Scientifically, as stated earlier, a material loses its identity and cannot be recognised by any of the modern methods like

spectroscopy or chromotography, when the dilution passes beyond the Avagadro number or the centesimal geometrical dilution by 12 times denoted as 12C. However, Homoeopathic action of the remedies start at 30C and the potencies used widely are 200C and 1000C, the higher dilutions used for deeper actions to root out Chronic, inherited diseases. Basic science research in homeopathy has primarily involved investigations into the chemical and biological activity of highly diluted substances. The most thought-provoking research has involved observation of the physiological responses of living systems to homeopathically potentized solutions. For example, in the 1920s a German researcher conducted a series of studies spanning 12 years in which he showed periodic variations in the growth patterns of plants that had been exposed to a series of homeopathic dilutions of metallic salts (Kolisko, 1932). With the focus of modern biological laboratory research on cellular and organ function, homeopathic studies have more recently been conducted in this area. Such laboratory studies have shown positive effects of homeopathically prepared microdoses. (Davenas et al., 1987), (Cazin et al., 1987), (Doutremepuich et al., 1987), (Davenas et al., 1988; Poitevin et al., 1988). Dr.William E.Boyd of Glasgow explained his research findings in 1954 on potentisation, "The power of solution does not depend solely on dilution, but on the special progressive method in its preparation-the energy latent in the drug is apparently liberated and accentuated by forceful shaking of the liquid at each stage of the process". Dr.F.K.Bellokossy of Denver compares potentisation by succussion or trituration, to production of static electricity of a glass or ebonite rod, rubbed against silk or wool. Every particle, when ground or vigorously agitated in a solution, gets electrically charged, the field and corresponding magnetism increasing with every stage of succussion. Dr. William A.Tiller, a physicist and Prof. of Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering of Stanford University writes: "As humankind evolves, the individual becomes a more integrated, finely tuned system, and more sensitive with respect to changes in subtle energies. Our future medicine will proceed towards the techniques and treatments that use successively finer and finer energies...In my modelling, Homoeopathic remedies treat at the etheric level of substance. (Etheric means not directly observable via our physical senses or instruments). Since this method of treatment is already in use and is easy to practise, I expect it to flourish in near future, while allopathic (standard) medicine declines". That the remedies are effective as proved since its discovery in 1790, and in past two centuries, obviously show that homoeopathic dilutions do not act bio-chemically, but by bio-physical process. The Wave pattern of the function of the remedies has been put forward, after intensive

studies of different potencies on growth of wheat seedlings. The boosting effect at 7C was followed by a retarding effect at 9C, again boosting at 11C, retard at 13C, and so on. These experiments indicate a wavy pattern of the energy transfers from the potentized remedies to the affected bodies. Prof. Jaques Benveniste of Paris has further established the wavy effect in successive potentizations, some such dilutions up to 60C causing certain white blood cells lose their staining ability and further confirmed by independent researchers at France, Italy and Canada besides Israel. The fact that it is not mere dilution, but shaking vigorously or succussion at each dilution that develops the intrinsic powers of the remedy present in the diluent, was one of the conclusions by Dr.Benveniste, attributing the curative powers due to molecular reorganisation of water or alcohol through the hydrogen bondings. As noted earlier, the wavy pattern of functional aspect of the remedies during potentisations, refers to energy distributions in vibratory patterns. It is this vibrational pattern that manifests through external symptoms, signs and mental attitudes, requiring to be matched with the corresponding proved remedy, to stimulate the etheric body, to reharmonize itself and balance the physical body. Discoveries in physics attribute the powers of the homoeopathic dynamization (succussion) to the development of an electrochemical pattern stored in the diluent, which spreads through the body fluids of the patient like a liquid crystal. Using recent developments in quantum physics, they have proposed that electromagnetic energy may exist in the medicines and interact with the body on some level (Delinick, 1991). Another theory widely accepted is the electro-magnetic imprinting developed during potentization that directly triggers the magnetic field of the patient. Researchers in physical chemistry have proposed the "memory of water" theory, whereby the structure of the water-alcohol solution is altered by the medicine during the process of dilution and retains this structure even after none of the actual substance remains (Davenas et al., 1988). In one of the stranger episodes in the recorded history of scientific publishing, the prestigious British research journal Nature recently published experimental results which the editors say they consider utterly impossible. The typically indigestible title of the paper is "Human Basophil Degranulation Triggered by Very Dilute Antiserum Against IgE"14, and the conclusions it proposes have been similarly indigestible to the medical community. The main players in the experiment were a special type of white blood cell known as a basophil and an antibody, IgE. When basophils are normally exposed to this antibody, their chemistry and internal structure change, in a way that is easily checked by staining techniques. But what Benveniste and his colleagues found was that the changes occurred even when the antibody was used up to the 120x potency, a dilution at which it is virtually impossible for even one molecule of the antibody to remain. The results also showed the familiar rhythmic changes in basophil reactions as the potencies increased, a factor still unexplained, even by homoeopaths. The deputy editor of Nature remarked that two centuries of observation and rational thinking about biology will have to be abandoned if the results stand, because they cannot be explained by existing physical laws.

The 13 member international research team headed by Professor Benveniste conducted their experiments after being challenged by two eminent French homoeopaths to disprove homoeopathy once and for all, by conducting a sensitive, tightly controlled experiment in an accredited research centre. The centre chosen was at the University of South Paris, where Professor Benveniste is a Research Director. "That was how it all started", he said. "They challenged us to prove them wrong, and we couldn't." The furore surrounding this experiment has produced some unique reactions within the scientific community, and highlights an important question: how should the scientific establishment deal with anomalous findings that challenge the very roots of established thought? Nature journal had its own answer: it sent a fraud squad comprising one of its editors, a professional magician, and an investigator of scientific frauds from the USA to Benveniste's laboratories. Over a period of a week they criticised shortcomings in experimental design, studied the laboratory records, and interrogated the researchers. Finally, they failed to replicate the results in a double-blind trial, and declared the experiments "a delusion." Benveniste, not unexpectedly, considered the investigation a witch hunt and an outrage. "I welcome any explanation for our findings" he said, "but not this kind of crap." Dr.Benvesiste's claims in "NATURE" were thus contested by the orthodox allopaths, who battered him on various counts to prove his findings scientifically, with control and experiment studies, much to his consternation. The homoeopaths of the world, together with interested onlookers, can be assured that the matter will not rest there. Further interesting reading on the bizarre reactions to homoeopathic experiments on the part of the scientific and medical establishments will surface. Benveniste will undoubtedly be back, with a more tightly controlled experiment which will probably decide, once and for all, the future of homoeopathy. Furthermore, recent clinical trials in Europe have suggested a positive effect of homeopathic medicines on such conditions as allergic rhinitis (Reilly et al., 1986), fibrositis (Fisher et al., 1989), and influenza (Ferley et al., 1989), while an earlier study showed no apparent effect in the treatment of osteo-arthritis by a homeopathic medicine (Shipley et al., 1983). The British Medical Journal published a meta-analysis in 1992 of homeopathic clinical trials, which found that 15 of 22 well-designed studies showed positive results. This study concluded that more methodologically rigorous trials should be done to address the question of efficacy of homeopathic treatment (Kleijnen et al., 1991). A recent doubleblind study comparing homeopathic treatment with placebo in the treatment of acute childhood diarrhoea found a statistically significant improvement in the group receiving the homeopathic treatment (Jacobs et al., 1993). Homeopathic research study design has used different methodologies depending on the question being asked. One of the earliest studies of homeopathy in a peer-reviewed conventional medical journal asked the question, "Is the homeopathic medical system taken as a whole more effective or less detrimental than another treatment or placebo in the condition studied?" In this study, which focused on rheumatoid arthritis, 195 patients who had previously been treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were allocated to placebo treatment or active treatment. The active-treatment population then was divided between aspirin and a homeopathic medication. The homeopathic doctors were allowed to

prescribe any medication at whatever interval, frequency, or potency they considered appropriate. The trial was conducted for a year, and by the end of the year almost 43 percent of the homeopathic treatment group had stopped other treatments and were judged to have improved since the beginning of the study. Another 24 percent of the homeopathic group improved, but they continued on their conventional medications. In contrast, only 15 percent of the aspirin group were maintained and improved on the treatment. The entire placebo group had dropped out within 6 weeks. This study, however, was criticized on some methodological grounds -- principally that the homeopathic prescribers were more committed to the treatment and the patients were easily able to determine who was in the placebo group (Gibson et al., 1978). Subsequently, the same researchers conducted another trial of this type, in which a specific disease was subjected to homeopathic treatment by any one of a number of clinically indicated homeopathic medications. This time, a placebo-controlled, double-blind study showed that the improvements among the homeopathically treated patients were statistically more significant than those of the placebo group (Gibson et al., 1980). A second type of homeopathic study has been used to ask a more specific question, namely, Is a particular homeopathic medication more effective than another treatment or placebo for a particular disease? Fisher and colleagues (1989) asked this question in a study of primary fibromyalgia, a type of inflammation; patients who met recognized diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia were further stratified as patients for whom a particular homeopathic medicine, Rhus toxicodendron 6C, was homeopathically indicated. Patients with the active treatment were better on all variables, and a number of their tender points were reduced by 25 percent at the end of 4 weeks of active treatment in comparison with controls. In a similar study, Reilly and colleagues (1986) used homeopathic medications with hay fever patients to address the issue of whether homeopathic medications are in fact placebos. The researchers directly treated matched groups of approximately 70 patients with a homeopathic medication made from mixed grass pollens at the dilution of one part in 1060. This was done to address the assertion that a potency lacking in any of the original substances could act as more than a placebo. Patients took one tablet twice daily of either placebo or the test drug and were free to use a standard antihistamine at any time during the 5-week study. Only the homeopathically treated group showed a clear reduction in symptoms, and in comparison with the placebo-treated group, twice as many of the homeopathically treated patients had discontinued their antihistamines. This study also demonstrated that even a simple study design requires careful analysis of potential confounding variables, including the clinical observations that some homeopathically treated patients experience temporary aggravation of their symptoms before achieving a sustained improvement. A third type of study simply looks at comparative utilization figures for homeopathic practitioners in a health care system with or without attention to the comparative clinical outcomes. For example, in France, research on cost-effectiveness has shown that the annual cost to the social security system for a homeopathic physician is 54 percent lower than the cost for a conventional physician. Moreover, the same study found that the price of the average homeopathic medicine is one-third that of standard drugs (CNAM, 1991).

Recent surveys in the United States found that most homeopathic patients seek care for chronic illnesses (Jacobs and Crothers, 1991) and that homeopathic physicians spend twice as much time with their patients, order half as many laboratory tests and procedures, and prescribe fewer drugs (Jacobs, 1992). Since treatment of chronic illness accounts for a large proportion of health care expenditures in the United States, the cost-effectiveness of homeopathic medicine should be investigated by comparing homeopathy with conventional treatments for specific chronic illnesses such as recurrent childhood ear infections, allergies, arthritis, headaches, depression, and asthma. Clinical outcomes should be measured as well as such factors as utilization of health services, number of missed days of work or school, patient satisfaction, and overall cost of health care. This research will help determine whether incorporating homeopathy into the national health care scheme would significantly reduce health care costs.