Congresses

"Resolved that in view of the dignity and necessary expenditure of effort, time and money to secure the high plane attained by the Ninth Quinquennial Congress, that it be the feeling of this meeting that the League meet in Congress Session not more frequently than once in five years."

In pursuance of this resolution, initially the League held its Congresses every five years. Subsequently, in the statutes as amended in 1966, it is changed to every three years. And though initially it is mentioned that the Congress was for "Scientific as well as business purposes" and League meetings every year for "business purposes only," this distinction has vanished and the annual meetings have been equally major Congresses of the League even though organised by the inviting countries. The only difference is in the matter of election which is held every three years.

The list of Congresses appears separately and shows the activity of the League. There was a long break in this activity due to the Second World War. The first post-war meeting was held at London on June 26, 1947 along with the British Homeopathic Congress. This was not an official meeting of the League but was held as such with participants from a number of countries and they presented at length the state of Homeopathy in their countries in the postwar years.

Names of the Organisation: Initially the name was International Homeopathic League (abb: I. H. L.). I have also seen the letters L. H. I. for Liga Homeopathica Internationalis. Later, I find that this has been changed to Ligue Medicale Homeopathique Internationale and later as Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis and the abbreviations as L.M.H.I. The League also changed its insignia at least once.

Headquarters: The question of a permanent headquarters for the League was considered in 1927. It was felt that the "Head Centre" should be in London. In later amendments to the Constitution, "Geneva has been chosen as the Registered Office." There has been an attempt all along to have a Headquarters building and a Central International Library.

A temporary Central Office was established in 1973 under the name of "Gen. Management, Liga M. H. I., P.O. Box 66, Bloemandaal, Holland."

Recently a "Foundation Hahnemann" has been established in Paris. No permanent L.M.H.I. Secretary is possible there according to Statutes but whether it becomes the permanent Headquarters of the League or only a central address remains to be seen.

Subscription: It has not been possible to ascertain the fee for membership in the initial period of the League. It appears that the National Organisations contributed to the League funds. There is, however, mention of someone having paid a fee of 10 shillings (English money) in 1927. Later, (probably from 1957), the annual subscription was 15 Swiss Francs. In 1966, this was reduced to 5 Swiss Francs so as to encourage a larger membership and also because it was decided to have a separate subscription for the proposed League Journal.

In 1974, this has been raised to U.S. $5/-.

In the earlier period, the financial year started from June.

Later this has been changed to the calendar year.

World Directory of Homeopaths: An International Homeopathic Directory containing the names of Homeopaths from all over the world appeared in the Fifties. It was brought out by the then Treasurer, Dr. Rudolf Flury. I have not been able to trace any previous list, but there is a reference made to the "New International Homeopathic Directory" at the Congress of 1927. Subsequently, another more complete edition appeared in 1973 as "The World Directory of the Homeopathic Physicians." This compilation was done by the present Treasurer, Dr. M. Tiedemann.

It has been decided that an edition containing corrections and additions would appear every three years, whereas a complete new edition would be published every nine years.

Membership Card: A special Card of Membership was proposed at the 1927 Congress. I am not aware if it was actually made, but a Membership Card as also a Certificate in Latin language was made in 1973.

Journal: This must have been in the mind of the League Council members for a long time but the earliest reference I find is a "Proposal for an International Homeopathic Review" at the meeting in 1951. In 1962, the President, Dr. Gagliardi, reported, "No progress owing to lack of funds." At the same meeting the possibility for such a journal was again discussed and a Committee was formed to explore the matter further. In subsequent Congresses, this matter continued to be considered as an important item of the agenda.

Finally in 1969, the League started to publish its journal under the name of Acta Homeopathica. In addition to the Chief Editor, it had a panel of Advisory Editors drawn from all over the world. In the first issue, the President of the League, Dr. Lamasson, wrote:

"The creation of this necessary connection between the Homeopathic physicians all over the world has been the greatest desire of the former advisory assembly of the Liga Homeopathica Internationalis since the foundation of this Liga. Twice the world wars had prevented its formation of this.

"We believe that the Homeopathic physicians all over the world should be informed about the efforts which are made in other countries. They have to get to know each other and learn from all the progress which has been achieved by others at different places.

"The Acta Homeopathica, which will be regularly published, six times a year, will inform everybody about the news in the world. A few years ago we had knowledge of Homeopathic physicians and Homeopathic organisations in 16 countries only, nowadays however, we are publishing the papers from 30 different nationalities."

Although he announced that, "the Acta Homeopathica is born and may it live long," in 1970, the Treasurer's report showed much loss sustained by the League in its publication and the number of subscribers was much below expectation. I repeated my earlier offer of printing the English section in India at a very much cheaper price and finance it out of the subscriptions collected within the country, provided all the articles were translated and made available to me in English. However, this was not found feasible and the publication of Acta had to be reluctantly discontinued in 1971 after only three years. It was then decided to have an annual issue of the Acta which mostly contained articles from the International Congress of that year. However, from 1973, the Congresses started to publish all the articles in the form of Transactions. Therefore, it was decided in 1975 to discontinue the Acta.

The stopping of the Journal naturally created a big communication gap, therefore, the starting of the quarterly "Management Letters" from the Headquarters in September, 1974 has served a very useful purpose in keeping some sort of link and as a means of diffusing information to all the members through the National Vice-Presidents of different countries.

Amendments: Amendments were made to the 1925 Statutes, as adopted at the Congress in 1927, at Arnhem on 26th July, at Bordeaux on 30th July, 1957, at Hahnovar on 31st August, 1966, and at Washington on 5th June, 1974.

Objects of the League as defined in the Statutes adopted by the Extraordinary General Assembly in Hahnovar are different from the earlier ones mentioned at 1927 Congress. These are: "The purpose of the League is the development of Homeopathy in the world and the creation of a link between Homeopaths with medical diplomas and also between societies and persons who are interested in Homeopathic questions.

The League has only a philanthropic purpose and must not carry on any business or trade."

Working: The League functions through the Executive Committee, the General Secretariat, the International Council and the General Assembly. The National Vice-Presidents in the different countries are the permanent link between the Council and the national Homeopathic organisations and occupy the most important position.

At the 1969 Congress, it was decided that in those countries that had a fair number of members of the League (mostly above twenty), an Assistant National Vice-President should be appointed in addition to the National Vice-President. Later, it was felt that some countries that did not have an eligible National Vice-President may be represented by "a representative" who does not vote. Also at the 1969 Congress, it was decided to create the office of Senior Vice-President, who after a term of three years would, by convention, become the President.

Membership: There are two classes of members:

(a) Active Members
(b) Associate Members

The respective rules of membership appear under Heading IV (Art. 4 to 17) of the Statutes. Briefly, the present regulations permit only "medical doctors with official diplomas of the university in their own country" to be active members. Other people interested in Homeopathy can become associate members. These regulations are being discussed for any possible amendments.

In Germany and France, the entire membership of the national Homeopathic organisations are also the members of the League en bloc. This is, of course, highly desirable and should be emulated by other countries.

The League and the United Nations Organisation: At the 1962 Congress, the President, Dr. Gagliardi regretfully reported that his approach to U.N.E.S.C.O. for recognition of the League was unsuccessful. There was considerable discussion about this and it was finally decided that the Secretary-General, Dr. Lamasson, again put out some feelers. Apparently, these efforts continued without success. Dr. Lamasson reviewed the situation in a letter sent at the time of the Jubilee Congress in 1975. He wrote,

I have been in touch this past year with three groups.

1. The Association of International League or Societies of Brussels. The contact is a very good one, so we must go on with being members of this Association.

2. The European Association of Strasbourg. Keeping in touch with it is trifling. We are considered only a deliberative association.

3. The World Health Organisation. Situated at Geneva. All attempts with it, made either by Dr. Pierre Schmidt, our President of Honour, by late President Dr. Paul Kollitsch, or by myself proved a failure.

The first answered that we were but a small group, the other that the statutes were to be drawn up again and the third that too few countries were represented.

Such reasons were but a pretext for delaying and possibly to dishearten us.

Considering that this organisation is now looking favourably to exploring the utility of the indigenous systems of medicines, in India and some other countries, and has already given them recognition, I feel optimistic that with further efforts, Homeopathy may also be similarly recognised.

4. There is a proposal before the League to try and become a member of the European Specialists Union.

Over the years, the League has extended its activities in other directions connected with Homeopathy.

International Committee of Homeopathic Pharmacists (C.I.P.H.) The Homeopathic pharmacists from several countries, who were present at the International Homeopathic League Congress held in Stuttgart in 1955, on the suggestion of Dr. Henri Boiron, President of the syndicate of French Pharmacies and Homeopathic Laboratories decided to form an International Committee of Homeopathic Pharmacists (C.I.P.H.).

This was accomplished on the 9th September 1955, through the initiative of Dr. Henri Boiron, he being the first President.

The Charter of constitution of this Committee was signed by specialist pharmacists of the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland and Switzerland.
The Committee has met annually since 1955, usually at the time of the Congress of the L.H.I., and occasionally more often; since its formation the membership has increased, and by 1971 the following countries were represented in addition to the founder member countries.

Argentine, Greece, Brazil, Roumania and Chile.

The primary aim of the Committee, as defined at its inauguration, was to constitute an organisation for documentation and communication between member pharmacists of the various countries represented. A number of factors pointed to the importance of forming a Committee such as this.

• The growing importance of Homeopathy internationally.


• The improvement and expansion of international relations.


• The continuing development of the pharmaceutical industry in general, and of chemotherapy in particular.


• The study necessary in the light of the European and International pharmacopoeia.


• The continual increase in the regulation relating to the manufacture and control of medicines.

This Committee has considered medicinal substances of vegetable origin, with details of the parts of the plants used for the preparation of tinctures, also, another list of medicines of animal origin and a third one of chemical substances.

These basic studies have opened the way for further work directed towards the production of an International Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia.

International Homeopathic Research Committee: At the meeting in 1947, Dr. William Gutman (U.S.A.) proposed the establishment of an International Institute for Homeopathic Research. The proposal was put as follows:

"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:

"We have already made a start through the generosity of the late Dr. 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."

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.

He has initiated a move to create a liaison between those engaged in the field of research in different aspects of Homeopathy in different countries. AS a first step, he has collected names and addresses of doctors, biologists and chemists who are doing such research with the titles of their papers, published or to be published. All this information will be collected at an International Centre of Scientific Bibliography and published as an information and reference book.

There have been some other Committees that have been similarly added:

The headquarters has requested the help of National Vice-Presidents in building up the archives by sending publications for copies of everything appearing in journals, magazines or books or else a summary or abstract with a reference of its origin. That is necessary for having a good bibliography of all recent Homeopathic literature. It has already been done for German language.

4. In 1976 was formed a Senior Advisory Committee to be able to avail the advice of some of the very senior members of the League.

5. An International Committee of Odonto-Stomatologists:

This was constituted because a large number of dentists were using Homeopathic medicines and were desirous of joining the League. They are accepted as an association and are represented by a Secretary in the Executive committee.

6. A Veterinary Committee for veterinarians using Homeopathic medicines.
7. A Committee of Homeopathic Medical Psychologists has been proposed in 1976.
8. It is now under consideration to form a new Committee for International School and Education to prepare the necessary basic concept of Homeopathic education and international equality of schools and diplomas.

It was decided in 1969 to set up an International School for Homeopathy to be located at Athens. In 1971, it was felt by some that as all teachers can't come to one place, branches of this school be organised in different countries and coordinated as to teaching and standards from the centre.

In 1976 this idea took some shape when a one week International Seminar on Homeopathy was organised at Athens, immediately following the Congress. It is proposed to continue this activity at the time of every international congress.

It is felt that the idea is not to give lectures to students but to have a forum for "teachers' thoughts on Homeopathy."

9. It has been proposed by one of the National Vice-Presidents that the League should now further its activities by forming regions branches, e.g. Atlantic Branch, European Branch and Australian Branch. This is to enable more active participation by many who cannot go long distance to participate in the League Congresses.

The Rock of Homeopathy: In 1974 Dr. J. H. Renner proposed a "Trust Fund for International World Homeopathy." His idea is that Homeopaths collect a token payment from all their patients and this way build up a sizeable fund to promote international homoepathy. There could also be gifts from relatives and friends who sympathise with Homeopathy and are desirous to promote it.

Dr. Pierre Schmidt was one of the first to send a contribution of 1000 Swiss Francs to this Fund. This plan initially called the International Renner Fund is now forming a programme to further Homeopathic development and is called the Rock of Homeopathy.

The Future: Alfred Mercier has said, "There was a wise man in the East whose constant prayer was that he might see today with the eyes of tomorrow." I am from the East but do not have that wisdom. So in this outline of the history of the League I am only seeing its yesterday with the eyes of today. The League appears to have had a checkered history. After a booming start there had been a period of lulled activity chiefly due to the political upheavals. It has picked up from that low ebb and made steady progress in the last quarter century or so. With faster means of travel that have 'reduced distances' and 'shrunk this planet,' and increasing awareness of the utility of this international organisation for global cooperation, more and more countries are coming into its fold and more and more Homeopaths are showing enthusiasm in its work. Therefore, I see for the League a bright future, and, if I may slightly change a stanza from Tennyson's Locksley Hall it could read: