In homeopathy a Materia Medica is a reference work listing remedies and their therapeutic actions. The approach to the study of the patient’s illness and the approach to the study of the remedies in the Materia Medica are essentially the same—the materia medica is the facsimile (exact copy) of sickness. “All the diseases known to man and animal have their likeness in the materia medica.” There is no road to the practice of homeopathy whether it is the clinical road or the symptomatic road—which does not entail close and constant study of the Materia Medica.

Keynotes are actually peculiar symptoms which have taken on a highly characteristic flavor and tend to point almost directly to a remedy. For example, pain in the right shoulder blade points to Chelidonium. A keynote may be the predominating symptom which readily directs attention to the totality or all the symptoms and signs of a disease.

A modality is a condition that makes an ill animal or a particular symptom better (>) or worse (<). A circumstance giving rise to an increase or decrease of a symptom. For instance, the animal is worse (<) from motion, wet weather, after midnight and drinking cold water, or he is better (>) lying down, from warmth, elevating the head and for eating. Modalities are helpful in choosing the correct remedy. The main group of modalities are time, temperature, weather, motion, position, eating and emotions.

The objective is to match the animal’s symptoms to the symptom picture found in a remedy. Remember, the animal does not have to have all of the symptoms found in a remedy but…the remedy should have all or at least 3 strong symptoms present in the animal’s case.

Homeopathic relationships are remedies listed that you can study and compare with the one you are considering. They may be similar in action and after investigation you may discover that they might yield a better result or help complete a remedy if it stops working.

A homeopathic proving is the process of determining the medical/curative properties of a substance. This process involves the administration of substances either in crude form or in potency to healthy human subjects in order to observe and record symptoms.