This message was self-deleted by its author

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. Homeopathy isn't alternative medicine; it's pure quackery.

Alternative medicine includes things like Chinese or other herbal medicines, many of which are known to be effective for some ailments, or acupuncture, which can work (I know; I've tried it). Acupuncture has been used on animals to good effect. But homeopathy is nothing more than water that is claimed to have a "memory."

Homeopathic remedies are prepared by repeatedly diluting a chosen substance in alcohol or distilled water, followed by forceful striking on an elastic body, called succussion. Each dilution followed by succussion is said to increase the remedy's potency. Dilution usually continues well past the point where none of the original substance remains. Homeopaths select remedies by consulting reference books known as repertories, considering the totality of the patient's symptoms as well as the patient's personal traits, physical and psychological state, and life history.

The low concentrations of homeopathic remedies, often lacking even a single molecule of the diluted substance, lead to an objection that has dogged homeopathy since the 19th century: how, then, can the substance have any effect? Modern advocates of homeopathy have suggested that "water has a memory"—that during mixing and succussion, the substance leaves an enduring effect on the water, perhaps a "vibration", and this produces an effect on the patient. However, nothing like water memory has ever been found in chemistry or physics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

If that doesn't sound like pure hokum, I don't know what does.