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. The provers (those taking the homeopathic medicine) tend to manifest many symptoms in common.
Provings comprise our homeopathic data bank, and they are the results of careful observations. 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.
Every homeopathic medicine has been proved on healthy human volunteers. Note how different this is from pharmacological testing which is always done first on animals. Why animals? Because many pharmacologicals are toxic. Homeopathic medicines are proved on humans because they are nontoxic and perfectly safe.
Provings result in many interesting mental and emotional symptoms as well as physical ones. People can describe very subtle feelings and sensations. Animals cannot. Sensations and mental symptoms can be of critical importance when it comes to selecting the most appropriate medicine as sickness invariably affects the intellectual faculties, the emotions and the body.
Most provings were done in the nineteenth century and we still refer to them today. They have withstood the test of time. Compare homeopathic medicines to pharmacologicals which rarely stay in vogue a decade, let alone a century.
The classical homeopath spends years studying the symptoms associated with each medicine. Some homeopathic medicines literally have been proved to cause hundreds of symptoms so mastering these medicines takes time and effort. What might appear as a flash of intuitive brilliance is usually an insight born of intense study.