Mechanics of Potentization :
-Sumit Goel.
According to Stuart Close, "Homoeopathic potentiation is a mathematico-mechanical process for the reduction, according to scale, of crude, inert or poisonous medical substances to a state of physical solubility, physiological assimilability and therapeutic activity and harmlessness, for use as homoeopathic healing remedies."
Potentization or drug dynamization is carried out by the mechanical processes of succussion and trituration. For convenient reference, the method of potentization is studied in three parts: -
I. How to prepare Liquid potencies - succussions
II. How to prepare Triturations
III. How to convert Triturations into Liquid potencies
LIQUID POTENCIES - SUCCUSSIONS
Liquid potencies are prepared and potentized by the process of succussion.
It is a process of potentization, by which preparation of medicine takes place by the use of a liquid vehicle like alcohol or water, by shaking in definite method according to Pharmacopoeia. Succussion is a process of potentization of medicinal substances that are soluble in liquid vehicle.
Indications
Medicinal substances that are soluble in alcohol or distilled water are taken for succussion.
Substances belonging to Classes I - IV (tinctures) and Classes V and VI (solutions) of the Old method of preparation of homoeopathic medicines are potentized by the process of succussion.
Vehicle for liquid potencies
Generally alcohol is used in most of the cases (Class I, II, III, IV, VI), except in cases where the medicinal substances are only soluble in water (Class V). In such cases it is only after a certain degree of attenuation has been attained that it is made in alcohol.
Mechanics of Succussion
To make dilutions or attenuations of soluble substances, proceed as follows -
1. The required amount of drug and vehicle is taken in a new, neutral, well cleansed and properly labeled glass phial, keeping 2/3rd of the phial empty. The upper 1/3rd of the phial remains empty. This space is to be kept empty, so that when the succussion is carried out, an effective friction can be generated, when the contained liquid strikes the walls of the phial.
2. The phial is then corked tightly.
3. Shake until the contents are well mixed and blended.
4. The phial is grasped in the right hand with the thumb held firmly over the cork and the bottom of the phial is placed on the pulp of the little finger of the right hand. The remaining fingers tightly grasp the phial.
5. The phial is struck with ten powerful downward strokes of the arm or by striking the closed right hand against open palm of the left hand or a hard, but elastic body, like a leather pad or by a suitable mechanical potentiser, letting each stroke terminate in a jerk.
6. The strokes should be forceful, successive, each stroke ending in a jerk, from uniform distance with uniform strength.
7. The next potency is now ready. Mark the name of the drug with potency on the phial.
Preparation according to scale
(A) On the decimal scale
Take a round phial of suitable size, perfectly clean and new. Fit a good cork into it and mark the name of the drug with 2X on the cork. Remove the cork from the phial. Take one part of the drug into the phial and then add nine parts of the liquid vehicle, taking care that the upper 1/3rd of the phial remains empty for succussion. Fit the cork again into the phial. Grasp the phial in the right hand with the thumb held firmly over the cork and shake it with ten powerful downward strokes of the arm, letting each stroke terminate in a jerk by striking the closed right hand against a leather pad on the open palm of the left hand. The 2X potency is now ready. Mark the name of the drug with 2X potency on the phial.
For all succeeding potencies, add to one part of the preceding dilution, nine parts of the vehicle and succuss the phial as directed.
(B) On the centesimal scale
Take a round phial of suitable size, perfectly clean and new. Fit a good cork into it and mark the name of the drug with 2C on the cork. Remove the cork from the phial. Take one part of the drug into the phial and then add ninety-nine parts of the liquid vehicle, taking care that the upper 1/3rd of the phial remains empty for succussion. Fit the cork again into the phial. Grasp the phial in the right hand with the thumb held firmly over the cork and shake it with ten powerful downward strokes of the arm, letting each stroke terminate in a jerk by striking the closed right hand against a leather pad on the open palm of the left hand. The 2C potency is now ready. Mark the name of the drug with 2C potency on the phial.
For all succeeding potencies, add to one part of the preceding dilution, ninety-nine parts of the vehicle and succuss the phial as directed.
TRITURATIONS
For substances that are insoluble in a suitable liquid vehicle, the potencies are prepared by a process of trituration with an inert substance like sugar of milk.
It is a process of potentization, by which preparation of medicine takes place by the use of a solid vehicle like sugar of milk, by grinding in definite order according to Pharmacopoeia.
All substances are submitted to this process of trituration upto the 3rd potency in the centesimal and fifty millesimal scales and 6th potency in the decimal scale, until the medicine constitutes only the one millionth part of the mixture. These are then converted to a liquid potency and further potentization is carried out by the process of succussion.
Indications
Substances that are insoluble in a suitable liquid vehicle like alcohol and water are subjected to the process of trituration. This is employed for substances belonging to Class VII, Class VIII and Class IX of the Old method of preparation of homoeopathic medicines.
Hard substances, as a general rule, are triturated more easily than soft substances. Zincum and Iridium show finer molecules than Graphites, Mercury and Plumbum. In triturating Plumbum, the pestle has to be used softly. In making the first trituration of Mercury, Graphites and Plumbum, double time is required. In triturating Ferrum metallicum, the moisture has to be driven out by keeping the mortar warm. Argentum nitricum and hygroscopic salts cannot be kept well in trituration.
Vehicle for trituration
The medicinal substance is finely ground with sugar of milk. The preservative properties of sugar of milk are superior to cane sugar and most other substances. Its crystalline particles are very hard and gritty and hence are of great use in grinding down the particles of drugs submitted to the process of trituration, into a fine sub-division, keeping the minutest particles of triturated metals untarnished by oxidation, for an indefinite time. Even readily deflorescent substances like potassium iodide and others that are easily decomposed, are preserved by trituration with equal parts of milk sugar, even if kept in paper capsules, for a much longer time than without the milk sugar. As a result of extended research work, mainly microscopical, preconceived ideas of the role of milk sugar is subject to modification. When milk sugar is a hard, gritty substance admirably adapted to the sub-division of most drug matter ground with it, it does not cause the comminution of substances that are harder than itself. The metals and some other substances may be mentioned in this category. It is, of course, to be remembered that molecular fineness cannot be reached by mortar grinding.
Mechanics of trituration
Substances, whose medicinal power, according to homoeopathic principles must first be brought about by trituration with sugar of milk, ought to be manipulated in a warm and dry atmosphere. Before beginning the work, the cleanliness of the apparatus is confirmed.
Whether a trituration is prepared manually or by a machine, the following process is adopted.
1. One part of the drug substance and required amount of sugar milk, according to scale is taken.
2. The drug substance is taken in a porcelain mortar unglazed or ground to an unpolished surface by rubbing with wet sand.
3. The sugar of milk is divided into three parts in a definite ratio, on a suitable measuring tile.
4. The process of trituration consumes one hour time. (a) The entire process is divided into three stages. Each stage consumes twenty minutes. In each stage, one part of sugar of milk is added.
(b) Each stage is divided into two sub-stages that consume ten minutes each. The process carried out in the first ten minutes of each stage is repeated for the next ten minutes.
(c) Each sub-stage of ten minutes consists of - grinding or pulverizing for six minutes; and scraping and mixing for four minutes.
5. Trituration is done for six minutes with pestle fully pressed down with firm grip and thumb on top. It is firmly moved in anticlockwise direction for a right-handed person, in a circular fashion, going from center to periphery and back from periphery to center without lifting the hand, movement being at wrist joint. The mixture is then thoroughly scraped from the walls of the mortar with the spatula and mixed uniformly together.
In a machine operated mortar and pestle, the pestle rotates with friction and is free to rise and fall in the mortar, so that its grinding action involves both impact and shear, the material being crushed and rubbed between it and the rotating mortar. Spring loaded scrapers ensure that the material is constantly returned to the grinding area and at the end of the operation, the pestle can be swung clear of the mortar to facilitate emptying and cleaning.
STAGE ONE - DURATION 20 MINUTES
Sub-stage one
The drug substance is taken the mortar and the first part of sugar of milk is added to it. The mixture is mixed and blended together with a spatula. The mixture is triturated in the manner as described for a period of six minutes. It is then scraped from the walls of the mortar to which it adheres and uniformly mixed with the spatula for a period of four minutes.
Sub-stage two
The same mixture after ten minutes of process is again subjected to pulverizing for six minutes and scraping and mixing for four minutes. This completes twenty minutes of the process and stage one.
STAGE TWO - DURATION 20 MINUTES
Sub-stage one
The second part os sugar of milk is now added to the mixture in the mortar and uniformly mixed with the spatula. The mixture is triturated in the manner as described for a period of six minutes. It is then scraped from the walls of the mortar to which it adheres and uniformly mixed with the spatula for a period of four minutes.
Sub-stage two
This mixture is again subjected to pulverizing for six minutes and scraping and mixing for four minutes. This completes forty minutes of the process and stage two.
STAGE THREE - DURATION 20 MINUTES
Sub-stage one
The third and final part of sugar of milk is now added to the mixture in the mortar and uniformly mixed with the spatula. The mixture is triturated in the manner as described for a period of six minutes. It is then scraped from the walls of the mortar to which it adheres and uniformly mixed with the spatula for a period of four minutes.
Sub-stage two This mixture is again subjected to pulverizing for six minutes and scraping and mixing for four minutes. This completes sixty minutes of the process and the final and third stage of trituration.
PREPARATION ACCORDING TO SCALE
(A) On the decimal scale
One part by weight of the drug to be triturated is taken. The total quantity of milk sugar taken is nine parts by weight.
The sugar of milk is divided into three parts (1 part : 3 parts : 5 parts) as per pharmacopoeia. The sugar of milk, according to some authorities may also be divided into three equal parts (3 parts: 3 parts : 3 parts). The division of sugar of milk is carried out with the understanding that there is a homogenous and uniform mixing of the drug with the vehicle.
The trituration is then carried out with the three parts of sugar of milk, as directed. This is preserved with the label mentioning the name of the remedy with the potency 1X.
For the subsequent potencies, upto 6X, one part by weight of the preceding potency is triturated for one hour with nine parts by weight of sugar of milk as directed to give the desired potency.
(B) On the centesimal scale One part by weight of the drug to be triturated is taken. The total quantity of milk sugar taken is ninety nine parts by weight.
The sugar of milk is divided into three parts (11 parts : 33 parts : 55 parts) as per pharmacopoeia. Hahnemann, while triturating, divided sugar of milk into three equal parts (33 parts : 33 parts : 33 parts).
The trituration is then carried out with the three parts of sugar of milk, as directed. This is preserved with the label mentioning the name of the remedy with the potency 1C.
For the subsequent potencies, upto 3C, one part by weight of the preceding potency is triturated for one hour with ninety nine parts by weight of sugar of milk as directed to give the desired potency.
FACTORS AFFECTING SIZE REDUCTION
1. Hardness - in general, the harder the material, the more difficult it is to reduce in size.
2. Toughness - a soft but tough material may pose more problems than a hard but brittle substance.
3. Abrasiveness - abrasiveness is a property of hard materials, particularly those of mineral origin and may limit the type of machinery that can be used.
4. Stickiness - this is a property that can cause considerable difficulty in size reduction due to adhesion to the grinding surface. The reverse of this property, slipperiness, can also give rise to size reduction difficulties, since the material acts as a lubricant and lowers the efficiency of the grinding surfaces.
POWDER MIXING
The usual practical result of mixing is a random distribution. The object of mixing is to produce a bulk of mixture that is subdivided to individual parts, and it is important that each part should contain the correct proportions. Ideally, perfect mixing could be said to have occurred when each particle of one material was lying as nearly adjacent as possible to a particle of another material.
EVALUATION OF MIXING IN TRITURATION
Assessment of the degree of mixing and checking of the final product involves sampling and analysis. This is an area that needs to be studied further, as an effective mixing ensures uniform distribution of medicine with vehicle so that any potency should correspond to its drug strength.
CONVERSION OF TRITURATION INTO LIQUID POTENCIES
Potentiation of the 3rd centesimal and 6th decimal trituration The substances triturated upto the 3rd centesimal scale and upto the 6th decimal scale are brought to such a degree of attenuation that they combine with a liquid medium such as alcohol or water and can thus be carried to a still higher degree of subdivision.
* For the 3rd centesimal potency
In order to prepare the solution of the trituration and bring the potentized power into the liquid state - 50 drops of distilled water are added with the measuring glass to 1 grain of the 3rd trituration, and this by agitation is readily dissolved. Then 50 drops of dispensing alcohol are added and the stoppered vial, only 2/3rd filled with the mixture shaken ten times. This is the 4th potency.
Of this, 1 drop is added to 99 drops of dispensing alcohol and the well-corked vial shaken 10 times. This is the 5th potency. The following potencies are prepared with 1 drop of the preceding potency to 99 drops of dispensing alcohol and shaken 10 times.
* For the 6th decimal potency - "Jumping Potency"
Dissolve one part by weight of the 6X trituration in fifty parts by volume of purified water to which fifty parts by volume of dispensing alcohol is added. Give 10 succussions to this liquid mixture.
Number 7X dilution from 6X trituration is not possible. The first potency prepared from 6X trituration is 8X. Subsequent potencies are prepared in the usual manner, but in preparing the first potency from 8X potency, use dilute alcohol. The 7th, according to the rule governing this scale cannot be prepared in the proportion of one to nine.
Distil water is added first to dissolve the mixture that mainly contains sugar of milk. The drug substance is present in a ratio of 1 in 1000000 parts of the 6th decimal potency. This mixture is found to be soluble in water, even though the original drug substance was insoluble in water and alcohol. Alcohol is added to this solution, as further potencies are prepared in this vehicle.
To get 7X potency from 6X, 5 parts by volume of water and 5 parts by volume of alcohol are required to succuss 1 part of 6X potency. This quantity is not sufficient to dissolve the solute. Thus, 50 parts each by volume of water and alcohol is required for the dissolution of 1 part of 6X potency. After succussion, the solute is found to be reduced 100 (10 X 10) times, giving a drug strength equivalent to 8X potency.
Hence, the potency of 7X is skipped when 6X is converted into a liquid potency. This is termed as "Jumping Potency", defined as the conversion of trituration to succussion in decimal scale where 6X is converted to 8X.
The conversion is done at 6X, as the strength of the drug substance is so less, that it goes into solution or gets suspended and submits itself to further potentization by succussion.
Particle size and solution
The rate of solution under conditions of constant agitation and temperature is proportional to the surface area of the solid in contact with the solvent. Thus, the rate of solvent is increased by using finely divided solids that have a high surface area per unit weight.
IMPORTANCE OF 3C TRITURATION IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINES
Based on the original trituration of gold made in 1818, Hahnemann introduced trituration upto 3C as a general method of use in homoeopathic pharmacy from 1835 onwards, thus distancing himself from the use of solutions and mother tinctures. He found that 3C triturated medicines were most effective with constituents retained to a much higher degree and improved storage qualities.
Hahnemann knew of the medicinal use of powdered gold. Initially he experimented with soluble gold compounds. The acid radical altered the properties of the matter, however, and he therefore tried to find a method of processing the pure metal. In 1818, he triturated gold leaf with lactose and found the 1C potency to be highly effective in the treatment of suicidal depression. He then also triturated Aurum to produce higher potencies and made trituration the general processing method in homoeopathic pharmacy.
ADVANTAGES OF 3C TRITURATION
Initially Hahnemann triturated medicines upto the 12C and in 1835 changed to the 3C producing higher potencies in fluid form. Compared to medicines produced from mother tinctures and solutions, this offered the following advantages.
* MORE POWERFUL ACTION
In the first edition of Chronic Diseases, published in 1828, Hahnemann stated that by using the 3C trituration of Iodum, evolution of medicinal power was 'much more complete' than with solution based potencies.
"If you take one grain, and triturate it for 3 hours with 3 times 100 grains of lactose, to achieve the 1:1000000 trituration in powder form (3C), dissolve 1 grain of this in 100 drops of spirits of wine mixed with water and succuss, as far as decillionth (30C); as with this method the dynamic potential of iodine is developed to a much higher degree than by the method I used originally, the evolution of medicinal power, being much more complete."
* MORE PERFECT MEDICINES
In 1818, Hahnemann prepared Sulphur as a trituration, but later he also used the solution known as 'tinctura sulphuris'. He found that triturated sulphur had more powerful medicinal actions than the potentized solution, which led him to call the 3C trituration the 'most perfect Sulphur medicine'.
* TRITURATION OF FRESH PLANT MATERIAL
Originally Hahnemann used trituration only for processing dry solids. Later he also triturated freshly pressed plant juices, establishing in the case of Mezereum, Oleander and Thuja with the trituration of the 3C followed by potentizing in fluid form these 'acquire more of dynamization' compared to mother tincture-based potencies.
"The fresh juice thus seems to acquire more of dynamization, as experience teaches me, than when the juice without any preparation by triturating is merely diluted in thirty vials of alcohol and potentized each time with two succussive strokes."
According to the 6th edition of the Organon, Hahnemann used trituration to the 3C also for fresh plant materials. The edition still contains the old details relating to the production of tinctures from the 5th edition, but in aphorism 271, a clear preference is shown for trituration of fresh plant materials.
"If the physician prepares his homoeopathic medicines himself... he may use the fresh plant itself ... if he does not need the expressed juice perhaps for purposes of healing. He takes a few grains in a mortar and with 100 grains sugar of milk three distinct times brings them to the one-millionth trituration..."
* RETAINING ALL NATURAL CONSTITUENTS A major advantage of trituration with lactose is that all the natural constituents are incorporated in the medicine. Mother tinctures, on the other hand, are extracts containing only such constituents as are soluble in the ethanol-water mixture, with all insoluble constituents excluded.
Tinctures contain only the soluble constituents, with many active principles excluded; among them, proteins, enzymes, fats, fatty oils, fat-soluble vitamins, mucins, waxes, cellulose, etc.
* SHELF LIFE - GUARANTEED Another advantage is the almost unlimited shelf life of trituration-based potencies. Hahnemann called the 3C triturations of China and Ipecacuanha - 'far more easily preserved' than the alcoholic tinctures.
* 3C - STANDARD METHOD - FIFTY MILLESIMAL SCALE In the later period of his life, Hahnemann used and recommended trituration to the 3C for all medicines, the exception being aggressive acids and extremely hygroscopic salts, where trituration is not possible.
Hahnemann's last literature, the 6th and the final edition of Organon describes trituration to the 3C without exception for the preparation of potencies according to the fifty millesimal scale in aphorism 270 - ' In order to best obtain this development of power, a small part of the substance to be dynamized, say one grain, is triturated for three hours with three times one hundred grains sugar of milk according to the method described upto the one-millionth part in powder form'.
PHYSICS OF POTENTIZATION
The solution to the problems of potentization must be sought in physics and not in chemistry.
The latter part of the 20th century has seen the advent of experimental studies using various forms of spectroscopy, particularly nuclear magnetic resonance.
Homoeopathic medicines are prepared by successive reduction (1:10 or 1:100) of the material quantities of the medicine (solute, according to physics) in a solution with vigorous shaking at each stage. The solvents generally used are water, ethyl alcohol, sucrose and lactose.
Beyond the 12th centesimal potency, the presence of solute is 10-24 parts in 1 part of the solution. According to Avogadro's hypothesis, there are 6.023 X 1023 molecules in a gram mole of any substance. Thus it is physically not possible to have any solute in a solution beyond this potency. And yet homoeopathic preparations are active much beyond this potency!!!
As a chemical, there is no difference between a solvent and potentised solvent. They should be identical since there is absolutely nothing else that exists in a potentised solvent that is not there in the solvent from which it is prepared. If there is a difference between the potentised and unpotentised solvent, the answer lies in Physics. It may be deduced, that since there is no external energy dictating a difference in a solvent and a potency of a medicine prepared in it, the difference must be of some minute changes in the intermolecular arrangements in these systems.
ROLE OF FRICTION IN DYNAMIZATION PROCESS
The effect of friction is so great, that not only the physical properties such as heat, odour, etc are thereby called into life and developed by it, but also the dynamic medicinal powers of natural substances.
* When a piece of steel is strongly and rapidly rubbed against a hard stone (agate, flint), an operation that is termed as striking fire, incandescent sparks fly off. When sparks are thus struck with sufficient force and caught on a sheet of white paper, small pellets of steel may be found lying there that have detached from the surface of the steel by friction with the flint and have fallen in an incandescent state, like small fire balls upon the paper, where they cooled.
Can the violent friction of the flint and steel cause such a degree of heat as to fuse steel into little balls? Does it not require a heat of atleast 3000oF in order to melt steel? Whence comes this tremendous heat? Not out of the air, for this phenomenon takes place just as well in the vacuum of the air pump; therefore it must come from the substances that are rubbed together.
* Horn, ivory, bone, the calcareous stone impregnated with petroleum, etc have of themselves no smell, but when filed or rubbed, they not only emit an odour, but an extremely foetid one.
* Experience teaches several changes that could be brought about in different natural substances by means of friction. For instance, warmth, heat, fire, development of odour in odourless bodies, magnetization of steel, and so forth.
* The same thing is seen in a bar of iron and steel where a slumbering trace of latent magnetic force cannot but be recognized in their interior. Both, after their completion by means of the forge stand upright, repulse the north pole of a magnetic needle with the lower end attract the south pole, while the upper end shows itself as the south pole of the magnetic needle. But this is only a latent force; not even the finest iron particles can be drawn magnetically or held on either end of such a bar.
* Only after this bar of steel is dynamized, rubbing it with a dull file in one direction, will it become a true active powerful magnet, one able to attract iron and steel to itself and impart to another bar of steel by mere contact and even some distance away, magnetic power and this in a higher degree the more it has been rubbed.
But all these properties produced by friction were related only to physical and inanimate things, whereas it is a law of nature according to which physiological and pathogenic changes take place in the body's condition by means of forces capable of changing the crude material of drugs, even in such as had never shown any medicinal properties.
This is brought about by trituration and succussion, but under the condition of employing and indifferent vehicle in certain proportions. Triturating a medicinal substance and shaking of its solution (dynamization, potentiation) develop the medicinal powers hidden within and manifest them more and more or if one may say so, spiritualizes the material substance itself.
On this account it refers only to the increase and stronger development of their power to cause changes in the health of animals and men if these natural substances in this improved state, are brought very near to the living sensitive fibre or come in contact with it (by means of intake or olfaction). Just as a magnetic bar especially if its magnetic force is increased (dynamized) can show magnetic power only in a needle of steel whose pole is near or touches it. The steel itself remains unchanged in the remaining chemical and physical properties and can bring about no changes in other metals (for instance, in brass), just as little as dynamized medicines can have any action upon lifeless things.
SELF ASSESSMENT
* What is potentization? Discuss the method of succussion or trituration in detail.
* How will you prepare Carbo veg 1X from crude vegetable charcoal? How will you prepare a liquid potency of Carbo Veg?
* What is Jumping Potency? Explain in detail.
* What is the role of friction in dynamization process?
* Differentiate between succussion and trituration.
QUIZ 1. For trituration, sugar of milk is commonly used, instead of other solid vehicles, because it is
(a) Cheaper than other solid vehicles
(b) Best crystalline substance and gritty to touch
(c) Prepared from goat's milk
(d) White in color
2. In succussion, every ten downward strokes
(a) Decreases the dynamic strength of the medicine by one degree
(b) Decreases the dynamic strength of the medicine by ten degrees
(c) Increases the dynamic strength of the medicine by one degree
(d) Increases the dynamic strength of the medicine by ten degrees
3. To convert 8X into 9X in decimal scale, it is necessary to take
(a) 1 part of 8X and 99 parts of dilute alcohol
(b) 1 part of 8X and 9 parts of dilute alcohol
(c) 1 part of 8X and 99 parts of strong alcohol
(d) 1 part of 8X and 99 parts of strong alcohol
4. Triturations were followed in
(a) Class I - IV
(b) Class VA, VB
(c) Class VIA, VIB
(d) Class VII - IX
5. During trituration, Hahnemann divided the sugar of milk in the ratio
(a) 33:33:33
(b) 1:3:5
(c) 11:33:55
(d) Hahnemann did not divide sugar of milk into three parts
ANSWERS: 1 (b); 2 (c); 3 (b); 4 (d); 5 (d).
According to Stuart Close, "Homoeopathic potentiation is a mathematico-mechanical process for the reduction, according to scale, of crude, inert or poisonous medical substances to a state of physical solubility, physiological assimilability and therapeutic activity and harmlessness, for use as homoeopathic healing remedies."
Potentization or drug dynamization is carried out by the mechanical processes of succussion and trituration. For convenient reference, the method of potentization is studied in three parts: -
I. How to prepare Liquid potencies - succussions
II. How to prepare Triturations
III. How to convert Triturations into Liquid potencies
LIQUID POTENCIES - SUCCUSSIONS
Liquid potencies are prepared and potentized by the process of succussion.
It is a process of potentization, by which preparation of medicine takes place by the use of a liquid vehicle like alcohol or water, by shaking in definite method according to Pharmacopoeia. Succussion is a process of potentization of medicinal substances that are soluble in liquid vehicle.
Indications
Medicinal substances that are soluble in alcohol or distilled water are taken for succussion.
Substances belonging to Classes I - IV (tinctures) and Classes V and VI (solutions) of the Old method of preparation of homoeopathic medicines are potentized by the process of succussion.
Vehicle for liquid potencies
Generally alcohol is used in most of the cases (Class I, II, III, IV, VI), except in cases where the medicinal substances are only soluble in water (Class V). In such cases it is only after a certain degree of attenuation has been attained that it is made in alcohol.
Mechanics of Succussion
To make dilutions or attenuations of soluble substances, proceed as follows -
1. The required amount of drug and vehicle is taken in a new, neutral, well cleansed and properly labeled glass phial, keeping 2/3rd of the phial empty. The upper 1/3rd of the phial remains empty. This space is to be kept empty, so that when the succussion is carried out, an effective friction can be generated, when the contained liquid strikes the walls of the phial.
2. The phial is then corked tightly.
3. Shake until the contents are well mixed and blended.
4. The phial is grasped in the right hand with the thumb held firmly over the cork and the bottom of the phial is placed on the pulp of the little finger of the right hand. The remaining fingers tightly grasp the phial.
5. The phial is struck with ten powerful downward strokes of the arm or by striking the closed right hand against open palm of the left hand or a hard, but elastic body, like a leather pad or by a suitable mechanical potentiser, letting each stroke terminate in a jerk.
6. The strokes should be forceful, successive, each stroke ending in a jerk, from uniform distance with uniform strength.
7. The next potency is now ready. Mark the name of the drug with potency on the phial.
Preparation according to scale
(A) On the decimal scale
Take a round phial of suitable size, perfectly clean and new. Fit a good cork into it and mark the name of the drug with 2X on the cork. Remove the cork from the phial. Take one part of the drug into the phial and then add nine parts of the liquid vehicle, taking care that the upper 1/3rd of the phial remains empty for succussion. Fit the cork again into the phial. Grasp the phial in the right hand with the thumb held firmly over the cork and shake it with ten powerful downward strokes of the arm, letting each stroke terminate in a jerk by striking the closed right hand against a leather pad on the open palm of the left hand. The 2X potency is now ready. Mark the name of the drug with 2X potency on the phial.
For all succeeding potencies, add to one part of the preceding dilution, nine parts of the vehicle and succuss the phial as directed.
(B) On the centesimal scale
Take a round phial of suitable size, perfectly clean and new. Fit a good cork into it and mark the name of the drug with 2C on the cork. Remove the cork from the phial. Take one part of the drug into the phial and then add ninety-nine parts of the liquid vehicle, taking care that the upper 1/3rd of the phial remains empty for succussion. Fit the cork again into the phial. Grasp the phial in the right hand with the thumb held firmly over the cork and shake it with ten powerful downward strokes of the arm, letting each stroke terminate in a jerk by striking the closed right hand against a leather pad on the open palm of the left hand. The 2C potency is now ready. Mark the name of the drug with 2C potency on the phial.
For all succeeding potencies, add to one part of the preceding dilution, ninety-nine parts of the vehicle and succuss the phial as directed.
TRITURATIONS
For substances that are insoluble in a suitable liquid vehicle, the potencies are prepared by a process of trituration with an inert substance like sugar of milk.
It is a process of potentization, by which preparation of medicine takes place by the use of a solid vehicle like sugar of milk, by grinding in definite order according to Pharmacopoeia.
All substances are submitted to this process of trituration upto the 3rd potency in the centesimal and fifty millesimal scales and 6th potency in the decimal scale, until the medicine constitutes only the one millionth part of the mixture. These are then converted to a liquid potency and further potentization is carried out by the process of succussion.
Indications
Substances that are insoluble in a suitable liquid vehicle like alcohol and water are subjected to the process of trituration. This is employed for substances belonging to Class VII, Class VIII and Class IX of the Old method of preparation of homoeopathic medicines.
Hard substances, as a general rule, are triturated more easily than soft substances. Zincum and Iridium show finer molecules than Graphites, Mercury and Plumbum. In triturating Plumbum, the pestle has to be used softly. In making the first trituration of Mercury, Graphites and Plumbum, double time is required. In triturating Ferrum metallicum, the moisture has to be driven out by keeping the mortar warm. Argentum nitricum and hygroscopic salts cannot be kept well in trituration.
Vehicle for trituration
The medicinal substance is finely ground with sugar of milk. The preservative properties of sugar of milk are superior to cane sugar and most other substances. Its crystalline particles are very hard and gritty and hence are of great use in grinding down the particles of drugs submitted to the process of trituration, into a fine sub-division, keeping the minutest particles of triturated metals untarnished by oxidation, for an indefinite time. Even readily deflorescent substances like potassium iodide and others that are easily decomposed, are preserved by trituration with equal parts of milk sugar, even if kept in paper capsules, for a much longer time than without the milk sugar. As a result of extended research work, mainly microscopical, preconceived ideas of the role of milk sugar is subject to modification. When milk sugar is a hard, gritty substance admirably adapted to the sub-division of most drug matter ground with it, it does not cause the comminution of substances that are harder than itself. The metals and some other substances may be mentioned in this category. It is, of course, to be remembered that molecular fineness cannot be reached by mortar grinding.
Mechanics of trituration
Substances, whose medicinal power, according to homoeopathic principles must first be brought about by trituration with sugar of milk, ought to be manipulated in a warm and dry atmosphere. Before beginning the work, the cleanliness of the apparatus is confirmed.
Whether a trituration is prepared manually or by a machine, the following process is adopted.
1. One part of the drug substance and required amount of sugar milk, according to scale is taken.
2. The drug substance is taken in a porcelain mortar unglazed or ground to an unpolished surface by rubbing with wet sand.
3. The sugar of milk is divided into three parts in a definite ratio, on a suitable measuring tile.
4. The process of trituration consumes one hour time. (a) The entire process is divided into three stages. Each stage consumes twenty minutes. In each stage, one part of sugar of milk is added.
(b) Each stage is divided into two sub-stages that consume ten minutes each. The process carried out in the first ten minutes of each stage is repeated for the next ten minutes.
(c) Each sub-stage of ten minutes consists of - grinding or pulverizing for six minutes; and scraping and mixing for four minutes.
5. Trituration is done for six minutes with pestle fully pressed down with firm grip and thumb on top. It is firmly moved in anticlockwise direction for a right-handed person, in a circular fashion, going from center to periphery and back from periphery to center without lifting the hand, movement being at wrist joint. The mixture is then thoroughly scraped from the walls of the mortar with the spatula and mixed uniformly together.
In a machine operated mortar and pestle, the pestle rotates with friction and is free to rise and fall in the mortar, so that its grinding action involves both impact and shear, the material being crushed and rubbed between it and the rotating mortar. Spring loaded scrapers ensure that the material is constantly returned to the grinding area and at the end of the operation, the pestle can be swung clear of the mortar to facilitate emptying and cleaning.
STAGE ONE - DURATION 20 MINUTES
Sub-stage one
The drug substance is taken the mortar and the first part of sugar of milk is added to it. The mixture is mixed and blended together with a spatula. The mixture is triturated in the manner as described for a period of six minutes. It is then scraped from the walls of the mortar to which it adheres and uniformly mixed with the spatula for a period of four minutes.
Sub-stage two
The same mixture after ten minutes of process is again subjected to pulverizing for six minutes and scraping and mixing for four minutes. This completes twenty minutes of the process and stage one.
STAGE TWO - DURATION 20 MINUTES
Sub-stage one
The second part os sugar of milk is now added to the mixture in the mortar and uniformly mixed with the spatula. The mixture is triturated in the manner as described for a period of six minutes. It is then scraped from the walls of the mortar to which it adheres and uniformly mixed with the spatula for a period of four minutes.
Sub-stage two
This mixture is again subjected to pulverizing for six minutes and scraping and mixing for four minutes. This completes forty minutes of the process and stage two.
STAGE THREE - DURATION 20 MINUTES
Sub-stage one
The third and final part of sugar of milk is now added to the mixture in the mortar and uniformly mixed with the spatula. The mixture is triturated in the manner as described for a period of six minutes. It is then scraped from the walls of the mortar to which it adheres and uniformly mixed with the spatula for a period of four minutes.
Sub-stage two This mixture is again subjected to pulverizing for six minutes and scraping and mixing for four minutes. This completes sixty minutes of the process and the final and third stage of trituration.
PREPARATION ACCORDING TO SCALE
(A) On the decimal scale
One part by weight of the drug to be triturated is taken. The total quantity of milk sugar taken is nine parts by weight.
The sugar of milk is divided into three parts (1 part : 3 parts : 5 parts) as per pharmacopoeia. The sugar of milk, according to some authorities may also be divided into three equal parts (3 parts: 3 parts : 3 parts). The division of sugar of milk is carried out with the understanding that there is a homogenous and uniform mixing of the drug with the vehicle.
The trituration is then carried out with the three parts of sugar of milk, as directed. This is preserved with the label mentioning the name of the remedy with the potency 1X.
For the subsequent potencies, upto 6X, one part by weight of the preceding potency is triturated for one hour with nine parts by weight of sugar of milk as directed to give the desired potency.
(B) On the centesimal scale One part by weight of the drug to be triturated is taken. The total quantity of milk sugar taken is ninety nine parts by weight.
The sugar of milk is divided into three parts (11 parts : 33 parts : 55 parts) as per pharmacopoeia. Hahnemann, while triturating, divided sugar of milk into three equal parts (33 parts : 33 parts : 33 parts).
The trituration is then carried out with the three parts of sugar of milk, as directed. This is preserved with the label mentioning the name of the remedy with the potency 1C.
For the subsequent potencies, upto 3C, one part by weight of the preceding potency is triturated for one hour with ninety nine parts by weight of sugar of milk as directed to give the desired potency.
FACTORS AFFECTING SIZE REDUCTION
1. Hardness - in general, the harder the material, the more difficult it is to reduce in size.
2. Toughness - a soft but tough material may pose more problems than a hard but brittle substance.
3. Abrasiveness - abrasiveness is a property of hard materials, particularly those of mineral origin and may limit the type of machinery that can be used.
4. Stickiness - this is a property that can cause considerable difficulty in size reduction due to adhesion to the grinding surface. The reverse of this property, slipperiness, can also give rise to size reduction difficulties, since the material acts as a lubricant and lowers the efficiency of the grinding surfaces.
POWDER MIXING
The usual practical result of mixing is a random distribution. The object of mixing is to produce a bulk of mixture that is subdivided to individual parts, and it is important that each part should contain the correct proportions. Ideally, perfect mixing could be said to have occurred when each particle of one material was lying as nearly adjacent as possible to a particle of another material.
EVALUATION OF MIXING IN TRITURATION
Assessment of the degree of mixing and checking of the final product involves sampling and analysis. This is an area that needs to be studied further, as an effective mixing ensures uniform distribution of medicine with vehicle so that any potency should correspond to its drug strength.
CONVERSION OF TRITURATION INTO LIQUID POTENCIES
Potentiation of the 3rd centesimal and 6th decimal trituration The substances triturated upto the 3rd centesimal scale and upto the 6th decimal scale are brought to such a degree of attenuation that they combine with a liquid medium such as alcohol or water and can thus be carried to a still higher degree of subdivision.
* For the 3rd centesimal potency
In order to prepare the solution of the trituration and bring the potentized power into the liquid state - 50 drops of distilled water are added with the measuring glass to 1 grain of the 3rd trituration, and this by agitation is readily dissolved. Then 50 drops of dispensing alcohol are added and the stoppered vial, only 2/3rd filled with the mixture shaken ten times. This is the 4th potency.
Of this, 1 drop is added to 99 drops of dispensing alcohol and the well-corked vial shaken 10 times. This is the 5th potency. The following potencies are prepared with 1 drop of the preceding potency to 99 drops of dispensing alcohol and shaken 10 times.
* For the 6th decimal potency - "Jumping Potency"
Dissolve one part by weight of the 6X trituration in fifty parts by volume of purified water to which fifty parts by volume of dispensing alcohol is added. Give 10 succussions to this liquid mixture.
Number 7X dilution from 6X trituration is not possible. The first potency prepared from 6X trituration is 8X. Subsequent potencies are prepared in the usual manner, but in preparing the first potency from 8X potency, use dilute alcohol. The 7th, according to the rule governing this scale cannot be prepared in the proportion of one to nine.
Distil water is added first to dissolve the mixture that mainly contains sugar of milk. The drug substance is present in a ratio of 1 in 1000000 parts of the 6th decimal potency. This mixture is found to be soluble in water, even though the original drug substance was insoluble in water and alcohol. Alcohol is added to this solution, as further potencies are prepared in this vehicle.
To get 7X potency from 6X, 5 parts by volume of water and 5 parts by volume of alcohol are required to succuss 1 part of 6X potency. This quantity is not sufficient to dissolve the solute. Thus, 50 parts each by volume of water and alcohol is required for the dissolution of 1 part of 6X potency. After succussion, the solute is found to be reduced 100 (10 X 10) times, giving a drug strength equivalent to 8X potency.
Hence, the potency of 7X is skipped when 6X is converted into a liquid potency. This is termed as "Jumping Potency", defined as the conversion of trituration to succussion in decimal scale where 6X is converted to 8X.
The conversion is done at 6X, as the strength of the drug substance is so less, that it goes into solution or gets suspended and submits itself to further potentization by succussion.
Particle size and solution
The rate of solution under conditions of constant agitation and temperature is proportional to the surface area of the solid in contact with the solvent. Thus, the rate of solvent is increased by using finely divided solids that have a high surface area per unit weight.
IMPORTANCE OF 3C TRITURATION IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINES
Based on the original trituration of gold made in 1818, Hahnemann introduced trituration upto 3C as a general method of use in homoeopathic pharmacy from 1835 onwards, thus distancing himself from the use of solutions and mother tinctures. He found that 3C triturated medicines were most effective with constituents retained to a much higher degree and improved storage qualities.
Hahnemann knew of the medicinal use of powdered gold. Initially he experimented with soluble gold compounds. The acid radical altered the properties of the matter, however, and he therefore tried to find a method of processing the pure metal. In 1818, he triturated gold leaf with lactose and found the 1C potency to be highly effective in the treatment of suicidal depression. He then also triturated Aurum to produce higher potencies and made trituration the general processing method in homoeopathic pharmacy.
ADVANTAGES OF 3C TRITURATION
Initially Hahnemann triturated medicines upto the 12C and in 1835 changed to the 3C producing higher potencies in fluid form. Compared to medicines produced from mother tinctures and solutions, this offered the following advantages.
* MORE POWERFUL ACTION
In the first edition of Chronic Diseases, published in 1828, Hahnemann stated that by using the 3C trituration of Iodum, evolution of medicinal power was 'much more complete' than with solution based potencies.
"If you take one grain, and triturate it for 3 hours with 3 times 100 grains of lactose, to achieve the 1:1000000 trituration in powder form (3C), dissolve 1 grain of this in 100 drops of spirits of wine mixed with water and succuss, as far as decillionth (30C); as with this method the dynamic potential of iodine is developed to a much higher degree than by the method I used originally, the evolution of medicinal power, being much more complete."
* MORE PERFECT MEDICINES
In 1818, Hahnemann prepared Sulphur as a trituration, but later he also used the solution known as 'tinctura sulphuris'. He found that triturated sulphur had more powerful medicinal actions than the potentized solution, which led him to call the 3C trituration the 'most perfect Sulphur medicine'.
* TRITURATION OF FRESH PLANT MATERIAL
Originally Hahnemann used trituration only for processing dry solids. Later he also triturated freshly pressed plant juices, establishing in the case of Mezereum, Oleander and Thuja with the trituration of the 3C followed by potentizing in fluid form these 'acquire more of dynamization' compared to mother tincture-based potencies.
"The fresh juice thus seems to acquire more of dynamization, as experience teaches me, than when the juice without any preparation by triturating is merely diluted in thirty vials of alcohol and potentized each time with two succussive strokes."
According to the 6th edition of the Organon, Hahnemann used trituration to the 3C also for fresh plant materials. The edition still contains the old details relating to the production of tinctures from the 5th edition, but in aphorism 271, a clear preference is shown for trituration of fresh plant materials.
"If the physician prepares his homoeopathic medicines himself... he may use the fresh plant itself ... if he does not need the expressed juice perhaps for purposes of healing. He takes a few grains in a mortar and with 100 grains sugar of milk three distinct times brings them to the one-millionth trituration..."
* RETAINING ALL NATURAL CONSTITUENTS A major advantage of trituration with lactose is that all the natural constituents are incorporated in the medicine. Mother tinctures, on the other hand, are extracts containing only such constituents as are soluble in the ethanol-water mixture, with all insoluble constituents excluded.
Tinctures contain only the soluble constituents, with many active principles excluded; among them, proteins, enzymes, fats, fatty oils, fat-soluble vitamins, mucins, waxes, cellulose, etc.
* SHELF LIFE - GUARANTEED Another advantage is the almost unlimited shelf life of trituration-based potencies. Hahnemann called the 3C triturations of China and Ipecacuanha - 'far more easily preserved' than the alcoholic tinctures.
* 3C - STANDARD METHOD - FIFTY MILLESIMAL SCALE In the later period of his life, Hahnemann used and recommended trituration to the 3C for all medicines, the exception being aggressive acids and extremely hygroscopic salts, where trituration is not possible.
Hahnemann's last literature, the 6th and the final edition of Organon describes trituration to the 3C without exception for the preparation of potencies according to the fifty millesimal scale in aphorism 270 - ' In order to best obtain this development of power, a small part of the substance to be dynamized, say one grain, is triturated for three hours with three times one hundred grains sugar of milk according to the method described upto the one-millionth part in powder form'.
PHYSICS OF POTENTIZATION
The solution to the problems of potentization must be sought in physics and not in chemistry.
The latter part of the 20th century has seen the advent of experimental studies using various forms of spectroscopy, particularly nuclear magnetic resonance.
Homoeopathic medicines are prepared by successive reduction (1:10 or 1:100) of the material quantities of the medicine (solute, according to physics) in a solution with vigorous shaking at each stage. The solvents generally used are water, ethyl alcohol, sucrose and lactose.
Beyond the 12th centesimal potency, the presence of solute is 10-24 parts in 1 part of the solution. According to Avogadro's hypothesis, there are 6.023 X 1023 molecules in a gram mole of any substance. Thus it is physically not possible to have any solute in a solution beyond this potency. And yet homoeopathic preparations are active much beyond this potency!!!
As a chemical, there is no difference between a solvent and potentised solvent. They should be identical since there is absolutely nothing else that exists in a potentised solvent that is not there in the solvent from which it is prepared. If there is a difference between the potentised and unpotentised solvent, the answer lies in Physics. It may be deduced, that since there is no external energy dictating a difference in a solvent and a potency of a medicine prepared in it, the difference must be of some minute changes in the intermolecular arrangements in these systems.
ROLE OF FRICTION IN DYNAMIZATION PROCESS
The effect of friction is so great, that not only the physical properties such as heat, odour, etc are thereby called into life and developed by it, but also the dynamic medicinal powers of natural substances.
* When a piece of steel is strongly and rapidly rubbed against a hard stone (agate, flint), an operation that is termed as striking fire, incandescent sparks fly off. When sparks are thus struck with sufficient force and caught on a sheet of white paper, small pellets of steel may be found lying there that have detached from the surface of the steel by friction with the flint and have fallen in an incandescent state, like small fire balls upon the paper, where they cooled.
Can the violent friction of the flint and steel cause such a degree of heat as to fuse steel into little balls? Does it not require a heat of atleast 3000oF in order to melt steel? Whence comes this tremendous heat? Not out of the air, for this phenomenon takes place just as well in the vacuum of the air pump; therefore it must come from the substances that are rubbed together.
* Horn, ivory, bone, the calcareous stone impregnated with petroleum, etc have of themselves no smell, but when filed or rubbed, they not only emit an odour, but an extremely foetid one.
* Experience teaches several changes that could be brought about in different natural substances by means of friction. For instance, warmth, heat, fire, development of odour in odourless bodies, magnetization of steel, and so forth.
* The same thing is seen in a bar of iron and steel where a slumbering trace of latent magnetic force cannot but be recognized in their interior. Both, after their completion by means of the forge stand upright, repulse the north pole of a magnetic needle with the lower end attract the south pole, while the upper end shows itself as the south pole of the magnetic needle. But this is only a latent force; not even the finest iron particles can be drawn magnetically or held on either end of such a bar.
* Only after this bar of steel is dynamized, rubbing it with a dull file in one direction, will it become a true active powerful magnet, one able to attract iron and steel to itself and impart to another bar of steel by mere contact and even some distance away, magnetic power and this in a higher degree the more it has been rubbed.
But all these properties produced by friction were related only to physical and inanimate things, whereas it is a law of nature according to which physiological and pathogenic changes take place in the body's condition by means of forces capable of changing the crude material of drugs, even in such as had never shown any medicinal properties.
This is brought about by trituration and succussion, but under the condition of employing and indifferent vehicle in certain proportions. Triturating a medicinal substance and shaking of its solution (dynamization, potentiation) develop the medicinal powers hidden within and manifest them more and more or if one may say so, spiritualizes the material substance itself.
On this account it refers only to the increase and stronger development of their power to cause changes in the health of animals and men if these natural substances in this improved state, are brought very near to the living sensitive fibre or come in contact with it (by means of intake or olfaction). Just as a magnetic bar especially if its magnetic force is increased (dynamized) can show magnetic power only in a needle of steel whose pole is near or touches it. The steel itself remains unchanged in the remaining chemical and physical properties and can bring about no changes in other metals (for instance, in brass), just as little as dynamized medicines can have any action upon lifeless things.
SELF ASSESSMENT
* What is potentization? Discuss the method of succussion or trituration in detail.
* How will you prepare Carbo veg 1X from crude vegetable charcoal? How will you prepare a liquid potency of Carbo Veg?
* What is Jumping Potency? Explain in detail.
* What is the role of friction in dynamization process?
* Differentiate between succussion and trituration.
QUIZ 1. For trituration, sugar of milk is commonly used, instead of other solid vehicles, because it is
(a) Cheaper than other solid vehicles
(b) Best crystalline substance and gritty to touch
(c) Prepared from goat's milk
(d) White in color
2. In succussion, every ten downward strokes
(a) Decreases the dynamic strength of the medicine by one degree
(b) Decreases the dynamic strength of the medicine by ten degrees
(c) Increases the dynamic strength of the medicine by one degree
(d) Increases the dynamic strength of the medicine by ten degrees
3. To convert 8X into 9X in decimal scale, it is necessary to take
(a) 1 part of 8X and 99 parts of dilute alcohol
(b) 1 part of 8X and 9 parts of dilute alcohol
(c) 1 part of 8X and 99 parts of strong alcohol
(d) 1 part of 8X and 99 parts of strong alcohol
4. Triturations were followed in
(a) Class I - IV
(b) Class VA, VB
(c) Class VIA, VIB
(d) Class VII - IX
5. During trituration, Hahnemann divided the sugar of milk in the ratio
(a) 33:33:33
(b) 1:3:5
(c) 11:33:55
(d) Hahnemann did not divide sugar of milk into three parts
ANSWERS: 1 (b); 2 (c); 3 (b); 4 (d); 5 (d).
Hi, very interesting post, greetings from Greece!
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