert Stewart, RS Hom (NA) CCH

  • Our family’s premiere in homoeopathy was thru Mexico via the Escuela Libre de Homeopatía located in Mexico City. We had as our first homoeopaths the world-class Drs. Beamonte + Jaramillo Morales–the Gold Standard in H.M.D.s! Since then, it’s been tough to obtain the services of Hahnemannians as good as the aforesaid–north of the Rio Grande. @ any rate, there’s been no looking back to Galenics since 1954.

    I hope, upon completion of the requisite course work, to become a Natural Health Consultant so as to guide fellow Oklahomans to homoeopaths locally! My adoptive home state is very libertarian when it comes to the excercise & access vis-à-vis homoeopathy. We lack homoeopaths locally is what!

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