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The central thrust of this paper, which has presented an argument that nullifies the
simpleminded argument of “zero concentration of solute, hence no possible effect,” is that it is
structure
NOT composition which has the effect. When we turn with that lens to the
homeopathy literature one can find much supportive data not only on effectiveness, but on
possible mechanisms, and the relation to structures when liquid homeopathic remedies are
subjected to marked changes in pH or x-rays after extreme cooling [91—93]. Clinicians also
claim that homeopathic remedies are destroyed by exposure to high heat and/or strong
magnetic fields. On the latter topic, a growing number of randomized controlled and
observational clinical studies as well as basic science studies on animals, plants, and cells
suggest that homeopathic remedies can indeed exert biological effects [55, 94—109]. At the
same time skeptics in the field correctly point to inconsistencies and replication failures—
albeit hardly unique to this field—that raise important concerns about the reliability of
phenomena that homeopathic remedies may induce [110—114]. Recent conceptual advances
in the field, e.g., understanding the patients’ and other living organisms’ responses to
remedies as manifestations of nonlinear system dynamics, may lead to new insights into some
of the bases for variations in reproducibility [53, 55].
However, these references are only cited for completeness, and they are not in any way
involved in the data or argument of the present paper, which is limited to the fundamental
chemistry and physics of pure water and the remedies themselves. To take one example, the
recent calorimetric thermodynamic study by Elia and Niccoli demonstrated with high
reproducibility that mixing a base (sodium hydroxide) with a homeopathically prepared agent
diluted beyond Avogadro’s number and shaken vigorously (dose of 12 C, diluted to 10
-24
and
succussed) generated a pH-dependent excess of exothermic heat release in comparison with
diluted control solutions prepared with succussion [91]. They noted a pattern of apparent pH-
dependent disruption of order in the test solutions, analogous to that seen in protein
denaturation. In a very recent paper, the same authors, accurately, make the point that
virtually no “physico-chemical measurements
”, other than their own, have been made on such
diluted and succussed solutions [92]. They then extend their property measurements to
include electrical conductivity and show again the influence of composition, dilution, and
succussion on these properties [92]. These findings are similar to those in a number of other
studies indicating the essential role of succussion, not merely dilution, in preparing active
remedies. In this paper we have shown that a possible key as far as changing the structure of
water is concerned, is the pressure, and nano-bubbles generated in the succussion process. It is
important to emphasize that the proper control solutions include not only untreated,
unsuccussed solvent, but also succussed solvent without the initial addition of any remedy
source materials to address possible artifacts generated by the shaking of the liquid per se
within the test container itself. Obviously chemical contamination from the container material
could itself serve as a “remedy”. This is particularly relevant in the materials science
perspective, since that includes the “poly-water” error of the 1980’s caused by contamination
from the glass containers. If successing is carried out in glass containers the likely possibility
of contamination with small fragments of silicate materials exists. But the influence of these
nano-fragments may really lie in the fact that they could serve as nucleating sites for particular
water clusters.
In the recent homeopathy research literature, various investigators have also proposed
structural models
quite analogous to what we are proposing, involving formation of
aggregates of water molecules or water clusters, possibly seeded by, but not requiring, the
continued presence of, molecules from the original source substance, e.g. zwitterions or
©2005 Matrice Technology Limited Materials Research Innovations 9-4: 1433-075X