The original drug testings… Homeopathic Provings

A fascinating article appeared in my inbox the other day, a guest writer for The Free Press Substack wrote an article titled, “The Humans Who Live as Lab Rats.” As the title implies, it’s a look into the people who are clinical trial “professionals.”

How do conventional drug trials relate to homeopathy? Well, interesting you should ask.

Samuel Hahnemann, the man who thought this whole homeopathy thing up, has been called “the Father of Experimental Pharmacology because he was the first physician to prepare medicines in a specialized way; proving them on healthy human beings, to determine how the medicines acted to cure diseases. Before Hahnemann, medicines were given on speculative indications, mainly on the basis of authority without experimental verification” (Whole Health Now). He was the first to make the provings of medicine a system (Ameke 2007).

As noted in The Dynamics and Methodology of Homeopathic Provings (Sherr and National Center For Homoeopathy, 1994), Samuel Hahnemann wrote in his Organon of Medicine:

“Therefore medicines, on which depend man’s life and death, disease and health, must be thoroughly and most carefully distinguished from one another, and for this purpose tested by careful, pure experiments on the healthy body for the purpose of ascertaining their powers and real effects, in order to obtain an accurate knowledge of them, and to enable us to avoid any mistake in their employment in diseases, for it is only by correct selection of them that the greatest of all early blessings, the health of the body and of the mind, can be rapidly and permanently restored.”

The first remedy that Dr. Hahnemann proved in 1790 was Cinchona bark, or Peruvian bark, also known as quinine and known homeopathically also as China. (I think it’s important to note that Hahnemann had a history of malaria and therefore may have had a possible sensitivity to Cinchona bark (Morrell 2023)). It turns out this first proving wasn’t to learn about the medicine, it was to test a claim made by another that Cinchona was a tonic for the stomach. Hahnemann’s theory was that Cinchona “acts in malaria because in healthy people it can produce symptoms similar to intermittent fever” (Morrell 2023). He took the Cinchona and “produced in himself the symptoms of intermittent fever” (Morrell 2023).

Hahnemann “took for several days four drachms of good cinchona bark twice a day; my feet, finger tips, & etc., first grew cold, I become exhausted and sleepy; then my heart began to palpitate, my pulse became hard and rapid; I had intolerable anxiety, trembling (but not rigor), prostration in all my limbs; then throbbing in the head, flushing of the cheeks, thirst and in short all the ordinary symptoms of intermittent fever appeared one after another, but without actual febrile rigor. In a word, even the special characteristic symptoms of intermittent fever, dullness of the senses, a kind of stiffness of all the joints, and in particular the disagreeable numb sensation which seemed to be located in the periostea covering of all the bones of the body, made their appearance. This paroxysm lasted two to three hours each time and returned when I repeated the dose, otherwise not. On leaving off the drug I was soon quite well” (Ameke 2007).

That’s quite a discovery — to find that ingesting a substance can create the symptoms of a disease (in this case malaria) but not actually cause the disease itself. This is how homeopathy was born. This is how “like cures like” came to be.

In the beginning of his experimenting, Hahnemann was using crude substances, though often using very small doses. However, in an effort to “make medicine more effective and to reduce the poisonous levels of many common medications that caused as much suffering as the disease being treated,” by 1801 he began diluting his medicines (Feissel 2016). From there, he began adding shaking or succussion to the dilutions and with that, homeopathy as we know it was developed. (For more information on preparing homeopathic remedies.)

I have written about Cinchona/China a couple of times previously (Rufus update; Dehydration; Nobody needs; Sun), but let’s take a little closer look at this classic homeopathic remedy.

When I think of homeopathic China, the first thing that comes to mind is dehydration and the ill effects thereof. Anytime there has been a loss of vital fluids: blood loss, diarrhea, vomiting, even breast feeding — all of these things take a toll on the body and one may benefit from a dose of homeopathic China. Additionally, a person suffering from prolonged strain or over-work.

The second thing that comes to mind for me with China is periodic fevers. During these fevers, the skin may feel sensitive. They may have a red face. They may wish to be uncovered while feverish and they may feel a bit better after eating.

• Periodicity is an interesting phenomenon in homeopathy — there are remedies which correspond to how often symptoms pop up. For China, symptoms return every two or every seven days.
• The headaches of China feel better from hard pressure; may have some ringing in the ears; the scalp feels sensitive, even to touch the hair. There may be a pulsing pain, as if the brain is beating against the skull and the pain may come in waves.
• Gastrointestinally, we may see bloating and distention with rumbling guts. This person gets no relief from burping and tooting, however.
• Chills are a big part of the China picture. Chills in open air; chills with anxiety; prolonged chills and shaking — even rigors and violent chills.
• The eyes may alternate with burning pain and be sensitive to light.
• Nosebleed with clotting.
• Cold, clammy sweats which may appear oily.

Back to provings… One can participate in formal provings of new, unproven remedies, or, one can conduct their own proving — just to see what happens*.

To learn more about how homeopathic provings are conducted:

• Clinicaltrials.gov has a listing for a withdrawn proving which explains the process quite nicely (Integrative Medicine Institute et al. 2014).

• The European Homeopathic Counsel lists the Homeopathic Drug Provings Guidelines. Their main website also provides links to sites with results of various provings.
• Provings.info is a subscription-based specialized database on provings.

Homeopath Jeremy Sherr did a blinded, placebo-controlled pilot study to see if homeopathic proving symptoms were a result of local, non-local or placebo process (Walach et al. 2004), if you're interested in taking a look at that.

I'm so thankful for Dr. Hahnemann's curiosity and perseverance that led us to have this miraculous system of healing still in place all these years later.


Julia Coyte, CHom
Classically Practical homeopath


#wellnessawaits

* “It is true that a small number of provers do not emerge unscathed. Usually these sufferings do not last long, but on rare occasions I have known problems to last for months or even years. This serves to remind us that conducting a proving is no light task and should be undertaken with full care and responsibility” (Sherr and National Center For Homoeopathy, 1994).

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Reference list:

Ameke, W., 2007. History of Homeopathy, Its Origin & Its Conflicts. B Jain Pub Pvt Limited.

European Committee for Homeopathy, 2014. Homeopathic Proving Guidelines [online]. 

European Committee for Homeopathy, n.d. Provings [online]. The European Committee for Homeopathy. 

Feissel, J., 2016. Hahnemann’s History of Potentization. The American Homeopath [online], 22–28. 

Hahnemann, S., n.d. Materia Medica Pura, Volume 1. Memphis, USA: General Books LLC.

Integrative Medicine Institute, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Heel GmbH, 2014. A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Homeopathic Drug Proving Using a Crossover Design [online]. clinicaltrials.gov. 

Morrell, P., 2023. Hahnemann’s First Provings. - Peter Morrell [online]. homeoint.org. 

Provings.info, 2023. Provings Info [online]. www.provings.info. 

Sherr, J. and National Center For Homoeopathy (U.S, 1994. The dynamics and methodology of homeopathic provings. West Malvern, England: Dynamis Books.

The Field Provings, 2023. Provings [online]. The Field Provings.

Walach, H., Sherr, J., Schneider, R., Shabi, R., Bond, A. and Rieberer, G., 2004. Homeopathic proving symptoms: result of a local, non-local, or placebo process? A blinded, placebo-controlled pilot study. Homeopathy: The Journal of the Faculty of Homeopathy [online], 93 (4), 179–185. 

Whole Health Now, n.d. Samuel Hahnemann, 1755 - 1843, Founder of Homeopathy [online]. www.wholehealthnow.com.