STORAGE AND DISPLAY UNIT This invention relates to a storage and display unit for storage of containers, particularly containers containing homeopathic medicinal preparations. Homeopathic medicine is a system of healing which has been in existence since 1796. The word homeopathy comes from the Greek language and may be translated as "similar suffering" . In other words an agent which can cause disease in a healthy person can be used to therapeutic advantage in a person who is sick and whose symptoms resemble those of the agent. Normally the agent is administered to a patient in minute amount and in very high dilution, in contrast to the practice in allopathic medicine in which the therapeutic agent is normally administered to a patient in much higher amount and at a much higher concentration.

The agent can be administered in the form of a solution, as an ointment or paste, as tablets, or in the form of pellets or globules of a carrier, such as lactose, which has been impregnated with a dilute solution of the agent . Alternatively it is possible to triturate the agent with a solid carrier. A typical size for pellets is around 200 per g, while globules typically come in a size of about 20 per g. Tablets may be of any suitable size which are convenient for sucking, for example, about 0.2 g to about 1 g. Two principal methods are used for dilution of a substance so as to lower its concentration in a given product, whether liquid or solid. In the first method, which was developed by the German physician and experimental pharmacologist Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) , multiple flasks are used. The second method is one developed by Hahnemann' s contemporary, Simeon N. Korsakoff and involves use of a single flask.

The Hahnemannian process consists in effecting dilutions

in separate flasks or bottles. To make a one hundred fold dilution, 1% by volume of a starting solution (or mother tincture) of a convenient concentration, for example aoout 1 g per litre, is placed in a flask and mixed with 99% by volume of diluent. The resulting diluted mixture has a Hahne anman Concentration which, for convenience, can be designated 1 CH. To make a further dilution, 1% by volume of this 1 CH solution is again mixed with 99% by volume of diluent. The resulting diluted solution can be designated 2 CH. These operations can be carried out N times to obtain a solution of the Nth CH.

The Korsakovian process is undertaken m a single oottle or flask. In this case 99% of a starting solution (or mother tincture) is drained or aspirated from the bottle or flask and the remaining 1% by volume is diluted by pouring m 99% by volume of the diluent. After mixing the resulting solution can, for convenience, be designated the first Korsakovian centesimal (or 1 cmK) . Upon repeating the procedure with the 1 cmK solution a further diluted solution, i.e. the 2 cmK solution, is obtained. By carrying out the procedure N times the Nth cmK solution can be obtained.

Whilst dilutions of 1 in 100, i.e. centesimal dilutions, are common, another accepted method of dilution is the decimal method in which 1 part of the mother tincture is diluted to 1/10 of its original strength.

The number of operations that require to be carried out in order to reach a desired level of dilution can be summarised as shown in Table 1 below. The starting concentration is a convenient concentration, such as 1 g per litre.

IABJE_l

Dilution Concentration Decimal Centesimal in 1/100 in 10 ^"n Scale Scale

1/10 10/100 10- ¹ 1 D

1/100 1/100 10- ² 2 D 1 CH

1/1000 0.1/100 lo- ³ 3 D

1/10000 0.01/100 10-" 4 D 2 CH

1/100000 0.001/100 lo- ⁵ 5 D

1/1000000 0.0001/100 10" ⁶ 6 D 3 CH

₁₀ -ι ^β 9 CH

₁₀ -*o 30 CH

In homeopathy a patient may be prescribed any of a wide variety of homeopathic medicinal preparations which contain an agent having homeopathic efficacy at a given concentration, for example, preparations having a concentration in the range of from 1 CH to 30 CH. This presents a problem for the homeopathic practitioner, particularly if the homeopathic medicinal preparations are packaged in unit dosage form, typically containing about 1 g of the preparation, since the practitioner will need to have available a stock of each of the approved homeopathic medicines which he or she may wish to prescribe and in each of a variety of strengths. The number of homeopathic medicines used in the United States of America, for example, is about 200 while in France the corresponding number is about 1600. Even if the homeopathic practitioner elects to stock only five dilutions, e.g. 3 CH, 6 CH, 12 CH, 30 CH, and 200 CH, and the list of products stocked is limited to 200, that still means that the inventory runs to 1000 different types. Moreover, since the practitioner will normally wish to dispense at any one time for a patient attending his or

her consulting room a supply of packages of the appropriate strength sufficient to last until the next consultation some weeks or even months later, the overall inventory may run to several thousands of items. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a novel form of storage and display unit for convenient and compact storage of large numbers of containers, particularly containers of a type suitable for holding a small quantity (e.g. about 1 g) of a homeopathic medicine.

According to the present invention there is provided a storage and display unit for homeopathic medicines having a front, a back, and two sides, comprising a plurality of elongate racks slidably mounted side by side in the unit for slidable lengthwise withdrawal forwards out of the front of the unit, each rack being divided both vertically and horizontally to form a plurality of stacks of subdivisions arranged in rows within the respective rack, each subdivision having access from at least one side of the respective rack and being adapted to receive at least one elongate container containing a homeopathic medicine with the containers in each stack of subdivisions being arranged with their length extending in the direction of withdrawal of the respective rack from the unit. In the unit of the invention at least one of the racks can be divided vertically and horizontally so as to form a plurality of stacks of pigeonholes arranged in rows, each pigeonhole being accessible from at least one side of the rack and being adapted to contain a discrete number of the elongate containers. There may, for example, be twenty pigeonholes per stack. Moreover each such pigeonhole may be adapted to contain, for example, five of the elongate containers .

Alternatively, the storage and display unit can include at lease one rack which is provided with a plurality of vertical dividers and with a plurality of drawers whereby the rack is -orovided with a plurality of stacks of drawers arranged in rows, each drawer being adapted to contain a discrete number of the elongate containers. There may be, for example, twenty drawers per stack. Each such drawer can contain, for example, five of the elongate containers.

In a preferred form of storage and display unit there may be ten racks. More particularly, there may be five stacks cf subdivisions per rack.

The outer surface of the unit may comprise metal cladding. Alternatively the outer surface of the unit can be formed from plastics material. i is further preferred that the unit further comprises a back member upstanding from the base at the rear of the unit.

On at least one rack there may be indicia corresponding to each stack of subdivisions indicating for that stack a particular dilution for the homeopathic medicine contained in the containers of that stack of subdivisions. Also there may be on at least one rack indicia corresponding to each row of subdivisions indicating for that row the nature of the homeopathic medicine contained in the containers of that row. In another aspect the invention also extends to a storage and display unit which contains a plurality of containers each containing a homeopathic medicine. In this case, in at least one rack, the subdivisions in each row of subdivisions may each contain at least one elongate container containing the same homeopathic medicine as the containers in the other subdivisions of that row but the containers in each subdivision of that row may each contain a different strength or dilution of the homeopathic medicine from the containers

of the other subdivisions in that row. Furthermore the containers can be made from a material that shields the contents from the harmful effects of emitted β ^" radiation, for example, aluminium, nickel or copper. Conveniently the containers are tubes of substantially rectangular section. In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, a preferred embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is an isometric view of a storage and display unit according to the invention for holding a plurality of tubes, each containing one or more doses of a homeopathic medicine; and

Figure 2 is a front view on an enlarged scale of one of the tubes for storage in the storage and display unit of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, a storage and display unit 1 for homeopathic medicines has a front, a back, and two sides and comprises a rectangular plan base 2 and a back 3 mounted substantially vertically at the rear of the base 2. On the base 2 there are slidably mounted ten storage racks 4; for the sake of clarity only two racks 4 are shown, one at each end of the base 2. Racks 4 can be slid out forward individually on the base 2 from their inner closed storage position, as shown in Figure 1, in the direction of arrows 5.

In order to facilitate sliding out of racks 4 these can be mounted in any suitable way, e.g. on rollers, on base 2 or they can be provided with slide bars, in known manner. Any convenient sliding arrangement can be used, for example, a sliding arrangement of the type used for drawers of a desk, of a filing cabinet, or of a kitchen cabinet. In addition a stOD member (not shown) can be provided for each rack 4 to

prevent complete withdrawal of that rack 4 from the unit 1. To facilitate sliding of the racks 4 in the unit 1, vertical dividers (not shown) can be provided between adjacent pairs of racks 4. The overall dimensions of the unit 1 with the racks 4 all in their inner closed storage positions are typically approximately 40 cm long by 40 cm high by 40 cm deep.

Each rack 4 comprises five stacks of pigeonholes 6, each consisting of twenty pigeonholes 6. Each rack 4 also has an upper part 7 which bears a label or other indicium above each stack of pigeonholes 6 and a front part 8 which carries a label or other indicium against each row of pigeonholes 6. The labels or indicia on front part 8 against each row of pigeonholes 6 indicate the nature of the homeopathic medicine in that row, while the indicium or label above each stack of pigeonholes 6 indicates the strength or dilution of the homeopathic medicines in the containers of that stack. Each pigeonhole 6 is designed to hold five tubes 9 of homeopathic medicine. The tubes 9 are all of a standard size and are made wholly from a material which is impervious to 3 ^" radiation, particularly β ^" radiation in the tritium range. Thus tubes 9 are desirably designed to protect their contents from emitted β ^~ radiation in the range of from about 0.1 keV up to about 19 keV. It is desirable to use a paramagnetic metal for this purpose. Suitable materials of construction for tubes 9 can be, for example, aluminium, nickel, or copper. Alternatively, it is possible to construct tubes 9 from a metallised plastics material.

As illustrated in Figure 2, tubes 9 comprise a body 10 of substantially rectangular, preferably substantially square, cross section with a cap 11 which may be a screw fit or a push fit. In order to assure the patient that the con ^v e es of the tube 9 have not been taπvDered with since

production of the prescribed homeopathic medicine, the tubes 9 can, if desired, be provided with a tamperproof tear-off strip. Body 10 is provided with printing 12 which extends longitudinally of body 10 and which identifies the contents of the individual tube 9. Such printing can comprise printing applied directly to the tube body 10; however, it will usually be most expedient to provide the printed information upon a printed label. This information preferably includes the name of the product and an indication of its strength. In the example of Figure 2 the tube 9 contains aconitum at a strength of 8 CH. However, it can contain any other homeopathic medicine. Besides the printed information on the body 10, the body 10 or cap 11 can be provided with other information about the product, such as its price and/or a trade mark and/or a brief description of the properties of the homeopathic medicine contained therein. Since tube 9 is printed longitudinally, the printing can be read easily when the body 10 is lying on its side, as illustrated in Figure 2. The use of substantially rectangular, preferably substantially square, section tubes 9 is preferred since they will lie on their sides and present any label thereon in convenient position for reading. However, the tubes 9 can be of any other suitable section, e.g. circular or elliptical cross section or rectangular or square section with rounded corners.

Conveniently each tube 9 is designed to hold a dosage unit of 1 g of the homeopathic medicine.

Within each pigeonhole 6 the five tubes 9 contained therein all desirably contain the same homeopathic medicine and are of the same strength, e.g. 3 CH, 6 CH, 12 CH, 30 CH, or 200 CH. Adjacent pigeonholes 6 may hold tubes of the same homeopathic medicine but of a different strength. The tubes 9 are preferably arranged so that their lengthwise dimension

extends in the front to back direction of the unit 1, i.e. in the direction of arrows 5. In this way the tubes 9 can be held neatly in the unit 1 in convenient order, with the printing immediately visible when the respective rack is pulled out of the unit 1 in the direction of arrows 5.

The tubes 9 can be placed individually in a pigeonhole 6. However, it will usually be preferred to form the five tubes 9 in any pigeonhole 6 into a package. Thus the set of five tubes can be placed in a cardboard carton or box; alternatively the tubes 9 can be wrapped, e.g. shrink- wrapped, in an outer wrapping of plastics material to form a package of five tubes 9. Such plastics sheet material can be transparent or opaque. The use of transparent plastics sheet material is preferred since this permits the printing on the label on the tube 9, or the printing applied directly to the tube 9, to be read readily when the rack 4 is withdrawn in the direction of arrows 5 from the unit 1.

The selection of five tubes 9 per pigeonhole 6 is dictated in part by the fact that it is convenient to dispense a homeopathic medicine in packs of five dosages at a time. However, it is equally possible, but less desirable, so to design the unit 1 that each pigeonhole contains six or seven tubes 9 or some other number, e.g. ten tubes 9.

The homeopathic medicine inside each tube 9 can be of any suitable form, e.g. tablets, pellets, granules, or globules or liquid form.

Each rack 4 contains five stacks of twenty pigeonholes 6, each of which desirably contains five tubes 9, i.e. a total of five hundred tubes 9 per rack 4 or 5000 tubes in the whole unit 1. Conveniently each horizontal row of pigeonholes 6 contains the same homeopathic medicine but each vertical stack contains a different strength of the medicine, e.g. 3 CH, 6 CH, 12 CH, 30 CH, or 200 CH or 3 cmK, 6 cmK, 12

cmK, 30 cmK, or 200 cmK. In this way a total of 200 different homeopathic medicines, each at five different strengths, can be accommodated in the unit, which accordingly forms a very compact and convenient unit for storage of the homeopathic medicines which can fit on the desk of the homeopathic practitioner or on a convenient table or stool adjacent to his or her desk, typically on the right-hand side of his or her working position. When the homeopathic practitioner wishes to dispense a homeopathic medicine to the patient to be treated, it is a simple matter to pull out the relevant rack 4 and then to scan down a stack and read the wording cn the thus displayed tubes 9 to select the intended homeopathic medicinal composition. Having selected the appropriate type of homeopathic medicinal preparation, it is then just a matter of scanning across the stacks to select from the corresponding row the appropriate strength to be dispensed. After a selected tube or tubes 9 have been removed from a rack 4, then the rack 4 can be moved back to its inner closed position and, if necessary, the procedure repeated with a fresh rack 4. Before the next person to be treated is admitted to the consulting room, it is also a simple matter to replace the tube or tubes 9 dispensed to the previous patient by fresh tubes 9 from the practitioner's storeroom so that the unit is refilled before the next patient enters the consulting room.

Instead of having pigeonholes 6 the racks 4 can have drawers which, after the rack 4 has been drawn forwardly out of the unit 1 m the direction of arrows 5, can be opened laterally with respect to the direction of arrows 5. After such a drawer has been opened, however, it is necessary for it to be closed before the rack can be returned to its inner closed storage condition.

If desired, the unit may be provided with a complete

rectangular parallelepipedal frame instead of the skeletal frame formed by the base 2 and back 3 of the unit 1. Moreover in such a case the resulting rectangular parallelepipedal frame can be clad on five of its six faces with cladding panels, made for example, of metal, such as aluminium, so as to provide additional shielding against emitted β" radiation, particularly β" radiation in the tritium energy range. In this case the front of the unit may be open in order to facilitate sliding out of the racks 4, or it may be closed by a flap or door hinged along the top, bottom or left hand or right-hand side, or by a pair of doors, or by a roll front closure.

It is alternatively possible to provide the unit 1 with cladding panels and/or doors of a plastics material, such as poly- (methyl methacrylate) . In this case the plastics material can be coloured or opaque but is preferably transparent so as to facilitate reading of the labels.

Several of the units 1 can be stacked one upon another. If desired, interlocking male and female interlocking members can be formed on the top and base of the unit 1 (or vice versa) in order to permit interlocking of a stack of units 1. Similarly interlocking male and female members can be provided on the sides of the units 1 to enable a side-by-side assembly of units 1 to be formed. As illustrated unit 1 is free standing; it is alternatively possible to provide unit 1 with an integral or demountable stand (not shown) .

Instead of storing tubes 9 the pigeonholes 6 or drawers can be used to hold ampoules each containing a homeopathic medicine and each having a frangible tip. Such ampoules are desirably made of a material which can shield the medicine from the undesirable effects of β" radiation, as well as from visible and ultraviolet radiation, for example, aluminium,

nickel, or copper. By storing the homeopathic medicine in tubes 9 or ampoules made of a material which shields their contents from such undesirable effects it can be ensured that the homeopathic medicine reaches the patient in prime condition and with efficacy undiminished from the time of i _t s preparation.

A molar solution of a substance^ contains, according to accepted molecular theory, 6.023 x 10 ²³ molecules (i.e. Avogadro's number of molecules) of that substance per litre. Hence conventional scientific wisdom would suggest that, even if one were to commence with an initial solution of molar strength, a 10 ^'60 molar solution (or a 30 CH solution) of a substance contains statistically less than 1 molecule per litre of that substance. Nonetheless there is evidence to suggest that a beneficial homeopathic effect can be observed in a patient, in a suitable case, who has been treated with a 30 CH solution of a given homeopathic agent.

The applicants postulate that, in contrast to the usually accepted theory which suggests that mass is uniformly distributed in the space-time continuum, in fact mass is non- uniformiy spread in the space-time continuum and so non- existing in the cone of the future of a point. Within this theoretical framework it can be calculated mathematically (by use of so-called contonian statistics) that, in the cone of the future where a particle disappears, a non-trivial physical field appears; this can be termed the remanent wave. A remanent wave is always created when a particle disappears and leaves what can be termed a "white hole" . It is further postulated that, at any Hahne annian dilution, remanent waves and so-called hyperprotons are created which take over and reorganise the structure of the diluent.

For further information regarding the mathematical calculations involved in contonian statistics reference may

be made to interpretation physico-mathematique de 1 ' effet pharmacologicjue des hautes dilutions : onde remanente apparences contoniennes (conton) by H. Berlioccni & R. R. Conte, Cahiers de Biotherapie, No. 126, pages 73 to 80 (1994) .