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This essay was the result of a question by one of my chemistry students in the school of nursing concerning the uses of wormwood.
Before you dismiss the use of many of the medicines of yore you should at least attempt to understand the environment in which the advocates lived. Animal, vegetable or mineral -- those were the three alternative sources of medicines used in treating the ailments of the past. In fact we continue to rely on these, as example, extracts from the thyroid and pituitary glands, liver extracts, pregnant mare urine, and vaccines based on culture in animals or eggs and biotechnology has provided us with materials of animal origin (as example, erythropoietin.). Herbals continue to be used, as example; taxol, menthol, and various flavoring compounds. The modern pharmaceutical industry has applied the knowledge of chemistry to improve, improvise or encapsulate organic compounds (by a stretch of the imagination can be considered, vegetable). In early medicine herbals were a ready alternative to dirt (I use this term since so many of the elemental compositions were from the soil, mines or sea.) Minerals are essential for life and a deficiency of zinc, copper, iron, molybdenum and selenium among others creates havoc on the body.
Some of the lore of old continues. Migrants from the South when confined to city slums found that there was a ready substitute for the clay which they had previously eaten when plagued by an illness or pregnancy. Regular corn starch appeared to have the desired texture, blandness and mouth feel. Considering that the medical profession has for a long time recognized that placebos (pills that contain no beneficial ingredients) can produce results equivalent to the best that the pharmaceutical houses can offer, it is not surprising that dirt and its equivalents have been used and many times used effectively.
A word on clay that may masquerade under many names to give it respectability. Clay is a finely divided mineral that can freely exchange its ionic character with that of other substances in which it comes in contact. It can in fact detoxify by binding other materials. It can act as a bulking agent, helping the user to survive Montezuma's revenge and other maladies.
And of course, the chemist has long known that finely ground carbon (charcoal or its equivalent) when activated (usually steam treated), has affinity for a number of organic substances. Activated charcoal still remains the substance of choice to detoxify one who has partaken of a poisonous substance orally.
Doctors seem to be coming around to accepting the fact that placebos do in fact work for certain people. The challenge they face is determining if those individuals that respond to placebos have characteristics that can be recognized so that they can be eliminated from clinical studies so that the actual benefit of a drug can be more readily determined, i.e., the background noise is reduced so that differences between drugs and treatments stand out.
Meanwhile as the medical profession attempts to sort this out, uses of palliatives still remains as worthwhile choices for individuals that are plagued with non-life threatening maladies. (Sort of like using baking power for a variety of problems from smelly feet to a mild case of indigestion.)
Dismissing early medical professionals as charlatans denies that they were on the right track. In fact an old saying is, "you got to eat a peck of dirt before you die". Anyone having small children recognizes that this is just acknowledgment of fact. And now we are beginning to discover that overly protecting the young predisposes them to problems later on. Having not challenged their immune system in bits and pieces, when faced with problems later in life they are subjected to miseries that those of a less enlightened time never had. Asthma, and some infections are examples. The over-vitamined, anti-histamined, protein-deficient diet, hypo-activity induced children can only become the wards of the pharmaceutical houses in their adult years.
But what is "wormwood"? Common wormwood is Artemisia absinthium which is a native of Europe and has been naturalized in the United States where it is reported that in Michigan large acreages are grown. The herb which is the dried leaves and flowers was once thought to be effective against the reoccurrence of fever, as example that experienced in malaria. In addition, it was once used as an antihelmintic and was once widely used to treat stomach upset and digestive problems. An extract of wormwood is bitter and the flesh and milk of animals that feed on wormwood is said to be bitter. Large doses, irritate the stomach and excite the nervous system. The effect on the nervous system is to produce headaches and giddiness.
Absinthe is a strong green liquor containing oil of wormwood, anise, angelica hyssop and other ingredients in alcohol. While agreeable to the taste, consumption leads to extreme physical and mental disorders (Vertigo and epilepsy.)
As placebos become palliatives and treat the disease (or condition) without really providing a cure, allowing the body to take care of itself it, can't be all that bad (if taken in moderation.). A drink with wormwood as an ingredient might be helpful, but one without absinthe could be even better.
Information of Absinthe and wormwood comes from Pereira's Materia Medica and Therapeutics by H. C. Wood. The book once belonged to Dr. R. A. Callighen of Thornton, Ontario. He practiced medicine in 1887. The materia medica portion of the book remains a good source of descriptive plant structures and the use of products derived from the plant. Gunn's Family Physician provides the following additional uses: "promotes appetite, strengthens the digestive organs, and the whole system. Used in dyspepsia, intermittent fever, suppressed menses, and chronic diarrhea." One should never use any of the materials; regardless of whether animal, vegetable or mineral unless on the advice of a physician and a nutritionist.
Following are some additional essays pertaining to medicine, health and society:
Food - Amino acids, Amino acid imbalances, Baby food and such, Choice of foods, Meat and vegies, Today's diets, Directory of Internet Pages
Environment - Arsenic and old malice, Eco-battiness, Ehrlich's escape, Endangered species adapt Fungus, Human waste, Odor plumes, Rabid environmentalist, Wonderful world of waste, Directory of Internet Pages
Society: Bumbling hive, Economist, Ignorance is bliss, Kleenex society, One size fits all, Venture capitalist, Directory of Internet Pages
Statistics and observations: Thomas Bayes, Emergence of probability, Errors of observation, Figures don't lie, The first statistician, Null hypothesis, Outliers in science, Polls can be accurate, Science of conjecture, Shaping public opinion, Sigma is it real?, Statistical outliers, Statistical sophistry, Statistics, Trust not your data, Windshield surveys, Directory of Internet Pages
Science: Chaos and a piece of rope, Free Energy(?), Maxwell's Deamon, New periodic table, Nu periodic table, Nu periodic table, Occram's razor, Poetry in mathematics, Prince Rupert drops, Rules of science, Science of conjecture, String Theory, Directory of Internet Pages
Men of Science: Robert Boyle, Sir Thomas Browne, Butler's chemist, Darwin got it right, Darwin's Fish, Darwin's Goats, Erasmus Darwin, Man on the Moon, Mrs. Galviani, Occram's Razor, Directory of Internet Pages
Education: Burbank on education, Eductated Ignorance, Information can it be trusted?, Directory of Internet Pages
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