Copyright 2005 by Doug Smith

Home Remedies - Facts or Quacks?

In a previous article we looked at several possible definitions
of a home remedy, and patched together a definition that met our
mental image of such a remedy. If you missed it, here's the
definition we derived.

A home remedy is an experience-based or even accidental remedy
or cure prepared from herbs, plants, or other available
ingredients by common folk when modern medical help was
unavailable (or hadn't been devised yet).

But Home Remedies Are From The Dark Ages, Right?

Not so fast! Countless myths, legends, and superstitions have
survived for centuries, so why not home remedies too? Think
about it: we bless someone after sneezing to ward off evil
spirits, throw a pinch of spilled salt over the shoulder to
prevent bad luck, say that breaking a mirror brings bad luck,
and we knock on wood or find four-leaf clovers to bring luck.

How Many Times Have You Used These Folk Remedies?

Home remedies from The Dark Ages are all around us. Quick:
name three ways to cure hiccups. No doubt you immediately
thought of scaring the victim, holding your breath while
drinking a glass of water, and breathing through a paper bag.
I'm sure some of you even thought of others.

At some time, these procedures must have worked well enough
to stop hiccups that others began using them. I'm sure you've
already noticed that each cure mentioned above changes the
victim's breathing rhythm, which may be why they sometimes
stop annoying hiccups.

Look Past The Obvious

The hiccup example demonstrates the assertion that home cures
and folk remedies have at least a grain of truth in them.
Think about that the next time you rub aloe vera juice on a
burn, starve a cold (or feed a fever), or hear of a mother
who puts her child with chicken pox together with her healthy
children so they all catch it now rather than later.

Are home remedies things of the past? I don't think so!

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Doug Smith is a Chemical Engineer and the webmaster of
http://www.SuperHomeRemedies.com You get free & natural home
remedies for fungus, lice, acid reflux, cold sores, yeast & more
at Home Remedies
Stay up to date with our Home Remedy News Blog at Home Remedies News
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Doug Smith is a Chemical Engineer and the webmaster of
http://www.SuperHomeRemedies.com You get free & natural home
remedies for fungus, lice, acid reflux, cold sores, yeast & more.