The Significance of Fine Grinding: A Response to Harvey Lisle

In a recent article in BIODYNAMICS, Harvey Lisle writes that when the horn-silica preparation (“501”) is made with finely ground silica or quartz, this destroys the quartz’ crystalline structure and thereby destroys “the very properties we are after.” Specifically, if a quartz crystal is ground so finely that it can pass through a 200-mesh screen, he claims that the quartz is then transformed into an amorphous, “clay-like powder,” which will bring about “clay/earth results” rather than the “silica/sun results which we are after when we use 501.” In support of this argument he cites three experiments that he conducted using kinesiology (muscle testing) and dowsing. Lisle’s overall conclusion is not only that coarse grinding is superior to fine grinding, but that a good horn silica preparation can be made even without any grinding—either by using the circa millimetre-sized quartz crystals embedded in the clay mineral rectorate, or by using any fine-grained beach or river sand. This recent article is very similar to a much briefer article of Lisle’s that appeared already in 1985 in a small, now-discontinued biodynamic newsletter. In that article he expressed his basic conviction quite clearly and succinctly: “The crux of the crystal is its form. If we destroy the form we have nothing.” He then went on to say, “I am sure that [200-mesh powder] is much finer than Steiner had in mind when he stipulated that the silica be ‘ground to a fine mealy powder’.” Lisle also reported at that time that he had performed copper chloride crystallization tests and alfalfa growth tests on 200-mesh and 100-mesh silica powder, and that with the coarser 100-mesh silica the results were “good,” but that with the 200-mesh silica the results “did not appear good.” Regrettably, he did not provide any further details about these experiments. I think that the questions he raises about this preparation are fully legitimate, but I cannot concur with his conclusions and recommendations against fine grinding. He may be correct that if we destroy a crystal’s form and reduce it to amorphousness “we have nothing,” but it does not follow from this that we should refrain from creating such amorphousness in the process of making the horn silica preparation. As Faust said to Mephistopheles in Goethe’s famous drama, “In your Nothing I hope to find the All,” so will I try to demonstrate in this article that bringing about amorphousness or chaos is one of the keys to achieving the particular effects that Steiner expected from the horn silica. Inasmuch as currently produced horn silica preparations do not always lead to these effects, however, I certainly support Lisle’s efforts to reexamine this question. In any case, I thank him for stimulating me to pull together my own thoughts regarding the significance of fine grinding within the whole concept of this preparation.