[Clearwisdom.net] In June 1988, the French scientist Jacques Benveniste, M.D. published an astonishing research paper in Nature, which indicated that water has memory. The paper immediately caused a great disturbance in the scientific community, where opposition to his findings was substantial.
Biochemical experiments have confirmed that the IgE antibody can stimulate basophils to degranulate. In Benveniste's experiment, however, after the IgE solution was diluted to 10-120, active degranulation of basophils still occurred. Theoretically, [based upon Avogadro's number of the possible number of molecules in a solution of a substance] such a dilution would have no molecules of the antibody. This demonstrates that water preserves the characteristics of substances with which it has had contact.
This conclusion seemed to violate common sense. Many people disputed Benveniste's findings. Consequently, he lost his laboratory, funding, job and even his credibility as a scientist. Fortunately for Benveniste, a progressive private research company hired him to continue his work.
There had not been any evident resolution for the "Benveniste incident" until 1999, when four laboratories in different European countries conducted independent experiments. Their findings demonstrated that extremely diluted solutions still preserved the effect of the original solutions that degranulated basophils. Due to these findings, people began to think that Benveniste had been right.
Benveniste's experiment required that at each dilution, the solution had to be shaken vigorously. His experiment demonstrated that a substance that is dissolved in water passes on its own characteristics to the water. Even if there is no more of the original substance, its characteristics still remain.
Benveniste's findings are not isolated. Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese researcher whose experiments have been described in previous weeks in these pages, claimed in the report on his water crystal experiment, "All the characteristics of any given substance will affect the characteristic of the water." Benveniste's experiment studied the influence of substances diluted and agitated in water, whereas Emoto's water crystal experiment studied the effects of thoughts and music on water. Emoto's findings are even more astounding because they seem to indicate that water can recognize the content of thoughts and words and distinguish good intentions from evil ones. One would be hard pressed to cite existing scientific theory to explain these findings and so they certainly provide fertile ground for further investigation.
References: http://www.digibio.com/cgi-bin/node.pl?lg=us&nd=n4_1, "Human Basophil Degranulation Triggered by Very Dilute Antiserum Against IgE" by J. Benveniste et al, Nature, Vol. 333, No. 6176, pp. 816-818, 30th June, 1988 C Macmillan Magazines Ltd., 1989
http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Homoeopathy/fisher49.htm , Belon P, Cumps J, Mannajoni PF, Ste-Laudy J, Roberfroid M, Wiegant FAC. Inhibition of human basophil degranulation by successive histamine dilutions: results of a European multi-center trial. Inflamm res. 48 supplement 1: S17-18. 1999.
Category: Perspective
