Of all the popular alternative therapies, probably none generates the disbelief or hostility of the conventional medical practitioner as does homeopathy. Homeopathy is a unique approach to healing that uses extremely dilute medicines to trigger a person’s innate capacity to heal. It was developed by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), who was a German physician, chemist, and author of a well– known textbook on the preparation and use of contempo-rary medicines. In reaction to some of the barbaric medical practices of his day, Hahnemann sought a more comprehen-sive, gentle approach to healing which encouraged the body’s innate ability to heal itself. The practice of home-opathy is based on several beliefs. The Law of Similars states that the appropriate remedy for each sick person is the substance which would give rise to precisely the same set of symptoms if given to a healthy person. Hahnemann’s method employed only one remedy at a time for the whole patient, comparing the totality of symptoms of the individual with those of various remedies until the closest possible match is found. Integral to the belief system of homeopathy is that of a ‘vital force’, which like acupuncture, herbalism, and other natural methods, belongs to the vitalist tradition. Illness is viewed as the organism’s ability to heal itself and this life energy is the ultimate source of health. In modern terms, this would be likened to the bioenergetic integrity of living beings. The detailed philosophy of homeopathy would encompass several volumes of text. Often overlooked in the homeopathic belief system are the recommendations of healthy diet, fresh air, exercise, and the avoidance of toxic substances, none of which deal with the administration of any medication.

The most significant controversy in homeopathy in-volves the minute dose of the medicine (remedy). This principle states that one should use the smallest dose and lowest frequency possible. Although all good medical prac-tice would agree with this principle, the degree to which homeopathy practices this defies generally known prin-ciples of molecular biology or biochemistry. Homeopathic medicines are prepared by a process of serial dilution and agitation (sucussion). Many of the homeopathic remedies are so dilute that they would not be expected to contain any of the original therapeutic substance. Reference to the extraordinary dilutions used in homeo-pathic remedies is given context by referring to the concept of Avogadro’s number from basic chemistry. This number is the theoretical number of atoms or molecules in a gram molecular weight of any given substance, namely 6.02 x 1023. Homeopathic dilutions are measured in decimal (x) orcentesimal (c) potencies. Therefore at a dilution of 12 C or 24X (10-24) there is almost no likelihood of any of the original substance in the solution. The activity of the homeopathic remedy is thought to follow from properties of the solvent water conferred to it by the original substance, not the molecules themselves. For the scientist grounded in the concept of chemistry and molecular biology, the observation that medicines that contain no molecules of the original substance could have biological activity defies all logic and is frankly unbeliev-able. This is, however precisely what the proponents of homeopathy claim, and it is increasingly demonstrated in controlled clinical trials.1 Evidence of the biologic activity of serially agitated dilutions (SAD) is accumulating. Theoretical explanations revolve around the “memory of water” and a subtle energy system that can perceive and respond to the information encoded in the homeopathic solution. The physicist Callinan suggests that the process of succusion produces energy storage in the bonds of the diluent in the infrared spectrum that downloads in contact with water in living systems.2 The nature of this effect, and the reason why it is so persistent may be deduced by the work of Weingertner using mag-netic resonance spectroscopy.3 The signals H2O and OH between a homeopathic remedy of sulfur (23x) and the control solvent without the homeopathic dilution are sig-nificantly lower (probability > 99%).

The recent discovery of IE structures in water may be the clearest evidence to date of a mechanism of action for homeopathic remedies.4,5 These IE structures are crystal-line-like structures of water molecules generated in re-sponse to electrical dipoles surrounding ions or proteins in solution. At ion concentrations below 10-7, these structures become stable and when exposed to shearing forces, break apart into three nanometer fragments, but then reaggregate into more stable structures that are capable of self-replica-tion in more dilute solutions, despite the absence of the original polar molecule. The form that these aggregates take is determined by the electrical field of the original polar molecule. The shape of these aggregates may contain infor-mation that is communicated to highly specific receptor.

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