THE ETERNAL HOMEOPATHY DEBATE:
From a scientific perspective, there are two questions which need to be answered.

1. How potency increases with dilution, and
2. How H. medicines act in the body.

There has been no end of scientific research, and it will continue, but the directions taken will always be fruitless.

Question 1. must first be dealt with.

This is PHYSICS, and needs to be addressed by a Physicist with the appropriate skills and motivation.
Potentisation only occurs in POLAR solvents. Water and Alcohol dissociate in solution, i.e., separate into charged ions. Water and alcohol molecules behave like miniature magnets.
Succussion induces magnetic flux. The mystery is how the solution can store information, and is deemed to be impossible by Chemists I have spoken to - "Such information would dissipate in the liquid" they claim.
But magnetism and electromagnetism are not governed by chemical laws. In fact, magnetism is not fully understood even by the Physicists.
A Physicist specializing in Magnetism, probably an academic, could make inroads into this topic, if provided with all the observations of the 'Potentisation' phenomenon.
I have searched thru the many disciplines of Physics, such as Fluid & Flow Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Quantum theory of Magnetism, but none of these claim responsibility for "magnetic phenomena induced mechanically in Polar solutions".
We need a pioneer like Faraday to do Pure research in this area.
Tim

[ 12. February 2003, 12:56: Message edited by: Timokay ]

Ok Tim, good to see a healthy interest in this far-from-understood phenomenon.

doctorleela

__________________
http://www.homeopathy2health.com

Thank you Dr Leela for your comment.
The main problem seems to be that we all have our own specialities, but little knowledge of the other areas linked with this subject.
The study of WATER, for instance, is left to the Chemists because it is a liquid. As soon as the water FREEZES, it becomes a matter for the Physicists, or the Physical Chemists, (though the Physicists are primarily responsible). Liquids primarily CHEMISTRY; Solids primarily PHYSICS; one of the many demarcation lines between the Sciences.
150 years ago, pioneers of Electricity & Magnetism, such as Faraday, Joule and Ampere established laws of electricity and magnetism which still apply today. This was accomplished by ingenious experiments measuring the current/e.m.f. induced in conductors and coils, by relative motion, or in the presence of magnets. It was Ampere who studied the magnetic side of electromagnetism in much detail.
Studying electric or magnetic properties of Polar solutions was simply not feasible at that time, and not addressed.
But, it is feasible today.
Many Quantum Physicists consider the potentisation phenomenon to be Chemistry, but there is no chemical change involved.
A chemical change is induced in the patient by the Homeopathic medicine - but that is Question 2 (above), not to be addressed yet.
I have owned a v good tape recorder for nearly 25 years. Cassette recordings made nearly 25 years ago, still have the same audio quality as the day they were recorded (except the cheaper brands of cassettes, which have disintegrated).
The information on the magnetic tape does not deteriorate with time. If you look at the tapes, and CHEMICALLY, all the cassettes are identical, TDK MA90, but the music information stored on them is clear for all to hear.
But a Chemist could not show this difference. It is not within his territory.
The difference can only be established by using the appropriate detector; electric current is induced in the circuitry of a tape player from the magnetic information of the magnetic tape. The playback head of the tape player picks up this information, inducing a current which is amplified, and heard as music.
So, magnetism (and magnetic induction) is a Physical property, not Chemical.
Homeopathic remedies actually made by Hahnemann 180 years ago are still as potent, today, as the day they were made.
The point being that magnetic information is resilient though, at the same time, it can be wiped out in a moment by a strong magnetic field.
Tim (This is leading somewhere.)

[ 12. February 2003, 18:13: Message edited by: Timokay ]

I can see it is, and its interesting.

__________________
http://www.homeopathy2health.com

Hi, I made some changes on previous post to make it more readable.
This problem is about the PHYSICS of a liquid.
One reason why the Physicists are not progressing on this is because they are making a 'chemical' assumption - that the water (or alcohol) has something particulate in it, which carries the Homeopathic signal.
On Professor Chaplin's WATER site (he is a Chemist), Homeopathy Scientific research only considers work like Lo's (a type of ice crystal accumulating in the solution) or Samal et al. (solute molecules aggregate on dilution). The professor speaks in terms of molecules needing to be large enough to have a biological effect in the body.
He is not a Biochemist or Physiologist, so he is unaware that even very small molecules like formaldehyde can have very significant biological effects - reactive molecules which bond to protein molecules, changing their surface features, therefore marking them as 'foreign' to the body's immune system. High doses of formaldehyde are fatal for this reason.
Researchers Lo and Samal are Physicists, but they are off in the wrong direction. Potentisation is not a particulate phenomenon.
A stepping stone for the physicists would be Boyd's work, as Dr. Reilly of the Glasgow Hom. Hospital suggested in his first Lancet article.
Boyd developed an 'emanometer' as far back as 1925; it could measure 'emanations' (waves) from substances, such as from Homeopathic remedies and from People. Boyd established Groups, groups of wave frequencies. In health, a person would stay in the same Group throughout their lives. He could choose the appropriate remedy for a patient based on their grouping. The remedies themselves fell into these BOYD'S GROUPS as well.
Boyd's work was validated by the Scientific community. Later research showed that the medicine acted by restoring the patient to his Boyd Group.
This 'emanation' or radiation theory, though proven, was extemely difficult to accept in the Scientific community. And that is where the matter stands, as far as I can see.
This is Professor Chaplin's site:

http://www.sbu.ac.uk/water/homeop.html#hypo

You can see that, being a chemist, he can only see this in terms of clustering or aggregation of molecules, not a magnetic or electro-magnetic phenomenon. To Be Continued.
Tim

[ 12. February 2003, 19:05: Message edited by: Timokay ]

Tim, could you provide any more websites for reference?
YEs I think I agree with you. I have heard of Boyd's experiments. i read about this in Dr. P. Sankaran's book "The Elements of homeopathy", pg 593 onwards.
Still leaves us in no man's land though!
doctorleela

__________________
http://www.homeopathy2health.com

Hi Dr. Leela,

Boyd's work leads to a 'radiant state of matter' theory, to explain how Homoeopathic medicines work.

You asked for more references. Most good references are not online.

Thorsons Encyclopaedic dictionary of Homoeopathy by H. Gaier is useful. It explains Boyd's work, Boyd's Groups in detail, and the theory of the Radiant State of Matter.

William Boyd assembled remedies according to their
electro-physical properties, i.e., their 'emanations' (old-fashioned word for electro-magnetic radiation (EMR)).
So, his 'emanometer' was an EMR detector.
He found that people and H. medicines gave off unique radiation characterisitics. His enamometer only worked inside a Faraday cage (which kept out all other sources of EMR) because the radiation emitted was so weak. He ended up with a classification of 12 groups, containing all remedies.

Remedies in the same group have a complementary
relationship with eachother. If a medicine found to be the simillimum is not vigorous enough, other remedies in the same group would complement the first remedy.

For this topic,
ref: Kailash Narayan Mathur, 'Principles of
prescribing..', New Delhi: B Jain Publishers 1981
p448-449.

Boyd's enamometer was tested successfully by a
committee of Scientists, and his work published in Br. Medical J. and Lancet in 1925.
After Boyd's death, nobody was able to continue his work. You may find some 'misinformation' regarding Boyd's emanometer. The Scientific testing showed that Boyd himself did not have to be in the room, or personally operate the enamometer. Some people called him a psychic - nonsense. The scientific testing was very rigorous.

Boyd also performed some of the most successful
testing 'in vitro' of homeopathic potencies.

BOYD W.E. : Br. Hom. Journal,1954,44,p6-44
The enzyme Starch Diastase catalyses a chemical
reaction in which Starch is hydrolysed; a chemical reaction which is significantly influenced by Mercuric Chloride.

Boyd was able to demonstrate that the rate of this reaction was altered by Homeopathic
potencies of Mercuric Chloride as high as 61c.

Other 'in vitro' work which stood up well to
Scientific criticism:

Jones & Jenkins: Expts on wheat and yeast:
Br Hom J 1983,72,143-147

Pelikan & Unger: Effects of High Potencies on Plant Growth: Br Hom J 1971:60,233-266.

One Disadvantage:
To use Boyd's enamometer, a healthy person would need to be present (and connected up), as well as the patient or medicine being tested.
Others have tried to take this further by eliminating the need for the heathy person. Some people in India. I am still looking into this area.

The electro-magnetic radiation being measured by the emanometer is believed to be in the form of Photons and Mesons.
That is why modern EMR detectors need to be used to examine Homeopathic medicines as meticulously as Boyd did - this being work for a Physicist or a Biophysicist.
There is already a Science of Biomagnetism, and instruments infinitely more sensitive and sophisticated than Boyd's emanometer, so the proposed task is hardly a major undertaking.

There may be some political reason why this direction has not been explored.

Some more on Dr. William Boyd:

http://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeop...nest_boyd.html

http://www.marius.net/BOYD.html

60% of the way down this page: (or search page for 'Boyd' using EDIT Find.)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/anthony...chapter09.html

30% of the way down this page:
http://www.doughoff.com/homeopathy/0...emanometer.php

Half way down this page:
http://www.simillimum.com/Thelittlel.../dynamics.html

[ 14. February 2003, 14:15: Message edited by: Timokay ]

informative links good knowledge good work

__________________
Muhammad Raza Hussain<br />Z.C Post Graudate College

Thanks Professor.
I will add more links which may be of value...and
propose two directions forwards on this topic.
It is just a matter of taking Boyd's work forwards, with the advantage of current technology.
Tim

[ 15. February 2003, 16:19: Message edited by: Timokay ]

REFS ON NOTABLE RESEARCH BY PHYSICISTS

1) SHUI-YIN LO in 1996
2) Samal/Geckeler in 2001
3) Others

1) Here are Lo's two papers on 'a form of Ice' (Ie-crystals), which he claims accumulate in water on dilution/succussion. The chemists say such crystals/clusters would not be stable.

http://pecan.srv.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/u...lo-iestru.html

http://pecan.srv.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/u...TG/lo-ice.html

2). Samal & Geckeler : Solute molecules aggregate at high dilution.

S. Samal and K. E. Geckeler, Unexpected solute aggregation in water on dilution, Chem. Commun. 21 (2001) 2224-2225.

http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~fll...f_water.htm#42

3).Other: An overview of research
Homeopathic Mechanism : Memory of Water
http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~fll..._water.htm#top

Page 2 of this (cranky) paper comments on Lo, Samal & Geckeler's work :
http://www.teosofia.com/Docs/vol-2-8.pdf

REFERENCES BY FAMOUS HOMEOPATHS :

Review of Gray's book by Chris Kurz:
http://www.healthy.net/asp/hes/HESCa...Number=GRA-HOM

Dorothy Shepherd; Magic of the minimum dose.

http://www.minimum.com/p7/engine/auth.asp?n=370

http://www.minimum.com/p7/engine/book.asp?n=24#

Not to forget this Homeopath : CLICK ON
'More pictures of Hahnemann'
(Remedy for baldness?)

http://www.minimum.com/index.htm