That’s it! Thanks. Is he considered woo?
Transmutation. It was something the Alchemists believed in. Then in the early 20th century a scientist
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…along with Ernest Rutherford, discovered that radioactive thorium was converting itself into radium in 1901. At the moment of realization, Soddy later recalled, he shouted out: “Rutherford, this is transmutation!” Rutherford snapped back, "For Christ’s sake, Soddy, don’t call it transmutation. They’ll have our heads off as alchemists
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Acupuncture and chiropractic can be “woo” when used improperly.
Remember Otzi, the mummified man found in an Austrian glacier some years back? He had several dozen lines tattooed on his body, and most of them corresponded to currently used acupuncture points. :eek:
Zombie alchemists on woo!
There is written documentation of trephanation used in head injuries back to the Ancient Eqyptians. The ancients had no clue why it worked (sometimes) but we now know it either removed a blood clot, or relieved pressure on an injured and swelling brain, or both. Doctors still, sometimes, remove a piece of skull to relieve pressure on an injured brain.
That’s very different from a lobotomy which is not so much about knocking a hole in the skull as destroying some brain tissue.
This is a great example for this thread. The first and best and most important rule of science -as opposed to woo --is that if it can’t be proven false, it doesn’t mean anything.
Let’s see where the claim about Otzi falls. There are hundreds of “currently used acupuncture points.” So any line tattooed on a body could be argued to ‘correspond’ to the points by someone who wants to find a connection.
Just saying “Gosh, these look similar” isn’t scientific evidence because there’s no way to objectively say “No they don’t”.
So, until someone comes up with a reasonable way of objectively testing whether the lines do correspond to acupuncture points, with a clear ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ (a ‘too close to tell’ is also acceptable)-- and trying a bunch of different ways until you find one that gives the answer you want doesn’t count – in a scientific discussion, we can’t say there’s any connection.
Breast-feeding was considered woo for quite a few years.
I have to assume you mean “the benefits of breast-feeding vs. formula” was considered unsupported by “modern” science at the time, yes?
Roddy
Which system of acupuncture points? Oriental? Western? Indian? Oriental 1000 CE, 1500 CE or 2000 CE? Strangely, none of those agree with each other.
And did you know that if you take any map of acupuncture points, print it on transparent stock, and hold it over a star map, many points will match? It’s true – try it sometime! And this proves that acupuncture points are derived from star maps, right? It’s written in the stars, dude!
Also, per wikipedia, enemas (daily - both water and yogurt), sunbathing, and breathing exercises. The sunbathing and breathing exercises sound relaxing. Hmm. His interest in intestinal flora is trendy again.
The abstinence thing has already been mentioned. His opinions regarding masturbation are painful to read, but were in keeping with his times.
William Lightbody: Oh, no, no, I can’t eat fifteen gallons of yoghurt.
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg: Oh, it’s not going in that end, Mr. Lightbody.
Since when? I’m going to have to request a cite for this one. There IS a form of brain surgery to treat severe cases of epilepsy and the like – but it’s not a lobotomy, as the term is understood. :dubious:
That scene is why we went to see the movie - I had just spent a week and a half being poked, prodded and subjected to all sorts of radiological tests including barium from both ends …
Weston Price? He’s nuttier than squirrel shit.
Because these bacteria are anaerobic, oral delivery won’t work. The poo-poo has to be cultured and delivered in an oxygen-free environment.
None of this is traditional acupuncture. There may be some things you can do with small electrical currents that are therapeutic. But it’s not reasonable to treat everything that uses needles as if it is the same as the ancient practice. Traditional acupuncture, just needles in ‘qi’ points, seems to be totally useless when compared to just about anything other than totally ignoring the patient’s complaint.
Ah, yes. Hope springs eternal. 50 to 100 years of investigation has turned up bupkis, but any day now, we will all be vindicated. Forgive me if I don’t get up.
Of a thousand tests, some will, by pure chance, show positive effects. This doesn’t mean there is anything to the claim, it just vindicates the mathematics of probability.
And what qi channels were those tests using?
I’ve always hated this (which seems to get mentioned often).
The Wright 1903 Flyer definitely did take off under its own power - no catapult was used. They lay down a track on the sand for it to run on, but it had no form of power assist other than its engine.
They did use a catapult later, when flying in Ohio (which lacked the winds they’d experienced in NC).
I see. So people can’t give a *flying *shit either.
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Add maggots to that list.
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Why ? They were never woo, AFAIK.
I’m no scholar on the subject, but from what I recall some battlefield doctor observed that maggots only ate the dead bits of otherwise live soldiers and cultivated them for the purpose. The practice slowed down when less oogy methods of cleaning wounds turned up, but is still used to this day to clean difficult wounds when said oogy-free methods don’t work or can’t be applied for one reason or another.
But my point is, as far as I know Dr. Dominique Larrey (I looked him up !) didn’t make up any fanciful theory about it like “maggots are spirits of life emerging from dying meat” or “they abhor the energy vibes exuded by healthy pus”. He just deliberately replicated a naturally occuring process - for I expect spontaneous maggot therapy was sort of a battlefield norm back in the day :p.
It was a fairly commonplace observation during e.g. ww2 that people would walk into dressing stations with horrific weeks/months old injuries crawling with maggots which would generally be expected to result in limb-loss/death due to gangrene or sepsis, and after a bout of Modern Medicine ™(R) would turn out surprisingly OK. Generally refugees/partisans etc. rather than soldiers (who tended to have better access to medical treatment).
Unsurprisingly, some of the medical types took an interest in the phenomenon and after applying their enquiring minds for a while, a new theraputic method was hatched.