William Gutman 1903 - 1991
December 23, 2008
William Gutman 1903 -
1991
was an Austrian Physician who fled Nazi Germany to find refuge in
America.
Gutman was born in Vienna and emigrated to New York in 1938 where he went on to teach homeopathy at a medical college. In 1965, he was the president of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
“The end of the war has made possible, and has encouraged resumption of old and establishment of new International activities in all fields …
“It appears as a further logical step of this development to create an institution which coordinates the scientific activities of Homeopathy within the field of medical science.
“There is no school of medicine which is more inherently international than Homeopathy. Since more than a century its practitioners all over the world have the same medical philosophy, use the same medicines, prescribe in identical cases the same remedies, which have all over the world the same name and are prepared everywhere in a identical manner.
“Homeopathy, as a basically international science, does not only invite international cooperation, but is in addition in greater need of it than other medical sciences. Its practitioners are a small majority and have a few medical institutions. Only by joining forces and by utilizing coordinately all existing Homeopathic facilities in the world can Homeopathy expand and progress.
“In order to achieve such cooperation, and in order to give Homeopathy a distinguished representation in the international field, equal to that of other sciences and of official medicine, it is proposed to establish an International Institute for Homeopathic Research.”
The functions of this institute may be enumerated, without elaboration, as follows:
- Provings.
- Toxicology.
- Pharmacology.
- Case Histories.
- Statistics.
- Comparative Therapeutics.
- Rare Cases and Remedies.
- International Abstracts of Homeopathic Literature.
- Laboratory Work.
- Homeopathic Pharmaceutics.
- Repertories.
- Scientific Cooperation.
- International Homeopathic Bulletin.
Dr. Gutman further informed that:
“We have already made a start through the generosity of the late Guy Beckley Stearns of New York and I have been elected President of the International Foundation for Homeopathic Research.
“We have a capital of $15,000 and a valuable library. This is the beginning, this should be and will be transferred into the International Institute for Homeopathic Research as a nucleus and it can only expand through cooperation and work.
“We do not need money, but we need from every country a handful of workers in the field willing to adopt a common plan and attend meetings where we can pool our experience and work as one great team. In that way we shall achieve results and become worthy followers of the immortal Hahnemann.”
All this information will be collected at an International Centre of Scientific Bibliography and published as an information and reference book. Subsequently, this work was taken under the wings of the League that formed an International Homeopathic Research Council.
This held its first session in 1961. Dr. Gutman remained its Chairman. Later, Dr. J. Boiron (France) was elected the Vice Chairman of this Council and still later in 1975, when Dr. Gutman sent his resignation, Dr. Boiron was elected as Chairman.
William Gutman wrote the Obituary of Guy Beckley Stearns, The Little Homeopathic Physician, Homeopathy; The Fundamentals of its Philosophy and the Essence of its Remedies, and many articles for homeopathic books and journals, and a foreward to a book, Relax and See by Ms. Hackett, describing eye exercises for restoring perfect vision.
Of interest:
Joseph Attomyr had a homeopathic colleague called Gutmann in 1839 - 1845 in Leipsig?