Renewed Dynamization: 50 Millesimal Potencies – A Comprehensive Guide to Their Preparation, Application, Scope and Utility in Homoeopathic Practice
Keywords
Potencies, Dynamization, Miasmic diseases, Footnotes, Minimum dose, Succussion, Susceptibility, Idiosyncrasy.
Introduction
This is the finer and latest scale of potency, introduced in the 6th edition of Organon of Medicine, prepared in the ratio 1: 50,000 and was mentioned clearly about its preparation, preservation and administration. In fact, this name was not given by Dr. Hahnemann but by Dr. Pierre Schmidt of Geneva. Hahnemann himself termed this new method as, “Renewed dynamization”.
In footnote I Sec. 132 he writes, “New altered but perfected method” – “New dynamisation method” etc. The detail of this method was incorporated in his 6th edition of Organon. Potencies prepared under this method are named by Dr. Schmidt as “fifty-millesimal potencies because of the fact that the material part of the medicine was said to be decreased by 50,000 times for each degree of dynamization. The Physicians are not in the habit of using this scale but recently some physicians and myself using it in practice.
Abstract
Hahnemann was not completely satisfied with the medicinal solutions of centesimal potencies, especially in weak sensitive constitutions with chronic miasmic diseases. He found in certain cases that the lower potencies were not able to stimulate a healing reaction, yet at the same time, the higher potencies caused serious aggravation.
He wondered if it was possible to make homeopathic remedies that acted deeply, yet at the same time were gentler on the constitution. Even though the medicinal solutions had greatly improved the centesimal system he wondered how he could overcome aggravations in those cases that were weak, over sensitive, and at the present time incurable. Surely the answer to this question is not in raising the dynamizations to even higher and higher ranges of potency.
By this time Jenichen’s potencies were reaching levels of far beyond 1M, and in Hahnemann’s experience, they were not suitable in weak cases with advanced tissue pathology because of the serious life-threatening aggravations they could cause.
Dr Hahnemann’s greatest desire was to cure these degenerative chronic cases as they proved to be the most resistant to his treatment. The only thing the old Master could do was to begin a completely new series of homeopathic experiments even though he was in his eighties!
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF 50 MILLESIMAL SCALES OF POTENCIES
Dr Hahnemann completed the sixth edition of organon by the end of 1841. he wrote a letter dated 20th February 1842 to Schwab, his publisher in Dusseldorf saying that “I have now after 18 months of work finished the sixth edition of my Organon, the nearly perfect of all.” After stating his preference as to type and paper he asked Schwab if he would publish it. But before the negotiation were completed Hahnemann died on 2nd July 1843, owing to various circumstances but especially due to mercenary tactics of Madam Melanie Hahnemann the work was not published until 1921.
After the publication of the organon in English in 1921, Homoeopaths found the new scale of 50 Millesimal potencies mentioned and advocated as a further advance in the method of treatment. Nobody paid much important to this new scale of potencies as the influence of Dr. Kent was still holding top ranking Homoeopaths of England and United State. The Second World War ended in 1944. peace prevailed in Europe. A few Homoeopaths on the continent began to give serious attention to the sixth edition of Organon which was translated from German into different continental languages.
PREPARATION OF 50-MILLESIMAL POTENCIES
The mode of preparation according to new method (6th edition, Organon of Medicine) has not yet found any place in any homoeopathic pharmacopoeia. Hahnemann himself clearly explained about the mode of preparation in Sec. 270-271 and their footnotes (No. 150-157) of the Organon.
Preparation of 50-Millesimal potency is easier, in the sense that the range of potencies is less and the arrangements are not complicated.
- Preparation of mother tincture: –
- First, the drug substance, soluble or insoluble, solid or liquid, juicy or dry (plants and animals as a whole) is triturated with sugar of milk up to 3rd centesimal potency, i.e. 1 grain of drug substance with 300 grains of sugar of milk for three hours, in the usual manner of trituration.
The final drug strength is :
1/ 1,00,00,000 or 1/ 106
- Conversion of 3rd centesimal trituration into liquid form-To an approximately 60 ml bottle, one grain (0.063gm) of that powder is dissolved (by necessary shaking) in 500 drops of a mixture of one part dispensing alcohol and four parts purified water (500 drops = 100 drops of 20% alcohol + 400 drops purified water).
Thus, the dry trituration is converted into liquid form. We call it “The mother potency of the new method” or mother tincture of the 50-millesimal scale.
The drug strength here will be
1/ 500 X 1/ 106 = 1/ 5 X 108
- Potentization:
- Preparation of 1st potency (0/1):
Into a separate bottle (approximately 10 ml) containing 100 drops of 95% alcohol, one drop of the above-mentioned mother tincture from the 60 ml bottle is placed. The bottle must be large enough so that the solution does not fill more than 2/3rd of it. The bottle is closed with a cork carefully and 100 succussions are given by holding it in the hand and pounding the hand rapidly on a leather-bound book, a surface which, is resilient and elastic. This is the first degree of dynamization or first potency (0/1, or LM/l or M/1).
Conversion in the form of globules:
The small poppy sized globules (100 weighing 1 grain) are moistened with it and spread quickly on a piece of blotting paper to dry it. Then they are kept in a well corked glass phial protected from heat and sunlight with mark 0/1 on it. It is found that 500 standard globules of poppy seed size can hardly absorb one drop of alcohol for their saturation.
(b) Preparation of 2nd potency (0/2):
Only one globule of the first potency is taken in a “second new phial” and add one drop of purified water is added to dissolve it. To it 100 drops of pure alcohol (95%) is added and dynamised with 100 powerful succussions as before.
Conversion in form of globules: With this alcoholic medicinal fluid, globules are again moistened and spread upon blotting paper and dried quickly. These are put into well-stoppered phials protected from heat and sunlight. This is the 2nd degree of Dynamisation or 2nd potency (0/2 or LM/ 2 or M/2 potency).
b) Preparation of next higher potencies:
The above-mentioned process is repeated with one globule to the previous potency to increase to next potency. The process is continued up to 0/30 or onwards up to 0/50.
SPEEDING THE CURE
Not all constitutions respond a single dose. It is more common in chronic disease to need to know how to skillfully a remedy in order to complete a cure. Hahnemann reminds us that the single dose cure is much more common in acute or recent cases than it is in chronic disorders and miasmic diseases.
Vide the second section of § 246.
“This (the single close cure) is not infrequently the case in acute diseases, but in more chronic disease, on the other hand, a single dose of an appropriately selected homeopathic remedy will at times complete even with slowly progressive improvement and give the help which a remedy in such a case can accomplish naturally within 40, 50, 60, 100 days. This is, however, but rarely ‘the case; and besides, it must be a matter of great importance to the physician as well as to the patient that were possible, this period should be diminished to one-half, one-quarter, and even still less, so that a much more rapid cure might be obtained”.
Many individuals read the above paragraph but fail to note that Hahnemann makes a grand differentiation between two fundamental types of remedy reactions.
In the first part of § 246 the founder describes the reaction as a “progressive and strikingly increasing amelioration during treatment”. This is a strikingly progressive increasing amelioration is a reaction that is enhanced day by day. Under such conditions the repetition of the LM potency is normally precluded because the first single dose is already moving the patient toward cure at the fastest possible rate.
In the second section of § 246 the founder uses the words “slowly progressive improvement”. There is a vast difference between a rapid improvement where the patient feels much better every day and a slow improvement where the patient barely notices any changes! It is only in these slow-moving cases that § 246 permits the repetition of the LM potency at suitable intervals to speed the cure.
If we want to speed the cure of these slow-moving cases to 1/2, 1/4 or less the time it takes with the old methods of the 4th edition of Organon one must use special techniques.
What are they, Master Heinemann?
The answer to this question is separated into four parts.
Vide the third section of § 246.
1. “And this may be very happily affected, as recent and oft-repeated observations have taught me under the following conditions: Firstly, if the medicine selected with the utmost care was perfectly homeopathic.”
The first condition for speeding the cure in slow moving cases is that the remedy must be perfectly homeopathic. If the consultant does not have a clear picture of the remedy, it is best to be conservative with the dose.
Repeating the wrong remedy can cause more harm than good. When there is a marked, progressive amelioration of the symptoms on the single test dose, do not repeat the remedy.
If the striking-response lasts forever one does not need to repeat the remedy at all!
If the markedly progressive improvement lasts for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 days, the remedy is only given every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 days respectively. If the increasing amelioration lasts 1, 2, or 3 weeks, the remedy may be repeated every 1, 2, or 3 weeks. If the increasing amelioration lasts 1, 2, or 3 months, the remedy may be repeated every 1, 2, or 3 months. If it lasts 1, 2, or 3 years, give the remedy every 1, 2, or 3 years, etc.
2. “Secondly, if it is highly potentized, dissolved in water, and given in a proper small dose that experience has taught as the most suitable.”
The second condition for speeding the cure is the use of the medicinal solution. Without the liquid dose none of the other advantages of the new method are available. When using the dry pills, the homoeopath should follow the rules laid down in the 4th edition of Organon. This simple change from the static dry dose to the flexible liquid solution is the foundation of all other breakthroughs.
Hahnemann’s Paris casebooks show that the founder used the medicinal solution with his centesimal potencies in exactly the same manner as the LM potency in his last years. The remedy solution is not only more flexible than the dry dose but also much more powerful. Hahnemann also used olfaction of the medicinal solutions as a delivery system.
Vide aphorism § 272.
“Such a globule, placed dry upon the tongue, is one of the smallest doses for a moderate recent case of illness. Here but few nerves are touched by the medicine. A similar globule, crushed with some sugar of milk and dissolved in a good deal of water (refer to § 247) and stirred well before every administration will produce a far more powerful medicine for the use of several days. Every dose, no matter how minute, touches, on the contrary, many nerves.”
Hahnemann also suggested repeating the remedy.
3. “In definite intervals for the quickest accomplishment of the cure [“
The third aspect of speeding the cure is repetition of dose in definite intervals of time. This is a new concept for those practitioners who are not familiar with Hahnemann’s most advanced teachings.
The intervals between these repetitions must be determined by the nature of the reaction to the remedy, the sensitivity of constitution, and the nature of the disease. This allows the homoeopath to personalize the remedy schedule in relationship to the time and progression of the healing process.
4. “…with the precaution, that the degree of every dose deviates somewhat from the preceding and following in order that the vital principle be not aroused to untoward reactions and revolt as is always the case with unmodified and especially rapidly repeated doses.”
This last aspect of the complete dose is the succussion of the remedy solution just prior to the ingestion of the medicine. The succussion of the remedy solution changes the potency of the dose so that the vital force never receives the exact same dose twice in succession. This prevents the relapse of symptoms that appears from the repetition of a dry dose before the cessation of the action of the previous dose.
These four points reflect the improvements that had taken place in Homoeopathy during the period between the years 1833 and 1843. These new methods can only be applied by those homoeopaths that follow the explicit directions that Hahnemann gave in the 5th and 6th editions.
REPETATION OF DOSE
The slight homoeopathic aggravation during the first hours has a very good prognostic value. It means your medicine is correctly chosen and it will cure the disease if it is acute with the first dose. This happens when you use centesimal potency and when we repeat the medicine but when you use 50 millesimal potencies, it happens when the disease is much relieved or cured.
REPETATION IN ACUTE DISEASES
Hahnemann tells us that remedies which usually act for a considerable time have the duration of their action diminished in proportion as” the disease is acute. But if no favorable reaction is there after waiting for a sufficient and proper time the whole case is to be considered again; and a new medicine should be administered. When favorable reaction sets in, administration of a remedy may be ceased or can be given at longer interval. Sometimes it is necessary even to change somewhat a higher potency of the same remedy for speedier cure.
Hahnemann writes, ” ….in acute disease, the repetition can be at very much shorter periods… up to as often as every five minutes in every case in proportion to the more or less rapid course of the disease and of the action of the medicine employed. The dose of the same medicine may be repeated several times according.
to circumstances but only so long as until….. recovery ensures” so repetition in acute condition depends on:-
(1) Correct Homoeopathic Medicine.
(2) Magnitude of the Disease.
(3) Different medicinal substances and their duration of action.
(4) Susceptibility.
(5) Idiosyncrasy.
(6) Vitality of the patient.
(7) Obstacles.
REPETITION IN CHRONIC DISEASES
According to the 6th Edition of Organon.
It must be a matter of great importance to the physician as well as to the patient that were, if possible, this period (40, 50, 60, 100 days) should be diminished to one-half, one quarter and even still less so that a much more rapid cure might be obtained. And this may be very happily affected as recent repeated observations have taught under the following conditions.
- If the medicine, selected with the outmost care, was perfectly Homoeopathic.
- If it is highly potentised dissolved in water and given in proper small dose, and
- If the selected medicine be given at suitable intervals for the quickest accomplishment of the cure but with the precaution, that the degree of every dose deviates somewhat from the proceeding and following in order that the vital principle which is to be altered to a similar medicinal disease be not aroused towards reactions and revolt as is always the case with unmodified and especially rapidly repeated doses.
ACTION OF 50 MILLISIMAL POTENCY
To attain this goal, medicine selected should be suitable as far as possible, highly dynamised, it should be administered in water, repeated at definite intervals and in small doses are the parameters prescribed by Dr Hahnemann. But the most important one to mention with particular stress is that the every repetation will be marked by change in the degree of potency. It is made by 8, 10, 12 successions to the medical solution in between every administration.
Dr Hahnemann made several experiments on repetation with unmodified potency. In all these occasion Hahnemann found either a neutralization of the action of the former dose or a cumulative effect of the medicine due to frequent repetation so he concludes that the vital force will not accept the repetation of same unchanged potency without resistance. A cure can accomplish only if the medicine is applied in several different forms the modification in degree of potency will capable of extracting the disease force from the grip of life principle leading to a permanent and lasting cure.
After administration of suitable medicine in small dose and following small dose and following the law of repetation exclusively to scale 50 millesimal scale a cure can be witnessed by producing a homoeopathic aggravation at the end of treatment. When a reappearance of the old original symptoms is seen the medicine should be repeated at longer intervals or stopped for a while. Meantime convalescence occurs and the intensified symptoms will subside by it leaving the sick patient nothing but health.
CONCLUSION
The suitableness for any given case does not depend on its accurate homoeopathic selection alone, but likewise on the proper size or rather smallness of dose. Under this principle we give medicine to the patient very minute dose. The minimum dose means that quantity of medicine which is though smallest in quantity produces the least possible excitation of the vital force and yet sufficient to effect the necessary change in it.
In § 246 of the 6th edition, Hahnemann said that the time taken for cure could be reduced to 1/2, 1/4th or even shorter. He mentioned in the footnote 132, “What I said in the 5th edition of Organon, in a long note to this paragraph in order to prevent these undesirable reactions of the vital energy was all that the experience I then had justified. But during the last four or five years, however, all these difficulties are wholly solved by my new altered but perfected method.
The same carefully selected medicine may now I be given daily & for months, if necessary, in this way, namely, after the lower degree of potency has been used for one or two weeks in the treatment same way to higher degrees. So, it is clear that in this 50-millesimal scale, in comparison to the centesimal, the desired results are more rapidly obtained, provided the medicine is similimum.
REFERENCES
- Organon of Medicine, 6th edition – Dr. Samuel Hahnemann.
- Genius of Homoeopathy – Stuart Close.
- 50 Millesimal Potency – by Dr. R. P. Patel, 2nd edition.
- Homoeopathic Heritage Vol No. 33, 10th Oct. 2008.
- LM Scale – Dr. Fernando Flores Villalva.
- LM Potency – Dr. Mahadeb De – 1st edition
- Homoeopathic Pharmacy – By Mandal and Mandal 2nd Edition.
- 50 Millesimal Potency – By Dr. Chowdhury.
Co- Author-
Mr. Padmraj Jineshwar Yaligouda
B.H.M.S. Final Year, Bharatesh Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, Belagavi, Karnataka State.
