Composition
Homeopathic pharmacists prepare medicines from various biologically active substances that belong to two main groups: organic materials (plants, animal products, and nosodes) and inorganic substances (synthetic chemicals, metal alloys, and natural and synthetic ceramic materials). These bioactive materials are subjected to specific manufacturing procedures whereby they are dissolved in water and alcohol.
As healers and doctors have always known, it is usually the case that the more toxic and poisonous a substance, the greater its efficacy in treating disease. Many substances in the homeopathic pharmacopoeia are exactly the same as those in medicines used by allopathic physicians, Oriental doctors, and herbalists, throughout the world; but while allopaths prescribe drugs in near lethal concentrations, homeopathic physicians, like many native healers before them, prescribe the smallest amount that will effect a cure. We refer to this practice as "the law of the minimum dose."
To become homeopathic remedies, medicinal compounds are diluted hundreds, even thousands, of times to reduce their toxicity and to ensure that they are biologically reactive and compatible with the processes of human physiology. There is usually no difficulty in preparing water solutions from plants and other organic substances, but minerals are not generally soluble in water. Upon encountering this problem, Dr. Hahnemann, a typically resourceful scientific genius of the Age of Discoveries, who was not only a physician but a chemist as well, devised an ingenious way to prepare solutions from the insoluble mineral and metallic materials. The process that he used is now called colloidal chemistry and is widely employed today in mining and chemical engineering.
All homeopathic preparations are rigorously tested on both sick individuals within a clinical setting and healthy volunteers; the latter process is called "proving." Even though the majority of homeopathic preparations are not obtained through processes of chemical engineering, the efficacy of homeopathy does not come from the fact that its remedies are not synthetic but "natural" or "herbal," as is commonly thought; instead its benefits result from the way these medicinal substances are clinically applied. They are prescribed individually to each patient, according to the strict laws of homeopathic diagnosis. (See also the article "Homeopathic Dilutions" in our Editorial Column.)
Homeopathic doctors and pharmacists carefully study each biologically active substance and gradually learn every detail of its actions in both the healthy and the sick. One only expects a homeopathic remedy to work when the remedy’s established biological action is exactly what is sought by a particular case. This is the reason that homeopathic practitioners demand precise descriptions of their patients’ feelings diligently observe all the minute changes in tissues, organ functions, or the state of mind. This unique individual constellation of objective disease signs and subjectively experienced symptoms is called a remedy picture by homeopathic physicians. The medicines prescribed are tailor-made to fit each distinct presentation of illness.
Here are some examples of homeopathic remedies:
ORGANIC
Plants/Herbs
Lycopodium clavatum (Club moss)
Pulsatilla nigricans (Windflower)
Belladonna atropa (Deadly nightshade) (featured in next month’s Homeopathic Story "Witch Tales")
Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove)
Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Ipecac-root)
Cinchona officinalis (Peruvian bark) (featured in this week’s Homeopathic Story "Kina-Kina")
Animal:
Cantharis vesicator (Spanish fly)
Lac caninum (Dog’s milk)Nosodes (from diseased tissues):
Tuberculinum (A glycerin extract of a human tubercle bacilli prepared by Koch) (see Article "Medorrihinum" -- Library>Editorial Column)INORGANIC
Metals:
Stannum metallicum (Tin)
Ferrum metallicum (Iron)
Minerals:
Arsenicum album (Arsenic trioxide)
Silicea (Flint)
Graphites (Blacklead)
Chemicals:
Carbolicum acidum (Phenol)
Borax (borate of sodium)
Oxygenium (Oxygen gas)Nomenclature
The first two words in a homeopathic remedy are its Latin designation, which is followed by the potency (degree of dilution) and then by the type of the medicine carrier substrate.
Cinchona officinalis 12 CH granules, for example, refers to the following:
Cinchona officinalis is the Latin name of the Peruvian tree from which quinine is extracted.
12—degree of dilution
"CH" (or sometimes just "C") centesimal Hahnemannian dilution
granules—liquid medicine is sprinkled on tiny milk sugar pellets.Manufacture
A homeopathic remedy is prepared by mixing one part of the original substance (called "the mother tincture" if it is derived from a plant) and nine parts of a solvent. This mixture is then vigorously shaken at least forty times. Ten percent of this solution is further mixed with nine parts of the solvent and shaken again. This will result in a 2X potency. If this process is repeated until one part of the original solute/mother tincture is mixed with ninety-nine parts of a solvent, the resulting remedy is said to be a centesimal Hahnemannian dilution or a CH potency.
Even though the concentrations of original tinctures are not standardized and obviously vary depending on the mode of preparation, the final medicines are diluted to such a degree that this variation becomes insignificant. The most obvious objection to homeopathy is, then, based on the fact that medicines are diluted to the point where no pharmacologically active ingredients are left in the solution. In the past two hundred years, this has led to accusations that homeopathic medicine is "unscientific," and condemnation, ranging from offhand jokes to fierce accusations of fraud. The U.S. National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), in particular, is very outspoken on this subject. (See article "Homeopathic Dilutions" in our Editorial Column section at the Library).
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