LM / Q potencies

[Cl.Mennel]

Dear Maria,

LM and Q stand for the same potency.

In Organon § 247-248 and § 264-271 Hahnmann describes how these remedies
are made and used.

First a trituration from the substance to C 3 then 1 grain of the C3 is
diluted in 500 drops of 1/5 destilled alcohol and 4/5 destilled water,
one drop of this mixture is given to 100 drops of pure destilled alcohol
and is succussed 100 times, one drop of that sucussion wets 500 golbuli
(of whom 100 weigh 1 grain) Those globuli are LM 1 or Q 1. To get the
next potency LM 2 or Q 2 you take one of those globuli add 100 drops of
destilled pure alcohol and sucuss it a hundred times, then you use one
drop to wet 500 globuli, those are LM 2 or Q 2.
Thus you get a twofold dilution 100 drops and 500 globuli, multiplicated
that is 50,000 hence the name.

When using LM or Q potencies it is advisable to start with the LM/Q 1
and to go forward after 8 to 14 days of using them daily. It is
necessary to dilute the LM/Q 1 gobuli at least once again before taking.

I made very good experiences by diluting them twice: Once done by
myself: I put one globuli in 60 ml (destilled water or destilled water
with a bit of alcohol, just to perserve it). This solution is succussed
by the patient 8 to 12 twelve times, then 1-2 teespoon are stirred
several times into a glas of water, out of which the patient takes a sip
once a day, the next day he has got to succuss and to delute anew, this
he nomally does 10 days, then she/he gets a new bottle of ml in which a
gobuli of the next higher potency is disolved.

I found this method of administering homoeopathic remedies very
effective if the patient has got to take isopathic medicines which he
can't be stopped abruptly, id est antiepileptica, painkillers,
betablocker, or other stuff one gets used to so much that it would be a
risk to stop it overnight. As the patient proceeds homoeopathically from
one potency to the higher and next higher and so on the isopathic
medicines can gradually be reduced without pain or stress.
In German speaking countries you tend to find the term LM, in Englisch
speaking the term Q.

What I write down is based on J. Künzli von Fimmelsberg, Die
Quiquagintamillimesimalpotenzen; in: KH 2/60 (1960) and on Peter
Meyer-König, Leitfaden für den Umgang nit Q-Potenzen (Göttingen 1995)

Q refers to the Latin name of the number 50,000; quinquaginta means 50
and mille means 1,000, so Q-potencies are called quingagintamillesimal
potencies (although the correct name derived from Latin should be
quinquagiesmillesimal as W. Klunker pointed out)

LM refers to the Latin numbers which were written by letters, thus you
get X for 10 and C for 100 in homoeopathy. L stands for 50 and M stands
for 1,000; thus LM stands for 50,000 in Homoeopathy (although to the
ancient Roman to the native Latin speaker it would have meant 1000 minus
50 that's to say 950 as P. Meyer-König pointed out.)

But the pharmacies producing those potencies according to the German HAB
(Homöopathisches Arzneibuch) are allowed to make certain concessions as
far as the size of the Globuli is concerned. Hahnemann (Organon § 270)
wrote that 100 Globuli should weigh 1 Gran (grain which is 0.06480 gr)
that means the globuli are very very small. Thus normally globuli of the
standard size No 1 (500 weigh 1 gr) are used. According to the HAB I
(1-5 Nachtrag 1991) size 1 globuli are 3.3 times heavier and have got a
surface 2.2 times bigger than the glubuli recommended by Hahnemann.
Furthermore Hahnemann used a mixture of starch and saccharose, whereas
nowaday pure saccharose globuli are used, whose surface is rougher,
therefore bigger than the surface of the globuli Hahnemann used.

Therefore pharmacies which use the size and texture of globuli Hahnemann
recommended prefer the name Q-Potencies, at least in Germany. Arcana
however found a compromise, they use poppy seed sized globuli in between
the size 1 and the the size Hahnemann recommended, they as well use the
name LM for their remedies.

Here in Germany I can only get the size 1 (500 weigh one gram), which I
use for succussing from Q/LM 1 to higher potencies.
Does anybody know where one can get globuli of the size Hahnemann
recommended?
Does anybody know any internet retailer or laboratory who sells them?

All the best
Claudia

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[Dave Hartley]

Some misunderstanding apparent.

LM's are called LM's in English speaking countries.

"Q" is a term generally applied to "mother tincture"

LM "Q" is the tincture which is used to medicate LM01 pellets.

Some years ago, on the Lyghtforce list, a long discussion was held regarding
the size of Hahnemann's "poppy seed" sized globuli (granules, pillules) and
todays commercially available standard size which is nearest. I found a
pretty clear description
Organon 6th -
FOOTNOTE 153
They are prepared under supervision by the confectioner from starch and
sugar and the small globules freed from fine dusty parts by passing them
through
a sieve. Then they are put through a strainer that will permit only 100 to
pass through weighing one grain, the most serviceable size for the needs of
a homoeopathic physician.

I can't find the original discussion thread from years ago, but recently JW
posted:

It is hard to get "LM" granules. Most people I know use the smallest
size which are (at least in US nomenclature) number 10s. i.e., 10
granules lined up=10 mm.
"poppyseed" granules are a bit smaller... 10 of them were 9.2mm

-so there is perhaps 8% difference in size between what Hahnemann
recommended and what I (and presumably most) in (at least) the U.S. are now
using: commercially available #10 size.

regards,
Dave Hartley
www.Mr-Notebook.com
www.localcomputermart.com/dave
Seattle, WA 425.820.7443
Asheville, NC 828.285.0240

[Cl.Mennel]

Hi Dave,

thanks for your informative email.

Well; I browsed through my numerous LM files and documents on my system,
and what I found out was that actually whenever Q was used for LM it was
in essays or articles written by German homoeopaths writing in English
language.
Of course, as you live in an English (sorry American) speaking country
your statements in this matter are beyond doubt anyway.

Well, as far as Germany is concerned everybody devoted to LM potencies
and trying to stick to Hahnemann's recommendations uses the term "Q
potency" (whereas in German the mother tincture is abbreviated with a O
crossed by a slash, which in physics is the sign for diameter.) Bernd
Dankert and Carl Classen both writing in the HZ II, 1999 used the term Q
potency exclusively, as do Andreas Schmidt, Künzli von Fimmelsberg,
Klunker, and Meyer-König, and as do leading pharmacists in German
speaking countries i.e. Gabriele Schwartze and Walter Schmidt (Munich)
and Robert Müntz (Austria). Thus in all German provings you'll find the
term "Q potency" meaning LM poteny.

Thus it is evident that one has to make sure through the context or by
knowing the origin of the writer what is meant.

As you quote the annotation to § 270 of the 6th edition of the Organon,
I refered to in my last mail, I'm sure you are well aware of the
problem, so hopefully, you might be able to tell me how much 100 globuli
of the American size # 10 weigh. As you quoted, Hahnemann recommended
that 100 should weigh 1 grain, which is 0,06480 grams. Are those
granules size # 10 made of saccharose only, or as recommended by
Hahnemann, of strach and sugar?

Furthermore I would be grateful if you could be so kind as to tell me
which internet retailer or laboratory has got them on stock. Maybe you
even know where one can get LM granules.

Kind regards,
Claudia
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