Herman C. G. Luyties was one of the pioneers in the practice of homeopathy in the Mississippi valley. He was long prominently known as .a leading physician and pharmacist of St. Louis and he was largely instrumental in the development of Luyties Pharmacy, which for many years was one of the foremost institutions of this character in Missouri. His birth occurred in Bremen, Germany, August 12, 1833, and in the later years of his life he returned to his native country, where he passed away in Dresden, May 27, 1896. His parents were Captain Gehrhard and Anna Luyties, the former commander of a German warship and a close friend of the renowned physician, Christian Samuel Friedrich Hahnemann, who was the founder of homeopathy.
Dr. Luyties of this review pursued his education in the schools of his native city and studied medicine under the direction of some of the founders of the homeopathic School. He was one of the early exponents of that school in America, having crossed the Atlantic in 1850. Three years later he established a small retail homeopathic pharmacy at the corner of Broadway and Olive street in St. Louis and his establishment was of the greatest value to the practitioners of medicine who were representatives of the same school as himself. His business steadily increased until his trade covered not only the city but a large tributary territory, and eventually he opened a wholesale establishment, giving his attention to the wholesale as well as the retail trade. His name became a synonym for the best that could be obtained in the line of drugs and homeopathic remedies and he gave his entire attention to the upbuilding of the business, which during his lifetime became the largest homeopathic pharmacy in the world and one of the important business enterprises of his adopted city. In the course of years, through the development of the business, an immense manufactory was established and extensive laboratories opened, while the business in its various departments furnished employment to a large force of salesmen and operatives. Dr. Luyties also became one of the promoters of the Homeopathic College of Missouri and for years was a lecturer on pharmacy in that institution. He was likewise one of the founders of the Good Samaritan Hospital and gave generously of his time and of his means not. only to aiding that institution but also to the work of personal relief among the city’s needy.
In 1862 Dr. Luyties was married to Miss Louise Rein and they became the parents of two sons and three daughters. In his later years the Doctor returned to Europe, where he passed away. He was widely recognized as a man of high scientific attainments, of marked ability along commercial lines and of irreproachable character in every relation of life. He did much to introduce homeopathic practice in the new world and as such he deserves the gratitude and honor of his own and of later generations.