Ritva (AZ 28b) And with respect to stones that are known to have a natural segullah [to heal] it would appear that their use is permitted even by monks and minim [the subject under discussion is that a ‘min’ may not be permitted to heal people with incantations, lest they credit his healing to the AZ he promotes. Likewise all other healing modalities that people dont understand. Regular herbs and drugs are permitted. The Ritva rules here that ‘stones’ are in the latter category, being a staple like herbs.] This is the only direct reference to the use of herbs that I have seen in any Rishon.
WRT placebo, again only one reference (Rambam Laws of AZ 11:11) If someone is bitten by a scorion or snake, it is permitted to recite an incantation [lachash] over the wound in order to calm the patient and fortify him, even though incantaions do not help, since the patient is critically ill, it is permitted in order to prevent him becoming insane. [Rambam is of the opinion – a solitary authority in this respect – that incantations are forbidden by Toirah Law. However, in an instance of life and death, they may be used. Many of his commentators mention the efficacy of placebo in this instance. The Shulchan Oruch quotes Rambam verbatim, even though he accepts the majority opinion that incantations are permitted, and places this instance in the context of being used in Shabbos – a rather unsatisfactory resolution (because he has given much simpler examples elsewhere).]
At all events Ys’ explanation of the Gemara is in the best tadition of the haskalah, and his claims of sources in multiple Rishonim require hard evidence, rather than vague generalities. The hundreds of responsa right up to the first world war testify that all sorts of energy medicine were halachically accepted, and were used exactly like regular medicine (ie herbs, ointments, tinctures).
In fact, just for the record, innoculations (as vaccines were called during the eighteenth-nineteenth century) is repeatedly described as a segullah (!) which, since it is of doubtful efficacy, and only preventative, may not be injected in Shabbos.
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