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Homeopathy - Tutorial Six
Provings
Homeopathic remedies are drawn from an extensive range of substances.
Before use, each substance is tested on the healthy in clinical trials
to reveal the symptoms it will potentially treat in the unwell when
prescribed according to the Law of Similars.1
These trials, called 'provings', involve safe amounts of the substance
being given to healthy human volunteers (provers) for the purpose of
producing symptoms. The term "proving" comes from the German word,
prufung, which means to "test" or "examine". Symptoms produced during a
proving are then recorded in a homeopathic materia medica (a record of
substances and the symptoms they produce) to help homeopaths locate and
prescribe that substance for future use. Homeopaths know that if the
substance was able to produce a set of symptoms in healthy provers, it
will have a curative effect if prescribed for those unwell with similar
symptoms.
How is a Proving Conducted?
Safe but Effective
Provings test substances on healthy volunteers in safe, sub-molecular doses of the thirtieth centesimal potency.2
Several pilules are given each day until the prover experiences
symptoms, at which time the doses are stopped. Because substances are
not administered in their crude, chemical form, provers are not
poisoned or harmed.3 All symptoms disappear at the
completion of a proving. Testing substances in potency also has the
advantage that a greater range of symptoms will be produced than if it
was tested in its crude form.4
Only the Healthy
Provings are conducted on the healthy rather than the sick so that the
symptoms recorded during the proving will be from the substance alone
and not the symptoms of a pre-existing illness.
Spare the Animals
Provings are not conducted on animals. Apart from ethical concerns,
animals cannot provide accurate information on the symptoms they are
experiencing. They also have a different physiology to humans and react
in different ways. For example, the venom of a funnel-web spider can
kill a human but has no effect on a cat. Penicillin, on the other hand,
is deadly to guinea pigs. Provings on animals cannot provide reliable
information and are unnecessary.
Moderation at all TimesProvings seek to reduce all influences
that may corrupt the raw proving data. For this reason, provers avoid
substances that could exert symptom-producing effects during a proving.
Their diet consists of nutritious but plain food while stimulants such
as coffee, tea, and alcohol are excluded. The prover also has to avoid
activities that could have a stimulating effect or trigger emotional
reactions.
Who's to Know?
Provings have been conducted for over 200 years but with the increase
of scientific rigour, more recent ones have been conducted
"double-blind" and with a placebo control. This means that both provers
and supervisors involved in the proving do not know what is being
tested, or, who is receiving placebo and who is receiving the
potentised substance. Such measures help to reduce "observer bias" that
could influence the reporting or recording of symptoms.
Both SexesProvings are conducted on both male and female
provers to draw out the full range of effects. For instance, along with
its other symptoms, Lilium tigrinum (potentised Tiger Lily) can produce
ovarian pain and menstrual irregularities, symptoms that would have
been lost if the remedy had only been tested on males.
Full and Complete SymptomsWhen symptoms appear, the prover
tests them against a range of variables called "modalities". Modalities
are conditions that modify a symptom, making it better or worse. The
prover checks what effect activities such as lying down, sitting,
standing, temperature changes, motion, eating, drinking, touch, times
of the day, and so on, have on the symptom.
Not Alone
A supervisor is allocated to each prover. While the prover has the
responsibility of recording each symptom in his or her own words, the
supervisor's role is to review the symptoms on a daily basis with the
prover to clarify descriptions or to elicit missing information such as
modalities. All symptoms are recorded in a journal as raw data without
interpretation by the prover and supervisor.
Complete at Last!A proving is complete when no new symptoms
can be produce from a substance after numerous tests in a number of
potencies over a range of constitutions, ages and genders. To date,
more than 5,000 substances that have been entered into the homeopathic
materia medica, some having been more fully proved than others.
Additional Information
Homeopathy is a holistic system of medicine. When a person is sick,
symptoms frequently involve the mental, emotional, and physical areas
of their body. In a similar way, a proving produces symptoms across
these same areas. For example, the proving of Bryonia alba (White
Bryony or Wild Hop) created the physical symptoms of: pain in joints
and muscles and a splitting, bursting headache, both of which were
worsened by movement; fever with intense thirst; and a painful, sore
throat. Emotionally, the provers were irritable and wanted to be left
alone. On the mental level, they expressed a continuous desire to "go
home" during the delirium of fever. Since the first proving of this
substance in 1816, Bryonia alba has been frequently prescribed with
great success for types of influenzas where sufferers have experienced
these symptoms.
Alternatively, if a 'flu was to produce the different physical,
mental and emotional symptoms of: constant movement to relieve pain in
muscles and joints that increases on keeping still; a painful throat on
empty swallowing; weeping for no known reason; suspiciousness; and, a
fever accompanied by increased restlessness, it would respond to the
remedy Rhus toxicodendron (Poison Ivy) as these were the symptoms
produced during its proving.
Not every prover experiences all of the symptoms of a substance
during a proving. Some provers develop many of them while others
experience only one to a few. The symptoms experienced by each prover
depend on their individual sensitivity, underlying constitution and
areas of susceptibility or weakness (topics to be explored in later
tutorials). For this reason, substances should have a series of
provings over a range of constitutions.
Some Common Questions
What Sort of Substances Are Used in Provings?
Any substance can be used in a proving. Most remedies are proved from
raw animal, vegetable or mineral matter, but chemicals, processed
materials and even imponderables (energies that have no mass such as
radiation or magnetism) can and have been proved.
Where do Provers Come From?Most provers are drawn from the
ranks of homeopathic practitioners and students. Many willingly donate
their time (and their bodies) to contribute to the knowledge base of
the profession and to obtain first hand experience of the nature of a
remedy they may need to recognise and prescribe for future patients. In
the process, provers are rewarded by strengthened vitality.
Can Provings Damage Health?
Properly conducted provings do not harm health. In fact, they improve
it. The human body is designed to develop strength through the process
of overcoming daily challenges to its homeostasis (equilibrium). For
example, exposure to a wide variety of food develops strong and healthy
digestion, emotional resilience is improved by a variety of stimulating
experiences, and the immune system is strengthened by exposure to
viruses and infections. In the same way, a proving is a controlled
challenge to the homeostasis of the body. The substance being tested
creates symptoms according to the prover's individual weaknesses and
temporarily creates a state of imbalance. The vitality or life force of
that prover (known as the Vital Force in Homeopathy) reacts to restore
balance and return the individual to health. In the process, vitality
is strengthened, weaknesses are corrected and the person becomes more
resistant to the problem in the future.
This claim of improved health through provings originated with
Hahnemann, the founder of Homeopathy, and his life certainly seemed to
demonstrate the truth of it. In spite of proving over 100 substances on
himself, he lived to the good age of 88 years at a time when this was
considered exceptional. Since then, many other Homeopaths have
confirmed what he said as they too have added to the homeopathic
knowledge of how to relieve suffering through the process of provings.
1 See Tutorial 1
2 See Tutorial 3 & 4
3 See Tutorial 5
4 See Tutorial 5
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