INTERESTING TIMES

http://www.randi.org/site/
Another person offering a million bucks to anyone offering a homeopathic or other cure that will withstand scientific challenge.

I can't tell you how many times I've been taught the Heimlich maneuver in CPR and first aid classes. Plenty. Well over 20 years worth of certifications and re-certifications. So I've been trained. In my last recert (2009) we were taught back slaps for infants, and they called the uncorking procedure used on adults "abdominal thrusts". It seems that pretty much everybody knows about the Heimlich maneuver. ( But maybe there are better emergency treatments for choking. At the very least, there are options. )

The speaker for Botanical Medicine III today was Deborah Frances. Several times she recommended a Materia Medica written by Boericke. I just looked it up on amazon and found that it is a homeopathic materia medica. She studies it to know specific indications for herbs, in order to make more carefully customized formulas. When she makes tinctures, sometimes she will combine herbal and homeopathic methods in this way: first she makes a tincture for her patient with sufficient amounts of the herb to work in the herbal biochemical way. Then she serially dilutes and succusses a few drops of the tincture until it is potentized in the homeopathic way, and adds a few drops of the potentized mixture back into the original tincture. Viola! Both herbal and homeopathic medicine in one vial. Very interesting idea. And very interesting that so many herbalists use homeopathic indications for the prescription of herbs. While I am still skeptical about the non-placebo efficacy of homeopathy, I am learning herbs better because they are spoken of so much in both ways.