Homeopathy
herbs play a not insignificant part in Medical System of Homoeopathy.
The Homeopathic Mother Tincture from which many of the remedies are
made is a 1:10 tincture. There are some exceptions with the mother
substance being a 1:20 dilution. 100kg of dried herb will yield
1000lt of mother tincture. It is not possible to reproduce the
diagrams from the original article upon this site. therefore it is
truncated.
Homoeopathy has always raised an irritational response from the field
of orthodox medicine. A good example of this would be Dr Steven
Barrets ‘Quack Watch’ page. Most of the denigration has been from an
emotional level which is distincly short on science. To sit in
judgement on something, without studying the body of ideas in which
it is embedded, is hubris of a very low order.
The British Royal Family have always patronised Homoeopathy. One
presumes that they have the wherewithal to purchase the very best
advice. The Modality is available in Britain under the National
Health Service.
Elements of Homoeopathic Pharmacy.
Like Paracelsus before him Hahnemann practiced the ancient doctrine
of similars i.e. like is cured by like, and is expressed in the
Homoeopathic motto, ‘Similia similibus curantur’ The rule being that
the remedy must produce in a healthy person (the prover) the symptoms
which are observable in the diseased condition. In other words in a
healthy person the pharmacologial activity of the herb would manifest
as symptoms. This is a simple experiment which may be carried out
in ‘vivo’ and forthwith. This is an ethical duty. Not to experiment
on others, especially the old and the mentally ill. The preparation
for the proving would be at a strength of 1:4 to 1:10.
A patient would be treated with minute doses. The orthodox school of
medicine considers this to be wrong. They conveniently ignore the
undisputed fact, that the practice of vaccination, is proof of this
ancient doctrine, of small energized doses for someone who is ill.
Thus stimulating the immune system, for good or worse.
The practice of introducing substances into the blood stream has
only one redeeming feature, and that is, its speed of action. As a
route of administration, it should only be used in dire emergencies.
The reason is simple, the body has been usurped, and all of its
filtering and screening functions have been circumvented. This is a
practice which destroys natural immunity.
Homoeopathy is able to supply oral vaccines called Nosodes. The
procedure is to be recommended because it mobilizes the whole array
of the body’s defences. The immunity becomes permanent.
Dr. Hahnemann died nearly 160 years ago, and in light of our
considerably advanced understanding, the picture that emerges is that
of a truly remarkable man.
A Problem For Homeopathy
The problem is not the actual substance, for example ‘Belladonna’,
but rather the vehicle that carries the substance and its method of
extraction or preparation. The Homoeopathic materia medica, is more
extensive than that used in any other system of medicine and contains
thousands of substances, each of which has had extensive proving.
Therefore if the Homoeopathic pharmacist changes the vehicle of a
substance and the method of its preparation then the ‘drug picture’
is changed and the substance will of necessity need another set of
proving performed.
Therefore when producing such remedies, scrupulous attention to
detail must be given.Unlike his orthodox counterpart, the
homoeopathic physician, has a level of interaction with the patient,
that allows for quite precise posological adjustments to a remedy.
That may be carried out forthwith, and without reference to a
pharmacist or a laboratory.
The pharmacist’s role is to ensure that the mother tincture is the
best that can be produced in accord with vitalistic scientific
principles, and that potencies supplied, are precise both in dilution
and succussion. In that way, the physician can have confidence in the
instrument, and concentrate on the knotty problem of diagnosis, or
matching of symptoms to produce the drug picture for the patient.
The Potencies Problem
The reader may wish to refer back to Sections 8-44 and 8-45 to
refresh the memory regarding Avogadros constant and the mole concept.
It is postulated that the molecular weight in grams of any substance
will contain as many entities as there are atoms in 12g of Carbon 12,
i.e., 6.02 x 10 to the 23rd power. 1 mole of any compound is its
formula weight in grams.
In a nutshell the potencies are made by diluting, dilutions in
succession. Therefore logically, the molecular weight of the
therapeutic substance would decrease, while the % molecular weight of
the dilutant would increase. It is claimed moreover, that as the
quantity of the therapeutic substance decreased then the potency of
the remedy increased.
For the skeptical observer, this claim defied the logic of physics
and chemistry, for the 19th and the best part of the 20th century. So
it was with boring regularity, that the critics from the orthodox
medical camp would wave Avogadros constant to refute Homoeopathy. The
constant seemed to indicate, that when the dilutions reached the 12th
centesimal or 24th decimal stage, it was unlikely that a single
molecule of solute would remain in solution. So ipso facto, the
remedy was bogus. However ailing people were not interested in a
medical minutia, they wanted results, and Homoeopathy, consistently
delivered, and patients flocked to the homoeopathic physicians.
There have been some claims that Hahnemann was well aware of
Avogadro’s constant and that he was possessed of some transcendental
knowledge that led him to dismiss Avogadro’s findings as irrelevant.
Hahnemann was an outstanding polymath in an age of polymaths but such
claims do not bear scrutiny.
For sure, Avogadro and Hahnemann were contemporary. However,
Avogadro’s paper was not published until1811. Hahnemann’s seminal
works were published in 1786 and 1810, and further, Avogadro’s paper
was not dusted off and developed untill some 50 to 60 years after
publication.
The Potencies and Molecular Memory
In Part 8 we briefly looked at the subject of stereo chemistry, and
the shape of the molecules in space. Accordingly we may understand
that the matrix that contains the molecule and irrespective of what
state of matter the matrix is in that it will adapt itself to the
shape of the molecule. In the same way that if we knead bread dough,
the shapes of our knuckles or palms are embedded in the dough.
Hahnemann’s matrix was the alchemist’s mercury or spirit of wine. Or
good quality brandy (45% by volume) Hydro alcoholic mixtures have
some remarkable properties which as yet are far from being explained.
His method of impressing a shape into a matrix was by succussion or
rhythmic shaking for liquids or by triturating a solid with lactose
(sugar of milk) by means of a mortar and pestle, into very fine
division.
Researchers have probed, sucussed serial dilutions, with laser and
maser in an attempt to explain the biological effects of extremely
high dilutions. For the research scientist, Hahnemann’s claim has
evolved from the absurd to a working hypothesis and the big question
is how? The one that answers will be a Noble Laureate, because the
implications for the life science are immeasurable.
A French research scientist and erstwhile head of the immuno-
pharmacology unit of INSERM* Jacques Benveniste Ph.D. has suggested
the water retains the ‘memory’ of molecules that it once contained.
The logical conclusion of that suggestion is that there has been an
amplified transfer of information rather than creation of a polymer
or a large molecule. Professor Benvenist’s suggestion is surely
worthy of pursuit.
* INSERM. – National Unit for Medical Research Paris.
Serial Dilution and Information Transfer
At the point of the 12th centesimal or 24th decimal dilution we
exceed Avogadro’s constant and cease to transfer a physical molecule
of the mother substance and proceed to transfer the memory of a
molecular shape which is peculiar to the mother substance. From
consistent observation the homoeopath deduced that a potency in
certain circumstances could be ‘antidoted’, i.e., the remedy even
when correctly selected would fail to bring about a reaction in the
patient. Strong sunlight could trigger this canceling effect,
excessive heat or cold, caffeine, aromatics, magnetic radiation of
various types and ultrasound. The use of ultrasound has now been
abandoned as a method of succussion.
If we view the information transfer as magnetic in nature then we
have the basis of a scientific framework within which to explain the
phenomena of homoeopathy. Clearly light, magnetism and sound are
parts of a hierarchy of energy. Every substance has its own vibratory
rate or frequency that gives it a unique place within that hierarchy
and every substance has octaves and harmonics that are reminiscent of
dilution and succussion.
When a mother substance is viewed from the angle of information
transfer within an energy continuum then the fallacious basis of poly-
pharmacy is starkly revealed and we may understand the insistence of
Paracelsus and Hahnemann on the use of a single substance in the
preparation of a remedy or magistery.
From the same angle the matrix or menstruum which is used to extract,
maintain and transfer the gossamer like information must be capable
maintaining not only the physical molecular shape of the mother
substance but also of its magnetic echo.
Paracelsus and Hahnemann insisted on a hydro-alcoholic menstruum
with quickly verifiable reason. For the alchemist water was
the ‘universal solvent’ and ‘mother of life’. Given sufficient time
water will reduce minerals to the elemental state, and will make
short work of the relatively fragile bio-molecules. By patient
empirical experiment, the combination of alcohol with water was
found to produce the desired results and the integrity of the
substance being worked upon was preserved.
It was also observed that even a small change in the menstruum
balance, would precipitate constituents out of solution, therefore
when producing the potencies the pharmacist must be scrupulous in
maintaining the mother menstruum composition throughout, and on
whatever scale of dilution is used.
Remember that when the physical limit of Avogadro’s number has been
passed, we have entered another level of the energy spectrum, and if
we change the menstruum we change and confuse the vibratory rate of
the substance upon which we work, and in effect produce a magnetic
equivalent of precipitation.
A menstruum that is destructive of a mother substance is at all
costs to be avoided, especially if a phytopharmacon (Homoeopathic
terminology meaning plant drug) is the mother substance employed.
Notable of such substances, are water, strong or dilute acids and
glycerine.
In the late 19th and early 20th century a so called ‘Aqueous
Menstruum’ enjoyed a vogue in both orthodox and homoeopathic
pharmacy. It contained glycerine,acetic acid and distilled water.
The results of such an abomination, is nothing short of disastrous
on a plant drug. The large scale precipitation and complexing of the
constituents are closely followed by further breakdown leaving a
turbid liquid that required extensive ‘doctoring’ to make it look
respectable.
Whereas the reality was that most of the essence of the plant is
thrown away with the used filter papers.This, because the
constituents had complexed, and then became insoluble in the
menstruum. Glycerine or Acetic acid, either alone or in combination
destroy the synergy of the herb.
In terms of information transfer it is easily understood that in such
circumstance that we transfer gibberish and not information. If we
amplify that gibberish by serial dilution and succussion and
introduce that substance to a diseased organism then damage to that
organism is caused on a very deep level which is analogous to that of
vaccinosis. Homoeopathic preparations require scrupulous attention to
detail with no short cuts.
Serial Dilution, Terminology and Methodology
It is a measure of Dr. Hahnemann’s stature as a man that both he and
his system of medicine have always attracted people of exceptional
ability, so that in the years since his death, the system has, and
is, subject to a process of refinement, not all of which have brought
about improvements, in fact some of the introductions have raised
large question marks. Some of which clearly trample rough shod over
the Hahnemann’s precept of proving, and given the current size of the
materia medica we may understand that any changes to the system
naturally raise the problem of re-proving the materia medica.
It is fortunate that this question of ‘proving’ only arises with
the mother substance and the menstruum/carrier used for the
preparation.
The most significant changes introduced have been alternative methods
of ‘potentisation’. The problems that arise from this are at the
physician/patient interface, therefore if the physician is competent
(and not all are) the question of Posology is quickly and
methodically dealt with.
Nonetheless this question of degree of dilution and the number of
succussions required at each dilution has and does generate much
controversy in homoeopathic circles.
There are three methods in use. From labeled potency, the physician
may know firstly what the mothers’ substance is, and secondly what
the degree of dilution is and thirdly which method has been used to
produce the dilution whether it is; liquid or solid.
The student must be aware that some homoeopathic nomenclature in the
wider sense is obsolete and may also use the Latin form or
abbreviation in prescriptions. A list of the more common will be
given in Section 12 under the head of ‘compounding’.There are also
some inconsistencies in the manner in which potencies are prefixed or
suffixed however this will not be a hindrance once familiarity is
established.
Succession ~ the Mechanics.
The word ‘succussion’ is from the Latin meaning ‘tossed up’.
Succussion is an essential part of the potentising process. Laser and
thermo-graphic studies have confirmed that there is a material
difference between a sucussed and a non sucussed dilution. In other
words succussion is necessary for information transfer. The manual
process may be performed as follows;
(A) Take a small corked test tube that will fit into the palm of one
hand and half fill with water, then re-cork.
(B) With the thumb on the cork and the tube enclosed in the hand,
bring hand down smartly into the palm of the other hand.
It is advisable to ensure that you do not bring the test tube,
smartly down into the palm. 
That process equals one succussion. It is said that Hahnemann
performed the operation by impact of a phial onto a leather bound
Bible. There was and still is, controversy as to the number of
succussions required to complete the information transfer from 1
dilution to the next. Hopefully the anomaly may be resolved with
ongoing scientific studies. Hahnemanns 1:100 dilution was followed by
100 succussions.
Bear in mind the Older homoeopathic literature often mentions
preparations in terms of ‘drops’. That is not very precise; when that
term is encountered we should substitute ‘parts’, in that way we
remain consistent in preparations.
The Decimal Scale, 11- 37
The decimal scale of homoeopathic preparations was introduced to
clinical practice by Dr. Constantin Hering, a prominent and
influential figure in the history of homoeopathy. He was about ten
years old when Hahnemann’s first edition of the organon was published
and is best remembered in Hering’s law of direction of cure.
Hahnemann was dead when the decimal scale was introduced so that we
do not; have the benefit of his comments on the matter; nor do we
appear to have the comments of any other prominent figure in
homoeopathy so that by convention the scale is part of therapeutic
practice.
A 1C (1:100) potency is the equivalent in de concentration to the 2 x
potency. However there is a considerable difference in the number of
succussions performed. For example a potency at the sixth decimal
level, i.e., 6 x 10 = 60 succussions, the equivalent de concentration
is at third centesimal level, i.e., 3C=300 successions. It will be
understood that at higher potencies there will be a considerable
saving in time and effort.
Accordingly an outline of Dr. Hering’s intent is visible. The decimal
potencies are produced by the same methodology given in Table 11-
36A. Remember that the de concentration is in steps of 1:10 and that
each dilution receives 10 succussions.
The Korsakoff Potencies, 11-38
In homoeopathic circles the Korsakoff method of producing potencies
is subject to considerable controversy; there are those “for” and
those “against”. From the pharmacy viewpoint, the Korsakoff method is
slack and sloppy.
The method invariably leads to gross and predictable error in the
perceived de-concentration; precision demands the elimination of
variables within the limits of possibility, if the demand for
reproducibility is to be met. The Korsakoff method, cannot meet the
criteria.
In 1832 Hahnemann opened his academy in Paris. At that time Paris was
the center of European intellectual and artistic aspiration.
Hahnemann, like Paracelsus before him was a medical iconoclast, so
that his life had not been easy, but at 77 years of age his dogged
persistence had started to yield results and the nobility, the rich
and the famous started to flock to him.
It was in that same year that a member of the Russian elite General
von Korsakoff authored a paper which was published in the
German ‘Archiv f?r die hom?epathische Heilkunst’ (Archive of
the
Homoeopathic Medical Arts). The paper outlined a potentising method
that on the face of it would shorten Hahnemanns potentising process
and moreover only require 1 phial.
The Korsakoff potency was considered to be the equivalent of the
Hahnemann centesimal. The concept was based on the idea that 1 drop
of a preceding potency would cling to the interior of the phial when
it was emptied, it was then refilled with menstruum and sucussed to
produce the next potency and so onto whatever level was required.
The method reeks of the worst of Herbal practice, and lacks the
precision required to produce a medicine.
It is only necessary to read the records, for just 1 of Hahnemann’s
provings, to be impressed by his scrupulous attention to detail. So
it is hard to conceive that he would not vigorously attack the
Korsakoff heresy. Apparently when approached on the matter, his
response was uncharacteristically mild for he is reported to have
said,
“The eminent von Korsakoff’s method might be as sensible as it was
useful.”
This was Hahnemann with diplomatic tongue in cheek! When those words
are spoken out loud, they take on a very different connotation to
that of the written word. Whatever it was that Hahnemann had in mind,
we can only speculate, but it is a matter of record that he made no
attempt to change his own method, and he spent the remaining 11 years
of his life working on the LM potencies.
The Potencies Astronomica
Dr. Hahnemann died in Paris on the 2nd of July 1843 just prior to
the imminent publication of the 6th edition of the ‘Organon’ in
which he revealed the details of the LM potencies. In the event the
6th edition was not then published until 1921, by that time
a ‘certain rot’ had set in and sacred cows were proliferating and
cloaks for charlatans were being woven.
Dr. Hahnemann had set the limit at 30C for potencies obtained
directly from the mother tincture; in the main those substances, that
would dissolve with relative ease in a hydro-alcoholic menstruum and
which were organic, i.e., containing carbon in their structures.
lactose was used for the diluting medium for mineral remedies.
By the time that details of Hahnemann’s LM potencies were made
generally available in 1921, the lid of ‘Pandora’s Box’ had been well
and truly sprung and like Paracelsus before him, Hahnemann’s work had
been corrupted.
The rot was well established within 10 years of Hahnemann’s death
and it led Hahnemann’s friend and author of the ‘New Homoeopathic
Pharmacopoeia (1841) George Jahr to complain that, ‘suspicions about
the high attenuations were rife, meaning of course that some of
the ‘potencies astronomica’ would take many months to prepare
correctly. One would need to be financially well endowed, to afford a
course of treatment.
The progenitor of the ‘potencies astronomica’ was a man
named ‘Jenichen’ who, it is claimed, produced a de concentration in
order of 60,000C. Jenichen shot himself to death; one suspects
because of the intense professional goading to which he would have
been subjected.
A reading of some of the contemporary works on homoeopathy will be
sufficient to reveal the schizoid nature of the profession with many
writers attempting to straddle the chasm between two camps, i.e.,
the followers of Hahnemann, the practitioners of classical
homoeopathy, and those of the Jenichen camp, who used the Skinner
potency method some of which reach 1,000,000,000 C.
Obviously from 30 C upwards the potentising method had to be
mechanized if costs were to be contained. A British Homoeopath Dr.
Thomas Skinner (1825 – 1906) – no relation to B.F. Skinner, the US
Psychologist, modified a method of potentising that had been
introduced by John Tyler Kent. The method is known as the ‘Skinner
continuous fluxion process’ which is generally in use today.
The starting point for a Skinner potency is normally a Hahnemann 30 C
or a high Korsakoff potency. The potency is introduced to a vibrating
tube and thensteadily washed away by a continuous flow of water.
The followers of Jenichen/Skinner would claim the Hahnemann’s LM
potencies validate their methods and prescribing habits.
However, such a position is not really tenable and there seems to be
a failure to appreciate the medical milieu of which Hahnemann was
part. It is a matter of record that Dr Hahnemann spent well over a
decade of experimental work on the LM potencies before he considered
that they were ready for general release.
It is necessary to digress slightly in order for a point to be
clearly made. Paracelsus introduced the mineral remedies to Western
medicine. He had first hand knowledge from his work with the ‘Fugger
miners’ of the concentrated power to kill or heal which was locked
within them. We are reminded of his statement that,
“It depends only upon the dose, whether a poison, is a poison or
not”.
Paracelsus introduced the only then known cure for the ‘French
disease’ as syphilis was called. The cure was Mercury.The medical
fools, that followed on Paracelsus, killed and maimed untold numbers
of sufferers, with their misunderstanding of the Paracelsian method.
That injudicious practice of administering large doses of Mercury,
led it into disrepute.
In his medical kit, Paracelsus kept a small pewter goblet that was
lined with ‘Cinnabar’. It would seem that this was not the raw
Cinnabar but rather the sublimed Cinnabar from sulphur and mercury,
the goblet being used to condense the vapors into a lining. The
goblet would have a measured amount of wine (acidic) poured into it,
and allowed to stand for a measured amount of time. The amount, and
the time, determined how much mercury was extracted. Thus, Paracelsus
by use of art was able to individualize the dose.
Those familiar with Spagyric techniques will instantly recognize the
hand of Paracelsus in Hahnemann’s LM potencies and know with a surety
his reasoning behind the method. It is the same influence and
reasoning that underlies the Sch?ssler tissue salts, and the
later ‘Lithotheraphy’.
The student should be aware that the mode and power of action of a
botanic drug is vastly amplified in the mineral kingdom. Minerals in
the wrong hands can be lethal, a fact well recognized in our
scientific era. The LM potencies are proof that Dr. Hahnemann fully
appreciated that distinction. His method involved the ‘Trituration’
or grinding of a solid substance with sugar of milk with a mortar and
pestle. Trituration will be included in the section on ‘Compounding’.
This procedure may be taken, according to the Hahnemann process, to
the LM30 potency but NOT above. The method explained in Table 11-39A
is a modification of the Hahnemann process in the same way that the
Hahnemann process of Botanical tinctures were modified to reflect
advanced pharmaceutical practice which allows for greater precision
than the terminology of drops and granules.
Ivor Hughes
Auckland, New Zealand.
The complete article complete with charts and diagrams may be accesed
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