Drugs Dynamisation — the first-year Pharmacy chapter, topic by topic

Dynamisation is one of the central ideas of homoeopathic pharmacy. You meet it in Organon. You meet it again in Pharmacy. This chapter is where Pharmacy treats it in full.

The NCH syllabus calls it “Drugs Dynamisation”. It is chapter thirteen of HomUG-HP, the code for first-year Homoeopathic Pharmacy. The sheet lists six topics. This piece takes each one in turn, in plain words, for BHMS students.

Topic one: how the idea grew

The first topic reads “The Evolution of Dynamisation – Concept in Homoeopathy”.

Evolution means gradual change. So this topic is the story of how the idea of dynamisation developed over time within homoeopathy. It did not arrive complete in one day.

Learn this as a timeline. Put the steps in order. A timeline is easier to recall in an exam than a block of text.

Topic two: potentisation and its types

The second topic reads “Potentisation & its types”.

Potentisation is the process of preparing a medicine in steps, according to homoeopathic principles. You will see “dynamisation” and “potentisation” used close together. Your textbook will explain how the two words relate. Note the explanation it gives, because the question comes up.

The topic also says “its types”. So there is more than one kind of potentisation. Make a list from your textbook, with one line on each type.

Topic three: the merits

The third topic reads “The Merits of Potentisation”.

Merits means advantages. This topic asks what homoeopathic theory holds to be the advantages of potentisation. Learn them as your textbook lists them. Present them in an exam as a numbered list, since that is how merits are usually asked.

Topic four: succussion and trituration

The fourth topic reads “Succussion & Trituration”. These are the two physical methods at the heart of the chapter.

• Succussion means firm shaking with strokes. It is used for liquid preparations.
• Trituration means grinding. It is used for solid substances, ground together with a powder.

The first-year Pharmacy practicals give you a chance to see both. Watch closely when your teacher shows them. Note what is done, how many times, and with what. A method you have watched is much easier to write about.

Topic five: six named potencies

The fifth topic reads “Various types of Potency – Fluxion Potency, Jumping Potency, Back Potency, Single Vial Potency, Multiple Vial Potency, Mixed Vial Potency”.

That is six names. The sheet lists them but does not explain them. Your textbook does.

Here is a way to make them easier. Three of the names share a word: single vial, multiple vial and mixed vial. A vial is a small glass bottle. So those three are about how vials are used in the process. Learn them as a group of three.

That leaves fluxion, jumping and back potency. Learn those as a second group. Two small groups are easier than one list of six.

For each name, write one plain sentence saying what it means. If you cannot say it in one sentence, go back to the book.

Topic six: after Hahnemann

The sixth topic reads “Post-Hahnemannian Potentization Techniques”.

Samuel Hahnemann was the founder of homoeopathy. “Post-Hahnemannian” means after his time. So this topic covers techniques that later workers developed. Link this to the timeline you built for topic one. These techniques are the later end of that same story.

How this chapter sits in the year

First-year Pharmacy has thirty-two chapters. This is the thirteenth. It follows “Various Scales of Potentization in Homoeopathic pharmacy” and comes before “External applications”. The scales chapter and this one work as a pair. Scales tell you the systems. This chapter tells you the idea and the methods behind them.

It links back too. Chapter two of Pharmacy, “Homoeopathic Pharmacy Basics”, has a topic called “Doctrine of Drug Proving & Drug Dynamisation”. That is your first contact with the word. And in first-year Organon, chapter five is “Vital force — dynamization — homoeopathic cure — nature’s law of cure & its implications — drug proving”. Organon gives the philosophy. Pharmacy gives the method. A good answer can draw on both.

What to take from it

First, build a timeline from the evolution of the idea to the post-Hahnemannian techniques.

Second, know what potentisation is, its types and its merits.

Third, be able to describe succussion and trituration clearly, and say which is used for what.

Fourth, learn the six named potencies in two groups.

The sheet names the topics only. This piece explains what they ask. The definitions and details come from your textbook and your teachers.

Where to go next on the platform

This piece sits in the first-year Homoeopathic Pharmacy room, next to the piece on “Various scales of potentization”. For the Organon side, read “Vital force, dynamization, cure and drug proving — a first-year Organon chapter” in the first-year Organon room. Any curious reader can find the Homoeopathic Pharmacy topic in Homoeopathy Knowledge.