ABSTRACT
The American DiasporaThrough most of the nineteenth century, th ee groups practiced homeopathy in America: licensed physicians, lay practitioners, and self-care advocates. Their strongest adherents were in New York, Pennsylvania, and the Midwest due principally to the proselytizing effectiveness of Hans Burch Gram and his followers; the influence of German immigrant doctors; the support given by the social, intellectual, and business elites; the advocacy role taken by clergy and other lay advocates; and the cultural affinity of homeopathy to theological perfectionism and America’s liberal sectarian tendencies.1 Homeopathy also proved popular because it was cost-effective, a factor not lost upon elected officials since it proved kind to municipal coffers. Together, these elements provided homeopaths with entrée into many communities and won them equity before the law. Of the three groups that practiced homeopathy, lay practitioners and self-care advocates held ancillary roles to the more authoritative academics. Lay voices gave homage to the principles of homeopathy, but because their theories and practices were often idiosyncratic, they tended to operate on the fringe, tempting homeopaths with the siren appeals of their more extreme positions. Not until the eclipse of academic homeopathy in the early twentieth century would these adherents move as pseudoprofessional activists into leadership roles within the movement.
