What is a proving?
Homeopathy as a system is based on provings. It is the provings of medicines that form the scientific basis of homeopathy. Each medicine has been “proved” to elicit symptoms in several or many provers. In a proving, a homeopathic medicine is given to healthy persons. Whatever symptoms they develop are carefully noted by trained observers. This experimental data allows us to deduce that a particular medicine caused those symptoms in healthy persons and will, therefore, cure those same symptoms when given to a sick person. A “proving” familiar to us all is Ipecac, known for its universal ability to bring on nausea and vomiting by its ingestion in large amounts. A few doses of highly diluted Ipecac can relieve vomiting whether the cause is viral, hormonal i.e. morning sickness, or even as a side effect to cancer chemotherapy. The Poison Ivy plant (Rhus Toxicodendron) is used in homeopathy in minute amounts for poison ivy, and other rashes and skin eruptions. Everyone knows that the live p
