> Now, there are some medicinal preparations
> sold by homeopathic companies that actually
> contain standard quantities of, for example,
> herbal extracts...
That's a recent development to muddy the waters. Since some of these are effective (side effects and all), they lend some credibility-by-association to the crap. There is a preparation sold by homeopaths called Vertigoheel, for example, that is supposed to treat vertigo. It contains measurable quantities of its active ingredient (hemlock!), and must therefore be sold by prescription. The only study of its effectiveness was not placebocontrolled but did suggest effectiveness. I'd be delighted if it really worked--the only drug that works for me is Valium, and I'd rather have something that didn't put me to sleep and make me vapid and boring.
I do wish to clarify though that my "homeopathy is fraud" rhetoric does not apply to these genuine pharmaceuticals; they are merely unproven.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC