By Clemens von Bönninghausen
Allow me to relate this striking case here as the first. It had created such a sensation among the local horse lovers that it was still mentioned for years in relevant circles whenever homeopathy was discussed:
Two years ago Lieutenant von Grüter of the 11th Hussars purchased an English thoroughbred at a very low price because it was suffering from a laryngeal affection, coughed a great deal, 
rattled and croaked in the throat with slight exertion and quickly became short of breath. This complaint had existed for some time and had been treated by various veterinary surgeons without the slightest success, both by the previous and the present owner.
At last, as usually happens, homeopathy came into play after all other hopes of improvement had vanished, and the horse was entrusted to my care. The nature of the disease and the remedies previously used allopathically — among which only repeated mercurial rubbings (mercury ointment) could be positively identified — left no doubt as to the remedy initially indicated. I therefore, as I almost always arrange when treating animals, ordered Hep. sulph. calc. 200, (that is, three globules impregnated with the 200th potency) to be shaken in pure cold water until dissolved and administered to the horse by means of a bottle. Nothing was changed in the feeding, and, as before, the horse was ridden for an hour each day at a walk.
Already after eight days the beneficial effect of this medicine was striking and the cough had completely ceased; the rattling and croaking, however, still remained, and the breathing, though freer, was still constrained. Spong. 200, given likewise, produced further improvement, and eight days later a further dose of Hep. s. c. 200 removed the remainder of the ailment in this horse so completely that about three weeks later, at a race in which several excellent thoroughbreds took part, it won both prizes on the same day. Shortly afterwards it was sold for four times the price to Count von der Gröben, whose best horse this is said still to be, as I was assured only a few days ago by one of his acquaintances.
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From the AHZ (Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung) of 1850, vol. 36, issue 23, pp. 358–366
