Here we have an example of what an infinitesimal dose can do. It has been proved that the above symptoms can be caused by the one-thousandth part of a milligram of the essential principle. This is not an example of allergic reaction but a definite toxicological effect produced in all individuals by momentary contact with the plant. After hearing this would you care to try the experiment of taking the one-thousandth of a milligramme of the active principle of Rhus toxicodendron ? After hearing this are you still prepared to ridicule the power of the small or infinitesimal dose ?.
The two most wonderful physical entities presented to us in this creation are: the infinitely large and the infinitely small. We can look up into the starry sky at night, mixing our wonder with worship. We can also look through the oil immersion or study the ultra-violent photographic records of the viruses and for- getting, if we can, their terrible pathogenic power, still combine our wonder with worship. Letting our imagination go beyond our present optical powers we can wander into a world where even the particles of a virus can become, relatively speaking, immense. Each particle composed of its constituent molecules, never coming into contact with each other.
Each molecule with its constituent atoms, also likewise separated from one another. Each atom like a miniature universe, with its central relatively large proton surrounded by its variable number of rapidly moving electrons. Thinking along these lines I say again, How can we presume to be-little the infinitesimal or presume to set a limit to the potential activity of matter, be its mass ever so small.
Mercury given orally in material doses is practically inert. Passing through the body unchanged it produces no symptoms apart from a transient diarrhoea, but triturated with chalk in the form of grey powder it becomes exceedingly powerful.
Grey powder is a mechanical mixture. Its constituents can be recovered by mechanical means and when we administer it we are giving mercury and chalk and nothing else. (At this point the five specimens mentioned below were handed round for inspection. The similarity in appearance of specimens 1 and 2 was noticed, and the presence of metallic mercury in fine globules was apparent in specimens 3 and 4).
Specimen 1. Pulv. Hydrag. c. Creta B.P. (33 1/3 per cent.).
Specimen 2. A trituration of mercury made with lactose 33 1/3 per cent.
Specimen 3. Test tube containing a small quantity of specimen 1 + chloroform.
Specimen 4. Test tube containing a small quantity of specimen 2 + water.
Specimen 5. Test tube containing a small quantity of powdered chalk + chloroform.
Twenty grains of grey powder, prepared according to the British Pharmacopoeia, contains approximately six grains of mercury. Here we have an example of an inert substance acquiring marked toxic powers simply as a result of mechanical subdivision. Is it unreasonable to suggest that further subdivision will result in the acquirement of still more power ? But I do not wish to put ideas for experiments into your heads, experiments which were successfully carried out more than a hundred years ago by Hahnemann.
To pass from an interesting but perhaps rather gross example of the power of the small dose, let up consider the power of the snake venoms. A dilution of 1:10 to the power of 17, which is one part in a hundred thousand billions, of the venom of Russells viper still retains its power of reducing the coagulation time of haemophilic blood.
The three examples I have given should, I think, be sufficient to refute any attack which might be made against Homoeopathy on the ground that the small dose is an absurdity, but you will remember that I made the statement that Homoeopathy was not the administration of drugs in small doses. Certainly “small doses” are used but there is a lot more in Homoeopathy than that. To get the maximum effect from the small dose or potency as it is called, this has to be prepared in a definite precise way.
Instructions for the preparation of potentized drugs are given in the Homoeopathic Materia Medica and the preparatory routine, as given there, must be scrupulously carried out, I do not propose to enter into any details regarding this as it would occupy too much time, but I shall try to give you a simple outline of the material facts. If the drug or substance to be potentized is a solid, a small quantity of it, say one grain, is carefully triturated with some comparatively inert substance, such as Sac. lact., nine grains of the latter being used if we intend to make a potency according to the decimal scale, ninety- nine grains, if according to the centesimal scale.
The trituration must last at least one hour. We now have a 1x or a 1c potency according to the scale we are using. One grain of this potency is now similarly triturated with Sac. lact. and we now have the 2x or 2c potency again according to the scale we are using. In this way we ascend the “potency scale” until we reach the 6x when a strange phenomenon occurs, the solid becomes soluble. It is a phenomenon because it occurs when we are triturating or potentizing an apparently insoluble substance such as gold.
You will have to take my word for this, but it has been definitely and conclusively proved and the proofs are available. If you are doubtful I shall be pleased to tell you where these proofs may be obtained. We can now ascend the potency scale more comfortably by means of dilution and succussion for which a simple mechanical device is available. Of course, with a soluble substance we omit the preliminary and fatiguing trituration. As we continue our ascent, again a peculiar phenomenon appears.
According to our present knowledge of physics, when the eleventh centesimal dilution is reached, the triturated drug ceases to be present but again it can be demonstrated that “something” is present and proceeding upwards as far as the thirtieth centesimal, this proof of “something” being present is still possible by means of the Boyd emanometer. The higher potencies are also capable of demonstrating their power clinically, some- times in a dramatic and sometimes in an alarming way.
The Homoeopathic Materia Medica has been compiled and is still growing, by :.
Firstly. Studying and recording the effects upon healthy individuals known as provers.
Secondly. Studying and recording the effects of poisonous drugs, taken or administered accidentally or by other means, such as, cases of attempted suicide or attempted murder by poisoning, or the effects of poisoning by other means, such as poisoning by snake venoms, etc.
Thirdly. Recording any unusual clinical effect occurring while under treatment by homoeopathic preparations.
When Hahnemann commenced his study of drug pathogenesis, he used what would be considered to-day to be comparatively large doses, but he soon discovered that by triturating the drug with some inert substance (he used sugar of milk) better, that is more detailed, provings were obtained. From the symptoms produced in the provers, and these were all verified by subsequent repetition of the proving with occasional substitution of unmedicated sugar of milk to eliminate the psychological factor, he was able to build up a picture of the drug as it affected the healthy individual.
He had been driven to his researches by his disgust at the condition of medical practice at that time. His brilliant mind was quick to notice the resemblance between the symptomatologies of diseased conditions and drug action, and the discovery that diseases could be cured by the administration of the similar remedy soon followed.
For example, the symptoms of Belladonna poisoning are very similar to a large percentage of cases of scarlet fever, and potentized Belladonna is about the commonest homoeopathic remedy for scarlet fever to-day just as it was in the time of Hahnemann, but Belladonna will not always be the remedy. That is what I meant when I said that there were no specifics in Homoeopathic. The remedy must be similar to the totality of the symptoms.
When you prescribe for your patients small doses of Vin. Ipecac. for the vomiting of pregnancy, you are practising a crude form of Homoeopathy. You are practising Homoeopathy although you may not be aware of it. Added to your cough mixtures it also has a homoeopathic action although, admittedly, if the dose is moderately large its physiological emetic action may be beneficial to a certain extent by helping to clear the bronchial tubes.
When you add Tr. Camph. Co. to your cough mixtures you are slowing down the action of any of the more potent drugs which may be present in it, for camphor has this effect and it is a well- known fact that the presence of camphor in minute quantities antidotes the homoeopathic action of most, if not all, homoeopathic potencies.
I am firmly convinced, at present, that no drug is capable of curing a diseased condition except by its homoeopathic action. We are hearing a lot to-day about the sulphonamides, and no one can deny that spectacular results can be produced by their administration. They seem to be capable of curing almost every disease, but I can still remember the furor which greeted the appearance of mercurochrome, now almost forgotten, and I am trying to put a curb on my enthusiasm for these new drugs.
