PROFESSORGIORGIO PICCARDI

Dirccrot ol tbe lnttilte al Phyical Chenittt)

Unitenitl ol Florente

TheChemicalBasisof
MedicalClimatolo{y

CHARLES C THON{AS . PUBLISHER

Springfeld. o lllinois . U.S./.
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
PREMISE
(1

)OftnoMT NIAY BE possible to speak $'ith precision and

depth of the chemical basis of rnedical clirnatologr',but this is
certainlv not possible today. Indeed, medical clin.ratologv,like
climatologr', is a natural sciettceo{ a general clraracter,if we do
not confine it to the restricted field of traditiolral meteolologr"
Sincc it is a natural sciettceof a generalcltaracter,there can be no
progressin cliniatologv if tltere is no Progressiu tltosebrattchcsol
knou'ledge which lie on the bouudariesbetrveenclinratologl and
other sciences- astrophvsics,geoplrvsics,meteorolo{r'. plrvsical
chemistrv, biophysics,biology-and above all, if tliese fields ha\ e
r r or n r r t r r acl o n t . i c ta r d I ) e n e t r a l i o r l .
\onetheless, it is worthu'hile to attemPt the laving of somekirrrl
of foundation if for no ot]rer reason than to have an idea of the
tvpe of construction$'e may ercct uPon it. Tlre field of bioclilrro-
tologv holds many surprisesfor rvhoevershould chooseto venture
there.
I am not able to presenta completepicture of the studiescarried
out to date in the ffeld of bioclimatologl', nor analvse the criteria
upon which they are based. Even if I rverecompetentto do so, it
rvould be exceedinglylengthv and rvould not serveour immediate
purposes. I will therefore confine mvself to presentingcertain ex-
amples to characterisethe situation and to serve as a conrtecting
bridge leading,in a logical and rational manner',to the part of the
work in which I am at homer chemistrv.
Nor rvill I cite studiesor authorities in thc field of bioclimatol-
ogy. \Ve have a great internationalorganization,the Internatiorr-
al Societv of Bioclimatology,with its center at Oegstgeest( Lei-
 4 The Chemical Basisol Med.ical Cli.motolog.ll

den, Holland ) . In adclition, the American Institute of Medical

Climatologyhas recently been founded in the United States.
Others, much closer to the strbject than I, could speak more
d i f f u s e l lo n e r e n t st a k i r r gp l a c ei r r b i o c l i r n a t o l o g i c sailu i i e s .
I view the resurgenceof bioclimatologicalstidies in the United
^
States, due to the efiorts of the Ameiican Institute of \{e&cal
Climatologr.. wit)r grcat pleasure. One of the pioneers
in this
n€ld wns actua \ un .\rlrerican,petersel, who left us with
a funda_
merrtal work, The patient and. tlrc W eather. But after his death,
these studies slackened ofi in America while they flourished
in
Europe due to the works of De Rudder, Duell arid others;
too,
there were created here numerousinstituteswithin the framework
o.fthe great rneteor.ological organizations:DeutscherWetterdienst,
/,entratanstalttuer' \lettrcrologie rurd Geodynamik (Hohe
Warte
\\/ien ), Station Centrale Suissede \Ieteorologie, etc.

MEDICAL CLIMATOLOGY AND TRADITIONAL

CLIMATIC FACTORS
If, when we refer to nredical climatolog.i,,we rnean only
the
strrdyof the forcesexertedbl traditional clfiratic factors
uDonthe
l r r r r n a nl r o d 1 .w e s l r a l ln o l b e a L l e t o s : r ) a r y m o r e t l r a n
phisical
c l r e m i s t r ya n d p l r rs i o l o g yl r a v eb e e nt c l l i n g u s f o r s o m e
tirie.
The traditional climatic factors are alm-ostexclusively
meteor_
ological factors: ternperature.pressure,humidity, wind, jr
mruses,
lonts, precrpitations,the state of the rveather and the
meteor_
ological situation and its evolutron.
Those traditional meteorologicalfactors which are
measurable
and tlrereforecapableof being quantitativelv evaluated
and thus
reduceaDjeto numbcrs, ale verv few. Among these
are temper_
afure, pressure,humidity, etc.
No,more.than I sunlmar\ description of the others is
possible
and uteu characteristicscaunot be numerically determined;
the
evaluationof these factors is onlv qualitative.
Tempcrature.
[ ) r c s \ r r ea r d ] , , i , n l . l i t . ,l ,r e m e a s u r e do, n e m i g h t
say, wherever the relcvalt data mav bc obtained witliout
difficul-
t r ' . F o r a i r m a s s e so, r . t l r e m e t e o r . o l o g i c sailt u a t i o n ,
e t c . ,o n e c a n
alwavs turn to meteorologicalbullctirx.
 lntroductiort

MEDICAL CLIMAIOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICAL

FACTORS
In addition to purelv meteorologicalfactors\\,.eshould alsocon,
s i d e r g e o p l r v s i c ael .l e c t l i c a l ,e l e c t i o m l g n e t i cr. n a g n e t i ca n c lg r r t r
itational factors:
a) Atrnosphericalpotential, spacialelcctricirl clrur.tIe,electric,u]
c o n d r r c t i r i t ro [ t l r e r i r . r e r . t i c acl r r r r e r r t sr a
. c l i o - : r c ti itri o { t l r c r i r . .
b) trllectromagneticwaves or general distrrrbanccsof the elcc_
t r o n r r g r e t i c f i e l d .t e r r e s t r i anl r a g r r e t i s n l
c ) R a d i a t i o ror f r a r i o r r st r . p e s r
d ) ( l r a r i t u t i o r r a vl u r i a t i o r r sa,r d t l r e c f l e c t s( , f t i d c s .
The electrical geophvsicalfactors are onlr. nreasrrrecl in a ferl
scatteredstations,mainlv irr the nortlrcnr hemisplrelcrrf tlre eartlr.
and thcse nleasrrrenentsare rrot alrvar.stakerl u.ith continuit\..
Disturbancesin the electr.omagnetic field are alsomeasur.ed in f.,il
stationsand these generallv recor.drvrr e scalesrr lriclr clifier h.orn
station to station. The data gathereclare therefore of no crrrrerrt
use to biologists. In fact, a biologist canllot use data in iris hio,
climatologicalstudieswhich have becn obtaine.l 500 or 1.0()0Krl
a*'ar', since electrical and electromagrretic tlistrrrhancesrliffer at
aDy gi|en tnoment, depending trpon tlre localit.r. llrccpt in fortrr_
nate circumstances,the biologist \1.ishingto eramine tlre nrort
important geophysicalfactors ntust irrstall rr conrpletr rtDge or
equipment in his observatory.
Thc inrp,oss.ibilitv of g-atheringadequate informatiou regardirrg
,
these highly important lactors renders a bioclinratologistbs[Lra_
tion quite unsatisfactory, and it does not favor. anv adiancernent
in our knowledgeof these{actors. \\'e will seelatel horv inrportant
certain of these geophysicalfactors are u.ith respect to tlrc strrcl_
ies in question.

EXTERNAL FACTORS AFFECTING BIOCLI\TATOLOCY.

BIOTROPIC FACTORS
The correlation of temperature, pressure, huniiclitr. and other.
factors *'hich are measurable and reducible to rlrrrrher.s,r,,,itir
ph1siochemicaland biological phenornena,although valuable in_
lormation lrom a general standpoint,does not leal rrs to anr.fact
whicli has not been noted previouslv in either
ltht,sicalchemrsrr,
B The CltemicalBasisof MedicalClimatologg

or physiology, as I pointed out earlier. Furthermore, these correla-

tions would not provide us with a complete solution to the e$ects
of climatic variations, A simple example will illushate this afirma-
tion:
There are meteoropathic persons who, for example, &splay
grave disturbancesat the approach of a cyclonic zone,_oreven
irerely a low pressure zone. At such times, the person will feel tfie
efiects of the zone, even remaining indoors at a constant temper-
ature. Therefore temPerature is not an imPortant factor. On the
other hand, if the meteorological disturbance is not approaching,
the person remains unaffected and can go upon a hill or a sky-
scraperwith no harur accruing. Yet going to the top of one of the
tall New York skvscrapersresultsin a Pressruedrop of arounrl 30
nm of mercurv. Nothing less than a common cvclone is able to
provoke a sinrilar pressuredrop. But silce tltere is no cyclone,
the person remains uuaffected. Tlierefore Pressureis not an im-
portant factor. The same can be said of humiditl'.
Temperature, pressureand hunriditv thus have nothing to do
u ith meteoropathicdisturbances.
Is it rvorthwhile to continue considerirg these traditional phys-
ical factors in conncction with modern bioclimatology? Probably
r)ot, ercept in a subordinate and auxilialv rdle, as long as varia-
tions in thesefactors are not indicationsof other concomitantphe-
uomena which are o{ importance from a bioclimatological point of
vierv. The traditional factors are not sufficient in themselves to
deffne a biotropic situation and, considered alone, are of very little
interest.
However other general Iactors are at work in the field of meteor-
ology, such as t}re weather situation, the evolution of the meteoro-
logical situation, fronts and so on. It is not my place to speak in
detail of these, but, as I see it, to identify, deffne and classify the
factors in question in a clear manner that would be useful in
biology and medicine is a verl' dilncult job.
At sorne Institutes, in order to establishrelationshipsbetween
the meteorologicalsituation and biological and medical occurren-
ces, thev have atternpted to distinguish rneteorologicalsituations
in a rough way, without dealing in minute details. Thev con-
 lntroduction i

cerned t'hemselves witb descriptions which were largeiy qualita-

QVe. r or example i
Dr. Ungeheuer had distinguished the rneteorologicalsituation
in six phases:
Weather phase 1. Half fine-weather.
\Veather phase 2. Improvement in fine weather.
W eather phase 3. Full fine weather reinforced eventually from
. foehn'
Weather phase 4. Beginning of clouding (break-upofweather).
Weather phase 5. Sky completely overcast(complete break-up
of u'eather) .
Weather phase 6. Beginning of improt ernent.
He then distinguishednine points in each phase:
1. Ceneral impression and tendencv to evolve torvarcl other
phase
2. Clouding
3. \'isibilitv, transparencvof the air'
4. Temperatureand humidit"'
5. Atmosphericpressure
6. \Vind at ground level and at altitude
7. Distribution of the temperatureat altitude, inversion of the
temperatureat ground level
8, lllectromagletic N'avedisturbancesin the field
9. Nleteorologicalpeculiarities, local clouds in the morning,
dew, etc.
This classification in six phases with a description of the nine
points w'as greatly appreciated and served as a basis for various
studiesof a bioclimatologicalnature ( Nluecherand others). This
naturalistic and almost picturesquedescriptionof weather phases
in fact permitted the corelation of the frequencv of the phases
rvith the frequencv of certain biological phenomena. Thus u'e
Dow kno$' that weatLer phasesare not u'ithout effect (indiflerent )
rvit)r respcct to living organisms,at lcast in a generalsense. But,
of thc rrrassof phenomenathat constittrtcsa phlse, rtat actrralh
reactsupon the organisms?
In rcfcrrirrg to the measurableftrctors-tenrperaturepressure,
etc,-wc are reverting to the studv of ftrctorsthat have nothing to
8
-Tlte Cltetnical Bu;is of lleclical Climatology

do with the phenomenawhich we should rvish to study. Dr. Reiter,

Director of the Bioklimatische Forschungsstelleof \'Iunich, Ba-
r a r i a , a d o r r t e t al d i f l e r e n tm e t h o c l :
Instead of more or lcss rninutely descrilringthe meteorological
situation, he concentratedon particrrlar meteorologicalelements,
ta.keuas meteoroloeical indicators. These indicators were chosen
at random, with no pretenseof doing anvthing absolute,but mere-
lv somethinguseful and practical. Reiter holds tliat there must be
a single causal dependence,valid under anv circumstances,be-
trveenthe weather and the reactionsof living organisms.It means
distingrrislring,on the basis of the indicator.s,tbe biotropic sttua-
lion of the weather from the nan-biotropic sitttution. Thii method
nrakesit possibleto know whether on a given drv there were exter-
nal factorsnt work capableof producing biological reactions.The
l)rincipalindicatorsadoptedbv Reitcr were:
a') Atntospherics(Infralangwellenstoerungender Atmosphaere;
\tLF, xery lous frequencies); atmospheric disturbances on .very
long wave lengtl:x-or infra aaues.
b) Any peculiaritg in the atmosplrcric electrical field.
Temperature, pressure and the other traditional meteorological
factorsfade into insignificancewhen comparedwith the indicators
of biotropic situations. Even the other great factors, fronts, air
masses,etc., seentto denronstratethe existenceof a biotrooic me-
teorologicalsituation with less surenessand precision than do at-
mosphericsand the static electricalfield.
The effective and direct biotropic reaction of atmosDhericswas
discussedat great lengtli; ho*"u1., later, after a *"ulih of obser-
vational material had been exanined, highly satisfactoryconela-
tions between electromagneticdisturbancesand certain biological
and psychic functions were established (Curry, Duell, Linke,
\loerikofer, Reiter, Schulze,Zink and otliers) .
The electromagneticfield thus was establishedas a direct cause,
as the determining factor in biological phenomena.
It is not within the scope of my work to deal with these prob-
lenrs. Tlre exampleswlrich have heerrset fortlr clearlv show how
scholarsin the ffeld of bioclimatologvare abandoningtile tradition-
al, typical climatic meteorologicalelenents-those whoseexistence
 Intrcductiatr 9

is physic:allv discernablgin a direct manner, such as tenpcrature

and humidity-in order to adopt other elements, rvhose existence
men cannot discernphysicallyby the living organism,such aselec-
tromagnetic waves.
This is as to sav that the climate lgill be nrodemlv clefinedor,
l r e t t e r ,t l r r t t l r e d c f i n i t i o no l c l i m u t eu i l l b e c n r i <l r e t lL r r n e q ' . o -
p h r s i t a l r r r r de s t r o p l r r s i c a l . 1 . ; ; ' ; ;

THE CIIETIICAL BASIS OF MEDICAL BIOCLINTATOLOCY

IN THE PAST
If the basis that we wish to attribute to cliniatolosv is to be
chemical, tlien before all else ue shorrldknos u'lret aic tbe rela-
tionships between climatic and chemical phenomena. Once this
is knorvn, *'e should be able to trans{ertlreselelatiorrsliipsorrto a
biocliemicalplane and Iater onto a biological and nedical plane.
Before going further I must point out that studicsof tlris nature
have onlv been carried out sporatlicallvancl have never been re-
ceived u'ith great favour.
Experirlental chemists,analvtical chemistsand all tliosc har in{
to do u'itli chemical operations,cspeciallvcolloidal or arrv othcr
type in a heterogeneoussvstem,knou-that an indefinablesorrrc-
l/ring somctimesreacts on their operetions. Even sorkcrs in ccl-
tain branchesof industry are aware of this. But these thinqs are
not discrrssed.Yet we are not speaking of ncgligible facts; Ior
example, in some industries serious disrupiions take place u'ith
frequencv in cor-respondence with certain meteorologicalsitua-
tions: in silk spinning, ihe making of some dyes, flotation and, in
certain seasons,the application of maguesiumcemcnts. But ihese
disruptions,which are trulv inexplicable,are attributed either to
chanceerrors (rvhich is tlie handiestrvtryof disnrissingtlrern) or to
quirks irr the systemof handling, which lead to erlergeticmeasures
to restorerrormal operationsbv modiff ing work conditions.
Colloiclalarsenictrisulphide is u'idely' consideredas being sen-
sitive to weather (taetterempfndlich, as the Gcrmarrss"vJ. E.
Findeisen felt she had demonstratedthe sensitivitvof arsenictri-
sulphide using measurementsof electricalconcluctivity.but Reiter
sharply criticisedthis work. On the other hand, Wilke and l\Iueller
showed that the sulphide in question is sensitive to an electromag-
 l0 The ChemicalBaslsof lledical Clinatologg

netic field. Recently,Neuwirth resumedthe studv

of the influence
ol atmosphericphenomenaon the ,ging of colloiial
arsenictrisul_
pnrde by photometric means. The obsen,ationswere
conducted
everv day for two consecutive vears and the author found
that the
discontinuitiesin the aging process\\,ererelated to
various atmos-
pherrcphenomena,among which were variationsin
the altitude of
the stratum at 500 mb and cold fronts.
C a l c i u mp l r o s p l r a t e .
, l ) r e c i p i t a t i n gf i . o ma p P r o p r i a t es o h l t i o n sr,s
alsosensitiveto externalspacialfaciors
in appearance
according to extemal conditions. It rvas "u.l "i,orqg",
Bortels-who in iSSf first _'.
drew attention to this fact. Calcium phosphatef.orr,,
thos" pu.ti"_
ular solutions._in flct, prccipitatesin fflamints u"a l" nut"r'io+l*-
rrr€l*tswhen.tirc meteorologicalsituation is anti-cyclonic,
and in
t l r k e sw l t e n i t i s c r c l o n i c .r r r s B o r l e l s . T l , e n r a n n e r p r e c i n i t a _
of -i ) ,
t r o r ri s i n f l r r e n c c d
L r a m e t a l s c r e e n f. o r i n s t a n c el, t h i n s h e i t o f 7 \
T t i s e r e n p o s s i b l et o o b s c r re t l r e t r v o 1 y 0 " , o f p r e c r p i _
lllrmin.um:
tation in the same solution bv covering the half
oi the u"r's"l
taining the solution u,ith an aluminuri she"t. f,.o- "o.r-
ttrl, ii _ould
seernthat the modiffcation in the appearanceof
the p.""iprr"r"
is due to disturbances in the electromagnetic ffeld
urri tt ut tL"
appearance of filaments or flakes in correipondence
with cy,clonic
or anti-cyclonic zones is still to be related wlith the
electromap,n"fi.,
-----e"'"-
p l r e n o m r r r rav l r i c l ra c c o m p a n yl l r e z o n e st l r e m s e ] v e s .
s t u d i e so I t h e p r e c i p i t a t i o no I c a l c i r r mp l r o s p h l t e ,
.^TIre begunrn
t9+9. werc. (rrried out regrrlarl.r.eat.h clar.ai
tl,iee fixed ilmes,
except for brief interrrrptiors, for several
1,ears. Under t]re alumi_
num screen the precipitation occurs rrore often in
ihe form of fila_ )
ments-than- in the open. The explanation put
forth by Bortels
and other phenomenain which Le refe.red to
fiS ]id-S,1t,1; par_
rrcultr radiationsor.rgcnts of low or high pressure(T_Agens
and
II-Agens), was strangelv criticised; lroi.eve.,
the facts ,ihi"t t
presentedare, in spite of the degreeof uncertaintv "
and the doubts
to wlich they can give rise, the typical facts which
ur"
tered by all those who rvish to studv these "rr"u,rn_
phenomena directly,
,h" results of a given experiment to n.reteorological,
::]1:'.r9, geo_
plrvsrcal or solar data. For this reason, Bortels, work
is ,ro lers valid
than that of other authors.
 Introdu.'tion II

Bortels -alsostudiesa p!.enomenonof extreme importancefrorn

r general point of riew: tlre freezing of over-cooledwater. This
phenomenon could not be more variab]e, ancl Burtels souglrt to
link the frccluencyrvitli which small sarnplesof overcoolecl iva tcr
freezeto the courseof the weather.
An accurate statisticaland critical analvsisby Berg of the data
plesented br- Bortels *'ith respect to terirestrirl rnrlnetism ancl
solar activitr', came to the conclusion thrt the numelicel clata
studicd "bareh' succeedeclin constituting a strong argurirent in
'l,ilotage'
favor of the of tLe precipitation iif calciuni'phJsphatebr.
terrestrial nragnetism and solar activ.it\'." The rcsults nf B"rgt,
highlv acutc criticism wcre, therefore,not neq:tir c. hut sufficientlI
positire.
Bortels also studicd the separationof water from aqar gcl, so-
c l l l e d s i n r r ' , . , r sa.s r ( . l a l e dt o e x t c r n a ll , l r e n o m c r r u .
Bortels is to be liighly credited for lrar ing inclicrrtcdt*,o tvpical
.
phenonrenaas being sensitiveto externalfactors: the precipitation
oI an inorganic compound and the trunsfornratiorrr,pess.rg{iodi
s t a t o ) o f a p u r e s u b s t a n c eT. h e p u r c s u b s t a r r cies r r , L t e rt.h e l r o n t e
o f t h e v i t r t lI l r e n o nr e n a .
Neuwirth & Humrnel studied the influenccof rneteorokrgicalfac_
torson tlre clissipatingporverof colloidal solutionsof polvrliuvlprr_
. rotroon I
"Experintcnts on optical difiusion u,itir
a solution of polvvinrl_
pvrrolidon (Kolloidon k 30) havc been canied out and har.er.-
verled exogeninfluenceon the intensitv of cliffusion.The observecl
significante\tlernes rverecorrelated,iith ntcteoroloqicll plrclorrr_
ena and shorvn to be in connectiorru-ith fruuts alcl lr^olizontal
shearingnurlbers. It follou'ed also relation to the jet strean as to
its position and time of arrival at the olrsenltion
|llce. It scerneci
possibleto use colloidesas indicatorsfor biometeoroloqicalor even
for synoptical connection. The observedirifluenceoirveather on
cr-rlloidalsolrrtionsnray be explained bv terrestrial or extr.aterres_
trial electlomagneticradiation, more or lessmodifieclbl u.eather
influences. It could not 1'et be determined at u-hicL place in the
\vave spectrun the colloidal meteorologicalravs are sltuated,nor
s'as it possibleto find anything definite conccrrringthr: clrrracter
a r r dk i n d i n H r r e n c i n tgl r e c o l l o i d a ls o l u t i o n . "
tt Tlrc ChemicalBasisof trledicalClimatoloE!

Caroll a Pichotka studied thc influence of the weather on the

results of titration of sodium thiosulphate. The condition of the
experiments sliows that the cause of the variation of titration re-
ruitr -uv consistin changesof electromagneticundulatory radia-
tion of high frequencv or in radioactiveradiation.
To the purely chemicalstudieslisted abovewe must add a study
that provided one of the most spectacularexamplesof spacialin-
fluence orr a chemical-biological svstem: Takata's report, one
which is well known in medical circles.
Since 1941,Takata & \'{urasugihave establishedthat the flaking
numbers of the blood serurnof a healthv man (Takata'snumbers)
rernainvery constantover a pcriod of time. But in certain periods
these numbers can rise to very high values,suddenly or even tu-
multuouslv. The disturbed periods for Takata's reaction were
those betwcen the vears 1938 and 1943 and between 1948 and
1950. These were not local phenomena; rather they were world-
wide. Takata's reaction was in current use in clinical practice all
over the world and, because of its wide adoption, it must be con-
sidered a wonderfr,rltest. Sirnultaneousdisturbancesand parallel
behavior patterns were obsen ed in localities as much as 1500 Km
apart.
The disturbancesin Takata's reaction were related not to me-
teorologicalplrenonena,but to solat'phenomena. The passageof
a gror:p of spots along the central mcridian of the sun seemed to
disturb Takata's reaction. But tlie phenomenologv observed in
great profusion in the years 1938-1943and in lesscrprofusion in
the vears 1948-1950was never again cvidenced. The disturbed
periodsindicated by Takata's,"""iion to tlre diminisli-
"o.r"rpond
ing (or to part of it) of the two solar cycleswhich preceded the
present one, whose maxirnumsof activitv were recorded in 1937
u'ith an average of I14 spots, and in 1947 with an average of 150
spots dailv. It would be extremelv interesUngto know what is
taking place today, nov' that we once more find ourselves in the
diminishing phase of the present solar cycle, which reached its
maximum of activitv in 1957 u'ith an average of 190 spots, the
highestever registered!
The behaviour of Takata's reaction awoke great interest and
many scholars studied it with a vierv to possible relationships
 Itftroduction li

with solar or geophysiCalphenomena. tsut in spite of all the stucl-

ies that rvere carried out, it was not possibleto clarifv conpletelv
the situation. The problem remained open, but there rvas no
doubt that the disturbancesindicated bv Takata'sreactiol are of
s p a c i a rl r r d . a b o re a l l . s o l l r o r i g i n .
These studies,in which a connectionwas sought betrveenttre
thc chc.rnicalarrdbiocheuricalnhenomenau,hicli take r.rlirce in srrr
rounclingspace,ale extremelvnoterroltlrr. -{s firl as I Lrrorv,litcr
ature on the subject does not ofler a grcat clealmore. As ore cal
see, the number of studies canied out has bcen scant\', even
though some rvere verv painstaking. This is not, nnfortunateh',ir
'fhe
subjcct rvhich interests chemists at this morneut. grcater'
part of the studiesoutlined above are the work of pcrsonsoutsickr
the chemicalfield.
I do not wish to enter into an involved discussiouof tlre results
obtaineclbv the various authors. It must be adrnitted ihat these
resultsare acceptableas being more indicative than definitive, In
fact, the simple and direct correlation of chemical or biological-
chernical events with spacialevents provides a glimpse of arr ap-
preciable interdependencebetween tltese tu'o olclersof phenonr-
enon,without introducing new criteria or methocls.

A N,{ODERNCHEMICAL BASIS
Hou'ever, r,r'eare still not coming to grips with thc chemical
probleni. What external forces are at work, and how clo tLev rc-
act upon a chemical system? \Vhat is the sensitivepart of a cJrcr,r-
ical system?
Tlteseare the questionsupon rvhiclr I personallvhavc corcentm-
ted during the past ten vears.
In closing this introduction, I must of necessitvrnention the rc-
searchultich I began in 1935 and *'hich has continued up to ur(,
present,on a particular phenomenonknown as the "activatiou" ol
u,ater. The term activation is exceedinglvill-cltosen,brrt by nos
i t l r a se s t e b l i s l r eidt s e l fi n u s a g e
By rrenns of particular pirvsical proccclurcs,it is possible to
modifv u'ater physicallv rvithout niodifving its chenticLrlconrPosi-
tion o: the traditional phvsical conditions in rvhich it is {otrndr
14 The ClrctnicalBasisof MedicolClinntologl
procedures'all of
temDerature,pressure,illumination etc These
patents'
hauetee,,thesubjectof,mauvindustrial
il"ri
"-prttlif,
Tl,ese pa'ientslrave been in tlre pi.rvsical. descalinqof
"-ploy"d i n s t r u m e n t sl o r t l r e a c t i v a t i o n
l;;ii;;t,';;i"; r e s e r r o i r se t c . ' T h e
of time end
of water clo not give constant results over a period
often
- clisplavattomalousbel raviorrrs
"activation"' I concei'ed a
i; ;;. io stu<h'the phenomcnonof
compare the be-
differential method bv itleansof rvhich J rvas to
sample of rvater in an activated and in a non-activa-
fr^rio.t of
"""
I noted'that the pltvsicallv rnodified water did not al-
i;^il..
*uu, oroan"" the same cfiectsrvereof one sign during
"fi""i';'th"t o n t r a r vs i g nd t r r i n gr n o t h e r p e r i o d '
;;i;; ;;;; ; a t i n t e . u r r t lo f
point
* i i h o u t ' " n u t h i n g a p p u r e n t l vt r a v i r r gc h a n € e J T h i s w a s . t h e
in Lg.]gI b"""-" u*ut" t\at these
t*i"i r
"oo" "oi"Jni.ut"d,'und at that time
,f,onno, u'or" relalul to erternal phenttmcna' 1ol
b e e nc o n e c t i n
c l e a r l vi d e n t i f i e c ll n 1 9 3 9 .I l t . t t n u t t t t c ct ldr a t I h a d
ift"i certain chenrical Plt"-t'n-:"1 *ere subiect,to the
"rr"";i"* Jf spacial phenomena,lnd I inrited clrcmists' biologists'
actions 'collaboratc
-"i""-f"gilu, to rvith me in this new research But
I rvas not able
il" p."*i.ii,y of the war interrupted my rlor]< and
oi
to ris.,me it until 1950 at the Iistitute of Phvsical-Chemistry
Florence Universitv.
all of
Many chemical svstems*e'e stucliedduring this period'
in et oltttion:precipitation of oxichlo-
them heterogeneoussqstems
ttJ" Uu--"Ot by -"u,t, of Lydrolisis; preciPitation of colloidal
"f calcium sul-
arsenic trisulphite; Precipitation of silver halide' of
ot,ot". to.*utiott of gold bv means of reduction of chlor-
"olloiaut
ii" also the simple"depositionof inorganic compounds
"t... ""a
i n w a t e r : g r c p l r i t e n. r e r c r t t ro r i d e e t c
Dr,rfitg ihii lortg seriesof studies,wliich rvas highlv promising
but not verv conc'i.tsite, I rvas able to ascertail at one Point-in
the
1936-that a metal screenu'as sometines capableof modifying
was a passage trom ac-
direction of activation: for exarnplethere
which re-
tivation which accelerated prccipitation to activation
tarded it.
to exter-
This fact conffrmed that lvater is a sensitive substance
with a
nal actions and that it is enough to modify these conditions
 - Intrcduction 15

nletallic scrcen to note an effect. A thin nretallic screenchanqcs

the electric ffcld and the electromagneticffclds at leastjn Dart.Blrt
c v e n I l r p s eu e r e o n l r i n d i c a t i o n s ,
Thc u'ork carried out from lg35 to 1940is to be considcrctlas a
broaclexplorationin searchof bridges to corurcctarnextreme]l'r'ast
complcx and general net$,ork of phenomcna,so general that tlrc
clrenricirl<lualitvof the material involvetl llzs rot so inportant a\
tle oggtegatestate of tlrc material anclevohrtionof this a{gregate
statc in the courseof time. N{orethan beinq nrerelv chcmicll, tlic
researchu'asphvsical-cliemical.TLc crterniJll -ectingplrcnomen:r
could be studied using anv material providing that material u as iu
a suittrbleaggregatestatewhich had not reacheda stateof equili-
brium and u'as still in evolution. The basis of these phenomcna
seemsstructuial.
Basicallv,these old studies still partiallv possessecl characteris-
tics of the researchcarried out later b,r'o[her lrttltors. Hettroga-
neous srlstemsu:hich are not in cquilihrium. espcciolltl(olloi;lot
titJstetns, ure the indicatot'sof an efiernal situation.
Thc studies of "actiyation" sLowed that rrater is bv itself an
easilr.influenceclbodr'. In fact, phvsical processcsn.roclifvit in a
semi-permanentmanner, in the sensethat tlre moclificationprr'-
sists for a verv long time. This perrnits tlre storageof inclrstriul
$'ater after treatment and thus the utilization of instnulents u'lrich
are conpared to the quantitv of water trcated.
Watcr is, therefore, a sensitir-eand modifiablc bodr'. I havc
shorvnthat modificationis possibleirr rr'aterprcpared for concluct
ancemeasrrrernents (equilibrium water ), in normal clistilledwatcr.
in drinking u'ater from a tap, as u'ell as in dirtv rvaterfrom a brook
or river. The behaviour of one of tlre reactionsI lrar.ementioncd
differs if normal or activated rvater is employed together with tlrc
sameclienticalreactir.e. There is no need to unclerlinethe inrport-
ance of this fact: it is ri'cll knov'n that life takesplacc in an arrrre,,s
and colloidal svstem-that is, in the ti pe of st.stenrshrdieclbv rrrr.-
self anclbv the other authors,
For this reason,after liaving shown horv external phenomcna
influeuce aqueous colloidal svstems,I have corrcentratcdon the
study of the structure of water, which I shall shortly describe.
 18 The ChemicalBasisof lledical Clinatologg
.
BIBLIOCRAPHY
General rVorks
l. Assmann,R: Die W etterfuehligkcitdts llenschen. [ena,1955.
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.1. Cun N/l.: Bioklirnatik. Riclerauim Ammersee,1946.
"-,
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Some Particular Vorks

-_ 1. Bergter,F., und Noak, D.: Nctrirur,i.r,rens chaften, 4B:20g,f 956,
{ 2. Bortels,H.: N aturtoissenschaften, Bs:165,IgEi.
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2: 776, 1956i57.
- 5. Bortels,H., und Koppe,H.: lleiLand Tertilber.,jZr 1011,1956.
. 6. Caroli,G., und Pichotka,l.: Archia
fuer trIetcorologie,
Ceophysik
und BiokLimatologie,58; 403, Ig54.
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,rie, 1621495, 19SE.
Findeisen,E.: Bioklin. Beibl.,j0: 25, I9lB.
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2: IV, 1958.
 ltlttodllctiatr l;

tO. Xo"";g, lI., urrd Anlierrnucllcr,F.r Nnfarr isscnschaftcn, 17:166

1960.
1 1 . L n r k c ,F . : D u B a l n e o l o g1e:,2 5 i , 1 9 3 4 .
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pl tsikuvl Bioklinntology,58r388,1955.
- I{. Netrrvirth,l\,: lleteorologisclrc Rundschau.i li; l0ij. 1955.
15. Piccrrrtlr'. C.: SichereArbeit,2: 1. 1956.
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Zonc, nuo.35r 235,1952.
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!1. Schulzc,R.: AertzliclrcForschung,8;1,195-1.
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tologie,2 B: !186,1951.
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16, 1955.
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25i. 193:1.
26. ZjJft,(J.: Deutschellediziner W ochenschrift,7ir10ill, 1950.