Next
   Conference Index

   Objective
   Methodology
   Introduction

   Part 1
   Part 2
   Conclusions

When we prepare our first potencies, we must respect the drug strength (DS) of the mother tincture (MT) in order to make correctly the first dilution. As we know, the MT may be prepared by different methods depending which pharmacopoeia is used.
In this case, and although we respect the drug strength of the mother tincture, we observe qualitative differences due to the use of a different unit of drug strength (UDS) (which is the basic principle used to calculate the amount of solvent added to prepare the MT).
This is specially true with vegetal MT.
The purpose of this study is to quantify this difference to evaluate its importance.

 

First we studied separately the different methods of preparation in nine homeopathic pharmacopoeias to understand the qualitative differences. Then we sought a way to express the different methods for the preparation of vegetal MT in mathematical formulas which we can compare, and from which we can deduce a general formula to calculate in percentage the difference between 2 methods.

 

The vegetal drug consists basically of 3 types of substances:

• WATER (H) or Humidity (moisture), of which the proportion can be calculated by desiccation.
• SUBSTANCES INSOLUBLE IN WATER AND ALCOHOL (F), mostly Fibers.
• SUBSTANCES SOLUBLE IN WATER (DR) or Dry Residue, which we find in the expressed juice of the plant and whose proportion we obtain by evaporation.

The water of the plant plus the soluble substances form the juice

In the first part of this work we will try to analyze the difference between the Pharmacopoeia of Willmar Schwabe (WSP) and the German Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (GHP) and in the second part between the Pharmacopoeia of Willmar Schwabe (WSP) and the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS).

We chose the Pharmacopoeia of Willmar Schwabe as reference, for it is still the most widely used in Argentina by the larger homeopathic pharmacies who make some of their own mother tinctures, and then provide the smaller pharmacies