that claims certain chemicals have a greater effect on human bodies the smaller their doses are?
I am in the midst of a brain fart. Stupid middle age.
ETA: Never mind. The word homeopathy just popped into my head.
Homeopathy
I know. I’ve read that link, not to mention the Perfect Master’s article on it. As I said, I was just having a brain fart.
“Homeopathy” by Duran Duran
Best listened to through an amp that goes up to 10[sup]-11[/sup].
You dirty homeophobe!
Ah, that’s 1920s style “Homeopathy”.
I always get homeopathy and naturopathy mixed up.
One is slightly less kooky than the other, but I think they’re both somewhat questionable.
Somewhat questionable? Did you read the link? Homeopathy is unadulterated bullshit.
This thread has actually been kind to homeopathy.
The Skeptics Dictionary has a great write up on it. Contains a quote from SDMB’s very own Phil Plait (Bad Astronomer)!
http://www.skepdic.com/homeo.html
.
Actually, I think “homeopathy” gives pseudoscience a bad name.
Here, let me let Michell and Webb explain it:
I have read the links and am generally skeptical of all that crap. But I have found one that works (for me) and my husband is convinced its just the placebo affect, but when I am stressed out, it calms me down and helps me sleep. And since it doesn’t give me a “hangover” in the morning, I love it.
Is it the homeopathy, or my belief that this stupid little pill will help me sleep? Doesn’t matter, cause I haven’t been able to convince my brain to lighten up any other way, so as long as I get a good nights sleep, let the homeopathic remedy give me its placebo affect.
What is it? Is it actually homeopathic, or is it just a natural/herbal supplement or something?
If it’s actually homeopathic, I’d say it’s a placebo affect. But a lot of herbs in the correct dosages (ie, more than you get in homeopathic medicines) will make you relaxed and sleepy.
One herb in particular, when dried and combusted, its vapors then inhaled, will create profound drowsiness. I’ve heard.
Like many another bit of quackery, homeopathy results in horrible generalization and reasoning from a more-or-less-valid premise: small or weakened quantities of a toxin or pathogen will serve to cause one’s immune system to build up a tolerance or immunity to the potentially harmful agent. It’s the principle on which vaccines work, for example.
What the homeopaths did, though, was to extract from this valid concept the idea that a dilute enough solution of any toxin or pathogen would function to cure any ailment, if one properly diagnosed the ailment and applied the proper homeopathic cure. And much of the herblore of the homeopaths was mpre quiackery than is heard outside of the National Ducks Convention.
In this regard, an excerpt from A.E. Housman’s long poem “Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff” may be informative (though relatively long, it is a short element of the poem, and fits the ‘fair use’ criteria):
I’m fairly sure “Terence…” is long out of copyright anyway. It’s not like Disney was involved in it (although I’m sure they’d like to claim they were).
Why, yes, that WAS a gratuitous shot at the Mouse!
But if you don’t take enough of it, it won’t have any effect.
You know. So I’ve heard.