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When the terrible fighting that occurred at the battle of Leipzig in 1813 necessitated the rapid construction and organization of hospitals large enough to accommodate the many thousands of sick and wounded^[4] that had accumulated after this battle, the King of Prussia promptly assigned to Reil the entire management of this important business; and the result proved that he had entrusted this work to the right man.

Reil’s death from typhus fever occurred at Halle on November 12, 1813.

Sudhoff thus sums up the most striking traits of this distinguished physician’s character: “He was never satisfied with half-way measures, and bold schemes and great undertakings occupied his thoughts at all times. At the bedside he gave himself up unreservedly to the interests of the patient.”

Samuel Hahnemann was born at Meissen, Saxony, in 1755. Although his parents were poor he managed to obtain a good education, not only in the fundamentals usually taught at the schools, but also in the knowledge of the various languages, such as Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, English, French and Italian. In his medical training he advanced so rapidly that already at the comparatively early age of thirty-five he was recognized as one of the leading physicians of Germany. Even Hufeland, who at this period (about 1790) was the highest medical authority in the nation, accorded him full confidence both as a man and as a chemist; and yet at the same time there is no evidence to show that he frankly adopted his teachings with regard to the new doctrine of homoeopathy.