Hering on how Hahnemann did provings

[R]

The following is an interesting quote from the Hahnemannian Monthly of 1871 in an article written by C. Hering:

"His way of conducting provings was the following : After he had lectured to them on the rules of proving, he handed them the bottles with the tincture, and when they afterwards brought him their daybooks, he examined every prover carefully about every particular symptom, continually calling attention to the necessary accuracy in expressing the kind of feeling, the point or the locality, the observation and mentioning of everything that influenced their feelings, the time of day, etc. etc. When handing such a paper to him, after they had been cross-examined, they had to affirm that it was "the truth, and nothing but the truth to the best of their knowledge", by offering their hands to him; the customary pledge at the universities in Germany, instead of an oath. This was the way in which our master built up his materia medica."

Interesting contrast to some of our modern provings where the prover is recorded as saying they felt "spacey" or some other vague term. I am not sure that will translate well 200 years from now.

Roger