A placebo-controlled in-vivo study of the effect of four musical imponderabilia on the growth of Calendula officinalis plants

Abstract

This study is based on the creation of 4 new musical imponderabilia remedies: Jazz 30 CH, Rock 30 CH, Pop 30 CH and Classical 30 CH, and seeks to demonstrate whether such imponderabilia remedies are able to induce biological changes as an indicator of potential future utility in a human homeopathic pathogenetic trial. The study was conducted on 50 Calendula officinalis plants, randomly divided into 5 groups of 10 plants each. In group 2 plants respectively received one of 5 ‘remedies’, viz. Jazz 30 CH , Rock 30 CH remedy, Pop 30 CH remedy, Classical 30 CH remedy and an indistinguishable placebo of spring water. Prior to administration of the allocated remedy, we had 1 week of stabilising the plants were afforded a one-week period of stabilisation, followed by a 6 week administration phase. The remedies were prepared by placing a container of spring water in front of a speaker. through which a compilation of the respective genre of music was played for 19 hours and 30 minutes. The container of spring water thus exposed was identified as the respective ‘mother tincture’, which was subsequently converted to a 30 CH homeopathic potency. The administration potency contained only 1% alcohol. The 50 Calendula officinalis plants received 50 ml of spring water every second day in the stabilisation week, after which each plant received their specific remedy or placebo on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for a period of 6 weeks. 50 ml of the respective ‘remedy’ or placebo was administered to each plant. Objective measures of growth were taken each week. The measures of growth employed in this study included: the stem length, stem diameter and leaf number. The plants were measured once planted, at the end of the stabilisation week (week 0), and at the end of each of the 6 weeks of administration. The results were analysed with The R Project for Statistical Computing to determine the Analysis of variance. A comparison of growth metrics was conducted to determine the influence of the respective remedy on growth of Calendula officinalis plants.