Posted by Jeff on March 07, 2004 at 20:48:10:
In Reply to: Homeopathic Tubas (cleaning/polishing) posted by je on March 07, 2004 at 19:45:19:
Using more natural, less toxic things in your home and on your tuba is a good idea.
Homeopathy, though, is not just using natural things. Homeopathy is a specific system for treating disease.
Homeopathy was developed around 1800 by Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician.
At the time, little was known about the causes of disease, so Hahnemann focused on the symptoms instead. Noting that cinchona, a malaria remedy, produced malaria-like symptoms when taken by a healthy volunteer, Hahnemann concluded that "like cures like": A substance that causes certain symptoms should also relieve them. He then proceeded to test a vast number of plant, animal, and mineral substances on himself and others in a procedure called "proving," observing the symptoms they produced and categorizing them as cures for disorders that cause similar troubles.
The idea that like cures like wasn't new; it had been suggested by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, among others. But Hahnemann added a twist called the "Law of Infinitesimals." Because large doses of many remedies were quite poisonous, he began to experiment with smaller and smaller amounts, ultimately coming to believe that minute doses were actually more effective. Hence it became a tenet of homeopathy that the more diluted a substance is, the more powerful its healing action will be.
To maximize the effect of his remedies, Hahnemann therefore invented a system for "potentizing" them. Each substance was repeatedly diluted and shaken until, at the "higher" potencies, not one molecule of the original substance remained. For example, a homeopathic remedy labeled "12X" has been diluted by a factor of ten, 12 times in a row, to produce a dilution of 1 part in a trillion.
That being said, google "nontoxic cleaning products" for LOTS of good ideas.
Jeff
http://www.cherylsherbs.com