In 1870 Desterne, along with several homeopathic colleagues, was awarded the Cross of the Order of Charles III of Spain.

Antoine-Hippolyte Desterne M.D. (21 May 1822 – 1873) was a French orthodox physician who converted to homeopathy.

Desterne trained in Paris and obtained his medical diploma in 1849. Considered a rising star of French medicine, Desterne confounded his advisors after becoming convinced by homeopathy. He  subsequently became an adherent of Samuel Hahnemann’s pure homeopathy.

Desterne was one of the founders of the Hahnemann Hospital of Paris.

Desterne edited the Journal de la Societé Gallicane, alongside Boyer, Victor Chancerel, and Gottlieb Heinrich Georg Jahr.

Desterne was a colleague of Victor Arnaud, Francois Cartier, Paul Francois Curie, Simon Felix Camille Croserio, A. J. Davet, Giraud, Hureau, Gottlieb Heinrich Georg Jahr, Pierre Jousset, Libert, Perry, Frederick Hervey Foster Quin and Léon Francois Adolphe Simon.

The distinguished Doctors Desterne, Boyer, Léon Francois Adolphe Simon, and Cramoisy, have been decorated with a cross, as Chevaliers of the Order of Charles III.

In 1858 Desterne, Alexandre Charge, Audouit, Alphonse Crétin, Escallier, Gastier, Gueyrard, Leboucher, Love, Louis Molin, Antoine Henri Petroz, and Léon Francois Adolphe Simon, successfully prosected the authors of an article in the Union Medicale for misrepresenting homeopathy by attacking it with false allegations and by ‘drawing conclusions contrary to the truth’.

Desterne contributed many articles to homeopathic publications.

During the the Franco-Prussian War siege of Paris in the winter of 1870-1871, Desterne worked tirelessly at the Hôpital Hahnemann, treating sick and wounded soldiers. An invalid himself by this point, his exertions in the service of the sick further eroded his own health, resulting in an attack of apoplexy that led to his death.

Antoine Hippolyte Desterne’s Obituary is in The Hahnemannian Monthly in March 1873, and in The British Journal of Homeopathy in 1874.

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