Lecture 3

Question 1

Where does the word proving come from and mean?

Answer 1

The German word “Prufung”
test, examination, or (drug) trial

Question 1

What is the modern appellation of proving?

Answer 1

homeopathic pathogenetic trial or HPT

Question 2

What is the purpose of proving (HPT)?

Answer 2

testing of substances to discover their healing properties is conducted on health volunteers who accept to take an unknown substance & collect their symptoms & be interviewed during the test period

Question 3

What is the information from proving (HPT) used for?

Answer 3

expand knowledge of materia media & the number of known remedies

Question 4

What is materia medica?

Answer 4

compilation of our knowledge about the therapeutic properties of the substances we administer for healing

Question 5

Where was the materia medica knowledge collected from?

Answer 5

• traditional knowledge of herbal medicines
• clinical findings
• intoxication & poison reports
• testing of substances in human subjects (proving)

Question 6

T/F: In the early days experimentation on healthy subjects were done with CRUDE amounts of substances.

Answer 6

True

Question 7

What are sources of remedies?

Answer 7

• plants
• elements & mineral salts
• animal sources (milks, venoms, feathers, pathogens, microbes, healthy tissues)
• x-ray
• magnetic poles

Question 8

What are the prover characteristics?

Answer 8

not currently ill (and reasonably healthy)
not currently undergoing high levels of stress
familiar w/ homeopathy (this is helpful, not essential)
not highly anxious or neurotic
sensitivity, but not hypersensitive
resilient (symptoms are expected)

Question 9

What is the methodology for proving?

Answer 9

• Provers and supervisors are paired up into teams by the coordinator
• Provers record their baseline symptoms and
  are preferably interviewed by their supervisor, prior to the proving (for 1-2 weeks)
• The proving coordinator distributes the remedy
  (or placebo) to the provers (provers and supervisors are “blind”, only the coordinator knows the remedy)
• The prover starts taking the remedy 1-3 times a
  day (depending on the potency), until they start
  noticing symptoms, feelings, or sensations that
  are different from their normal state. At that point they stop taking the remedy and just observe and record their symptoms. (If no symptoms appear after a week, they stop taking the remedy)
• A supervisor interviews the prover, daily if possible, and both of them record any symptoms,
  feelings, sensations, dreams, thoughts, etc.
• After all the symptoms have stopped for several
  days, and the prover feels they have returned to their normal self, all the written material is handed in to the proving coordinator.
• The proving coordinator (with the help of
  other readers) compares the material to the baselines, and to the other provers’ data.
• The material on the new remedy can then be recommended for publication and is later added in both the materia medica and the repertories

Question 10

T/F: Prover needs to overdose on potentized substance to trigger a response from the body

Answer 10

true

Question 11

T/F: Individuals will see the same primary and secondary action symptoms while taking a remedy

Answer 11

False, some will exhibit primary action symptoms while some will exhibit secondary action symptoms

Question 12

Why do we need a supervisor?

Answer 12

decrease bias