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Homeopathy 2007; 96(03): 175-182
DOI: 10.1016/j.homp.2007.03.009
 
Copyright © The Faculty of Homeopathy 2007

The defining role of structure (including epitaxy) in the plausibility of homeopathy

Manju Lata Rao
1   The Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
,
Rustum Roy
1   The Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
5   Department of Medicine (Program in Integrative Medicine), The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA
,
Iris R. Bell
2   Department of Family and Community Medicine, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA
3   Department of Psychiatry, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA
4   Department of Psychology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
5   Department of Medicine (Program in Integrative Medicine), The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA
6   College of Public Health, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
,
Richard Hoover
1   The Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
› Author Affiliations
Subject Editor:
Further Information

Publication History

Received20 March 2007

accepted27 March 2007

Publication Date:
13 December 2017 (online)

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Abstract

The key stumbling block to serious consideration of homeopathy is the presumed “implausibility” of biological activity for homeopathic medicines in which the source material is diluted past Avogadro's number of molecules. Such an argument relies heavily on the assumptions of elementary chemistry (and biochemistry), in which the material composition of a solution, (dilution factors and ligand–receptor interactions), is the essential consideration.

In contrast, materials science focuses on the three-dimensional complex network structure of the condensed phase of water itself, rather than the original solute molecules. The nanoheterogenous structure of water can be determined by interactive phenomena such as epitaxy (the transmission of structural information from the surface of one material to another without the transfer of any matter), temperature–pressure processes during succussion, and formation of colloidal nanobubbles containing gaseous inclusions of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and possibly the remedy source material.

Preliminary data obtained using Raman and Ultra-Violet–Visible (UV–VIS) spectroscopy illustrate the ability to distinguish two different homeopathic medicines (Nux vomica and Natrum muriaticum) from one another and to differentiate, within a given medicine, the 6c, 12c, and 30c potencies. Materials science concepts and experimental tools offer a new approach to contemporary science, for making significant advances in the basic science studies of homeopathic medicines.

Keywords

homeopathy - succussion - materials science - structure of water - epitaxy - nanobubbles
 

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