The test drug-proving of the "O.O. & L. Society" : a re-proving of belladonna ; being an experimental study of the pathogenic action of that drug upon the healthy human organism. Conducted under the auspices of the American Homoeopathic, Ophthalmological, Otological and Laryngological Society, with the indorsement and co-operation of the American Institute of Homoeopathy and various state and local societies / arranged and condensed by the general director of the proving Howard P. Bellows.

  • American Homoeopathic, Ophthalmological, Otological and Laryngological Society.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The test drug-proving of the "O.O. & L. Society" : a re-proving of belladonna ; being an experimental study of the pathogenic action of that drug upon the healthy human organism. Conducted under the auspices of the American Homoeopathic, Ophthalmological, Otological and Laryngological Society, with the indorsement and co-operation of the American Institute of Homoeopathy and various state and local societies / arranged and condensed by the general director of the proving Howard P. Bellows. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    expenses of the proving, as it was considered essential to the best success of tlie plan that the provers should receive pay for their services, since their time for about three weeks would be almost wholly required for their visits to the various examiners, and, without a sense of both obligation and compensation on their part, few persons would carry the work through properly to the end. To the average person even a small payment carries with it the sense of a contract and makes his engagements seem more binding. All services of directors and examiners were gratuitous throughout, and it was arranged that all the general expenses of the proving should be met from a central fund, leaving every dollar which could be raised by the local boards entirely at their own disposal, to be used in the payment of their provers and of their own local expenses, whatever they might be. Two different methods were pursued by these boards in rais- ing funds: first, an appeal to state and county societies for an appropriation from their treasuries, and second, an appeal by circular letter to the members of state and local societies asking contributions from them as individuals. The first method was inaugurated in New York State, prompted by men upon the Brooklyn O. O. and L. committee. These met with such hearty encouragement from their colleagues in the profession in gen- eral, and particularly from a committee already appointed to make a report to the Society upon the best method of increas- ing interest in the materia medica in our school, that the New York Society was the first to pass a vote to co-operate in the movement proposed, and added an appropriation of $200 from its treasury towards expenses incurred in that State. The first individual to contribute to the same end was Dr. R. A. Adams, of Rochester, N. Y., who voluntarily added $50 to the funds mentioned. This was at the meeting- of the New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society, in Albany, in February, 1901. Subsequent appeals to county societies brought additional appro- priations for the use of the proving boards in that State. The second method was inaugurated in Massachusetts, where a cir- cular letter, issued in May, 1901, by the members of the Boston committee of the O. O. and L. Society to their colleagues in the profession as individuals brought in a ready contribution, in some instances including sums given by patients for the pur- pose, and established a fund for the use of the proving board in Massachusetts. By one or the other of these two methods all the various proving boards, as they were organized, provided for themselves the necessary funds to carry on the work projected. Thus, in Chicago, the expenses of the proving were met by an appro- priation of $200 made by the Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Association for proving drugs; in New York City from an appropriation voted by the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the