The first great criticism of homeopathy

[haggholm]

That homeopathy is so implausible as to be practically impossible, and that it is in fact nonsense, lies, and profiteering, has been pointed out by innumerable scientists, scientifically literate comedians, laymen with above-room-temperature IQs, and so forth; and you may by now be somewhat weary of them.

However, if you haven’t read the criticism penned by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes¹, you really should. This is a classic, and I mean that not just because it is excellent, but also because it is so old that it verges on classical literature. He wrote this in 1842, i.e. within a few decades of homeopathy’s creation out of whole cloth (it first spread in the late 18th century), and while its perpetrator, Samuel Hahnemann, was still alive.

I urge you to go here and read it. It is eminently clear, fairly comprehensive, and makes a very solid objective case against homeopathy. It is not without barbs, though, and some are very wonderful:

There are a few familiar facts of which great use has been made as an entering wedge for the Homeopathic doctrine. They have been suffered to pass current so long that it is time they should be nailed to the counter, a little operation which I undertake, with perfect cheerfulness, to perform for them.

And so you did, Dr. Holmes, and a centure and a half hence, I am grateful. I only wish more people had listened to you.

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¹ Oliver Wendell Holmes was widely known as a poet, but this was not his only skill. While medically trained in a time when medicine was so unscientific that it often did more harm than good, he recognised and pointed out this fact, suggesting that if all contemporary medicine were thrown into the ocean, it would be all the better for mankind—and all the worse for the fishes. He was also one of the very earliest pioneers and champions of obstetricians washing their hands and sterilising their instruments, for which he endured much criticism—this was before the germ theory of disease. He also admitted the first black students to the Harvard Medical School, though he was later overruled.

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