| Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1821 |
| Died | 1898 |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | medical doctor and naturopath |
Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler — also spelled Schuessler, particularly in English-language publications — (1821–1898) was a German medical doctor in Oldenburg who endeavored to find natural remedies, and published the results of his experiments in a German homeopathic journal in March 1873, leading to an influential list of 12 Biochemic cell salts that remain popular amongst those interested in Alternative medicine. Although firmly within the homeopathy movement of his day, the modern definition of Homeopathy tends to exclude his concept of Homeopathic potency[1] that, while very dilute, still retained small amounts of the original salt.
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Samuel Hahnemann had proposed medicinal use of a few inorganic cell salts in small quantities (Homeopathy) in 1796. An 1832 paper in Stapf's Archiv suggested such salts would "essential component parts of the human body".[2] Schüßler was influenced by an 1852 paper by the Dutch Physiologist Jacob Moleschott (1812–1893).[3] Serious discussion began only after Dr. Lorbacher of Leipzig critically considered his ideas five months later. An English translation appeared in the Medical Investigator in May 1873, then in "The Twelve Tissue Remedies" by Dr. C. Hering, and in 1888 in a book of the same name by Boericke and Dewey, two medical doctors in San Francisco.[2]
Around the beginning of the Twentieth Century others, such as Eli Jones, studied Schüßler's ideas and derived new ones; by the end of that century Schüßler's name (in various forms of spelling) and list of twelve "tissue salts" were commonly found in health shops and alternative medicine books.