Gustav Ludvig Baden 1764 – 1840

Gustav Ludvig Baden 1764 – 1840 was a Lawyer and historian and a Copenhagen high court judge.

Gustav Ludvig Baden demanded that homeopathy should be tested without prejudice in Denmark.

Hans Christian Lund doubtlessly prepared the ground for homeopathy in Denmark. Originally a ship’s doctor, he started practising homeopathically in 1821. Members of the bourgeoisie and upper middle class were the most likely readers of his popular medical translations.

It was in these circles that homeopathy was particularly popular as the appeal of Gustav Ludvig Baden (1764 – 1840), a Copenhagen high court judge, to the doctors in 1828 showed, in which he demanded that the new approach to medicine should be tested without prejudice and outcomes and experiences should be reported on.

One of the few doctors to take this request seriously was the editor of a medical journal Bibliothek for Laeger, Carl Otto (1795 – 1879).

In 1822 the historian Gustav Ludvig Baden gave the following description of the Royal Scientific Society in Copenhagen:

“What happens with such societies, as with most institutions, is that they with time are marked with vanity, laziness, envy and other such things.”

I can’t judge whether his description of the society in Copenhagen in 1822 was fair, but I can tell you, it is not valid for the academy we celebrate today. 150 years young; it is vital, open to society and still based on a true commitment for science. It is therefore my great pleasure to ask you to join me in a toast to the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters!