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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
People who practice homeopathy recommend the use of extremely diluted medicines and poisons. They perform the dilution by mixing one drop (or a few drops) of a substance (a deadly poison such as belladonna, for example) into a quantity of distilled water. They mix this thoroughly. Then they take this mixture or solution, and dilute it further in distilled water. This is usually done several times. When this is done, they claim that the final distilled water is a very powerful medicine.
This solution is so diluted that there is none of the original substance (our poison) left. Repeated dilutions removes every single molecule of it from our distilled water. Nowadays, the people who practice homeopathy admit this. There were originally so many (roughly) molecules of the substance. Each dilution removed a certain percentage of these molecules, until there is only a tiny probability that any molecule of it is left. Common experience, and science, would seem to say that the resultant distilled water should have no effect (good or bad) upon you.
Well, these people claim that the distilled water retains some "memory" of the missing substance. That sounds like magic. Is there any proof, any evidence of their claims. They apparently do not conduct scientific tests. But, some people are cured of diseases. See Why Bogus Therapies Often Seem to Work by Barry L. Beyerstein, Ph.D.
Why do I object to this harmless fad? Seriously sick people are turning to this, instead of valid medicine. Standard medicine is imperfect, of course, but is more likely to help. Homeopathy is all based on a kind of magic. And they don't prove their claims. And they take your money and give you nothing in return.
Addendum:
Homeopathic "medicines" often contain a list of "active ingredients" and a list of "inactive ingredients." The inactive ingredients are distilled water and other substances (like alcohol, wax, or petroleum jelly) that give body to the "medicine." As we saw above, the "medicine" may contain no "active ingredients" at all, despite what it says on the label. You are buying inactive ingredients, at an exorbitant price. Some homeopathic "medicines" do indeed contain some of the "active ingredients." If your "medicine" contains 1X of Calendula officinalis (marigold), then it was probably diluted in distilled water to 1/10 its original strength, before being put into the "medicine." 1X is quite a bit, perhaps even more than some real medicines. 2X means 1/100, 3X means 1/1000, 4X means 1/10000, 1C means 1/100, 2C means 1/10000, 1M means 1/1000, 2M means 1/1000000, etc.
Today I looked at an Arnica (herbal medicine used for sprains and bruises) product, on the recomendation of a friend. It contained 30X Arnica montana. That product certainly contains no Arnica montana at all, as it was diluted to 0.00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00001 (10^-30 or ten to the minus 30 power) of its original strength. So much for "active" ingredients.