Parallel to the branch of science called biochemistry, there is also a healing method of the same name which was established by Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich Schuessler. “Biochemistry“, or “biochemical healing method” – which is its official name, is popularly known as “Schuessler Cell Salts“.
This healing method encompasses a mere 11 mineral salts which, according to Schuessler, are perfectly sufficient to heal any sickness that can actually be cured by taking medicine internally. Although there is frequently talk of 12, 24 or even more Schuessler Cell Salts, they have been foisted onto Schuessler and this larger number of salts is not at all in keeping with his thinking. Wilhelm Heinrich Schuessler (1821 – 1898) set up practise as a homeopathic physician at the late age of 37. Since his father was unable to finance his studies, he earned his living as clerk with the Oldenburg municipal authorities. In his spare time, Schuessler studied many different subjects with great zeal. His studies included six foreign languages, which he spoke and wrote fluently.
Schuessler took up his medical studies in Paris in 1852, continuing them later in Berlin and completing them in Giessen. He subsequently studied for three more semesters in Prague, thereafter returning to Oldenburg. It is remarkable that Schuessler took up his university studies without first matriculating. However, after gaining his doctorate, he subsequently passed his German matriculation exam .
He set up practice as a homeopathic physician in 1858 and worked successfully from then on, also writing numerous treatises on homoeopathy.
Around 1870, Schuessler’s activities underwent a change in direction after he learned of Professor Jacob Moleschott‘s sensational studies in the field of cellular research. They gave Schuessler first scientific confirmation that his long-held suppositions were true, i.e. that dysfunctions in the human microorganism are triggered by deficiencies in mineral substances.
Although Schuessler had been enormously successful in his many years as a homoeopathic physician, he was not fully satisfied with this kind of therapy. What mainly disturbed him was that there was a certain lack of fixed rules, which made effective homeopathy increasingly complicated. So he now untiringly conducted research in this field and slowly but surely distanced himself from homoeopathic healing. In his book ” A Shortened Therapy” (“Eine Abgekürzte Therapie”), Schuessler stated the following:”Therapies with boundaries that are so loose that they may accept new remedies or retain or discard old ones at any time, cannot provide the certainty required for the patient’s benefit and in the interests of science.” It goes without saying that Schuessler’s statement did not go down well with his homoeopathic colleagues.
The clarity and simplicity of all the laws of nature was revealed to Schuessler with increasing force in the course of his research. This spurred an increasingly stronger thirst for action in him to search for a treatment which, on the one hand, was a seamless fit with the laws of nature – that is, with tight boundaries – and that did not require constant enlargement, on the other.
Then, the physiologist Professor Gustav von Bunge gave Schuessler the information that was decisive to short-list the countless number of mineral compounds. In the remaining ashes of cremated human tissue, he always found the same mineral substances. Initially, 12 salts crystallized out, but the number was reduced to 11 in the course of Bunge‘s and Schuessler‘s research. In 1873, Schuessler published the first results of his research into the new treatment and created a great sensation. To this day, the biochemical method of healing has met with little acceptance in medical circles due to the small number of remedies. However, the mineral salts have always been popular in traditional medicine and are widely used. This is due to the fact that they are highly effective and easy to take. From its beginnings as a traditional movement, biochemistry set off on a triumphant march around the world and is now well-known in many countries.
The 11 salts can be found in varying concentrations in plant, animal and human cells and are of vital importance for their formation, function and detoxification. If an imbalance in mineral substances occurs, then the ground has been laid for illnesses – which can be brought back into line by taking the appropriate mineral salts.
A healthy diet will generally supply the body with sufficient mineral salts. Food contains minerals in an organically bound form and metabolism “unlocks” them. Without sufficient mineral salts in the body, cellular activity will be greatly restricted or even impossible. Inferior food, changes in the way of living and high pollution levels have played their part in greatly increasing everybody’s mineral salt requirements today.
To achieve optimal results, Schuessler administered the individual salts in molecular form. The salts were produced in accordance with homoeopathic grinding procedures (trituration), making easy absorption by the cells possible. The fact that the biochemical salts are ground in the same way as homoeopathic remedies makes it particularly difficult for homoeopaths to differentiate between the two healing methods.
The difference lies in the fact that in homoeopathy the therapist uses substances that tend to be foreign to the body (frequently even poisons) while the biochemical method uses substances for cell growth and function that are produced naturally in the body. Consequently, in biochemistry the healing method is called a “satiating” therapy while in homoeopathy the healing method is classified as a “stimulation” therapy. Schuessler explained it this way: “My healing therapy directly compensates for disturbances – arising from the movement of molecules of the inorganic substances in the human organism – with the help of substances of the same kind (= homogeneous). Homoeopathy, by contrast, achieves its healing objective indirectly with the help of substances of a different kind (= heterogeneous).”
Schuessler consistently referred to facial diagnostics when he spoke about the biochemical method of healing and included a whole chapter on it in his book “A Shortened Therapy” (“Eine Abgekürzte Therapie”). It clearly shows that Schuessler intuitively understood the basic structure of the method and gave precise and practical instructions for learning this kind of diagnosis by way of self-study. However, he did not give further details about the characteristics of individual facial signs. He merely mentioned the extraordinary results that can be achieved with biochemical remedies when prescribed on the basis of a facial diagnosis.
Kurt Hickethier (1891 – 1958) took up Schuessler’s basic thoughts in this field and in 1910, untiringly and with great zeal, he began to conduct research into the concept of facial diagnostics. It was a little more than a decade before he went public with his findings.
During WW1, he fell ill with malaria and incurable Bechterev’s disease. This gave him the opportunity to test the effectiveness of facial diagnosis and mineral salts on himself. With biochemistry as the sole remedy, the disease went into remission and he lived free of symptoms for more than 40 years.
Facial diagnostics cannot be compared to other types of diagnosis. The method has a different approach since the main focus is on identifying the mineral substance deficiencies in the blood and cells. – There is no need to worry about the illness or its symptoms – the prescription is written in the face.
Every single mineral salt deficiency in the body expresses itself by way of certain alterations on the facial skin. Hickethier identified 24 different diagnostic signs in the face which are reliable indicators of a specific mineral salt deficiency. Thereupon, the organism is administered the corresponding minerals under the biochemical healing method and all bodily functions are put in a position to regulate themselves in an optimal manner, the patient thus returning to health. This way, facial diagnostics merges diagnosis with therapy to achieve successes that had previously not been deemed feasible.
In the introduction to his book “Sonnerschau – Lehrbuch der Antlitzdiagnostik” Hickethier states: “Give the stuff the illness is made of its fill, and the illness will retreat peaceably.”
In 1926, Kurt Hickethier, who had been in the police force up to that time, resigned from his job to open the “Schuessler Clinic” in the southern Harz mountains and to head Germany’s first biochemical sanatorium.
This enabled Hickethier to do further research on facial diagnostics in everyday practice and to validate the method. This work provided valuable descriptions of the characteristics of the individual facial signs which have remained unique and ground-breaking up to this very day.
Traditional facial diagnostics in accordance with Kurt Hickethier‘s teachings, combined with Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich Schuessler‘s biochemical remedies, is one of the best diagnostic and treatment methodologies in naturopathy. The method is still practised and taught in its original form in “Naturopathy Centre Friedrich Depke”, Im Kirschengarten 8, 56132 Kemmenau, Germany. Hickethier published his findings in his books “Lehrbuch der Biochemie”, “Sonnerschau, Lehrbuch der Antlitzdiagnostik”, “Woran erkennt man?” and “Volle Sehkraft”.
Friedrich Depke
List of References:
- Dr. med. Wilhelm Schüßler, Eine abgekürzte Therapie, 50. Auflage, Schulzesche Hof-Buchdruckerei und Verlagsbuchhandlung (Rudolf Schwarz), Oldenburg und Leipzig 1924
- Hermann W. Meyer, Das Werk des Meisters, 1936, Verlag BIKA Stuttgart
- Kurt Hickethier, Lehrbuch der Biochemie, 13. Auflage 2005, Verlag Friedrich Depke, Kemmenau
- Kurt Hickethier/Friedrich Depke, Sonnerschau, Lehrbuch der Antlitzdiagnostik, 8. Auflage 2010, Verlag Friedrich Depke, Kemmenau
- Kurt Hickethier, Heilwissen alter und neuester Schule, 1. Auflage 1952, Verlag L. Depke, Bad Ems