Homeopathy : Treatment of/by Information © Dr YVES LASNE 1993

CHAPTER I: Why am I interested in homeopathy ? CHAPTER II: Homeopathic preparations reproducibility and specificity CHAPTER III: In-depth NMR study of dilutions CHAPTER IV: Importance of the homeopathic solutions preparation protocol CHAPTER V: The role of oxygen CHAPTER VI : Analogy with fractals CHAPTER VII : Postulated model of action for homeopathic solutions CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER I: Why am I interested in homeopathy ?

Why a book on homeopathy ? (Editor’s comment: this text should have been published in book form) Perhaps to put our minds at rest. My interest in the subject is derived from several sources. On one hand there is finding with homeopathic drugs therapeutic effects of surprising power and swiftness in cases where often for years allopathic medicines had been unsuccessful. On the other hand, one must admit to a definite scientific incline towards the maverick approach and most likely some associated latent factors… Knowledge – even partial though – of allopathic substances acting mechanisms would often give the mind a satisfactory enough rendition of these medicines therapeutic effects. Besides, it would not be really all that worrying to be unable to account for all their effects. But this is quite different with homeopathy where the preparation of medicines calls for so large consecutive dilutions of the substances that very soon they must be well depleted of any molecule of the diluted substance. (1) As long as we equated the active principle of the medicine with the diluted substance, it would appear that only the placebo effect (2) accounted for the homeopathic cure. However, it looked to me as though that hypothesis was unable to account for results obtained in treating the new born and the unconscious patient. This is why I undertook to study the homeopathic cure, looking in the first instance for a method that would allow shedding some light on possible differences between the medicine and its solvent. In other words, I sought a reply to the question:”Is the homeopathic medicine plain water only, or does it hold some special properties likely to act on the body without the patient having any notion of what is being done ”? In 1976 –1977 I undertook some trials on Hahnemann dilutions of radioelements I had access to in my professional capacity. Radioactivity measurements on the made up solutions were negative in that the radioactive signal faded out with the first dilutions (5CH). These failures were disappointing: with this technique, the solutions tested could not be told from water, yet they were also comforting results because they did not cast a doubt on the principles of dilution we used daily in biochemistry and radioimmunology. Faced with these experimental failures, I turned to homeopathic Materia Medica to find a possible cohesiveness in their data mathematical analysis. Encoding (3) attempts followed with factorial analysis (4) gave results likely to lend themselves to interpreting. Nevertheless, I could not accept that a research programme could avoid summoning the possible presence of physical and chemical signs in homeopathic dilutions. To my mind, these signs were a prerequisite to any experiment purporting to apply these homeopathic solutions to biology’s complicated models, let alone give substance to their therapeutic effects. As early as 1982, rubbing shoulders with colleagues from various fields allowed me access to two new investigative methods: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Infrared Spectrometry. In May 1983, some purchased aqueous and alcoholic commercial solutions of homeopathic medications – Lavendula and Potassium iodide – were used first for some tentative investigations. The two methods above first allowed differentiating these commercial solutions from water and from alcohol well beyond 5CH; then they brought out the evidence of signal discrepancies between series of solutions of different substances, and between different dilutions of the same substance. Upon repeatedly testing the same solutions, the same persistence of signal difference was observed. At last there seemed to be two ways of approaching the “phenomenon”.

CHAPTER II: Homeopathic preparations reproducibility and specificity

Confronted with a new phenomenon, I began with testing its reproducibility and specificity. Thus I proposed to an industrial firm in the homeopathic field a protocol along the following experimental line: from four different lots of water (a, b, c, d,) we would prepare Hahnemann dilutions of 4 substances: Water itself (E); Sulphur (S); Histamine (H); Potassium iodide (IK). The same protocol was used in preparing in alcoholic rather than aqueous dilutions. The so-called Hahnemannian method as described in the 1995 edition of the Codex (5) (Ref.1) was used in preparing dilutions of the various substances tested; the starting point was a 10% weight/volume solution. Successive 1: 100 dilutions were first dynamized or potentiated, i.e. shaken in the flask, this succussion (6) being carried out before each new step in dilution so that the range from 1st to 30th CH (7) was covered, in other words a range of dilutions from the mother tincture (8) from 10-2 to 10-60 (Fig.1).

Fig 1 Centesimal Hahnemann dilution preparation principle Each centesimal is taken from the previous one diluted to the 100th strength followed with potentiation or succussion of the new dilution containing flask.

The six dilutions selected for the survey were not potentiated 1st dilutions; in the case of Sulphur, it was the solution made up after triturating (9) , then the 1st, 4th, 9th , 15th, 30th CH potentiated dilutions, i.e. 10-2, 10-8, 10-18, 10-30, 10-60 dilutions of the mother tincture. Thus (please cf. Fig 2) 96 samples in aqueous solution and a matching number in alcoholic solution were selected for magnetic relaxation measurements. MNR (Magnetic Nuclear Resonance) is a physical phenomenon reflecting the susceptibility to magnetic fields exhibited by some atomic nuclei. With magnets and radio frequency waves (10) , state alterations of these nuclei may be obtained. This induced action may be compared to the impulsion given to a spinning top when it is launched; in the same way that the time taken by the top to come to rest is inversely proportional to the friction forces acting upon it, the time taken by an excited nucleus to return to its ground state is function of this nucleus’ environment. This time called relaxation is measurable with the help of two parameters representative of the molecular dynamics within which the excited nucleus is to be found: one with relation to the environment: T1 or spin-lattice (11) , the other with relation to itself, T2 or spin –spin. The parameter selected for testing the different homeopathic preparations was the proton (12) 1H T2 magnetic relaxation time which is of the order of two seconds under the prevailing experimental conditions. After a learning phase, and a search for the optimal data collecting conditions (ranging from temperature adjustment and phase duration – pulses (13) in particular – to an original way of washing the laboratory glassware used in the experiment), data collecting with a reproducibility of the order of 2% was obtained. More than a year was spent working through the experimental protocol, or at any rate that part of it dealing with aqueous solutions. This was done under the supervision of the director of Lyons I University’s Centre for hertzian spectroscopy, J.C. Duplan, a physicist. specialising in MNR. For want of time, alcoholic solutions analysis had to be left out. Each of the 96 samples was investigated 5 times in its thermal equilibrium state, which under the selected conditions took 15 minutes each time. Therefore, as solutions had to be preserved they were stored in the dark in a refrigerator at +8°C. Tubes were randomly selected for analysis.

Fig. 2 : Table of preparations tested by T2 measures. Six dilutions (1st non-succussed CH, lst,4th, 9th, 15th and 30th succussed CH) of the four substances studied (Water : W, Sulphur: S, Histamine: H and Potassium Iodide: KI) were prepared using four different lots of water (a,b,c,d), leading so to 96 samples.

The 480 results from all T2 readings were presented into a 96 x 5 matrix. Figure 3 shows the T2 profiles for dilutions made with the same lot of water for the 4 substances investigated. It seems that water “diluted” with itself gives no significant T2 deviation from one dilution to the next; series obtained with the three other substances under investigation (Sulphur, Histamine and Potassium iodide) can be told from water thanks to their T2’s evolution with the extent of dilution-potentiation (dynamizing). In view of the size of the data collected (a table with 480 entries), it was decided to make these results easier to read by presenting them as an analysis into normalised main components (14) (Fig. 4). This is one of the data analysis methods whereby the relationship or distance between variables, members of a set (and variable/member of a set) may be used to extract information out compound multiple entries tables. (Please cf. Ref 2). Results are self-explanatory, in particular when one looks at the substances grouping: a dilution of Sulphur has more in common with another Sulphur dilution than with a Histamine dilution of comparable strength.

Fig. 3 : T2 profiles as a function of the degree of dilution-succussion level for dilutions made with the same lot of water. While water “diluted” with itself, gives only weak T2 fluctuations from one dilution to the next, Sulphur (S), Histamine (H), and Potassium Iodide (KI) dilutions give significant T2 variations. The profiles obtained look like continuous and monotonous curves in the cases of S and H but not in the case of KI, which presents a break at the 9th CH.

A variance analysis (15) was carried out on two interacting controlled parameters (nature of the initial substance and dilution levels) in order to check on these parameters significance (Fig. 5). This data analysis gave unambiguous results: - Data collected on each of the 4 substances preparations with water from the same lot is significantly different: homeopathic water dilutions differ from either Sulphur, Histamine or Potassium iodide (specificity); - Dilutions exercise significant influence e.g.: Sulphur 3CH differs from Sulphur 4CH; Histamine 15CH and Histamine 30CH are different. - On the other hand, given dilutions of a substance from different preparations are in fact comparable: for instance, 4CH Potassium iodide prepared with water lot “a” is comparable with that from lot “b” (reproducibility). Influence of potentiation. In the homeopathic preparation procedure, potentiation is systematically associated with dilution. To illustrate its influence over the data collected, the following experiment was devised: a solution of an homeopathic substance was taken to the 1: 100 dilution; then, two T2 measures were effected, one prior to potentiation and one after it (Fig. 6). This experiment was repeated with different dilutions from different substances. The findings are presented as data pairs collected prior to potentiation and after it (Fig. 7). A statistic correlation test (t-related test) (16) show a significant variation of the relaxation time after the potentiation except for the water diluted with itself. The results obtained were selected for official presentation in September 1985 to the Congress of GRAMM (a study group dedicated to magnetism as applied to medicine) (Ref 3). Discussion considered the possible influence of dissolved atmospheric oxygen and the possible presence of metal contaminants in solution in the preparations put to the test, although no one was able at the time to explain the reproducibility nor the specific nature of the findings. My resolve to carry on with the research grew stronger as a result of this confrontation.

	Fig. 4 : Factorial analysis of the main T2 components of the 96 tested samples. This analysis raises in evidence a “weight” axis (axis 2) and a high dilution axis (axis 1). The projection of the different analyzed samples shows regrouping by substance.
Fig.5 : Ana1ysis of the variance with two sources of controlled variations (lot or substance and dilution-succussion) with interaction. The variability of the measured T2 is best explained by the dilution-succussion factor lots of a given substance and by the substance factor between different substances.

I wrote an article for an official international medical biophysics publication. Publication was finally declined after several exchanges between members of the editorial committee, the editor and myself. One of the reviewers was not opposed to publishing my article but another suggested that I was going against the mass action laws and the second principle of thermodynamics. Confronted with this I registered reservations in writing in order to date my findings; even though a submitted piece of work may be declared not valid by a publisher, nevertheless it stays in the hands of the reviewers.

Fig. 6 : Influence of the succussion of the preparation on their T2 - Experimental protocol. Two series of T2 measures were effected during the preparation of Hahnemannian centesimals of different substances, one after the dilution stage and one after the succussion stage.
	Fig. 7 : Influence of succussion of preparations on their T2 - Results of the T2 measurements. There is a significant variation in T2 between the measures effected prior to succussion of a dilution and after it. This is illustrated here by the example of dilutions of nitric acid (A: prior; B: after succussion).

Further to this I submitted an article to CEIA, an organisation whose head (Dr E. Reymond) accepted it for publication. The article was recorded and custody given to a solicitor on 30 December 1985 before international distribution in medical circles (Reference 4). Further to this, there were numerous enquiries in Europe, in particular from physicists having been informed by physicians. Mrs Belbeoch, a physicist specialising in NMR in the French nuclear physics experimental centre at Orsay checked through my work and later gave her agreement to publication of the letter in which she gave confirmation of my findings. The whole story reached the press without my intervention. In December 1985, a request for interview came from a journalist; part of the conversation to which J-C Duplan and myself took part were published in the daily newspaper l’Humanité on 24 December 1986 (Ref 5). The “memory of water” discussed in terms of physics and chemistry fail to impress the majority of readers while drawing the attention of some. As early as 1984 I was in contact with the commercial world of homeopathy. I suggested to an industrial firm that physical data could be collected from solutions prior to further testing being done on biological models. This seemed common sense but nevertheless was met with refusal. And four years later came the outrageous statement that physicists could never be bothered to look into the question of homeopathic preparations.

CHAPTER III: In-depth NMR study of dilutions

Measured signals were robust enough to invite investigation along several paths. We modelled (17) the T2 (18) profiles obtained as a result of a given substance dilution. As the extrapolated curves (19) matching these profiles appeared continuous and monotonous (20) they could thus be described as part of a decreasing function (21) matching - on the one hand – a “classical” dilution and on the other hand an increasing function that would show the progression exhibited by a new entity. This parent-offspring relationship (22) would be illustrated for instance by the way a given decaying radionuclide gives rise to a daughter product. However, a problem remained with one of the profiles, that of Potassium iodide (Please cf. Fig 3). The change in T2 with respect to the dilution considered was showing a clear break at the 9th CH. We could have decided to exclude that out of range reading (23) were it not for the fact that it proved reproducible. And by the way, we would point out how damaging the smoothing of the curves in medical research customary way can be: to be published, results should not be at too great a variance from the so-called scientific consensus. A young researcher would himself soon enough learn to restrict the offending part of his own results; thus, abiding by the non complying results rejection consensus law he would also contribute in strengthening it further: surely, if there was anything in these aberrant results their truth would out. Now, taking the view that it must be possible to act upon and modify any current phenomenon, I contemplated putting homeopathic solutions to different physical and chemical tests. To this end I started preparing my own solutions. The first surprise came when putting order into the first lot of thirty values collected in random fashion according to the date of preparation and thus of dilution of a given substance’s homeopathic preparations.

Fig. 8 : T2 profiles as a function of the dilution-succussion level. The average value of T2 of the water used for preparing the solutions is indicated by the horizontal line situated at 2125 ms. The discontinuous profile corresponds to the T2 variations registered for nitric acid between the 1st and the 6Oth CH.

Fig. 9 : Study of intermediate dilutions between two consecutive centesimals - Experimental protocol. Starting with a Hahnemannian centesimal A, a series of 10 intermediate solutions were prepared on a 10 times dilution factor, so that A and A’, the two original consecutive 100th dilutions, were separated by 9 new dilutions (B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J) and the tenth (K) was superimposable with A'.

It was always found on repeat preparations that as long as bottles were shaken (dynamized), T2 profiles presented an irregular non derivable aspect (Fig 8). With the exception of the point marking Potassium iodide 9th CH, this phenomenon had not been brought into view when already obtained T2 profiles were modelled for the reproducibility study on signals. For reasons of costs a short selection of samples from a given lot of dilutions was used (1st, 4th , 9th , 15th , 30th CH); this is taken as accounting for hiding the lack of continuity of the chain that was later confirmed as a characteristic of homeopathic daughter products T2 profiles. This lack of continuity was further investigated in the next experiment. After preparing a daughter product following the 100 times dilution factor, new intermediate preparations on a 10 times dilution factor were introduced so that two consecutive 100th dilutions of the original daughter product were separated with 9 new solutions (Fig 9). T2 measurements were then carried out on all these preparations. This experiment made it possible to zoom (24) on the region between 2 consecutive points in a daughter product and gave indications that between these two points we were again in the presence of a chaotic evolution of the magnetic relaxation signal. It appeared also that the measurement point for the second solution from the original daughter product was superimposed over that of the tenth solution from the new daughter product. Thus, for a given dilution, data collected was similar whether obtained directly from a one-step solution or from the same initial solution but after going through several intermediate stages of dilution /potentiation (Fig 10).

Fig. 10 A and l0 B : Study of intermediate dilutions between two consecutive centesimals . Results of T2 measurements. The discontinuous aspect characteristic of the T2 profiles as a function of the dilution-succussion level of the Hahnemannian centesimals is also obtained from intermediate dilutions between two successive centesimals. The T2 measures corresponding to the K points are superimposable to those of A' .

CHAPTER IV: Importance of the homeopathic solutions preparation protocol

First of all, as we were preparing our own solutions we took this opportunity of putting to the test the importance of the modus operandi. Whenever shaking to potentiate was replaced with rotating or turning the bottle upside down, the specific profile did not appear in the homeopathic daughter product. Once several homeopathic daughter products of various substances were prepared according to the classical protocol, the effects on their T2 profiles of physical and chemical treatments were investigated. Exposure to ultrasound (sonication tests (25) ), heating, cooling, exposure to magnetic fields, photonic irradiation were used. Data collected over a year enable description of certain properties of the phenomenon, such as destruction by ultrasounds (Fig 11), photonic irradiation, heat (Fig 12), whereas freezing had no effect.

Fig. 11: Influence of ultrasounds on the T2 profiles of Hahnemannian centesimals. Three different Hahnemannian centesimals (A, B, C) of nitric acid, as well as the water used for their preparation (D), were exposed to ultrasounds for increasing lengths of exposure. Although the T2 of water was not modified by sonication, those of nitric acid centesimals showed a modification proportional to the exposure length that leads to bring the T2 values back to the values corresponding to water. The maximal effect was obtained after 30 minutes of sonication. Exposure (min.) to the ultrasounds.

Fig. 12 : Influence of heat on the T2 profiles of Hahnemannian centesimals. The comparison of the T2 profiles of solutions of a substance as a function of the dilution-succussion level to profiles obtained after heating the same solutions shows first a very significant and then a complete modification of this profile after heating at 80 °C and 100°C respectively

What came out first of all in these results was that variations in T2 making up the homeopathic daughter products profiles did not match the random presence of metal pollutants in the investigated solutions. This presence of metal pollutants had sometime been raised by objecting colleagues by way of explanation. This hypothesis had been faulted as a result of the demonstrated reproducibility of profiles for different preparations of the same daughter products; now, it could be definitely rejected. Indeed, had recorded signals only been an indication of metal pollutants random presence, heat, ultrasounds, photons would have been unable to destroy them. The absence of relationship between the data collected and the presence of dissolved oxygen in the preparations was also shown in the sonication tests. It was postulated that T2 decreased as a result of the presence of dissolved oxygen, but as sonication liberated some of the O2 in solution thereby decreasing the overall amount of O2, should T2 data be related directly to the oxygen presence in solution, data collected after sonication would show an increase instead of the observed decrease. We also looked into the possibility of longitudinal (26) and transversal (27) transfers of the recorded signals. The diluting water T2 modifications brought through the addition of parts of preparations with high or low T2 were measured (longitudinal transfer). The differences in T2 data obtained from lactose granules in solution were recorded for both the following cases: a) no previous contact with homeopathic preparations; b) a previous contact (transversal transfer). An account of this data was given in a pharmacy thesis presented to an academic jury of two physicists specialising in NMR and two School of Pharmacy lecturers (Ref 6). To sum up, we would say that the signal is transferable, with the single exception of the high dilutions (from 15CH) transfer to lactose which according to the substance considered does not appear to be always effective. In all the other cases, signal transfer is homothetic (28), rather than inverted. In effect, besides having been found already specific, reproducible and chaotic in its development, the described phenomenon appeared vulnerable to external agents (without solutions being directly handled) as well as transferable over or into another medium. Pondering over past results also brought out the following questions: why was it that water - in practical terms not absolutely pure but with trace pollutants – was not giving rise to profiles bearing the characteristics of daughter products of these pollutants when homeopathic dilution of water in water itself was investigated ? Was there a necessary minimum concentration of the dissolved substance in the mother tincture for the ensuing homeopathic dilutions to exhibit significant, reproducible and specific T2 (and T1) variations ? And should this be indeed the case, was there a threshold value below which the phenomenon did not appear ? In an attempt to reply to these questions, we prepared series of homeopathic dilutions of one substance. The only difference between series was the initial molecular ratio, i.e. the ratio of the number of molecules of the dissolved substance to the molecules of water in the mother tincture. Readings indicated that in dilutions making up homeopathic daughter products, dilutions relaxation variations in amplitude and frequency depended upon the initial molecular ratio. As the ratio used in all our previous experimental work seemed optimal, it was decided therefore to keep it for the work that was to follow. Then we thought of assessing the influence in making homeopathic solutions of certain controllable factors: kind of bottles, number of bottles (the bottle is changed for each step in Hahnemann dilution whereas one bottle only is used for Korasakov dilutions); frequency of dynamizing/bottle shaking, nature of the shaking motion (linear, rotary, up turning motion imparted to the bottles, with or without shocks), potentiation duration or in the case of one particular preparatory method, use of electromagnetic waves. By mutual agreement some of the solutions used in the survey on the above parameters were sent to us by experimental officers aware of our work and prepared to put into question their manufacturing protocols. Some of the daughter products investigated gave negative results in the sense that in the matching relaxation time data for these products there were no values straying significantly away from the data for the water used in the products preparation; these values were always given alongside as reference. Not all requests for data collection could be taken into consideration as some came from very far away indeed (it is worthy of note that in the end work may have spread out quite widely outside the official set up…).

CHAPTER V: The role of oxygen

The content of homeopathic preparations appeared to put on a more concrete aspect. Nevertheless, to the extent that they are not entirely univocal, (29) relaxation time measurements were not entirely satisfactory; identical T2 (or T1) values do not necessarily match the same subjacent process. In the homeopathic preparation process, given the dilution of the dissolved substance it seemed obvious from a molecular point of view that if there really were entities specific to that type of medium, they could only spring from the solvent itself. However, it did not seem enough to me to consider only those interactions between water molecules; it would be more accurate though to widen the field of these interactions to include the atoms making up that solvent molecule, i.e. hydrogen and oxygen. Before chemical reactions could be devised and set up whereby these hypothetical entities could be further explored, the part played by oxygen in the phenomenon brought to light by NMR was checked. For this purpose, besides the T2 relaxation time for hydrogen that of oxygen isotope 17 was also measured. In measurements carried out jointly on a series of homeopathic dilutions, there was a clear overlap in both T2 traces once both sets of data were reduced to a common yardstick (i.e. the time scales) (B. Fenet) (Fig 13). Thus, a new element came into play to confirm the hypothesis according to which there was some sort of rearrangement of the medium over itself calling upon equally on either of water’s atomic species (Ref 7). Elaborating appropriate biochemical reactions for the analysis of homeopathic solutions brought to us a new way of approaching the phenomenon brought into light by NMR measurements. Thus we found that from one dilution to another, observed relaxation time variations went with products being evolved. (Products is taken here in the chemical sense of transformation of one atomic species into one or several others). Our starting point when elaborating suitable biochemical reactions was the supposed presence of molecular constructs made up of oxygen and hydrogen which, as we stated earlier, seemed to us the only viable hypothesis. Thus we undertook selecting enzyme systems likely to recognise, react with and modify these constructs. Our choice went to peroxydase systems so often found in biology. These enzymes play a fundamental role: they are found in all human metabolic processes. They are very widely distributed and present in cellular membranes as well as in fluid secretions such as tears, saliva, cervical secretions, mother’s milk, etc… One may notice how abundant in man these systems are in the interfaces with individual living structures and their environment such as saliva (interface with food), tears (interface with air and light) cervical secretions (interface with sperm), etc. Two consequences can be inferred from the presence of these enzymatic systems: on one hand, direct action on isolated components e.g. cells; on the other hand, an action upon the organism core. The first type of action may well be without specificity, but by definition the second one must be specific. In accordance with the molecular constructs hypothesis, we chose an enzyme able to reach cyclic structures substituted with OH (hydroxyl) radicals, and another able to destroy only simple molecules such as hydrogen peroxide H2O2 . Under the first enzyme’s action, these molecules were to be released from the constructs into the medium, should our hypothesis prove correct. Once the optimal operating conditions were determined, the reactions were put to work on various homeopathic solutions. The addition of enzyme systems to the solutions resulted in highly significant and reproducible T2 alterations in agreement with our premise. These results seemed to go along with the hypothesis on the existence of molecular constructs whose destruction by peroxydases accounts for the variations in magnetic relaxation observed as a result of enzymatic action. (Fig 14). Thus, it seems that peroxydases were to be added to our list of destructive agents (heat, ultrasounds and photonic irradiation). Once measured these enzymatic reactions kinetics proved very high, oscillating and decreasing (Fig 15). This aspect is reminiscent of discontinuous action upon some constructs possibly linked, in turn, with the medium’s recursiveness (30) as we are dealing with an amalgamation of water within and at the expense of a larger mass of water. We were able to make use of certain molecules in order to better profile entities either present in the medium or appearing as a result of physical denaturing agents action. Orthophenylenediamine (OPD) is a chromotophoric substrate that turns into a coloured compound when acted upon by peroxides. When OPD (at a given concentration) is added to a homeopathic solution and to the water used in preparing this solution, it shows that as a result of photolysis (31) a larger quantity of peroxides is released in the solution than in the water.

Fig. 13 : Comparison of the T2 relaxation times of the proton and of the oxygen bound to water The curves corresponding to the T2 of the proton (1 H) and of the oxygen bound ( 17 O) to water as a function of the dilution-succussion level of the preparations, show parallel variations.

Fig. 14 : Optical density (OD) profiles obtained after reaction of the peroxidases on a series of Hahnemannian dilutions. The OD curve is superimposed on that of the T2 obtained before the peroxidase action.

	fig. 15 : Example of enzymatic kinetics corresponding to the peroxidase action on a Hahnemannian dilution.
	After introduction of peroxidase at time 0, the OD of water used for the preparation of the homeopathic solution is unchanged (A), while the OD of the solution shows an immediate peak followed by a rapid decrease (B) .

CHAPTER VI : Analogy with fractals

I was struck with the discontinuity shown by homeopathic daughter products T2 profiles (please cf. Chapter 3). However, it is only later, in 1987, while strolling on a beach of the Atlantic coast that this became associated in my mind to the notions of chaos and fractal objects (32) . That very idea probably had something to do with the fact that I was then near the coast of Brittany which Mandelbrot (Ref 8) had indeed given as an example of fractal object. According to Benoît Mandelbrot who coined the term, fractals combine the following characteristics: A) overall, the parts have the same shape or structure as the whole, with the only difference that they are to a different scale and may be slightly distorted; B) the shape is either extremely irregular or extremely broken or fragmented and would remain invariant whatever the scale; C) a fractal geometrical figure or a fractal natural object contain distinctive elements whose scales are extremely varied and cover a wide range of values. In view of the above and as a result of theory & practice interactions, it is extremely difficult to translate into a linear and chronological fashion my work of the past six years. The fractal concept took on more and more the part of a guide line up to a point where it took over from instinctive experimenting by allowing some properties of homeopathic dilutions to be conceived and predicted according to the way they were prepared. This approach gave me scientific gratification difficult to convey. The analogy struck up with fractal objects went first of all to the way homeopathic solutions may acquire their structure when prepared. The molecule initially dissolved in the mother tincture may be akin to a seed (33) – a material support endowed with a specific evolutive potential. At certain frequencies, the potentiating succussion would create friction between the seed molecule and the water molecules, and resonances through cavitation (34). Considerable energy must be summoned with around the seeds structuring on the percolating mass model but with the characteristic we mentioned of the percolating masses (35) being made up (through self organising) of the same atoms as the surrounding medium; in a way, this is reminiscent of Escher (36) prints in which the represented object and its background are progressively meshing. (Fig 16) Thus the seeds are being surrounded with aqueous structures whose makeup is dependent upon physical chemical characteristics of the seeds (electronic motion, electro magnetic fields, vibration energy, rotational energy, etc.).

Fig. 16 : Engraving by M.C. ESCHER (Metamorphosis II) This woodcut illustrates the metamorphosis theme, the background of the design progressively becoming the main subject, while the initial subject disappears little by little in the background.

An analogy may be struck with a programming loop. The seed and its environment are like a system of equations endowed with self similarity. At the end of the loop’s (37) iterations the resulting image has gained extension commensurate with the number of iterations initially set and yet still includes the same basic motto, or seed. In the course of the homeopathic dilution process going from 4 to 5CH for instance, part of the structured solution (at 4 CH) is transferred into a medium with the same chemical potential. With respect to the medium they came from (the dilution), seeds brought in are going to be diluted. As the solution potentiating succussion (dynamizing) takes place, the quantities transferred shall be in a position to invade the new solution by creating new percolation masses. The phenomenon shall be repeated for the next step in dilution-dynamizing ad infinitum all along a chain of homeopathic daughter products but with the singularity that at each step, for a given "critical size" the cumulated percolation mass may either implode or explode. It is this double potential event that will be at the origin of a chaotic evolution of signals coming from these media whose state would remain out of equilibrium. Taking up again the IT analogy, going from one homeopathic dilution to the next is akin to introducing a first loop into a second one in which is included for each passage at infinity (explosion of the percolation mass) a choice (conditional jump (38)). Microcomputer simulation gave me a certain number of ideas. Not only did it allow observation of the final object-image but even its construction dynamic development that appeared to fit in with the physical-chemical experimental data. Thus in the same way that some iteration conditions could bring about an overflow that would not be overcome under the jump conditions, too high a potentiating succussion frequency bringing about too much energy with permanent "explosion" would prevent percolation mass from gaining a structure. In either case, the "explosion" velocity would tend to infinity as from time zero. The progression through implosion or explosion all along the dilutions of a homeopathic daughter product is consistent with the magnetic relaxation time chaotic evolution that marks this product line. The steep increase in relaxation time that would point to an increase in proton transfer would therefore be related to percolation masses, liberating explosions freeing reactive radicals accessible to peroxidase reactions that are then at a maximal level. Conversely, decrease in relaxation time correspond to implosion-contraction phenomena which most often are progressive. In these cases, the percolation masses structures consolidate, turn inwards while increasing their potential and thus hide in the middle the reactive radicals brought into evidence thanks to enzymology. This concept-cum-interpretation is indeed open to discussion but it has the enormous advantage of gathering in a cohesive fashion into an open framework allowing transition from the complex to the complicated, some "magical" i.e. unexplained observations.

I got on with my experiments with renewed enthusiasm from that moment, as experimental work without a conceptual model becomes very quickly a burden.

Thus I found a way of measuring the fractal dimension of homeopathic solutions. (The fractal dimension is a non integer that expresses the characteristics of a fractal that remains the same regardless of how much the object is magnified or the angle of view varied) Contrarily to what is the case for the water used in preparing them, the solutions appeared to be fractal. Furthermore, all along the preparation steps of an homeopathic products series, the fractal dimension turned out to be between 1.31 and 1.75 as if the percolation masses became denser and denser were staying further apart within the medium. This data came to supplement the local state data brought about by relaxation time data. Besides, if these homeopathic solutions percolation masses really existed it should be possible to see them and the macroscopic analysis of their image should allow - in the interactive sense of the term - visualising the seeds probably under the shape of orbitals complicated but which should be comparable from one solution to the next within the same given line of daughter products and yet differ from those characterising another series. Images were indeed obtained from series of dilutions for three different substances in crystal form (Fig 17, A,B,C). These images exhibit common points within the same series but also differ clearly from one series to the next. However interesting these results may be they are not developed enough as yet to warrant further comment.

Fig. 17 A: Crystals of Natrum Sulfuricum 15 CH.	Fig. 17 B : Crystals of Rhus Toxicodendron 9 CH and 15 CH.	Fig. 17 C : Crystals of Thuya Occidentalis 15 CH.

To take this sum of experimental data to a conclusion, I created a simulation programme on an Apple Computer ® Macintosh. Thus I would be able to represent the changes in water percolation masses with respect to the steps in preparing an homeopathic products line, and calculate a value that could be assimilated to that of the magnetic relaxation in the solutions making up that line (Fig 18).

Fig. 18 : Simulation of the preparation steps of a homeopathic series. These images were obtained using a simulation program illustrating the evolution of forms of water masses (upper portion of the figure) and the magnetic relaxations (lower portion of the figure) during the preparation steps of a homeopathic series. One notes the chaotic aspect of this evolution.

CHAPTER VII : Postulated model of action for homeopathic solutions

Beyond the physical-chemical aspects, can a model of therapeutic action on living matter be proposed for these percolation masses ? Yes, but the proposition which follows is only an hypothesis derived from deductive reasoning; it has yet to be confronted with reality in practice. We can imagine that the mode of preparation particular to homeopathic medicines confers informative qualities upon them. The information model (Theory of information) (Ref 9) tells us first of all that “information is no matter, no energy”. A system whereby information may be generated and exchanged is made up of several entities: an emitter with a source, an alphabet and a generator; a transmission channel (39) - this being the most developed nowadays where often there is confusion, sometimes deliberate, between transmission channel and information conveyed (40) - finally, the receiver made of a sensor, an alphabet, an actuator. These three entities must be inseparable if information and communication are to exist. (41) Any failure from one of these elements is to initiate a loss in communications: no message without emitter, but whether or not a message was sent out, no message either without a receiver. On the basis of experimental results showing that the structuring of homeopathic medicines solvents into specific masses may be identified, acted upon and destroyed by the human organism’s peroxidase systems, it is possible to put forward a model whereby the mode of action of these medicines may be explained. The successive enzymatic attacks that the homeopathic medicines undergo in the organism may cause pulsed proton releases at frequencies and amplitude commensurate with their “dilution”. These wave trains could start reactions at central level when there was concordance with the receivers. Thus, a diluted-potentized solution of a given substance would be a source of coded information whose alphabet would be the substance, the generator, the potentization and the code, the water atoms (more specifically the protons); the proton transfer would be for the living matter what the electron transfer is for IT. The message carried by the source would be first of all transformed into trains of protons by the organism’s peroxidases. Then the signal would be detected by the receiver, and according to the receiver’s state, would be triggering – or not triggering an effect. Information theory shows that a receiver’s uncertainty (42) is not increased by reception of an inadequate message; in such a case, at most nothing happens. In this model, it is not at the level of enzymatic decoding that the message specificity would be perceived, but at the higher level of integration. Thus in any case, any homeopathic medicine would have its coding unravelled without necessarily be followed with a physiological effect. On the other hand, this model suggests possible modifications of the signal through noise sources able to transform its significance. For instance when the medicine enters in contact with salivary peroxidase, it could be that the signal be scrambled though proton capture as a result of the presence in the mouth of certain substances. Therefore, the mode of administration must be taken into consideration in the medical prescription. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the receiver and of that of the actuator appear to be variable. Therefore, to optimise a treatment would it be necessary to make administering the medicine coincide with periods of symptoms manifestation or exacerbation that would indicate the receiver highest sensitivity levels ? Moreover, the way remedies are characterised in homeopathic Materia Medica often includes precise details about times of symptomatic aggravation or improvement. This data from observation is supported in actual fact by chronobiology (43) contributions which has shown the way hormonal messages abide by periodicity laws. Equating homeopathic symptomatic data and knowledge acquired in the field of chronobiology would contribute significantly to the modelling of living processes.

CONCLUSION

It is clear that a lot of work remains to be done from the diagnostic as well as therapeutic viewpoint if we are to optimise and develop homeopathy, this privileged means of communication. However there are methods commensurate with the challenged to be met; we only have to implement them. For instance, data analysis gives me now a new approach to medical matters. Moreover, biological confirmation that these communications are real may be expected from research on messenger molecules (interferon, interleukines, cytokines etc…). These past ten years of experimental and theoretical research (1983-1993) lead me to propose the model of therapeutic action described here. This model will quite naturally join the times to come in which we shall have to master communication once it is set up throughout the world, control environmental data, develop dynamic models from the fractal angle and rework basic concepts into a holistic (44) vision.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 : Codex, Pharmacopée française, 8ème édition, 1965. 2 : Benzécri J.P. , L'analyse des données, Ed. Dunod, 1982. 3: Lasne Y., Duplan J.C, Mallet J.J., Bonmartin A., Fenet B, Briguet A. et Delmau J. Mise en évidence de variations de temps de relaxation T2 de solutions "homéopathiques"(dynamisées-diluées), 1er congrès du G.R.A.M.M. (Groupe de Recherche sur les Applications du Magnétisme en Médecine), Lyon, 20-21 Septembre 1985. 4: Lasne Y., Duplan J.C et Mallet JJ. Mise en évidence de signaux physiques émanant de solutions diluées-dynamisées ou "homéopathiques", 2ème Bulletin du M.TS. (Medical Telematic System), Ed. Centre Européen d'Informatique et d'Automation, Lacenas, France, Décembre 1985. 5: L'Humanité/Rhône-Alpes/24 Décembre 1986. 6: Lasne Ph. Propriétés des solutions "homéopathiques", mesure de la relaxation magnétique T2, Thèse pour le diplôme de doctorat en Pharmacie, Lyon, France, 270ctobre 1986. 7 : Lasne Y. , Duplan J.C , Fenet B et Guerin A. Contribution à l'approche scientifique de la doctrine homéopathique, De Natura Rerum, 3, 38-43, 1989. 8: Mandelbrot B. Les objets fractals, forme, hasard et dimension, 3ème édition, Nouvelle Bibliothèque Scientifique, Ed. Flammarion, France, 1989. 9: Oswald J. Théorie de l'information ou analyse diacritique des systèmes, Ed. Masson, France, 1986.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I must thank all those who helped me in this difficult journey, whether positively or negatively as equilibrium is the result of antagonist forces. I must point out though that the very few positive forces must have been particularly powerful to compensate innumerable negative ones. This will make it simple drawing the list of those I insist in naming : A. Guérin, J.M. Legay, J. Jacq, J.C. Duplan, A. Briguet, B. Fenet, D. Chessel, E. Hemandez, B. Marichal, A. Picard, E. Reymon, B. Belbeoch, R. Putinier, V. Tardieu, JJ. Mallet, A. Bonmartin and G. Veillas. Books helped me in giving structure to my thoughts and I must thank: I. Oswald (théorie de l'information); D. Hofstadter (Gödel, Escher, Bach), B. Mandelbrot (les objets fractals); J.P. Benzecri (l'analyse des données),. A. Kaufman (théorie des sous-ensembles flous) et J.M. Legay (théorie des modèles).