“In order accurately to perceive what is to be observed in patients, we should direct all of our thoughts upon the matter we have in hand, come out of ourselves, as it were, and fasten ourselves, so to speak, with all our powers of concentration upon it, in order that nothing that is actually present, that has to do with the subject, and that can be ascertained by all the senses, may escape us. Poetic fancy, fantastic wit and speculation must, for the time, be suspended, and all over-strained reasoning, forced interpretation and tendency to explain away things must be suppressed. The duty of the observer is only to take notice of the phenomenon and their course; his attention should be on the watch, not only that nothing actually present escapes his observation, but also what he observes be understood exactly as it is.

I must warn the reader that indolence, love of ease and obstinacy preclude effective service at the altar of truth, and only freedom from prejudice and untiring zeal qualify for the most sacred of all human occupations, the practice of the true system of medicine.”

Source: Hahnemann, S., Preface to the First Edition, Organon of Medicine