A Spoonful of Seahorses Makes the Medicine Go Down

I get nervous when the Globe runs stories like this. On one hand, it's good for people like Zhang Gongyao to question the status quo, progressing science along the way it always has been. This is particularly so if the practice of traditional Chinese medicine has been mythologized beyond its scientific roots; if the evidence ain't there, it ain't there.

However, it'd be folly to think that a practice that has so many years of history behind it would be entirely made up. While certain facets of it might be out to lunch, I highly doubt that all of it would be, and I get nervous at the all-or-nothing implications that this Globe story has. I get nervous that people who tend to be afraid of anything different might seize upon this for different reasons (there's already a number of 'those crazy people use bear claws!' and some such; I'm waiting for the gremlin comments), keeping in mind that this is the same country wherein one lady, Elizabeth Magner, sued her Chinese neighbours for the smell of Chinese cooking emanating from the house, claiming that the odour was carcinogenic.