The most important turning point to Hahnemann in 1801 was that
he found Belladonna in 1:10000 water dilution was very effective
for the cure and prevention of scarlet fever. A few drops from
this solution were considered as a dose by him. In fact it was
the critical experiment which took Hahnemann, a long way, in his
remaining 42 years of life. The publication of this experimental
observation in the article ‘The cure and prevention of scarlet
fever’ was the signature statement of Dr. Hahnemann similar to
the famous statement of Dr. Feynman in 1960, ‘there is plenty of
room at the bottom’. Nevertheless it was not called
nanotechnology.
Probably Dr Hahnemann started his journey to the bottom with
only one experience in 1799 when he encountered a near death
situation in a patient whom he treated with grain doses of white
hellebore or Veratrum album, which is a highly poisonous
substance. Belladonna is a highly poisonous plant that could be
the reason Dr. Hahnemann experimented with ultra-dilution of
Belladonna ie; 1:10000. (One drop mother tincture of Belladonna
was diluted in 10000 drops of water). But still he was far away
from the ultimate discovery which necessarily would have placed
Dr. Hahnemann in the league of one of the unsolicited geniuses
in the field of nanotechnology, which evolved as a science only
200 years after his birth.
Two remarkable things happened in the deductions of Hahnemann
during the process of dilution of medicinal substances. At first
his intention was to reduce the toxicity of the poisonous
substances used as medicine. Secondly he developed a concept of
minimum dose. In his experiments with patients he observed that
these two ideals were very effective in the treatment and cure
of patients.