Full text of DOI:10.1108/03684920110363914

Kybernetes
Modified water
Alex M. Andrew
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Alex M. Andrew, (2001),"Modified water", Kybernetes, Vol. 30 Iss 1 pp. 80 - 83
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Kybernetes
30,1
SHORT PAPER
Modified water
Alex M. Andrew
Earley, Reading
80
Keywords Water, Chemical analysis
Abstract Discusses the phenomenon of biological effects of homeopathic ``high potencies'' and
reviews recent literature on the subject.
The recent paper by Berliocchi (2000) draws attention to the very puzzling
phenomenon of biological effects of homeopathic ``high potencies''. These are
diluted solutions of some active substance, usually aqueous solutions, where
the dilution is so great that the probability of any molecule of the original
substance being present is vanishingly small. At each stage of dilution the
procedure of ``succussion'', or subjection of the sample to mechanical shock, is
applied, as described by Berliocchi. Each stage normally involves either tenfold
or one hundredfold dilution.
A revival of interest in the scientific examination of these findings is also
indicated by at least two other recent publications, namely the book edited by
Schulte and Endler (1998) and the more general treatment of properties of water
by Ball (1999).
The only explanation that seems at all feasible is that somehow the structure
of the water is modified, so as to carry some imprint of the molecules originally
present. The picture is slightly complicated by the remark of Boyd and Pathak
(1965) that the diluent is sometimes alcohol rather than water. It may be that
alcohol also has a complex and imprintable structure, such as has to be
postulated for water, though it is also possible that the effect is mediated by the
small amount of water that is probably still present when the solvent is
nominally alcohol.
The Boyd Medical Research Trust
Biological and biochemical effects of potencies have been studied in a research
facility set up in Glasgow with that express aim. Two main sets of experiments
were carried out using potencies, as described by Boyd (1946; 1953; 1954). The
set reported in most detail referred to the action of a high potency of mercuric
chloride on the action of the enzyme diastase in hydrolysing starch. Ordinarily,
mercuric chloride inhibits the action of the enzyme, but the potency has the
opposite effect of enhancement.
A long series of careful experiments is reported in the 1954 paper and seems
to leave no doubt that the effect exists, even allowing for the fact that diastase,
being a natural product, has some variability from sample to sample.
The other series of experiments studied the effect on exposed frog hearts of
Kybernetes,
Vol. 30 No. 1, 2001, pp. 80-83.
# MCB University Press, 0368-492X potencies prepared from Strophanthos sarmentosus, a herbal medicine

employed clinically in homeopathic potencies. The amount of experimental
data was not so great in this series, and it is reported in less detail in the 1954
paper, but the results were also judged to be statistically highly significant.
Some further tests on frog hearts are reported by I.A. Boyd, a son of the W.E.
Boyd who set up and directed the Boyd Medical Research Trust Laboratories.
These tests (Boyd and Pathak, 1965; Boyd, 1968) did not involve ``high
potencies'' nor succussion, but the papers are worth consulting in the present
context since the study was prompted by interest in homeopathy and there are
various significant incidental comments.
Modified water
81
Magnetismand microwaves
Other evidence for modification of the structure of water comes from
experiments in which water was exposed to either a steady magnetic field or to
microwave radiation. A paper by Rai et al. (1994a) reports tests in which
samples of purified water were placed in the field of a permanent magnet for
some hours, and thereafter were found to differ from control samples in their
biological effects. The control samples were exactly the same except that they
had not been exposed to the magnet, and the biological tests were made away
from the magnet, showing that the effect was conveyed by the water.
The paper by Rai et al. (1994a) is in fact one of four in the same issue of the
journal reporting effects of the sort, two of them referring to effects of steady
magnetic fields and the others to exposure of the samples to microwave
radiation. All four papers are from the same laboratory in the Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi, India. The biological effect reported in this particular
paper is the inhibition, by the magnetically modified water, of fungal spore
germination. A number of species of microfungi were used, and the strongest
effect was observed with Alternaria alternata. The germination of spores of
this species was completely inhibited by water which was a mixture of a
sample that had been adjacent to the north pole of the magnet with another that
had been adjacent to the south pole. The unmixed samples also produced
inhibition, but not total inhibition.
In a later paper, Rai et al. (1994b) report differences in magnetically modified
water observed by X-ray crystallography. No explanation is offered for the
biological effects.
Other evidence fromfungi
Another intriguing study that may possibly have a connection is reported by
Filippov et al. (2000). It has been found that the exposure of potato tubers to a
low-frequency electric field, prior to planting, improves their resistance to ``late
blight'' caused by the microfungus Phytophthora infestans. The improvement
has been demonstrated both by field trials and by the laboratory inoculation of
pieces of tuber with the fungus.
The fact that a microfungus is involved suggests a connection with the
Indian studies, though there are many obvious differences between the two
situations. The Russian work with potatoes used low-frequency electric fields,

distinct from the magnetic or electromagnetic influences in the other study, and
the treatment was applied to intact tubers rather than to purified water. The
explanation tentatively put forward by the Russian workers is that stress
imposed on the biological system by the electric field stimulates a defence
mechanism that is effective against the fungus. An explanation along these
lines, not explicitly implicating (nor excluding) modified water, seems highly
plausible, but the fact that both the Indian and Russian results involve
microfungi is intriguing and suggestive.
Kybernetes
30,1
82
Water softening
Another curious interaction of water with magnetic fields is in certain ``water
softening'' devices. A simple version consists of a permanent magnet placed
against the pipe through which the water flows, but in the more complex
system denoted by Scalewatcher1[1] a modulated magnetic field is applied.
Since the pipe is intact, the device clearly does not remove the dissolved
mineral substances responsible for ``hardness'', but nevertheless the water is
claimed to be effectively ``softened'' so that it feels more pleasant when taking a
bath or shower, and less scale is deposited.
The effectiveness of such ``softeners'' has been verified by an impressive
number of reputable bodies, and seems to be genuine although nobody knows
why. It appears that the magnetic field alters the state of solution of the
``hardening'' mineral substances so that they are less readily precipitated. There
is a strange assortment of unexplained phenomena that suggest that water has
a complex structure capable of modification by a variety of influences.
Note
1. Promotional literature from Fast Systems Limited, Dalton House, Newtown Road, Henley-
on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1HG, UK.
References
Ball, P. (1999), H2O: ABiography of Water , Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.
Berliocchi, H. (2000) ``Impossible measures, Contonian appearances: interpretation of the effect of
high dilutions by building the Feynman measure in the real numbers of Levy and in the
Solovay theory'', Kybernetes, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 117-23.
Boyd, I.A. (1968), ``Homeopathy through the eyes of a physiologist'', Brit. Hom. J., Vol. 57,
pp. 86-95
Boyd, I.A. and Pathak, C.L. (1965), ``The response of perfused frog hearts to minute quantities
of acetylcholine, and the variation in sensitivity with season'', J. Physiol., Vol. 176,
pp. 191-204.
Boyd, W.E. (1946), ``An investigation regarding the action on diastase of mercuric chloride when
prepared with and without mechanical shock'', Brit. Hom. J., Vol. 36, pp. 3-33.
Boyd, W.E. (1953), ``The application of a new biological heart rate recorder to the study of the
action on the frog heart of small doses of Crataegus, Digitalis, Strophanthos gratus and of
trace doses of Strophanthos sarmentosus'', Brit. Hom. J., Vol. 43, pp. 11-43.
Boyd, W.E. (1954), ``Biochemical and biological evidence of the activity of high potencies'', Brit.
Hom. J., Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 6-44.

Filippov, A.V., Kuznetzova, M.A., Rogozhin, A.N., Shirokova, E.A. and Kostjashov, V.V. (2000),
``Systematic resistance of potatoes to late blight activated by pre-planting treatment of
tubers with specially formed low-frequency pulse electric field'', J. Russ. Phytopathol. Soc.,
Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 69-73.
Modified water
Rai, S., Singh, U.P., Singh, K.P. and Singh, A. (1994a), ``Germination responses of fungal spores to
magnetically restructured water'', Electro- and Magnetobiology, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 237-46.
Rai, S., Singh, U.P., Singh, K.P. and Singh, A.K. (1994b), ``X-ray determination of magnetically
treated water structure'', Electro- and Magnetobiology, Vol. 14, pp. 23-30.
83
Schulte, J. and Endler, P.C. (Eds) (1998), Fundamental Research in Ultra High Dilution and
Homoeopathy, Kluwer, Dordrecht.