The California Homeopath
Journal of the California Homeopathic Medical Society

 Dr. Allen Neiswander grew up in Pandora, Ohio, where his father, Harry, was a homeopathic doctor in the Mennonite community. Allen’s life was surrounded by homeopathy, growing up around his father’s small town practice. He graduated from Medical School at Ohio State University in 1942, where he met and married Georgiana Rew. The two moved to Los Angeles where Dr. Neiswander was an intern at L.A. County Hospital. The following year found him in France with the 79th Division, as a Battalion Medical Surgeon. He didn’t get there easily, as he came ashore with the Normandy Invasion and life in France was at the front lines. Awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, Allen returned home, one of a very few from his Battalion.  

Dr. Neiswander resumed his predominantly homeopathic practice in Los Angeles in 1946, and was resident at the County Hospital and later became Chief Physician for the Los Angeles Public Health Department. Also in 1946, he attended the post graduate course of the American Foundation for Homeopathy, in Boston, Ma. There he studied with by some of the great homeopaths including: Elizabeth Hubbard Wright, H.A. Roberts, Julia Green, Harvey Farrington and others. He became editor to the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1968, and guided the journal until 1982. Doctor Neiswander worked side by side with Wyrth Post Baker, John Borneman, and others to incorporate the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States., in 1980. At the 25th Anniversary of the Convention last year, he received an award for “lifetime dedication and service.” He has also been a life long board member of the California Homeopathic Medical Society.  

In October of 2000, Georgiana passed away. She had been a continual inspiration and selfless server of homeopathy. The doctor was remarried in 2004 to Elrita Watson, herself a recently retired nurse and assistant director of administration at L.A. County Medical Center, U.S.C.. Enthusiasm seems to follow the good doctor, as he remains surrounded by lovers of homeopathy. Dr. Neiswander still sees patients at his office in San Gabriel, Ca., with Elrita. We could think of no one more deserving of this dedication; silent hero of a bygone war; humble healer for over 60 years.

“The California Homeopath” was founded in 1882 by Dr. William Boerike and Dr. W.A. Dewey. Published in San Francisco, the bimonthly journal existed under this name until 1892, when it was replaced by “The Pacific Coast Journal of Homeopathy.” In 1984, a rare biography, published by Drs.’Jacques Baur, Klaus Gypser, and others, listed 682 homeopathic periodicals, beginning in Leipzig, Germany in 1822, and of which, 240 originated in the U.S. Many of these journals offered valuable clinical experience. Discussions about philosophy and cases were carried on through the journals between the best homeopaths of the day, and these periodicals have become the documented history of the efficacy of homeopathy.  

In 1883, The Hahnemann Medical College of San Francisco was founded. Dr. Boericke, through editorials in “The California Homeopath” was instrumental in its opening.

“Every homeopathic physician on this coast, and especially in this state, has a personal interest in this most important and far-reaching move.” In June of 1884, the first course of lectures began.  

 “We believe that we have such a principle in the law of similia, and just so long as we are faithful to it and in our teachings uphold only the best and truest interpretations of the law...... just so long as we teach homeopathy as an inductive science in the spirit of Hahnemann, Hering and Dunham-....... we have a right to our separate existence......that if we give up its teachings and practice....(give up) the purity of the homeopathic method...it becomes eclectic merely, and with it forfeits its right to a separate existence.”

In the words of Constantine Hering, “If our school gives up the strict inductive method of Hahnemann we are lost and deserve only to be mentioned as a caricature in the history of medicine.”  

Homeopathy struggled then as it does now, to maintain its own laws and recognition, “a separate existence.” Legally it does so with the existence of the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia. A continuous publication since 1897, it received a big boost politically in 1938 when federal legislation created the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Thanks to the tireless work of Dr. Royal Copeland, homeopathic doctor and fortunately, U.S. Senator, the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia was added on with the main legislation he proposed, a bill to create the Food and Drug Administration. It took five years for Congress to finally pass the bill, five days after the death of the homeopathic senator who had been the main force behind the formation of the FDA. It is the legal recognition of homeopathic medicine and the homeopathic pharmacopoeia that has helped keep homeopathy from being a “caricature in the history of medicine,” at least in the U.S. Now let us not forget to honor Hering’s other demand to not give up the “strict inductive method of Hahnemann.”  

“The California Homeopath,” under the auspices of Dr. Boericke, was an effort to unite homeopaths on the west coast. The journal was a powerful instrument, especially in its support of the homeopathic hospital, and we hope that today we may humbly offer a reliable voice to the homeopath.

The Editor

By Richard Pitt

Richard Pitt | Homeopath and Educator

Richard has been practicing and teaching homeopathy in San Francisco since 1995.  He orginally trained in England and has been practicing homeopathy since 1984.  He is former Director of the Pacific Academy of Homeopathy in San Francisco and also teaches at many other schools in the United States and Canada.  He is a founding board member and past president of the Council for Homeopathic Certification, which has established professional certification for the homeopathic profession in North America.  He is in private practice in San Francisco.