Geschichten aus der Homöopathie
http://www.widesky.de/Widesky-Ecke/Gute-Nacht-Geschichten.html
Zur Bedeutung
der Geschichte der Materia Medica für die zeitgenössiche Homöopathie. (Cand. med. André Röper)
[Farokh Master]
Editorial November 2013
Drug proving was one of the fundamental principal of Dr. Hahnemann, but
unfortunately the credit for the first person to introduce this cannot go to
him, it is mentioned in history that as early as 200 BC Shen Nung emperor of
China tested herbs upon himself for eliciting therapeutical efficacy.
Later, in the 16th century, Paracelsus, the veritable Luther
of Medicine preferred medicines that he had tried on himself and the Zurich
doctor, Conrad Gessner actually experimented
drugs, usually derived from plants, on himself. Albrecht von Haller
recommended this procedure but mostly for his work in physiology. Another
person of note was the Viennese Anton
Stoerck who tried the drugs first on animals, and then on him.
It is felt by many historians that Hahnemann, as a former Vienna
student, may have got the idea from Stoerck.
Hahnemann was the first person to provide a precise scientific basis for
these desperate investigations, and bring them into a comprehensive therapeutic
context. In his study of Cinchona
Bark, which he carried out on himself in 1790 he observed that this drug
produced the typical symptoms of Malaria. His experiments on Cinchona Bark led
him to his formulate Law of
Similars, and also marked the beginning of the systematic performance of
homoeopathic drug proving.
[Natalie
Robins]: the gruesome practice of medicine in Europe and
“The
knives that were once used by doctors to drain blood from the bodies of men,
women, and children were folding triple-bladed instruments with bone handles
and highly polished sheaths…
Always
nearby was a shallow bowl - plain or ornate with delicate flowers or birds - to
catch the cascading blood as it flowed from the diseased bodies. The pain of
multiple incisions in the scalp, neck, wrists, ankles, back, penis, vagina, and
forty other sites was invariably excruciating. Just as often, the bites of
leeches were used as an alternative to knives. Those who survived their
bloodletting sometimes got better…
“And
if the removal of enough blood to cause the patient to lose consciousness -
sometimes as much as 70% of the person’s blood - didn’t bring about a cure,
there was also mercury, arsenic, or lead, which purged the body of its excesses
if they didn’t first poison the patient, or blistering, pulling teeth,
sweating, ice, starvation, darkness, and silence. Illness was always dreaded;
the popular treatments for it were hell on earth. Even babies were bled“.
Remedies
could be nearly as bizarre as they were brutal. Lethargy often was treated with
massive doses of whiskey, wine, opium, or roast beef. The words of the 17th
century playwright Moliere were almost as true in the 18th and 19th centuries.
“Nearly all men die of their remedies and not of their illnesses“.
In
1792, Austrian Emperor Leopold II was bled to death by his doctors, who sliced
open his veins four times in 24 hours. H. was withering in his contempt for
Leopold’s doctors. “Science pales before this!” he wrote in an article
published in Germany.
George
Washington met a similar fate seven years later. After developing a severe sore
throat and cold, he was bled four times. One young doctor recommended a new
procedure, a tracheotomy, which had been successfully used in
By
this time, H. had given up medicine in disgust. He believed that a good diet,
good hygiene, and good living conditions were essential for good health. He
believed patients often recovered on their own. His beliefs were ignored and
ridiculed. So he made a living as a translator and chemist.
Then
came H.’s first “
And
quickly began to develop malaria symptoms. So cinchona could cure people who
were sick with malaria. And it could produce malaria symptoms in healthy
people.
Aha!
Well, actually, I’m not sure most people, even those as brilliant as H., could
invent an entire new school of medicine from such a small discovery.
But
he did. It was based on the Law of Similars: “A substance that causes, in a
healthy person, symptoms similar to those of a disease state, can cure a sick
person of that disease or - “Let Likes Be Cured By Likes“.
In
some respects, H. wasn’t reinventing the wheel. Hippocrates hypothesized that
cures could result from the actions of either similars or opposites. A smallpox
vaccine had been invented in England in 1776. Vaccines, which used a small
amount of the virus to produce immunity to the full-fledged disease caused by
the virus, fit snugly within the parameters of “Like Cures Like“.
So
do modern treatments for allergies, which utilize small doses of the allergens
to build up a person’s immunity to them.
But
H. took his theory to the extreme. You might even say he ran right off a cliff
with it. H.’s sole focus was on the patient’s symptoms. He couldn’t care less
about the cause of an illness. Causation was simply irrelevant to the theory of
“Like Cures Like“. The cure would always be found by matching the symptoms
induced by a particular remedy in a healthy person with the symptoms displayed
by the patient.
H.
approached a patient like a jailor carrying a massive key chain. One key - and
only one key - would turn the lock and free the patient from the jail cell of
his illness.
And
whenever he encountered a patient with different symptoms, he needed to find a
different key in order to unlock the door.
Ingesting
small amounts of diluted herbs, plants, minerals, and animals, H. and some
volunteers continued to experiment on themselves, monitoring the symptoms
produced by each substance. The results of about 120 of these “provings,” as H.
called his experiments, were collected in a book, the Materia Medica.
H.
also included information from written accounts of accidental poisonings. It was
particularly appropriate to do so, since many of the provings involved
poisonous substances such as arsenic and belladonna. But H. believed nothing
was toxic if taken in small doses.
This
belief led H. to another “Eureka!” moment. Poisons had to be diluted in order
to take them safely. H. began to dilute all of his remedies. Then he began to
“succuss” them, shaking the diluted substance vigorously. H. believed that
homeopathic remedies work by triggering the Vital Spark or Vital Force in the
patient, which heals by restoring balance to the body. The shaking of the
remedies was aimed at awaking the “slumbering hidden dynamic powers” contained
in the remedy.
Weird?
You ain’t heard nothing yet. H. believed that remedies become more potent with
successive dilutions. Under his theory of “potentization,” the “weaker” the
remedy, the more powerful it becomes. Remedies often were diluted to the extent
that not even a single molecule of the substance remained in the dilution.
As
Natalie Robins writes in Copeland’s Cure, “Homeopaths believed that the very
shadows - or memory - of the original substance was enough to effect
healing…potentization enabled remedies to touch and effect the energetic realm
of the Vital Force - the place where disease arises and cure must take place“.
In addition, H. speculated that long-term diseases were caused by a “psora,”
which he defined as an itch produced by a negative spirit.
At
this point, critics of homeopathy, not to mention proponents of logic, pull the
cord and get off the bus. Invisible remedies? Diluted water that “remembers”
what was in it? Who could possibly believe such nonsense? Millions of people,
as it turned out, who were sickened, literally and figuratively, by the
conventional medicine of the time. By the early 1800’s, H. was practicing
homeopathy, railing against “old school medicine“.
In
1810, he published the “Organon Of The Medical Art”, a textbook on homeopathy.
The medical establishment called him a “daring revolutionist” and an “eccentric
troublemaker”.
The
typhoid fever epidemic of 1813 cemented H.’s reputation as a guru of
alternative medicine. As thousands perished around the city of Leipzig, H.
treated 180 patients with homeopathic remedies and lost just two of them. A
star was born. The medical establishment fought back. Doctors and druggists
harassed H.. He was charged with selling illegal remedies in 1820 and cast out
of the big city. H. fled to a small town in eastern Germany. But his fame grew
and doctors, students, and patients from around Europe flocked to see him.
H.
was the equivalent of a rock star, an anti-establishment bad boy. Amy Lansky in
Impossible Cure: In the evening, a circle of disciples would gather at H.’s
feet.
Dressed
in a gaudy dressing gown, yellow stockings, and a black velvet cap, H. would
puff on a long Turkish pipe and dispense pearls of wisdom to his devotees.
His
made-for-the-movies life featured a particularly happy ending. In 1830, when H. was 75, his wife died. 4 years later,
Melanie d’Hervilly, beautiful, wealthy, socially prominent artist and poet
journeyed from Paris for treatment from H. after reading the “Organon of the
Medical Art”. She then became his student and much more. The 34-year-old artist
and the 79-year-old doctor fell head over heels in love. H. and d’Hervilly
married, moved to Paris, and established a thriving homeopathic clinic,
treating luminaries such as Paginini and Balzac.
H.
died in 1843, but his reputation was just beginning to blow up in the U.S. In
1844, the American Institute of Homeopathy was founded. Partly in response to
the growing popularity of homeopathy, the American Medical Association was
established in 1847.
The
AMA wasted little time in going after the upstart. It branded homeopathy as
“alien” and as a “delusion,” a form of medicine practiced by imposters who
believed in miracles. It also mounted campaigns against other forms of
alternative medicine, including naturopaths, chiropractors, and osteopaths.
But
the AMA’s campaign didn’t stop millions of Americans from flocking to
homeopathic practitioners. Clergymen recommended homeopathy from their pulpits.
Women and children loved the “sugar doctor“. (Homeopathic remedies were usually
absorbed into sugar water and taken in the form of sugar pellets.) And why
wouldn’t they? It was a no-brainer. Do I want a doctor to slice open my child’s
veins and splash his blood into a basin? Or do I want to give little Susie or
Timmy a sugar pellet?
Homeopathy
became known as the “people’s medicine“. It was readily available and it was
inexpensive. As Robins describes it, homeopathy was “the first worldwide,
systematic option to bloodletting. Because of its painlessness, lack of side
effects, and relative simplicity, homeopathy caught on like wildfire in
America“.
By
1900, there were 22 homeopathic colleges and 14.000 homeopathic doctors in
America. The war between the medical establishment and the rebels waxed and
waned in intensity, but never ceased. Prominent Americans took sides. Oliver
Wendell Holmes denounced provings as random experiments devoid of scientific
validity.
Mark
Twain: “Homeopathy forced the old school doctor to stir around and learn
something of a rational nature about their business…” Twain was “grateful that
homeopathy survived the attempts of allopaths [conventional doctors] to destroy
it“.
President
William McKinley: who used homeopathic doctors, was instrumental in the
erection of a statue of H. within viewing distance of the White House.
One
of the most influential advocates of homeopathy was Royal Copeland (1868-1938),
the hero of Copeland’s Cure. An eye surgeon who became fascinated by homeopathy
after travelling to Europe, Copeland became the Health Commissioner of New York
City. He cemented his reputation as a healer during the flu epidemic of 1918,
which ravaged other cities far more severely than New York. He achieved
nationwide celebrity status by penning a syndicated newspaper column called
“Your Health,” which attracted 11 million readers. In 1922, he was elected to
the U.S. Senate.
Copeland
was a subtle proponent of homeopathy, a skilled politician who walked a
tightrope between those who extolled and those who excoriated the practice. He
described homeopathy as “one of many methods of treating sickness“. Copeland
attempted to position it as a medical specialty rather than a distinct and
separate practice of healing that had little in common with conventional
medicine.
And
he was a harsh critic of some practitioners of alternative medicine, branding
chiropractors as a “public menace and peril” to both patients and the community
at large after some chiropractors “treated” typhoid fever and tuberculosis
victims with chiropractic methods, thus exhibiting little or no understanding
that such communicable diseases were spread by germs.
Copeland’s
crowning political achievement was his sponsorship of the Federal Food, Drug
and Cosmetic Act of 1938. The bill was sparked by the death of 100 people who
had taken a strep throat medication containing diethylene glycol, an ingredient
used in antifreeze. Copeland persuaded his Senate colleagues to pass the first
bill requiring drug companies to disclose active ingredients and post warning
labels on their products.
Homeopathic
remedies were treated as the equivalent of drugs under the Act, which gave
homeopathy a certain stamp of legitimacy. The Act, a forerunner of the modern
FDA, remains Copeland’s enduring legacy.
But
the heyday of homeopathy was drawing to a close. Conventional medicine was
advancing with giant strides. Homeopathic and other of alternative medicine
practitioners continued to be besieged by the AMA and other establishment
figures, branded as “pseudo scientists,” “freaks,” “unconscionable quacks,” and
“fakers“.
The
conduct of snake oil salesman within the ranks of alternative medicine also
undercut its credibility. Some naturopaths claimed that they could cure cancer
“by natural processes without medicine or surgery“.
Some
homeopaths in New York recommended “autotherapy” - the use of remedies made
from bodily fluids ranging from diluted blood to pus to spit to tears, to ear
gook.
Homeopaths
splintered into competing camps. Unicists, an orthodox sect, preached the
original gospel of H., who insisted on using only one remedy at a time.
Kentians:
a reform group, recommended one high potency remedy for mental and emotional
symptoms and one low potency remedy for physical symptoms.
Pluralists
prescribed taking several remedies in a precise order.
Complexists
prescribed taking several remedies at the same time.
By the
middle of the 20th century, homeopathy had almost disappeared in America,
although it continued to attract practitioners and patients in other parts of
the world.
(England
has always been a homeopathic bastion, in large part because the Royal Family
has employed a homeopathic physician for generations.)
While
the 60’s brought a renewed interest in alternative medicine, for better and for
worse -Robins writes that “offbeat, unconventional care became increasingly
faddish”- homeopathy lingered in the shadows.
A
watershed moment for homeopathy occurred in 1985, creating reverberations that
continue to this day. French research scientist Jacques Benveniste claimed to
have proof that highly diluted homeopathic remedies -so high that not a single
detectable molecule of the substance remained- left a “memory” in the diluted
water that measurably changed the molecular composition of the water.
His
findings were written up in the respected journal Nature, and they created a
furor. When investigators from Nature tried and failed to replicate the results
claimed by Benveniste, it left homeopathy with a black eye that remains
visible.
And
it separated the True Believers in homeopathy and the Contemptuous Critics of
homeopathy into fiercely antagonistic camps. Call it an ugly fight between the
Counterculture and the Establishment. Or, if you’ll indulge me in a bit of
hyperbole, a bitter feud between the Hippies and the Squares.
Dr.
Murray Gell-Mann, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1969 for his discovery of
quarks, says it is “garbage physics” to claim there is a “memory” left in water
that no longer contains a single molecule of a homeopathic remedy.
True
Believes such as Amy Lanksy, author of Impossible Cure, cites Benveniste’s
experiments as proof of the scientific validity of homeopathy. But the True
Believers of homeopathy continued to lose ground. By 2001, insurers were
covering chiropractic care in 50 states, acupuncture in seven, and naturopathic
treatments in two. Homeopathy wasn’t covered by insurers in a single state. It
still isn’t.
Despite
the grudging acceptance of some types of alternative treatments, conventional
medicine is still spooked by and suspicious of alternative medicine in general.
In 2002, Jonathan Quick, director of drug and medicine policy at the World
Health Organization, which was described by the New York Times as the “global
watchdog over unconventional medicine,” pleaded for a truce between “uninformed
skeptics who don’t believe in anything, and uncritical enthusiasts who don’t
care about the data.
We
want to convince the skeptics that some things work, and make the enthusiasts
more cautious because it can kill them“.
Makes
sense. Yet in many cases the Hippies and Squares continue to view each other
with fear and loathing. Consider the flap over the appointment of Dr. James
Gordon in 2000 to lead Bill Clinton’s White House Commission on Complementary
and Alternative Medicine. The purpose of the commission, the first of its kind,
was to evaluate “the great potential and possible perils associated with the
use of CAM“.
Gordon
is a psychiatrist who founded the Center for Mind/Body Medicine in Washington
D.C. He’s a faculty member at Georgetown Medical School and the author of 10
books about alternative medicine. But his appointment to head the White House
commission sent the Squares into a hissy fit. Steven Barrett’s quackwatch.com
blasted Gordon for volunteering at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic in the 60’s -
“helping ease young seekers through their experimentation with drugs“. If
cavorting with actual hippies wasn’t bad enough, Gordon was also criticized for
his interest in dynamic meditation,
a
form of dance involving whirling and spinning, and his fascination with
U.F.O.s.
An
exasperated Gordon fired back at the Squares, accusing CAM opponents of
possessing “a McCarthyite mindset - the inquisitioner’s mind, not the
scientific mind.
There’s
a lack of thoughtfulness in that approach - knee-jerk is the right word“.
Gordon
may be right regarding the reaction of the Squares to alternative medicine in
general. But the old school docs have sound reasons to question the validity of
homeopathy, with its weird theories and oddball practitioners. H. completed the
6th edition of the Organon Of The Medical Art way back in 1842. It is, writes
Amy Lansky, “still the most comprehensive text on the principles of homeopathy
to this day“.
Is
that something to brag about? Imagine if an M.D. pulled out a 160-year-old text
to diagnose and treat a patient who complained of stomach pains or a lump in
his armpit. He’d be laughed out of the profession. “Hey doc, haven’t you
learned anything in the last century or two? Sure, give me some of those
leeches you’ve got in that jar. And slice open a vein or two while you’re at
it“.
Lansky
claims that H. was a “scientist in the truest sense of the word“.
Maybe
in his own time. But today his teachings appear to be the work of a mad
scientist. Homeopathy seems mired in the past, lost in a bygone era, suffused
with ignorance, superstition and mysticism. And yet. 15.000.000 Americans use
homeopathic remedies. The global popularity of homeopathy is steadily rising,
particularly in Europe and Asia.
Why?
For a very practical reason--many remedies work. Clinical trials in Europe in
the 1980’s indicated that homeopathy was at least mildly effective for
conditions ranging from arthritis to flu to hay fever to gall bladder problems,
to fibromyalgia.
You
can buy homeopathic remedies at health food stores, of course, but also at
Safeway and Walgreens.
Geschichte
der Potenzabstufungen Posologie
Apis:
This article
appeared in 1866 in The Elements of a New Materia Medica and Therapeutics.
A
lad, aged about 12 years, had been afflicted for several months with ascites [accumulation
of fluid in the abdominal cavity] and hydrothorax [accumulation of fluid in the
lung cavity].
He
had been treated for some three months by allopathic physicians first for
dysentery, followed by ascites, and afterwards for several months by a
homeopathic physician. No permanent benefit resulted from either mode of
medication, and the symptoms finally became so urgent that I was called in
consultation, and tapping was at once resorted to in order to save the patient
from imminent danger. Appropriate homeopathic remedies were again prescribed,
but without arresting the onward course of the malady. The patient commenced to
fill up again with great rapidity.
The
secretion of urine was nearly suspended, the skin was dry and hot, pulse rapid
and weak, respiration short and difficult, great tenderness of the abdomen,
dryness of the mouth and throat, thirst, excessive restlessness and anxiety,
short, irritating cough, and an almost entire inability to sleep.
At
this stage of the case a wandering Indian woman - one of the few survivors of
the Narragansett tribe - suggested to the family the use of a honey-bee every
night and morning.
She
enclosed the bees in a covered tin pail, and placed them in a heated oven until
they were killed, and then after powdering them, administered one in syrup
every night and morning.
After
the lapse of about twenty-four hours the skin became softer and less hot, the
respiration less difficult and more free, the pulse slower and more developed,
and there was a decided increase in the quantity of urine. From this time the
symptoms continued steadily to improve, the dropsical effusion diminished day
by day, until at the expiration of a few weeks, the patient was entirely cured.
This
is the first cure of dropsy by Apis which was ever reported … From this
empirical fact - this usu in morbus - I perceived that the profession was as
yet unacquainted with a powerful remedial agent, and accordingly commenced a
series of provings and of clinical trials with it …
http://www.remedia.at/homoeopathie/Causticum/causticumgrimm.html
Caust
is most challenging. I [John Morgan] have made this remedy 5x in the last 11
yrs with 3 successes and 2 complete failures. It is by far the most complicated
and involved process of all H.’s special remedies, involving hazardous chemical
reactions and distillation apparatus which needs constant care and attention.
It is also the one remedy for which the final chemical composition has been the
subject of debate and it is still not known what Causticum actually is. Even
before H.’s death it was controversial. In 1835 a chemist called Griesselich
followed H.’s instructions to the letter but failed to reproduce the remedy
concluding that there was no such thing as Causticum. He offered a prize of 12
ducats to anyone who could clarify its chemical nature - an offer which was not
taken up by anyone. The recorded attempts of other chemists, during H.’s
lifetime, and the analysis of different preparations from different
manufacturers, more recently, has revealed variable and inconclusive results.
Also chemically there are good reasons why it should be nothing other than
distilled water which was what Griesselich’s experiments mostly produced.
To try
and unravel this mystery we must look at the preparation in detail, in the
Causticum monograph in Chronic Diseases. I will go through it step by step to
explain the chemical changes.
Lime, in the state of marble, owes its insolubility in water and its
mildness to an acid of the lowest order which is combined with it; when heated
to red heat the marble allows this acid to escape as a gas. H. is describing the liberation of carbon dioxide
(CO2) from marble when it is heated and its transformation from a hard
insoluble form into a soft and water soluble substance which is calcium oxide
(CaO). His use of the word 'lime' to describe marble relates to limestone, from
which marble is derived and not to the modern chemical definition of 'lime' or
'quicklime' which is calcium oxide. Carbon dioxide an acidic gas and will make
carbonic acid (H2CO3) when dissolved in water.
During this process the marble, as burned lime, has received (besides
the latent heat) another substance into its composition, which substance,
unknown to chemistry, gives to it its caustic property as well as its
solubility in the water, whereby we obtain lime-water.
From this
statement is seems that H. did not know the chemical composition of calcium
oxide which is formed after heating marble or any other calcium carbonate such
as egg or oyster shells.
Calcium
oxide is caustic, can create burns on the skin and reacts quite violently with
water giving off much heat creating lime water, a solution of calcium hydroxide
Ca(OH)2, which has alkaline properties.
This substance, though not itself an acid, gives to it its caustic
virtue, and by adding a fluid acid (which will endure fire) which then combines
with the lime by its closer affinity, the watery caustic (Hydras caustici) is
separated by distillation.
This
passage describes the reaction of the alkaline quicklime with a heated acid to
create the watery Causticum which is recovered by distillation.
Two pounds of
white marble has to be heated to red heat to effect the necessary chemical
change by driving off the carbon dioxide as follows:
CaCO3 + fire
(heat) = CaO + CO2 dip this piece into a vessel of distilled water for about one minute,
then lay it in a dry dish, in which it will soon turn into powder with the
development of much heat and its peculiar odour called lime vapour.
When the burnt
marble, now quicklime CaO, is put into water it fizzes quite dramatically
giving off heat and hydrating to form calcium hydroxide some of which, in
solution, steams to create the vapour H. mentions. The formula is as follows:
CaO + H2O = Ca(OH) 2 + heat of this fine powder take two ounces and mix with it in a warmed
porcelain triturating bowl a solution of two ounces of bisulphate of potash,
(potassium bisulphate KHSO4) which has been heated to red heat, melted, cooled
again and then pulverised and dissolved in two ounces of boiling hot water.
Potassium
bisulphate is an acid salt with some water in its crystals. Just why H. melts it
to red heat and cools it again is unclear. Perhaps in his day it was only
available in hard lump form instead of the modern fine crystals and needed this
treatment to make it a quickly dissolving powder. It melts easily at red heat,
is dried by this heating and easily dissolves in hot water. Another possible
reason for heating is to bake the crystals so ensuring that no more than two
ounces of water and two ounces of the two solids are present in the final
mixture so that all of it can react completely as per the following formula: Ca(OH)2+ KHSO4 + H2O = KOH +
CaSO4 + 2H2O
The
thick, white paste formed by this mixture of components is just fluid enough to
be pourable though needs a spatula to put it all in the retort. The hydrated
calcium sulphate so formed is commonly known as Plaster of Paris hence its
insoluble pasty quality and the potassium hydroxide formed is in the solution
which binds the mass.
This thickish mixture is put into a small glass retort, to which the
helm is attached with a wet bladder; into the tube of the helm is inserted a
receiver half submerged in water; the retort is warmed by the gradual approach
of a charcoal fire below and all the fluid is then distilled over by applying
the suitable heat.
The glass
apparatus H. used was the well known distillation retort known as the alembic.
They are difficult to find these days but are commonly seen in old chemistry or
alchemical books. A glass bulb elongates into the conical helm which ends in a
small spout. The absence of modern water cooled glass condensers in the early
1800's gave rise to the use of a pigs bladder full of water to cool and
condense the distillate vapour as it rose from the heated glass bulb. The
receiving bottle is attatched to the helm, with a moistened pig's bladder, to create
a porous seal and is also cooled to complete the liquefaction of any
uncondensed vapour.
Using
gradual heat, as the charcoal fire infers, it takes many hours (4-6) to
completely distil all the liquid and it is important that it is heated to
dryness. My experience up to now has been with the use of modern distillation
equipment, rather than the alembic, which I feel physically mimics the
properties of the original adequately although cannot replace the authentic
ritual of the real thing with all its beautiful subtleties. I'm sure that I
will have more experiences of this remedy preparation each time getting even
closer to the impossible goal of perfectly repeating H.'s own remedy.
The distilled fluid will be about an ounce
and a half of watery clearness, containing in concentrated form the substance
mentioned above, i.e. Causticum;
It smells like the lye of caustic potash. On
the back part of the tongue the caustic tastes very astringent, and in the
throat burning; it freezes only in a lower degree
of cold than water, and it hastens the
putrefaction of animal substances immersed in it.
When muriate of Baryta is added, the
Causticum shows no sign of sulphuric acid, and on adding oxalate of ammonia it
shows no trace of lime.
A dictionary
definition of 'lye' is ' the technical term for the alkaline liquor obtained by
leaching wood ashes with water commonly used for washing and in soap making;
more generally the common name for any strong alkaline solution or solid such
as sodium or potassium hydroxides.' The chemical tests mentioned at the end,
using barium chloride, shows there is no presence of sulphate ions and
ammonium
oxalate shows there are no calcium ions present in Causticum. The physical
properties mentioned, of freezing point and putrefaction, are common
characteristics of caustic alkalis.
The Preparation
Take a piece of freshly burned lime of about two
pounds,
Two pounds of white marble has to be heated to red heat to effect the necessary
chemical change by driving off the carbon dioxide as follows:
CaCO3 + fire (heat) = CaO + CO2 dip this piece into a vessel of distilled water
for about one minute, then lay it in a dry dish, in which it will soon turn
into powder with the development of much heat and its peculiar odour called
lime vapour. When the burnt marble, now quicklime CaO, is put into water it
fizzes quite dramatically giving off heat and hydrating to form calcium
hydroxide some of which, in solution, steams to create the vapour H. mentions.
The formula is as follows:
CaO + H2O = Ca(OH) 2 + heat
Of this fine powder take two ounces and mix with it in a warmed porcelain
triturating bowl a solution of two ounces of bisulphate of potash, (potassium
bisulphate KHSO4) which has been heated to red heat, melted, cooled again and
then pulverised and dissolved in two ounces of boiling hot water.
Potassium bisulphate is an acid salt with some water
in its crystals. Just why H. melts it to red heat and cools it again is
unclear. Perhaps in his day it was only available in hard lump form instead of
the modern fine crystals and needed this treatment to make it a quickly
dissolving powder. It melts easily at red heat, is dried by this heating and
easily dissolves in hot water. Another possible reason for heating is to bake the
crystals so ensuring that no more than two ounces of water and two ounces of
the two solids are present in the final mixture so that all of it can react
completely as per the following formula:
Ca(OH)2+ KHSO4 + H2O = KOH + CaSO4 + 2H2O
The thick, white paste formed by this mixture of
components is just fluid enough to be pourable though needs a spatula to put it
all in the retort. The hydrated calcium sulphate so formed is commonly known as
Plaster of Paris hence its insoluble pasty quality and the potassium hydroxide
formed is in the solution which binds the mass.
This thickish mixture is put into a small glass retort, to which the helm is
attached with a wet bladder; into the tube of the helm is inserted a receiver
half submerged in water; the retort is warmed by the gradual approach of a
charcoal fire below and all the fluid is then distilled over by applying the
suitable heat.
The distilled fluid
will be about an ounce and a half of watery clearness, containing in
concentrated form the substance mentioned above, i.e. Causticum;
It smells like the lye of caustic potash. On the back part of the tongue the
caustic tastes very astringent, and in the throat burning; it freezes only in a
lower degree of cold than water, and it hastens the putrefaction of animal
substances immersed in it.
When muriate of Baryta is added, the Causticum shows no sign of sulphuric acid,
and on adding oxalate of ammonia it shows no trace of lime.
A dictionary definition of ‘lye: ‘the technical term
for the alkaline liquor obtained by leaching wood ashes with water commonly
used for washing and in soap making; more generally the common name for any
strong alkaline solution or solid such as sodium or potassium hydroxides.’
The chemical tests
mentioned at the end, using barium chloride, shows there is no presence of
sulphate ions and ammonium oxalate shows there are no calcium ions present in
Causticum. The physical properties mentioned, of freezing point and
putrefaction, are common characteristics of caustic alkalis.
Modern Documentation
One of the drawbacks to the industrialisation of remedy preparations by large
homoeopathic manufacturers, over the years, is the imposition of allopathic
methods of quality control and analysis on raw materials in order to licence
remedies as medicines for retail sale. This can impose strict testing of
original remedy materials to prove identity, quality and the validation of
potentisation methods which, of course, is a good thing. When pure sources of
elements and compounds are used there is no problem achieving this, but when
the starting point is already an impure source this can cause difficulties. For
example it is impossible to know the exact analysis of the marble H. used for
the original remedy/not documented from where the sample was obtained. Also
uncertainty as to the exact composition of the finished Causticum, and the many
trace elements it may contain, would mean very involved analytical discussions
about criteria and tests. Pharmacopoeias over the years have avoided this issue
by substituting 2 pounds of marble with 2 pounds of burned lime, without
indicating a source, to avoid having to introduce such a variable. This means
pure industrially prepared 99.9% calcium oxide is put forward as the starting
point. Caust is not found in either the French or German homoeopathic
pharmacopoeia (GHP) which are both widely used in the
Causticum Raasay Quelle: Helios
My interest in Causticum was rekindled when on a visit to the Burren school in
Galway,
However
as the years go by I am more and more convinced that remedies themselves choose
when to be made and the timing must be right to create the perfect conditions.
Esp. true for new proving remedies, a good example being the coincidental major
astrological movements of Pluto at the start of the Plutonium proving
previously unknown by the proving team.
The
conditions for a superb Causticum firing came together one night last June at
Jeremy Sherr’s summer school on Raasay island off the
He
was very keen to join the event because he had been cured of a very serious
condition with Causticum. It was his remedy and he set himself the task of
feeding the fire with great enthusiasm as the blaze grew and the marble got
redder. The weather conditions were also special with the first cloudless
starry night of the week giving a clear view of the north star, Polaris, the
telescopically focused light of which we were all proving at the time - just to
add another dimension to it all. As the time moved on we all wandered back to
bed in the early hours, leaving
Not
found yet is a satisfactory answer to why H. went to so much trouble to make
this remedy/his intentions. If the goal was to make potassium hydroxide (KOH)
this method is not very efficient and apparently unnecessary. Chronic diseases
describes the smell of Causticum like the 'lye' of caustic potash (KOH) so it
was obviously already available and known to him so why bother?
Andreas
Grimm, who reproduced the original method exactly in 1989, speculates that H.
was trying to isolate and distil the 'caustic principle' i.e. the OH-ion which
is, unknown to him, a fruitless task using this crude method. Perhaps we will
never know the truth but the combination of so many alchemical elements
seriously leans towards an experiment with another dimension. The use of the
great transforming fire, the meeting of the two principles masculine (acid) and
feminine (base) in equal measure, the hermetically sealed unit and the final
distillation in the alembic are all well known alchemical
processes.
Whatever the true reason the result is undeniably one of the most important
remedies in the materia medica and it is important to be clear as to its
composition and reproducibility.
Chemical
Possibilities
According
to the formulas the thickish mixture in the flask contains only three
components KOH + CaSO4 + 2H2O. i.e. Potassium hydroxide, calcium sulphate and
water. There are actually no volatile gases or products which would pass over
during distillation except water. Potassium hydroxide dissolves in water but
remains behind as the water boils off. Calcium sulphate is insoluble and
remains behind as a white hard mass. So how is the final product alkaline at
all. Many years it was thought that the alkalinity was due to ammonia which is
created when elemental calcium metal reacts with nitrogen 3Ca + N2 = Ca3N2 and
the resulting calcium nitride reacts with water to form ammonia gas. Ca3N2 +
6H2O = 2NH3↑ + 3Ca(OH)2 This gas then forms ammonium hydroxide
(amm-caus), when it contacts water. NH3 + H2O = NH4OH.
Scholten states in his recent book that Causticum
contains ammonia but is different from ammonium causticum.
However
reactive elemental calcium metal is not present in our process and calcium
oxide, which is, does not form this liaison with nitrogen and thus ammonia is not
formed. It is possible for ammonia to be formed if potassium hydroxide comes
into contact with the protein of the pigs bladder but this is very remote. So
how is the potassium hydroxide present in Causticum?
Grimm
gives, what I believe, is the most likely explanation. At 350 - 400o C,
temperatures, created by the charcoal fire, potassium hydroxide sublimates
without decomposing. Sublimation means that the solid vaporises into the
condenser and is carried over into the receiving vessel by water vapour thus
resulting in a weak solution. Grimm also suggests that bumping may also occur,
which is common with alkalis, creating a spitting effect up the tube. Thus
Causticum is a weak solution of potassium hydroxide by these effects. If there
are traces of unfired calcium carbonate in the calcium oxide then the addition
of the acid may liberate carbon dioxide gas which may be present as a trace as
in CaCO3 + KHSO4 = CaSO4 + KOH +CO2. However there is also another subtle
dimension which must also be remembered. The starting point was an impure
marble which could have had trace elements of many different elements.
Ornamental marble gains it colours from the presence of impurities such as iron
creating red, chlorites the greens and graphites the blues. Quartz (silica) is
also often found as an impurity in marble, so there are still many possible
trace elements which are unknown and may be present.
The Kali Element
Causticum
theme: sympathetic/serious/intense/sensitive type who can become a social
activist, working on behalf of others, to overcome injustice can be seen as
being made up of the 3 elements KOH.
Scholten
describes the potassium element themes as:
Doing
their work and duty without thinking. Steady plodding conscientiousness to get
the job done. Have and need fixed rules and like to stick to them. Have strong
principles and can be depended upon to fulfil their responsibility. Often work
alone and decide for themselves how to do it. Don’t like interference. Can even
turn away from the family. Fixed attention to principles and duty leads to an
inability to identify with their action. Loose their sense of self.
Brainwashed. Are naive. Over control suppresses free thinking. Are not open to
debate and become closed, dogmatic, moralistic.
Siehe
Causticum.
Conclusions
At
present Causticum holds secrets and speculation and attempts to use materia
medica to decipher constituents is very inexact because of the differences in
numbers of rubrics between
the
remedies in the repertories. Perhaps continued chemical analysis of
preparations in the future, ideally by many companies, will give rise to some
definitive answers as to what Causticum is.
Up
to now the documented variations have been inconsistent and more samples,
willingness and time is needed to standardise this remedy correctly. I am sure
it is a Kali salt, and should be
thought
of as one, but alchemy is a mysterious thing and I'm sure this wonderful
substance will still keep some of its secrets hidden for some time to come.
If
any of you have any comments or information which can shed more light on the
subject I would be very grateful to receive it.
Acknowledgements
Quelle: Helios pharmacy UK
H. und die Choleraepidemie:
Die in der amerikanischen Literatur erwähnten Hauptmittel für die Epidemiebehandlung waren Ars., Bry. und Gels., wobei ersteres bei einer Nachrepertorisation der Leitsymptome wie schon bei Shepherd im Vordergrund steht. Es wurden aber auch Merc-cy., Phos., Lach., Rhus-t. und andere Mittel mit gutem Erfolg eingesetzt. Eine europäische Sonderposition nimmt der bedeutende Schweizer Homöopath Dr. Antoine Nebel (1870–1954) ein, der Eupat-per. wichtigstes Pandemiemittel bestimmte.
Ein international koordiniertes, einheitliches Konzept fehlte bei dieser Pandemie. Die homöopathische Bewegung war trotz ihrer Qualifikation zu sehr zersplittert und ohne genügend klare wissenschaftliche und organisatorische Führung, was sicher auch einer der Gründe für ihren Krebsgang in den nachfolgenden Jahrzehnten war. Und wie sieht es heute aus, etwa 3 Jahrzehnte nach einem erneuten Aufschwung der Homöopathie in Europa und USA und bei erneutem Aufflackern einer H1N1-Pandemie?
Im Internet waren trotz optimaler Kommunikationsmöglichkeit zu meinem großen Erstaunen auch einige Wochen nach den ersten beunruhigenden Nachrichten aus Mexiko nur einige Gemeinplätze zur Influenzabehandlung und ein paar esoterische Spekulationen, aber keinerlei verwertbare homöopathische Daten zur aktuellen Epidemie zu finden.
Wie anders hatte doch der bereits 76-jährige H. reagiert, als 1831 die ersten Berichte über eine an der Ostgrenze der K.u.k.-Monarchie neu aufgetretene und potenziell sehr gefährliche Seuche eintrafen!
Er ließ sich von der um sich greifenden lähmenden Panik und Ratlosigkeit nicht anstecken, geschweige denn, dass er sich auf anderweitige Autoritäten verlassen hätte: Er befolgte die altbewährte taktische Regel, dass man einen angreifenden Gegner nicht einfach in Verteidigungsstellung erwarten, sondern wenn immer möglich schon im Aufmarschraum attackieren sollte, und ließ sich durch einen homöopathischen Kollegen im polnischen Galizien umgehend über sämtliche Krankheitsaspekte der sich schnell zur Pandemie ausweitenden Cholera informieren. Nach einer in Anbetracht der damaligen Postkutschenkommunikation und langsamen mechanischen Drucktechnik sehr kurzen Zeit konnte H. nach sorgfältiger Fernrepertorisation schon einen schriftlichen Epidemieplan zirkulieren lassen.
Dieser erwies sich schon beim ersten Einsatz in Osteuropa als der damaligen Schulmedizin deutlich überlegen
Und sollte der Homöopathie schließlich auch gesundheitspolitisch mehr Gewinn bringen als vermutlich alle Individualbehandlungen zusammen.
[Thomas Mickler]
Viele Homöopathen sind im Laufe der Zeit durch eigene Erlebnisse zur Homöopathie gekommen.
Der 2003 verstorbene Homöopath Willibald Gawlik wurde während fast 6 Jahren Kriegsgefangenschaft in Rußland durch einen deutschen homöopathischen Arzt von Fleckfieber geheilt, an welchem damals viele starben. Das heilende Mittel war potenziertes Opium. Das bewegte Gawlik nach dem Krieg dazu, die Homöopathie selbst zu erlernen, die er dann mehr als 50 Jahre praktizierte.
Clemens von Bönninghausen (1785-1864), ein geachteter Jurist und Botaniker, schrieb 1828 einen Abschiedsbrief an seinen ärztlichen Botanikerfreund Dr. med. August Weihe, dass er keine Hoffnung auf Genesung mehr haben könne und nun an Tuberkulose sterben müsse. Er wusste nichts davon, dass Weihe sich mit der Homöopathie vertraut gemacht hatte, da sich die Korrespondenz sonst nur um botanische Themen drehte. Dieser rettete ihn mit einer Gabe Puls. C30, der er 4 Wochen später eine Gabe Sulph. C30 folgen ließ. Mehr war zur Genesung nicht nötig. Bönninghausen widmete in einer ausgedehnten Praxis den überwiegenden Teil seines restlichen Lebens der Homöopathie. Er behandelte über lange Zeit auch die Schriftstellerin Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, die man bis zur Einführung des Euro auf unserem 20DM-Schein finden konnte.
Als Hahnemann noch an der Universität von Leipzig lehren durfte, sollte der Medizinstudent Konstantin Hering im Auftrag anderer Professoren diese neue Lehre erlernen und quasi von innen ihre Unwirksamkeit belegen. Es kam nie zur gewünschten Widerlegung, da seine Erfahrungen mit der Homöopathie, u. a. seine eigene Heilung von einer Sektionsverletzung, die ihn vor der Amputation eines Fingers bewahrte, ihn eines anderen belehrte. Er wurde nun wirklich zum Schüler Hahnemanns und später ein bekannter homöopathischer Arzt. Diese Beispiele ließen sich beliebig vermehren.
Die Erfahrung, so man sie einmal selbst gemacht hat, lässt sich durch nichts wegdiskutieren - selbst wenn es dem wissenschaftlich geschulten Geist zuwider läuft und man heute immer noch nicht genau weiß, auf welche Weise potenzierte Arzneien (bei richtiger Anwendung) heilen können.
Diskussionen um die Wirksamkeit
Am Thema der Potenzierung entzünden sich die Gemüter schon seit deren Entstehung im 19. Jahrhundert. Die Diskussion darüber wird meist sehr emotional und ohne die eigentlich gebotene nüchterne Wissenschaftlichkeit geführt - verständlich nur insofern, als es auf den ersten Blick nicht besonders plausibel erscheint, dass funktionieren könnte, was die Homöopathie von der Potenzierung behauptet.
Adolph Lippe hat um 1850 zu den Hochpotenzen einen 4-teiligen Artikel in der auch heute noch bestehenden Allgemeinen Homöopathischen Zeitung veröffentlicht. Sie können diesen Artikel hier lesen und als PDF herunterladen. Der Streit um die Potenzierung von Arzneien ist kein neuer Streit, sondern fast so alt wie die Homöopathie selbst.
Adolph Lippe über Hochpotenzen (Artikel in 4 Fortsetzungen)
Lac owleum.: Im
Juli 1996 hatte J. Wichmann mit ein paar Kollegen ein „amüsantes“ Gespräch bei
einem Seminar-Mittagessen in Augsburg, wobei über besonders skurrile
Mittelverordnungen Witze gemacht wurden. Dabei wurde die Idee aufgebracht,
einen Artikel über ein erfundenes Mittel zu schreiben und schlug als
offensichtlich absurd die „Eulenmilch“ vor (Till.
Eulenspiegel lässt
grüßen/https://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/3498035673/ref=sr_1_1_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509882675&sr=1-1&keywords=daniel+kehlmann+tyll)
Lachesis.: C. Hering hatte gehört von der Giftigkeit der
Lachesisschlange. Er nam sich vor sich das Gift zu besorgen. So gesagt, so
getan!
Er fuhr mit seiner Frau mit
einem Segelschiff nach Mittelamerika (Surinam). Da brauchte er Träger, die die
beiden zu Fuß in einem Gebiet brachten, wo Lachesisschlangen vorkamen. Da
fanden sie erst mal keinen Person, der eine Lachesisschlange fangen wollte.
VIEL zu giftig und zu gefährlich. Nach dem Versprechen immer größere
Belohnungen wurden die Beiden eine Lachesisschlange gebracht. Die Fänger
flüchteten!! Dr. Hering entnahm die Schlange persönlich das Gift und fiel in
ein Delirium. Seine Frau notierte fein säuberlich, was ihren Mann während
dieses Deliriums sagte, tat und zeigte.
Das war die erste
Lachesisprüfung!!!
After this homeopathy entered a Tubercular period [Mind - restless, Mind
- travel, desire for] following Hering's graduation from Leipzig, with his
excursion to Surinam and subsequently to Pennsylvania.
Extending beyond the medicaments of "old-school" medicine and
the medicines of the European botanical traditions, Hering introduced native
substances of South America and the Carribean,
[Lachesis, Theridion (the orange widow spider of the island of Curaçoa),
and plants such as Jatropha].
His friend and student George Henry Bute returned to Pennsylvania from
Surinam, and proved the local Sanguinaria (bloodroot) so prevalent in the
Pennsylvania spring-time woods.
Hering followed Bute to Pennsylvania "where the land is like
Germany and the people are free."
The
Story of Oscillococcinum. [freely adapted from Jan Willem Nienhuys]
H.’s description of the substance used
indicates that it was not a refined substance but simply crude petroleum taken from
the ground: “This product of the interior of the earth is extremely strong in
smell,
taste and medicinal effect. For medicinal use
it ought to be very fluid and of light - yellow colour. If it is very fluid it
is not very likely that it has been adulterated with fat vegetable oils.”
In H.’s day, oil distillation had not been
developed, the first instance of it being in 1853, 10 years after his death,
and fractional distillation had not been developed as a laboratory or
commercial tool until 1864.
In 1853 the first actual distillation of crude
petroleum into kerosene (paraffin oil) was performed and the first modern “rock
oil” mine was created in southern
T. F. Allen’s Encyclopedia (1878 edition)
states that oil from
‘Accidental’ oil fields in
H.’s expressed concern was whether the product
was exclusively rock oil or had been adulterated with vegetable oils, chiefly
suspecting oil of turpentine. He proposed tests, one using sulphuric acid and a
simpler one of evaporation on writing paper, to determine if such oils were
present. He then advised a means of removing any such oils, if found, using
alcohol and filtration. (Chronic Diseases)
So we are forced to accept that H.’s Petroleum
is from the liquid portion of crude petroleum of unknown composition and from
an undefined source.
At some point later in the development of
homoeopathic literature, we find homeopathic Petroleum identified with kerosene
(paraffin oil). For instance Clarke’s Materia Medica (1900) states:
“Commercial ‘Petroleum’ and commercial
‘paraffin oil’ are one and the same. The Petrol.
of homoeopathy is this substance purified and rectified.”
The most recent Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of
the
The adoption of kerosene/paraffin oil as a more
defined homoeopathic “Petroleum” has its justification in that it closely
matches H.’s description and that, as a specified fractional distillate of
crude oil, it can now be standardised - which is essential to the reliance on a
remedy that is being prescribed in accordance to a proving. According to the 26th
edition of the Martindale Extra Pharmacopoeia, kerosene is “a mixture of
hydrocarbons, chiefly of the methane series, distilled from petroleum.
It is a colourless or pale yellow mobile oily
liquid with a characteristic odour. B.P. 150 to 300. Wt. per ml about 0.8g . .
. Insoluble in water; soluble 1 in 2.5 of alcohol.”
Sepia.The Proving of
Sepia
Ernest Farrington chronicled for us
the fortuitous initial proving of Sepia, in his Clinical Materia Medica:
"It is stated on the authority
of Dr. Hering that an intimate friend and patient of H., an artist, was in the
habit of wetting his brush, containing India ink, with his saliva. Failing to
cure him of his chronic ailments, H. suggested the ink as the probable cause of
his persistent symptoms.
The artist doubted this, but nevertheless modified his custom by covering the lips with a thin layer of sponge moistened with water, the mouth being protected by an impervious though pliable shield, and his obscure illness shortly passed away. H. then instituted provings with Sepiae succus."
Uranylacetat/Thoriumnitrat/Uranylnitrat
Robert Müntz: Ausgangspunkt und Motor
für die Herstellung neuer radioaktiver Arzneien war Jan Scholten radioaktive
Salze der Actinoidenreihe zu potenzieren.
Die Herstellung radioaktiver
homöopathischer Arzneien bringt neben der herkömmlichen Arbeit der Potenzierung
(Lösungsvorschrift o. Trituration) zusätzliche rechtliche Fragen des
Strahlungsschutzes mit sich, die vor Beginn der Arbeit geklärt sein müssen.
Nach Gesprächen mit den Verantwortlichen des Austria Research Centers (ARC) in
Seibersdorf und des Gesundheitsministeriums wurde kein Einwand gegen die
Anfertigung entsprechender Centesimalpotenzen gegeben. Das ARC zeigte sich
höchst verständnisvoll für mein Anliegen, radioaktive Stoffe im
Forschungszentrum zu potenzieren/unterstützte mich großartig bei der
praktischen Durchführung.
Zu erwähnen ist, dass mit dieser Potenzierung Thorium als drittes natürlich
vorkommendes Element der Actinoiden erstmals der Homöopathie zugänglich gemacht
wurde. Potenzierung steht aus von Protactinium und Neptunium als letzten
Vertreter der 5 natürlich vorkommenden Actinoiden.
Durchgeführt wurde die
Arbeit im Sicherheitstrakt des ARC in Seibersdorf unter entsprechenden
Vorsichtsmassnahmen: Schutzkleidung/Schutzhandschuhe/Chemieabzug/Zählrohr zur
Messung der Strahlung vor und nach dem Potenzieren.
Die Potenzierung erfolgte aus pragmatischen Gründen gemäß HV 5a, der
Lösungsvorschrift des HAB 2003. Die Trituration wäre zwar aus der Sicht der
Arzneiwirksamkeit vorteilhafter gewesen, ließ sich aber auch aus Zeitgründen
nicht durchführen, zumal sie mehrere Stunden dauert und der Zeitaufwand
gegenüber der Leitung des Forschungszentrums nicht vertretbar gewesen wäre.
Außerdem wäre die Kontamination mit radioaktivem Staub, der bei der Trituration
entsteht, nicht auszuschließen gewesen.
Die Lösung der Stoffe erfolgte im Verhältnis 1:100 mit Ethanol 43 % und war
unproblematisch, lediglich Uranylacetat brauchte zur Lösung etwa 15 Minuten.
Danach wurde nach der H.schen Mehrglasmethode gemäß HAB 2002 10x kräftig auf
eine elastische Unterlage geschlagen und in das nächste Fläschchen im
Centesimalverhältnis verdünnt.
Wesentlich für die Genehmigung der Herstellung durch die Behörden war, dass die
Verdünnungsschritte deutlich über die Avogadrosche Konstante hinaus zu erfolgen
hatten. Es wurde daher die Potenzierung bis zur C15 in der Mehrglasmethode
durchgeführt, eine Verdünnung, die eine Million mal höher ist als jene
Konzentration, bei der statistisch gerade noch ein Molekül des Ausgangsstoffes
anzutreffen ist. Die Mehrglasmethode, also die Verwendung eines neuen
Fläschchens bei jedem Potenzierungsschritt, ließ auch Adsorptionsphänomene mit
Sicherheit ausschließen. Als reine Vorsichtsmassnahme wurde nach Beendigung der
Potenzierreihe mit einem Geigerzähler nochmals überprüft, ob die C15 Lösung
auch tatsächlich strahlungsfrei war. Danach wurde sämtliches Arzneimaterial und
sämtliche Hilfsmittel wie Flaschenladen, Faserschreiber etc. zur Vernichtung im
ARC zurückgelassen, lediglich die C15 Lösungen von Thoriumnitrat, Uranylacetat
und Uranylnitrat wurde zur weiteren Verarbeitung in unser Labor nach Eisenstadt
gebracht. Die Vernichtung des strahlenden Abfalles erfolgt durch Einbringen in
flüssigen Beton, der in 100 Liter Endlagerungsfässer gegossen und nach
Aushärtung in ein Endlager gebracht wird.
Proving
Historical Provings
H.'s provers' group provided us with a large number of remedy provings,
but there have been other highly productive proving groups as well. Johann
Christian Gottfried Jorg, an "old-school" physician in Leipzich
during H.'s tenure at the University, instituted a number of provings with the
express purpose of disproving the principle of similars.
His provers' group conducted provings of 15 remedies, including Arnica, Laurocerasus, Opium, Digitalis and Valerian, which H. subsequently adopted as some of the most thorough and productive provings in his collection - clearly supporting, and not discrediting, the practice of homeopathy. These were published by Jorg in 1825, in his Materialien zu einer kunftigen Heilmittellehre durch Versuche des Arzneyen an gesunden Menschen.
Between 1842 and 1848, the Austrian Provers' Union conducted a series of
re-provings of remedies introduced by H., which generally supported, and in many
cases extended our knowledge of these remedies. Most of these provings were
done in both crude and potentized doses.
[Homeopathy 4 Health]
The Law of Potentisation
The initial provings were done using mother tincture but as most
remedies were poisons a way had to be found to obviate the toxic element whilst
at the same time maintaining the curative properties. In other words Hahnemann
next needed to establish dose rate for each drug..
The attenuation (detoxification) of the drug was achieved readily enough
through a process of serial dilution. However dilution itself was not the full
answer because although it eliminated the toxic effect it apparently also
eliminated the curative effect obtained from small dosages which was the corner
stone of the Law of Similars. Apparently the drug had now became too dilute to
cure in small dosages.
Dilution
There are many romantic stories surrounding how Hahnemann evolved the
practice of succession as the solution to the problem. One such tale is that
the great man became thoroughly frustrated
at his inability to produce a curative effect from a dilute solution. In
his anger he railed against God saying that although he had been allowed to
progress his discoveries so far the ultimate secret
was denied him. As a means of venting his pent up emotions he struck the
dilution vial he was holding in his hand several times hard against a large
tone of the Bible. He was pleasantly surprised when upon later administration
of small doses to a patient he obtained a very rapid cure and thus was born the
concept of succession.
Glamourous as the story is I suspect however that the idea of succussion
arose from something Hahnemann had read during his translation work or as a
result of some hint or suggestion he had
come across elsewhere. It seems scarcely credible, at least to me, that
he discovered that succussion works better than no succussion as a result of
chance. The fact that he never claims any personal credit for the technique
also suggests that he originally obtained it somewhere else.
What is Succussion?
By Succussion is meant the vigourous shaking and impact of a dilurtion in
a bottle on a hard resilient surface a process which reverses the polarity of
the drug such that it becomes curative in effect rather than causative
The Definition of Potentisation
We are now at the point where we can define potentisation as:
The process of minimizing or negating the toxic effects of a mother
tincture by Serial Dilution or Trituration and at the same time increasing its
dynamic curative properties by Succussion
Dilution Methods
i) Hahnemannian Method
This is still the main method used today and consists of diluting a
measured aliquot of the mother tincture in a separate vial with 9 parts of
alcohol/water. followed by succussion. In this method
the 1 part is volumetrically measured into a new vial for each
dilution/succession sequence. (Sometimes an H is added at the end of the remedy
nomenclature to indicate use of the Hahnemannian method of dilution. Thus 30CH
means the remedy has been potentised to 30 centesimal dilutions using the
Hahnemanian method).
Hahnemannian method of dilution
ii) Korsakovian Method
Similar to the Hahnemannian method except that the mother liquor is not
strictly measured out. The dilution vial is just emptied out and a further 9
parts of alcohol added. It is assumed that the residue sticking to the side of
the empty vial is adequate. Succussion after each dilution is as before. This
method is therefore much quicker and uses only a single diluting vial.
(Sometimes a K
is added at the end of the remedy nomenclature to indicate use of the
Kosakovian method of dilution. Thus 20CK means the remedy has been potentised
to 200 centesimal dilutions using the Kosakovian method).
Dilution Hahnemannian Method
What is trituration?
Trituration is used for those drugs that are not soluble in liquid
media. In this case they are thoroughly ground with lactose in 10% increments
up to 7X by which time the drug will be of a
sufficiently small particle size as to be solubilised. There is no
separate succussion during trituration. The grinding of the particles during
each stage is generally considered sufficient.
Subsequent potencies from 8X upwards are then executed on a serial
dilution and succussion basis. .
Homeopathic Remedy Preparation and Nomenclature
Serial Dilution refers to dissolving the drug in water or alcohol
followed by its dilution in a predetermined manner. Generally dilution is done
sequentially in 10% or 1% increments. Thus a pure mother tincture which has
been diluted to 10% of its original concentration would be called 1X. Similarly
a further dilution of the 1X solution to !0% of its concentration would be
called 2X.
This process could be carried out to 30X or more and is known as the
Decimal series. When the pure mother tincture is diluted in increments of 1%
each dilution are similarly termed 1C and 2C
a process which may be continued likewise to 30C or more and is known as
the Centesimal series.
i) The Decimal Range (X or D) - In this system 1 part of mother tincture
is diluted with 9 parts (ie a ratio of 1:9) of alcohol/water (giving a total
parts ratio of 1+9 = 10). Because the total number
of parts adds up to 10 the range is called the "Decimal
System". and is denoted by a letter "X" which stands for number
10 in Latin
ii) The Centesimal Range (C) - In
this system 1 part of mother tincture is diluted with 99 parts (ie a ratio of
1:99) of alcohol/water (giving a total parts ratio of 1+99 = 100). Because the
total
number of parts adds up to 100 the range is called the "Centesimal
System" and is denoted by a letter "C" which stands for the
number 100 in Latin.
For full details use the link below
http://www.homeopathy4health.ie/2history&basis2.htm#remedy
iii) The Fifty Milesimal Range (LM) - Throughout his life Hahnemanns
sole aim was to develop a system of medicine which would cure rapidly and at
the same time avoid aggravations.
However he often found that when using the Decimal (X) range many cases
remained unresolved whilst a change to the Centesimal (C) range would produce
an aggravation. There therefore
had to be a better way to obtain his life long objective of a quick,
safe, permanent and gentle cure.
He decided therefore after 36 years of raising potencies to raise the
ratio of dilution instead. Leaving the 1/100 dilution ratio of the centesimals
to one side he started searching for a potency that would fill this role in
homoeopathic therapeutics. He hit upon the 1/50,000 dilution ratio. Thus the 50
Millesimal potency or LM range was created. This new LM potency with its much
larger
dilution ratio significantly transformed homeopathic prescription.
For more information on LM potencies use the link below
http://www.homeopathy4health.ie/2history&basislevel2lmpotencies.htm
Homeopathic potencies can vary from tinctures at O right through to very
high constitutional CM potencies. The following table provides a general
descriptive framework
Posology Descriptions
Description Potency
Tincture 0
Low
2X, 6X, 12X, 6C, to 24X
Medium
30X, 30C, 200X
High
200C, 1M
Constitutional 10M,
50M, CM
Leon Vannier's Posology Protocol
Drainage/ Detox 6X
Lesional 6C
Functional 30C
Constitutional >200C
For more detailed information on
posology use linl below
http://www.homeopathy4health.ie/2l3homeopathicsposology.htm
Validation of the Law of Potentisation
Arndt & Schultz in 1888 (some 77 years after Hahnemann first
published his results in 1811) were the first to demonstrate scientifically the
effect of potentisation using yeast as a medium. What became known as The
Arndt-Shultz Law summarised experiments which measured the physiological
response of living organism to a stimulus. It says a small amount of a chemical
or electrical or laser or other stimulus will increase physiological activity,
a large amount of the same stimulus will kill cells of the organism, whilst an
intermediate amount will inhibit physiological activity. In brief: the physiological
response reverses direction when the stimulus changes from small (weak) to
large (strong), and vice-versa.
Arndt & Schultz Curve
A more recent example of the Arndt-Shultz Law in action is the 1944
observation that a large dose of penicillin will kill a Staphylococcus
infection, while a small dose will stimulate its growth.
There is one drawback to the universal application of the Arndt &
Schultz Law in that it was carried out using dilutions of less than 1023 the
limit set by Avogadro.
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Avogadros Hypothesis
There is no greater criticism of Homeopathy by allopathy than that
concerning Avogadros Hypothesis. The Italian physicist Avogadro in 1811 (the
same year as Hahnemann published his findings on potentisation) postulated that
equal volumes of substances given the same temperature and pressure contain
equal numbers of molecules.
vogadro's Hypothesis
He produced a mathematical model
to show that the number of molecules in a mole of any substance is approx 6.4 x
1023 Theoretically therefore any potency above 23X with an incremental dilution
from the mother tincture of 10% cannot contain any molecules. Thus potencies of
24X or 12C and above do not contain any physical medicament.
Avogadros and Homeopathy
Limitation of Arndt & Schultz
There is one drawback to the universal application of the Arndt &
Schultz Law in that it was carried out using dilutions of less than 1023 the
limit set by Avogadro.
Reply to Criticism based on Avogadros Hypothesis
For many years the Avogadro criticism could not be answered by
Homeopaths in scientific terms. Worldwide empirical data existed to disprove
the criticism but good as that was no irrefutable scientific evidence existed
until that is 1900.when Max Planck from the University of Kiel concerned
himself with observations of the radiation of heated materials from which he
propounded the Quantum theory which simply stated is:
Quantum Theory
Matter is composed of energy (quanta)
in the form of waves
at discrete vibrations and frequencies.
This Quantum theory was in exact counterpoint to the conventional
thinking of the day which was that matter was composed of molecules
Later in 1905 Einstein further refined the energy story by defining how
it could be calculated in his formulae
Einstein's Energy Equation
E= MC2
where E= energy,
M = mass and
C= the speed of light
Finally in 1924 Louis de Broglie proposed that there is no fundamental
difference in the makeup and behavior of energy and matter.
Louis de Broglie Postulation
Elementary particles of both energy and matter
behave like either molecular particles or energy waves
depending on the conditions.
Thus science has now moved towards the position that possibly the
process of Homeopathic potentisation provides the conditions necessary for the
transfer of the remedys molecular particles into quantum energy waves with each
remedy having its own unique vibration and frequency.
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Kirlian Photography
Every living thing discharges energy. In humans we call this energy
field aura. These energy waves can be captured on film known as Kirlian photos
after the Russian man who in 1939 discovered the process.
Kirlian believed In living things we see signals of the inner state of
the organism reflected in the brightness, dimness and colour of the flares. The
inner life activities of the human being are written in these light hieroglyphs
and can show several factors such as stress, and the state of the mind and
emotions.
Interpretation of the colours and flares is based on the 7 seven chakras
as outlined below
Kirling chackra colours
Vergleich: Siehe: H. + Dunham + Anhang. (Darwin)
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum