Clemens Maria Franz Baron Von Boenninghausen was one of the closest follower and friend of Hahnemann. He was born in Netherlands on 12 March 1785, on the ancestral estate of Heringhaven in Oberyssel. He was the son of Ludwig Ernest von Boenninghausen and Theresia. He was a Baron by inheritance, a lawyer by profession and an agriculturist by inclination.

  
     His early life was spent in the open, and he entered late upon his education; but after starting, his progress was rapid. In 1806, he graduated from the Dutch university at Groningen – Degree of Doctor of Civil and Criminal Law and thereafter for several years he held influential positions at the court of Louis Napoleon, King of Holland, remaining in the Dutch Civil Service until the resignation of the king in July 1810.
     He then returned home and devoted himself to the study of agriculture and botany. He married in 1812 and went to his hereditary estate. Through his interest in the development of agricultural resources, he came in touch with the most prominent agriculturists of Germany, and he formed the first agricultural society in the western part of Germany. In 1816 he became President of the Provincial Court of Justice for Westphalia, a position he retained until 1822. He then became one of the Commissioners for the registration of lands and his constant travels gave him ample opportunity to study the Flora of Rhineland and Westphalia and he published a book on the subject: “Prodromus Florae Monasteriensis.” In 1824 he became Director of the Botanical Gardens of Munster, retaining this position for several years. He came to be known as “Sage of Munster”.

     In autumn of 1827 he suffered from pulmonary purulent tuberculosis. His health continued to decline until the spring of 1828, when all hope of his recovery was given up. At this time he wrote a letter to his close friend, Dr. August Weihe, who was the first homoeopathic physician in the province of Rhineland and Westphalia, though Boenninghausen was ignorant of this fact. Weihe was deeply moved by the news and replied to Boenninghausen’s letter immediately, requesting a detailed account of his symptoms and expressing the hope that he might be able to save a friend whom he valued so highly. In response to the reply that Boenninghausen sent to this letter, Weihe prescribed ‘Pulsatilla’, which Boenninghausen took, following also the course of advice that Weihe gave him regarding hygienic measures. Boenninghausen’s recovery was gradual but constant, so that by the end of the summer he was considered as cured.

     This event transformed Boenninghausen into a firm believer in Homoeopathy. He revived his knowledge of medicine and began to practice. But he had no license to practice as a physician and for this reason he devoted himself to Homoeopathy. Most of the systematic works written by Boenninghausen concerning Homoeopathy were published between 1828 and 1846. By this time Boenninghausen’s fame had spread to France, Holland and America, and he had gained many converts to the new doctrine of healing among physicians in these lands, by correspondence and literary efforts, which were extended in the effort of making the work of practicing homoeopathy easier. There was no shortcut method to the study of homoeopathy. There were no repertories and many precious hours had to be devoted to the study of remedy before the true picture was seen.

     From 1830 Boenninghausen was in close touch with Hahnemann, until the end of Hahnemann’s life. His literary work was hampered by the permission to practice freely, and he did not publish his books as frequently after that event, although he spent much time at that labor.
Boenninghausen founded the Society for Homoeopathic Physicians in Westphalia, which flourished for many years. He also was made member of nearly all the existing homoeopathic societies. The Western Homoeopathic Medical College, in Cleveland, in 1854, gave him a honorary diploma, the Emperor of France appointed him a Knight of the Legion of Honour on April 20, 1861.

     Boenninghausen lived for many years in Munster. He received patients daily from nine to two o’clock, from two to five he spent in walking about the suburbs and in the Botanical Gardens. He lived to attain the age of seventy-nine years, dying of apoplexy on 26th January 1864.
Boenninghausen left a deep impression upon the literature of Homoeopathy. His Therapeutic Pocket Book, first published in1846, is one of the classics. He devoted himself to presenting the Materia Medica so that the chief characteristics of each remedy might be thoroughly understood by the practitioner and his writings are mostly devoted to that object.

     Of his seven sons the two eldest chose homoeopathy as their profession, which was a great joy to him. The elder of these sons later went to Paris where he married the adopted daughter of Hahnemann’s widow. He lived with Madame Hahnemann and her daughter, and had access to Hahnemann’s library and manuscripts.

CONTRIBUTIONS

• The Cure of Cholera and Its Preventatives, 1831
• Repertory of the Antipsoric Medicines, with a preface by Hahnemann, 1932
• Summary View of the Chief Sphere of Operation of the Antipsoric Remedies and of their Characteristic Peculiarities, as an Appendix to their Repertory, 1833
• An Attempt at a Homoeopathic Therapy of Intermittent Fever, 1833
• Contributions to a Knowledge of the Peculiarities of Homoeopathic Remedies, 1833
• Homoeopathic Diet and a Complete Image of a Disease, 1833
• Homoeopathy, a Manual for the Non-Medical Public, 1834
• Repertory of the Medicines which are not Antipsoric, 1935
• Attempt at Showing the Relative Kinship of Homoeopathic Medicines, 1836
• Therapeutic Manual for Homoeopathic Physicians, for use at the sickbed and in the study of the Materia Medica Pura, 1846
• Brief Instructions for Non-Physicians as to the Prevention and Cure of Cholera, 1849
• The Two Sides of the Human Body and Relationships. Homoeopathic Studies, 1853
• The Homoeopathic Domestic Physician in Brief, Therapeutic Diagnoses – An Attempt, 1853
• The Homoeopathic Treatment of Whooping Cough in its Various Forms, 1860
• The Aphorisms of Hippocrates, with Notes by a Homoeopath, 1863
• Attempt at a Homoeopathic Therapy of Intermittent and other Fevers, especially for would be homoeopaths – Second augmented and revised edition. Part 1. The Pyrexy, 1864.
  
  Boenninghausen’s Classics include his Classification of characteristic symptoms and the compilation of the repertory of antipsoric remedies. He classified characteristic symptoms into Quis, Quid, Ubi, Quibus auxilus, Cur, Quomodo and Quando.