Korsacovian dilutions
This technique of preparing homeopathic remedies is named after a military doctor, Captain Korsakov, a direct student of Hahnemann. Being in the middle of a military campaign, with the need to treat the wounded and epidemics of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases (then there were no antibiotics and homeopathy was also used in acute cases, with good success), without the necessary glassworks, Korsakov was forced to invent a practical method of preparation on the spot.
Suppose we use one gram of table salt (Natrum muriaticum) in 99 cc of water; they follow the dynamization procedures with the canonical 100 succussions in a vertical sense. At this point the contents of the bottle are thrown away; on its walls, however, a certain minimum quantity of product remains due to the adhesion of water, which acts as a base substance for dilution and subsequent dynamization. The bottle is then filled again with 99 cc of water and becomes dynamic, obtaining the first Korsakovian dynamization, which is indicated with 1 K. The limit of this method is substantially the lack of precision. In fact, the degree of effective dilution depends on the shape and size of the container used. On the other hand, we appreciate a new advantage in saving time and material, which allows us to see very high dynamics, beyond the two hundredth, without increasing the cost.
Over time, an attempt has been made to establish an approximate relationship between the Korsakovian and centesimal and decimal dilutions:
6 K = 4 CH = 8 D;
30 K = 7 CH;
200 K = approximately between 9 and 12 CH.
The intermediate or higher dilutions are calculated with approximation, making an arithmetic proportion; for example, to calculate the korsakovian dilution corresponding to a 30 CH, this proportion is performed:
30 (K): 7 (CH) = x (dynamization k to know): 200 (CH);
the performance of the proportion is: 200 for 30 divided by 7 = 857 K.
But if from the point of view of the dilution the 200 CH and the 857 K are comparable, they differ substantially from the point of view of the dynamization, or rather of the vertical succussions to which they have been subjected in the various passages; the 200 CH underwent 200 for 100 = 20, 000 shakes, while the 857 K underwent 857 for 100 = 85.700, ie more than four times the 200 CH.
To complete the argument on dilutions and dynamizations, it is finally necessary to mention the modern method of «continuous fluxion», which allows the preparation of very high powers at low costs; it consists of an uninterrupted passage of the diluent in a still, to whose walls the basic substance is adhered. Thus, in broad terms, it follows Korsakovian preparations, but unlike them, in the continuous flow there are no precise passages from one power to another (Korsakov threw the contents of the bottle outside at each passage) and the agitation occurs constantly, as well as the passage of the thinner in the still.
