| The
notion that water retains a memory of substances once dissolved
in it is central to homeopathy. While the claim has brought
about much controversy, evidence has come out to support the
claim scientifically.
Although the structure of hydrogen bonds in pure water should
be identical to those in homeopathic dilutions of salt solutions,
the evidence finds that the structures are actually very different.
Researchers used thermoluminescence to study the structure
of solids. The process involves bathing a chilled sample with
radiation and then observing a pattern of light, which reflects
the sample’s atomic structure, that is released when
the sample is warmed up.
When researchers used the method on ice, they saw two peaks
of light. They then looked at solutions of lithium chloride,
which destroys hydrogen bonds, and sodium chloride, which
also destroys hydrogen bonds but to a lesser extent.
The peak for the sodium chloride solution was smaller and
disappeared for the lithium chloride solution.
Homeopaths believe that patterns of hydrogen bonds remain
even after many dilutions. To test this claim, researchers
used samples that had been diluted way beyond the point when
any ions of the original substance could remain.
Compared with pure water, the ultra-dilute lithium and sodium
chloride solutions had substantially different thermoluminescence
peaks. According to researchers, this proves that the networks
of hydrogen bonds in the samples were different.
While some say the experiments were trustworthy and could
be reproduced, others argue that the experiments were not
blinded and pointed out that it’s important to keep experiments
as foolproof as possible.
New
Scientist June 11, 2003
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