[Jenae LaTorque]

I thought that you as atheist (not agnostic or theist), would be more critical to such theories. - Tread

The fact is that I do folow the recomendation given by John Trapp
in his Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, 1647:

"This is to be taken with a grain of salt."

But on the other hand I try to be receptive to the idea that there may be a kernel of truth in old legands, myths, religions, folk remedies, etc.... I do not say "where there is smoke, there is fire." Rather I say "where there is smoke, there may be fire."

Please note that I was neither advocating that Ormus had any value or even any legitimacy; nor was I saying that it was pure baloney. I was just throwing possibilities into the wind to see what they might yield. I too have a great deal of skepticism regarding the whole Orme story and the vendors of white powder of gold (ORMUS). And yes, it seems to me that if there was anything much to it; we would be hearing more from the scientific world on the subject.

There have always been charletans who come up with all kinds of "miracle cures and treatments" involving little understood aspects of science. Witness all the treatments involving use of electricity that were so prevalent in the early part of the last century. Many of these were even endorsed by the medical establishment of the time. Of course most of these were later proved to be hogwash, but today there are approved uses of electricity in the medical field, notably for pain supression. And how many people are alive today due to electrical shocks to restart an arrested heart.

The point is that until more evidence is in I'll just say MAYBE.

"Maybe so, maybe not"