This 'Miracle Drug' Is Thousands of Years Old

[Geee]

Aspirin: Turn-of-the-Century Miracle Drug

Aspirin has had a long history as a pain reliever. But only in the 1970s did scientists begin to uncover its chemical secrets.

 

Headache? Fever? Muscle pain? “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”

Like most of us, when you experience everyday aches and pains, a bottle of aspirin is probably the first thing you reach for. Yet, while aspirin has been one of the most popular pharmaceutical agents of the past one hundred years, it is actually a synthetic derivative of the natural substance salicylic acid—the associated healing properties of which have been known for millennia.

Salicylic acid is a main component of an herbal extract found in the bark of a number of trees, including the willow tree, and in a number of fruits, grains, and vegetables. As such, salicylic acid—and related salicylates—have long been common components of a normal human diet, functioning as a natural defense against what we consider common ailments today.

The first recorded use of salicylates dates back about 4,000 years to the Sumerians, who noted the pain remedies of the willow tree on early clay tablets. Ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia used the extract from willow trees to treat fever, pain, and inflammation. Both Chinese and Greek civilizations employed willow bark for medical use more than 2,000 years ago, and the Chinese also used poplar bark and willow shoots to treat rheumatic fever, colds, hemorrhages, and goiter. One of the most noteworthy reports of the use of salicylic acid comes from the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates (460–370 BCE). He recommended chewing on willow-tree bark to patients suffering from fever and pain, as well as the use of a tea brewed from willow bark given to women to lessen pain during childbirth. Around 100 CE the Greek physician Dioscorides prescribed willow bark as an anti-inflammatory agent.

 

[Valin]

13 hours ago, Geee said:

Aspirin: Turn-of-the-Century Miracle Drug

The first recorded use of salicylates dates back about 4,000 years to the Sumerians, who noted the pain remedies of the willow tree on early clay tablets. Ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia used the extract from willow trees to treat fever, pain, and inflammation. Both Chinese and Greek civilizations employed willow bark for medical use more than 2,000 years ago, and the Chinese also used poplar bark and willow shoots to treat rheumatic fever, colds, hemorrhages, and goiter. One of the most noteworthy reports of the use of salicylic acid comes from the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates (460–370 BCE). He recommended chewing on willow-tree bark to patients suffering from fever and pain, as well as the use of a tea brewed from willow bark given to women to lessen pain during childbirth. Around 100 CE the Greek physician Dioscorides prescribed willow bark as an anti-inflammatory agent.

 

 

One of the things that drive me crazy, is this idea that people living then were not as sophisticated as we are today. I mean we Still don't really know How The Egyptians  built the pyramids.

 

Feb. 21 2021

This program covers the history of ancient Sumer and the Sumerians, from the first notable farming communities such as the Samarra, Halaf and the Ubaid that once occupied their land to the magnificent cities, innovations, great kingdoms and empires that the region become known for, it's all here. If you want to get a good grasp of who the Sumerians were, this is the program for you!

(Snip)