PHYSICS OF HIGH DILUTIONS


Probably the physical laws governing high dilutions differ from those which govern crude solutions as much as the laws governing high-frequency electricity differ from those governing low-voltage direct currents. Since the laws governing them are not known, a discussion of the physics of high dilutions must be merely suggestive.


FOR. THE FOUNDATION FOR HOMOEOPATHIC RESEARCH.

Scientific knowledge of the ultimate nature of matter is purely conceptual. High dilutions, which term refers here to homoeopathic high potencies above the 200th (100/200), probably represent one of the manifestations of matter in its ultimate form and they offer an unique and possible the most direct means of investigating the ultimate. Probably the physical laws governing high dilutions differ from those which govern crude solutions as much as the laws governing high-frequency electricity differ from those governing low-voltage direct currents. Since the laws governing them are not known, a discussion of the physics of high dilutions must be merely suggestive. On the other hand, concepts of the ultimate of matter which are arrived at by other methods can be questioned, unless confirmed by the facts related to high dilutions.

CONCEPTS OF PRIME MATTER.

Mankind has always wondered about the nature of prime matter. There have always been philosophers who were keen observers with great intuitive insight. There are the earlier myths of two or three thousand years ago in which prime matter was thought to be a solution from which the earth crystallized out. There was the concept of Democritus over 400 years B.C., wherein matter consisted of discrete atoms with empty space between. Aristotle did not accept this, so for many hundred years prime matter was classified under four heads-Earth, Air, Fire and Water-with water as the most important element, because it was thought that it could be transmuted into all of the others.

The Atomic Theory was again revived about 300 years ago. The discovery that there are many simple elements followed, and the relationship between them was formulated into laws until the simple liquid of the Ancients, and the four basic elements of the Greeks had expanded into the 92 elements which we know today. Until the discovery of Radium, the atom was conceived to be the smallest particle of matter, but during the last 30 odd years there has developed the present concept: that matter consists of electrons and protons. All electrons are conceived to be alike, the different elements being made up of different numbers of electrons revolving in planetary orbits around a central nucleus. Today we are guessing as to the ultimate nature of electrons and protons, just as humanity, from time immemorial, has been guessing as to the nature of things.

By some, the electrons is conceived to be a particle, whilst others believe it to be so much energy in the from of an electric charge. Lately, the electron has been shown to have not only the characteristics of a material particle but also the characteristics of a wave. This paradoxical structure does not fit into anything with which the human mind has been experience. Another paradoxical fact has to do with the orbit which an electron occupies in an atom. For each kind of atom there is not only a definite limit to the number of possible orbits but there is a definite and uniform distance between all possible successive orbits.

The paradox lies in the fact that an electron can jump from one orbit to another, and does so, in no time at all, without occupying any space between the orbits. For the reason that we cannot know the true nature of these so-called ultimate particles, our conceptions of electrons are necessarily only symbols for the entities which they represent. Even less is known concerning the nucleus of the atom. It is known to be much smaller and much heavier than the electron and the distance between the nucleus and the revolving electrons of the atom is relatively as great as the distance between the sun and its planets. Thus the mass of an atom is mostly empty space. Regardless of its ultimate characteristics, in everyday life matter has very real qualities and states which are obvious to our senses.

STATES OF MATTER.

In the Earth, there are three common states of matter solid, liquid and gaseous. Temperature and pressure determine the state in which matter shall be. Water is the one substance which appears in all three states at the pressure and temperature normal to the surface of our earth. Boiling water can be subjected to a pressure which changes it to the solid state and this is just as much ice as the solid water in our refrigerator is ice, and as egg encased in this hot ice would be cooked just the same as though it were in water in the liquid form at the same temperature. If the pressure of water be reduced sufficiently, such as it may be on the top of a high mountain, water boils and enters into the gaseous state at too low a temperature to coagulate an egg.

Because the earths surface is solid, matter in the solid state is apt to be accepted as its most usual form. As a matter of fact, the gaseous state is the most usual state of matter throughout the whole universe and matter in the solid state is one of the rarest. The billions of stars, including our own sun, are composed of the same elementary substances as the earth, only in the form of gas. However, star- gas and earth-gas have markedly different characteristics. When we think of a gas, we think of something tenuous, with a consistency something like that of our atmosphere. Really, the density of gas varies with the conditions under which it happens to be.

Some of the stars have the mean density of the atmosphere in which we live, while others have a density equal to or greater than that of platinum and yet are supposed to be gaseous. this last puzzling fact is explainable by the conditions within the stars. The difference between a gas and a liquid or a solid has to do with the closeness with which the atoms are crowded together. In order to be a gas, there must be room for the atoms to move freely about. On this earth, when a gas is sufficiently compressed to impede the freedom of motion of the atom, matter assumes a liquid form and when the molecules are crowded closely enough together to stop the motion of the individual molecules, matter assumes the solid state.

When matter is subjected to pressure it becomes heated; the greater the pressure, the greater the degree of heat. When compared with the earth, the mass of a star is enormous. This means that the gravitational pull toward the centre of a star is proportionately enormous and the pressure within the star becomes so great as to cause a temperature of million of degrees. this great temperature is accompanied by an enormous expenditure of radiant energy which in turn prevents the electrons from remaining in their orbits around the protons. Since nearly all of the bulk of an atom is empty space, only a minute fraction of an atom is occupied by the nucleus.

When most of the electrons are stripped off, the small emasculated atoms can be crowded into very much smaller space and still have the freedom of movement which is necessary for the gaseous state. It is computed that, if all the atoms comprising the earth were stripped of all their electrons and the nuclei were crowded together, they would occupy a space only the size of an orange. Atoms which have lost part of their electrons are known as lions. The whole of the sun is composed of three states of matter: ionized atoms in the form of gas, free electrons and radiant energy. It sounds strange to speak of radiant energy as matter but modern physicists conceive matter and energy to be manifestations of the same thing.

Whatever form matter assumed before it began to condense into star-form, when it does so condense the great heat caused by condensation transforms a part of the star-material into radiant energy. During every second of time, the sun is radiating away four million tons of tits substance. The earth receives the minute fraction of one hundred and sixty tons a day of this energy, in the form of radiant energy. This is partially represented by the light and heat which we receive from the sun. All forms of life, all rain, all winds, in fact all the condition necessary for life are dependent on the radiant energy coming from the sun.

It is generally accepted that the matter which is constantly radiating away from the sun and the stars is lost forever and that it is only a question of time when the whole universe will have run down and become dead. Milliken thinks differently because of the following fact.

A form of radiant energy having a much shorter wave-length than the radiant energy coming from the sun reaches the earth. Milliken has investigated this and finds that it comes from the far reaches of interstellar space. He believes that the radiant energy resulting from the annihilation of star-matter recombines into matter somewhere in space and that the cosmic rays are the result of this rebirth.

The foregoing brief resume of the various states assumed by matter, together with some of the successive concepts of the essence of matter, shows how inadequate are our senses of reveal any of its ultimate qualities or even to make contact with many of its protean forms. Each concept has been related only toe imperfect knowledge of its protean forms. Each concept has been related only to the imperfect knowledge of its day and new knowledge has necessitated each successive concept.

Guy Beckley Stearns