Alligator mississippiensis: A Proving
By: Todd Rowe, M.D.
A proving of American Alligator (Alligator misssissippiensis) was performed in Phoenix Arizona in the fall of 2001. The proving was conducted by the Society for the Establishment of Research in Classical Homeopathy (SERCH). The proving consisted of 15 subjects who began taking Alligator mississippiensis 30C on 9/1/2001. The proving was double blinded, neither the provers or the supervisors knowing what the remedy was until the proving was completed. There were 7 male participants and 8 female participants. The ages ranged from 28-58 years old. Each prover was supervised through out the proving. This was a full Hahnemannian proving.
The proving substance was obtained by Melinda Leeson DOM, AP on 4/27/98. It was obtained from dorsal muscle tissue (including the epidermis) of a six foot alligator caught wandering into a neighbor’s swimming pool during the mating season. The remedy is available from the Hahnemann Pharmacy. A full write up of the proving is available from Desert Institute Publishing.
Natural History
Alligator mississippiensis is the American Alligator. It can be classified as follows: Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Cordata; Subphylum: Vertebrate; Class: Reptilia; Order: Crocodylia; Family: Crocodylidae; Genus: Alligator; Species: mississippiensis.
The word alligator comes from the spanish explorers who called them “el legarto” which means “the lizard”. The order name Crocodilia also comes from the Greek words “krokodeilos” meaning lizard. The Crocodilians are the most advanced of all reptiles. This includes a four chambered heart(like mammals), diaphragm, advanced hard palate, highly efficient respiratory system and a cerebral cortex that is very similar to that of birds. Their anatomy can be likened to a combination of reptile, mammal and bird.
Crocodilians can be described as elongated, armored and lizard like with a muscular blade like shaped tail used in swimming, balance and communication. Alligators reach up to 19 feet in length. They are gray/black in color, although juveniles have 10-11 narrow yellow cross bands on the tail. Eyes are silverish.
The evolutionary history of the crocodilians spans at least 230 million years. Their origins are thought to be closer to birds than to lizards, although this is controversial. Crocodilians represent the last remnants of the great age of reptiles or dinosaurs. They were contemporaneous with and sometimes predators on the dinosaurs. They varied in size from very small to very large and lived in many habitats. The largest of them was Deinosuchus with an overall length of 11 meters or 36 feet and weighing 6 tons. Modern crocodilians date from 80 million years ago.
Choosing the Remedy
This remedy was chosen for a proving because it represents a homeopathically new and unexplored class of the reptilian family. The animal also has plays a powerful imaginative and mythological role in diverse cultures from around the world. It is also an endangered species.
Themes
• Confidence/Alertness/Self Reliance/Power
• Anger/Rage
• Connection to Death; Reconnecting to What Has Been Lost
• Danger/Terror/Anxiety
• Peaceful Darkness/Cocoon
• Explosion/Abruptness/Suddenness
• Strong Sexuality/Fondling
• Sensitivity to Noise
• Water/Diving/Swimming/Floating/Fish
• Attack and Defend
• Many Animals/Dinosaurs/Large Animals
• Manic Depression
• Peace/Beauty
• Electricity
• Visions
• Robbers/Theft/Espionage
• Greed
Description of Themes
This was a powerful proving for many of the participants. In fact, the issue of power, self confidence and self assertion was one of the strongest themes in the proving. Many of the provers described a feeling of self reliance and an ability to do things that they felt uncomfortable with before. This was associated with a feeling of increased alertness. There was a strong feeling of freedom, fearlessness, majesty and beauty associated with that power. There was also a feeling that there were no limits to what one could do. One prover described it as follows:
“I thought that you are free to do whatever you want and that there are really no limits on you and that all limits are a deception or delusion. I was laughing and could run up the wall and do somersaults and was weightless as I traveled through space and I was giggling in laughing. I could go anywhere that I wanted including going back to Egypt and that somewhere in some dimension it was just as it was.”
This was experienced by some provers as a mania, while other provers experienced significant depression, even to the point of feeling that life was not worth living. This raises the question of whether this may be a useful remedy for manic depression (bipolar illness).
The negative side of this power issue came out in the form of greed and anger. The greed was best exemplified through themes pertaining to stealing and theft. There were strong fears of robbers, dreams of robbers, dreams of espionage, dreams of crime families and urges to steal coupled with a lack of remorse. Mythologically, the crocodilians have been associated with greed and hypocrisy, as well as judges of guilt and innocence.
Many of the provers described a strong connection to death. The fiancee of one prover had suddenly died 9 months prior to taking the remedy. She had struggled trying to make sense of this experience and to achieve closure. The night after the first dosage of the remedy, she had an experience which lasted the whole night in which she reconnected with him. She says:
“He filled my entire dream-as if he was the only thing that existed. We talked all night and it lasted all night and I cannot tell you everything that was said. There were so many things that were covered that I wanted to say and never said before. He soothed away all my pain-it was more real than anything I ever experienced while I was awake. It was beautiful beyond compare and there was a feeling of peace and joy. What allowed me to do this was that I felt much closer to death than before-life and death were much closer. Now I feel much more and peace with my fiancee than before.”
She also had a similar experience with her ex husband who had also died. Crocodilians are mythologically connected to the underworld and to death.
Miasm
Because of the acute, sudden and abrupt manifestations, coupled with the themes of panic, the remedy is likely to lie within the acute miasm. However, the syphilitic miasm is also a possibility.
General Characteristics
Strong general themes include better exertion, icy coldness, worse afternoon, stitching pains, left sidedness and craving for fish. The amelioration from exercise is interesting in that crocodilians have extremely high levels of exercise and take a long time to recover from any exertion. Several of the provers experienced a metallic sensation in their body. One prover experienced significant hypertension after the remedy, which he had never experienced previously.
Mental and Emotional Characteristics
The anger could be intense and sudden. Mostly it manifested as irritability, coupled with intolerance and impatience. Several described it as a “chip on their shoulder”. The anger was easily triggered, especially by noise. Much of the issues here relate to feeling attacked and having to defend oneself, especially from others “stupidity”. Several described it as being “touchy” and “snappish”.
Opposed to the violence and rage was also a feeling of peace. This seemed particularly associated with water and darkness, floating and creeping slowly along. Several of the provers who were not particularly comfortable with darkness noted that they felt increasing comfort with this during the proving. The peace with darkness also manifested with making peace with death. A number of provers also described the feeling of cocooning (being safely protected).
The sensitivity to noise in many of the provers was fairly profound. This produced significant irritability and was strongest with voices. Crocodilians have a very fine sense of hearing.
Physical Characteristics
Strong physical characteristics included lack of appetite during the day but dramatically increased appetite at night, explosive frontal headaches accompanied by nausea, dryness of the throat and throat pain, nausea, diarrhea, neck pain, increased sex drive, deep sleep, itching of the lower extremities, acid reflux, sprain of left groin muscle, pinching hip pain better sitting, sensation of dislocation in left thumb, difficulty falling asleep and restless sleeplessness. In regards to the acid reflux, crocodilians are noted to have the most acid stomachs of any vertebrates. The increased appetite at night is related to the nocturnal activities and feeding of most alligators. Several provers described a feeling of enormous weight and pressure on their shoulders (crocodilians are said to carry the world on their back in Aztec mythology).
Remedy Comparisons
Snake Remedies; Heloderma suspectum; Lacertus agilis; Amphisbaena vermicularis; Aconite napellus; Belladonna; Maiosaurus lapidea; Tyranasourus rex