What is a proving?

A proving is the testing of a substance to find out which symptoms the substance is capable of producing and hence curing. They are conducted on volunteers in a reasonable state of health (provers) who generally have no knowledge of what substance it is they are taking. Doses are repeated until provers start to experience symptoms of a change in state. The provers record everything they experience, whether physical, emotional, mental, or even spiritual, as long as the change in state persists. At the end of the proving all the records are collated and compared to find the physical symptoms, states of mind, feelings and experiences that the provers have had in common and which can reasonably be attributed to the emerging signature resonance of the substance.

Why are they important?

"Provings are the pillars upon which homeopathic practice stands. Without accurate provings all prescribing indications are bound to be vague guesses at best, and pure fiction at worst. There is no other way to predict the effect of any given substance as a remedy with any degree of accuracy, and the use of signatures, toxicology or fancy ideas cannot approximate the precise knowledge gained by a thorough proving."

~ The Dynamics andMethodology of Homeopathic Provings by Jeremy Sherr, MCH, FSHom, RSHom
 

At the NEW YORK SCHOOL OF HOMEOPATHY we strongly support and encourage the proving of new remedies. We also encourage the circulation of this material throughout the homeopathic community, free of charge.

The proving of Musca domestica, the Housefly, was published in the June 2001 journal of the North American Society of Homeopaths, THE AMERICAN HOMEOPATH. The extraction of the proving of Hippocampus kuda, the Seahorse, is now complete. An article about this proving appears in the 2003 issue of THE AMERICAN HOMEOPATH. You can read both provings on this site or download the PDF files.

NYSH has just completed a homeopathic proving of Didelphis Virginiana, North American Opossum. Please check back to this site in 2009 for the report on this proving.

Two tricks has a 'possum
When danger is near.
To climb to a treetop
Or hiss full of fear.
But when these two fail
He tries this instead,
Rolls up like a ball
And pretends he is dead.

~Anne LaBastille

For information on new provings that were conducted by the Luminos Schools of Homeopathy under the direction of Lou Klein, please click here. 

 "The best opportunity for exercising our sense of observation
and to perfect it, is by proving medicines ourselves."
~ Samuel Hahnemann 
 

Musca domestica: a proving of Housefly
by Susan Sonz, CCH and Robert Stewart, CCH

"If thought is life
and strength and breath
and the want
Of thought is death

Then am I
A little fly
If I live
Or if I die."

William Blake

Summary of Musca domestica
Rubrics
Prover's words and symptoms

Click here for a .PDF file of the entire article:
Musca domestica, a proving of house fly (91 kb )

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Hippocampus kuda, a proving of Sea Horse
written by Susan Sonz, CCH
with Robert Stewart, CCH,  and Sonam Kushner, CCH
edited by Barbara Aria 

Beneath the ocean, deep and wide,
One lonely, drifting sea horse cried,
"In all the cold and salty sea
I'm all alone-there's only me."

Saxton Freymann
and Joost Elffers

Summary of Hippocampus kuda
Summary (continued)
Rubrics
Prover's words and symptoms
Words and symptoms (continued)

Click here for a .PDF file of the entire article:
Hippocampus kuda, a proving of sea horse (162 kb)

" That which makes sick shall heal."
~ Delphic Oracle