- January is named after the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions.
- February is named after the Roman god Februus, the god of purification and the underworld.
- March is named after the Roman god Mars, the god of war and also the agricultural guardian.
- April seems to be derived from aperire, which means “to open”, probably since the buds opened in this month. However, it may also have come from the name of the goddess Aphrodite (Aphrusor Apru as in Etruscan), the Greek equivalent of Venus.
- May is named after Maiesta, the Roman goddess of honor and reverence.
- June is named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth, the protector of the state, watcher of women, and the queen of the gods.
- July is named after Julius Caesar as he was born in this month. Earlier, it was called Quintilis, meaning “fifth”, since it was the fifth month in an earlier 10-month calendar that began with March as the first month.
- August is named after the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar. Earlier, it was called Sextilis, meaning “sixth”.
- September comes from septem, "seven".
- October comes from octo, "eight"
- November comes from novem, "nine".
- December comes from decem, "ten".
A placebo is a non-therapeutic substance administered under the camouflage of medication to deceive patients into believing that they are receiving medications; this done solely for psychological and not for physiological effects. Placebo may usually be used to compare its effects with the effects of other drugs in drug research. Let's take the case of an experiment that tries to establish whether a particular drug, say to treat weariness, is genuine or merely has the effects of a placebo. Suppose 20 candidates are chosen for this experiment. 10 are given the drug and the rest are put on a placebo while they are told that the placebo is a genuine medication. They need to make sure that the deception is well carried on for the success of the experiment. If both the groups make similar improvements after taking the treatments, the new drug seems to only function as a placebo in effect. The basic hypothesis of the placebo raises the question of mind over matter. Of course, this pushes...
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