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Specificity of the signal: in the dot blot the signal is as specific as single stranded DNA fragment (of approximately 200 base pairs), and we may think of the signal in terms of a very specific/exact spatial distribution of electrical charge. (See 2 for a discussion of the Southern dot blot.)

Importance of succussion: "the magician's rope" (a thought experiment)

Imagine a conjurer's rope. Take a segment out of that magician's rope - say one foot out of ten - and hold it taut between your hands, and twang it. Now (by magic) put it back in the original rope. The note, the vibration, in the small piece will pattern and inform the longer piece. The longer piece will now carry that information, but it will also, during the process, generate harmonics, multiples of that original frequency. And this explains one of the mysteries of homeopathy: the need for succussion.

In our thought experiment we have spread the vibration (the rope's movement) from one unit of length along to ten units. So one might think that the amplitude of the signal would fall to 10% of what it was originally: and therefore, if we simply repeat the process the signal is going to dissipate… and disappear. However, in homeopathy and ultradilution we "succuss" the system , agitate it, throw white noise through the system.(6) Vibrating sysytems, when they resonate, may "drive" or "amplify" one another: so the "white noise" from the succussion, where it resonates with the vibration/signal in the solute, it will drive, or amplify, the signal. However, where it does not resonate it will simply pass through. It is as a source of this amplification that "succussion" is so critical.

c.f. "Liguid water includes coherence domains where all molecules oscillate in unison in tune with a self-trapped electromagnetic field at a well defined frequency, The coherent oscillation produces an ensemble of quasi-free electrons, able to collect noise energy from the environment and transform it…" del Giudice. (7)

personal biography

chapter seven