ABSTRACT: The preparation procedure for homeopathic remedies is such that any chemical factor can be excluded, and that it can be stated that after 15 dilutions there is no longer a single atom of the original substance.

(Papers of the Transnational Conference: "THE HOMOEOPATIC REMEDY-NON-MEDICINE. A PROPOSAL FOR RECOGNITION" - Rome 12th and 13th december 1988).

My presentation, unlike the others, will attempt to identify this phenomenon in the context of our present knowledge of material.

Thus, I maintain that from the chemical-physical point of view we can probably say with reasonable certainty the following: the preparation of these medicines is such that if we keep in mind a simple rule of thumb as to how many atoms exist in a gram of substance, we could presently exclude any possibility of chemical effect in this context, and the method of doing is a very simple one. Most of you probably know, at least since high school, that a gram of substance contains that number of atoms; therefore, if the preparation includes a certain number of steps of dilution, then what we can affirm with some mathematical certainty that after 15 passages the sum is easily drawn. It is a question of simple division--and we discover that of that substance, in all probability, after 15 steps of dilution, there will remain no atom of the original substance.

Then one might ask if it is possible to situate (place) this phenomenon in a broader context--physical-quantic, for example. My modest intention here is to provide the most correct reference possible, in order to avoid imprecise information or error.

Thus, I shall begin by saying that the world around us is substantially a quantic one. The fact that each one of us is able to touch the same material stability is a quantic phenomenon.

If at the beginning of this century we had to deal with the smallest material particle--i.e., the atom--with the knowledge of that era of electromagnetism which, although it has been with us for many centuries, explaining many natural phenomena, the world we live in would probably collapse in the space of a few seconds because, if you remember the simple atomic model assumes that substantially the atom is constituted of a central nucleon with electrons which rotate around it--thus, a model very similar to the planetary model. You can imagine the planets around the Sun and progressively reducing the scale you might end up thinking of this planetary model of the atom which is not very precise but which nevertheless functioned and still functions as an image.

If we take this model and consider the rotation of this electron around the nucleus, we discover that--still according to the laws of electromagnetism--the life of that particle is practically null because that electron which carries an electric charge radiates energy, rapidly collapses on the nucleus.

A fundamental insight of the early 1900s is attributed to Max Planc--very brilliant and naturally meeting with great resistance before being seriously considered. That concept considered this electron as travelling in its orbital in a stable way without radiating energy, and also that radiation of energy could occur only by means of quantum jumps in various orbitals in relation to that particle, that electron.

This is a very simple picture, and not entirely correct, but it an effective enough model, in which we can see that those various electronic orbitals are stationary energy orbits, so to speak. The electrons can remain on those orbitals permanently, without radiating energy. A substance can emit energy only when there are passages, what are called quantum jumps, from an exterior orbital to an interior one.

We will go back to this discourse of possible forms of energy emission in a moment. For now, I shall digress slightly in order to attempt to explain to you how the quantic world is in reality not limited to the simple atomic model, but to the contrary, what we are experiencing at this moment, recently, is in fact a great unification of quantum mechanics. The nucleus is not the final part of material, instead the splitting of the proton has created other weak fields of nuclear energy within the nucleus itself. Thus, the truly incredible and interesting idea is that quantum mechanics have resolved many problems and--in recent years in particular--is resolving all the problems of interaction between different fields.

In the next slide you will see how the entire physical world around us--from gravity to the forces binding quarks inside a proton--can be explained with these 4 fundamental diagrams which today define all types of material interaction.

The line of undulation (pulsating) is nothing more than the exchange of a quantum of energy at the moment an interaction takes place. What is shown as electromagnetic force is nothing more than a photon which is exchanged each time that two electric charges at a certain distance one from the other, and it is this which we have before our eyes when two electrical charges approach one another. The electric field which we have all observed and touched is nothing more in the quantic concept than an exchange of photons which occurs between these electric loads.

The same thing occurs within the proton, that last constituent of material in which quarks are bound by a similar quantum called a gluon. The same thing occurs due to gravitational force and the weak force responsible for radioactivity.

This model of unification is the model which has been with us in recent years and is widely accepted. And, as you might well imagine, this could--with similar diagrams--actually mean arriving at the point of seeing all the forces of nature thus described.

I should, however, like to return to the atom, electromagnetic force, in order to discuss what "emissions of energy by a substance" can mean.

If we could to go on to the successive slide, in quick reference to what I said previously on immobility, these are three very simple but effective enough models, providing a diagram of atoms in which the electrons rotate in orbitals. Seen in probabilistic terms, a similar orbit does not exist the way a planet's orbit exists, because there is the probability of finding an electron and therefore each orbital corresponds to levels of energy. Consequently, this means that we can consider material as being constituted by elementary oscillators, the energy levels of which are those represented on the left. Energy levels signify that each electron exists in its own orbit without radiating energy, and nature teaches us that every electron attempts to remain at the lowest possible energy level.

Thus, on the left, you will see in the first example a stationary case; that is, all the electrons of that atom are arranged at well established levels corresponding to a configuration of minimum energy.

In the second example, we are about to administer energy to a substance after which what occurs is the stimulation of the possibility of an electron to jump to a successive orbital through the absorption of energy. But this can occur only if the energy administered is equivalent to the difference expresses by 2P less 2S, energy corresponding to two energy levels. Only if there is a resonance between the incident energy and the two energy levels can I provide energy and the atom absorb energy.

In the third example, there is a restitution of energy on the part of the substance with an emission of energy, when from level 2P I descend to level 2S, emitting a quantum light.

This, what we call spontaneous emission on the part of a substance--that continuous equilibrium which occurs in nature with the absorption and spontaneous re-emission of energy--is what we have before our eyes every day of our lives. Inside the lamps which are lit in this room at this moment, a something similar is occurring; that is, the light which we observe at this moment is due to a spontaneous re-emission of energy after the entire system has been excited supplying energy.

Thus, these are phenomena which today we can all touch. Even the photoelectric effect which you all have certainly have the opportunity to touch is a typical quantic effect; that is, applying sufficient energy to a substance to extract an electron and thus create an electric current.

However, it is not this spontaneous emission alone which causes this. We might sum everything up in this way--keeping in mind naturally that in this case we are referring to very simple atoms--that is, atoms in which there are few electrons distributed in the various orbitals. Even after many years spent in the study of the structure of the hydrogen atom, there are still difficulties in studying the more complex atoms. This is evident enough; dealing with two bodies is a mechanical problem which is easily enough resolved, somewhat the way knocking one billiard ball against another is simple. However, when you put many bodies into play, the problem becomes more complex.

Bringing the problem of atoms back to molecules, for example, one could say that the molecule on the whole can be seen as something resembling an oscillating system, naturally always according quantum mechanics; that is, oscillations which can be rotational, vibrational, all nevertheless with quantized states.

One could, at this point, ask how it is that, in the world around us, we do not see this situation--that is, that situation which makes only "jumps"--perceiving it instead as continuous. The concept of speed, acceleration, space and time, functions well enough for those phenomenon which are slowly variable, but when we study rapidly variable phenomena such as the rotation of an electron around an atom, the problem become more complex and classical mechanics no longer suffice to resolve the problem.

We could say that classical mechanics are an approximation of quantum mechanics, which is the only real theory today able to explain all phenomena--life itself, the reason for our existence--that is to say, material stability is ensured by quantum mechanics itself.

Another model of emission which I should like to refer to is induced emission.

If we might go on to the next and last slide, I shall attempt to demonstrate how it is possible for a substance to emit energy in the form of induced emission. Let's see just what this means.

The first drawing is of a group of atoms. Atoms in their fundamental state, in a slightly wider meaning, molecules and therefore oscillating material, elementary oscillators. The atoms in their fundamental state, a group of molecules, are represented by those small black circles. The small triangles represent the material in an excited state; that is, energy is furnished to any substance bringing the electrons of those molecules to an excited state, or, high level of energy.

Now, you will understand what succeeding in doing this, which is what was done in lasers and masers, which we have traces of almost everywhere today signifies--if I succeed in artificially bringing these electrons to high energetic levels by furnishing energy, I will obtain from that substance a restitution of energy in a truly unbelievable form--above all in an exalted form, a form in which phase consistence and truly exceptional intensity are maintained.

The arrows in the second drawing represent that energy which I furnished to all those atoms which were previously represented by a circle and were in a fundamental state. In the second example, I have furnished this energy and transformed them into triangles, that is, I have brought then to excited states of energy.

At this point, we could say that--in phase B--I energized a substance, furnishing energy to this substance in some form. Of course, I repeat, the circles need not necessarily be atoms; they could be molecules, generally considered to be elementary oscillators.

If at some point, due to external perturbation, one of those atoms were to de-excite, an accumulative reaction could result, triggering off what is called induced emission which means causing all the electrons to descend from excited levels to a fundamental level, with a resultant violent restitution of energy, consistent and of great intensity, as illustrated in the other figure.

You might ask why I chose to speak on this particular phenomenon? For a very simple reason; because I believe--not intending minimally to give an explanation here of this type of phenomenon which must be identified--we must create a model, a phenomenology which must be proven. We might say that this is a qualitative discourse, but one that could become quantitative in some ways should an adequate mathematical formula be found. If ever a phenomenon of this type could be proven by theories of this type--I have omitted all that which could currently appear exotic, even though because our world will never cease to amaze us, we can never completely exclude all exoticisms. It is important to see today on what energy scales we are moving. I believe that anyone dealing with this problem, or who will in future attempt to understand the phenomenon I have described today, will have to intervene on the atomic scale; that is, the energies involved in this discourse are very weak energies on the so-called atomic

scale (energies which range from infrared radiation to more or less ultraviolet radiation).

Thus, I believe we must exclude any phenomenon of the nuclear type--all those included in a smaller region of the atom--because smaller dimensions mean greater energy. This is comprehensible because splitting a proton today signifies building accelerators of gigantic dimensions, thus smaller dimensions signify gigantic energies.

Since I believe that in all the energizing processes which we have discussed here, in this phase one must analyze all those processes of spontaneous emission, and particularly induced emission, which could be sources of restitution of energy by a substance.