Editing Homeopathy (section)

====Provings====
Hahnemann began to test what effects various substances may produce in humans, a procedure later called "homeopathic proving". These tests required subjects to test the effects of ingesting substances by recording all their symptoms as well as the ancillary conditions under which they appeared.<ref name="Haehl1922">{{cite book|author=Richard Haehl|title=Samuel Hahnemann: His Life and Work: Based on Recently Discovered State Papers, Documents, Letters, Etc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q80gR6OxDVsC&pg=PA101|access-date=January 24, 2013|year=1922|publisher=B. Jain Publishers|isbn=978-81-7021-693-3|page=101}}</ref> He published a collection of provings in 1805, and a second collection of 65 preparations appeared in his book, ''Materia Medica Pura'' (1810).<ref name="Kirschmann2004">{{cite book|author=Anne Taylor Kirschmann|title=A vital force: women in American homeopathy |url=https://archive.org/details/vitalforcewomeni0000kirs|url-access=registration|access-date=January 28, 2013|year=2004|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3320-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/vitalforcewomeni0000kirs/page/11 11]}}</ref>

As Hahnemann believed that large doses of drugs that caused similar symptoms would only aggravate illness, he advocated for extreme dilutions. A technique was devised for making dilutions that Hahnemann claimed would preserve the substance's therapeutic properties while removing its harmful effects.<ref name="Dynamization and Dilution">{{cite web |title=Dynamization and dilution |work=Complementary and Alternative Medicine |publisher=[[Creighton University]] Department of Pharmacology |url=http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/philosophy/dilution.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020826082134/http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/philosophy/dilution.htm |archive-date=August 26, 2002 |access-date=March 24, 2009}}</ref> Hahnemann believed that this process enhanced "the spirit-like medicinal powers of the crude substances".<ref name="Organon_5th_269">{{cite book |author=Hahnemann S |title=The organon of the healing art |year=1833 |publisher=Keats Pub. |edition=5th |at=aphorism 269 |isbn=978-0-87983-228-5}}.
{{cite book |author=Hahnemann S |title=The organon of the healing art |publication-date=1921 |year=1842 |publisher=Keats Pub. |edition=6th |at=aphorism 270 |isbn=978-0-87983-228-5}}</ref> He gathered and published an overview of his new medical system in his book, ''[[The Organon of the Healing Art]]'' (1810), with a sixth edition published in 1921 that homeopaths still use today.<ref name="homhist1">
{{cite web |title=History of Homeopathy |publisher=Creighton University Department of Pharmacology |url=http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/history.htm |access-date=July 23, 2007 |date=July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705095116/http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/history.htm |archive-date=July 5, 2007}}</ref>