Folk remedies are now being studied extensively in order to winnow the wheat from the chaff. Homeopathists believe that if a drug produces symptoms similar to certain disease then a highly diluted form of the same drug will cure the disease. Great importance is also attached to the way in which the diluted solution is shaken during the dilution. Many homeopathic treatments are so diluted that not one molecule of the original substance is contained in the final dose. The indicator symptoms are highly subjective.
Some substances have hundreds of trivial indicators.
Almost no clinical tests have been done. It is not clear why trace impurities in the dilutants are not also fortified by the dilution mechanism. Although homeopathy involves little more than doing nothing, it was invented in the days when doing nothing was usually better for the patient than conventional treatment. It therefore represented a significant advance in medical practice. Since then conventional medicine has improved beyond recognition, while homeopathy is still equivalent to doing nothing.