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Mumiyo, beaver stream and bear plug – magic potions of the Middle Ages and our time
This beaver is almost ready to mark its territory by running through the water. Photo: Telephonewall
This beaver is almost ready to mark its territory by running through the water. Photo: Telephonewall
There are many useful things in the world, but sometimes it seems that many wonderful panaceas were born from one place.
Let's look at three "drugs" that some people are currently trying to treat even the coronavirus.
A product of biological origin with a complex composition. Scientists have not come to a consensus on what mumiyo is. It may be fossilized products of the decay of plant remains, altered by mountain pressure. Mumiyo tastes like dark chocolate and smells like bitumen. It looks like fossilized resin and is usually black, but also comes in shades of yellow, brown, blue, and even white.
Mumiyo is not used in modern medicine. Clinical and experimental studies have not revealed clear evidence of the effectiveness of treatment. Sometimes "Sanjin" is included in the composition of food additives, cosmetics and food products.
And in the Middle Ages, mumijo treated various diseases. They drank and ate medicines based on it, rubbed themselves with it. It is believed that mumijo has a beneficial effect on bone fusion in case of fractures.
According to legend, the name mumijo arose because the resinous substance was considered to be particles of ancient Egyptian mummies. Often, under the guise of a medicinal product, scammers sell mixtures of sea buckthorn oil, canned meat, whey, propolis, burnt sugar, clay and excrement of small rodents.
Castoreum is the name of the aromatic substance produced by the parotid gland of the oven beaver. This is how these animals mark their territory.
Castor jets are dark brown masses with a musky odor with a resinous tint. In folk medicine, it is used to treat chest spasms and increased excitability.
The demand for castor oil increased sharply in 2021. Rumors began to spread on the Internet that this medicine could help with coronavirus infection. The then Minister of Health of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, David Melik-Guseynov, had to refute the effectiveness of castor oil. The official said that it was heresy to say that castor oil improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, improves sleep, boosts mood and immunity, and called on his compatriots not to trust healers.
During hibernation in the den, another curiosity is formed in the body of the brown bear.
For example, brown bears have a clearly defined seasonal life cycle. In winter, the bear accumulates subcutaneous fat (up to 180 kg) and in autumn, hibernates (or rather, sleeps), lying in burrows.
During the winter, the clubfoot loses up to 80 kg of fat, does not eat or drink, and walks little or loudly. Thus, a plug forms in the rectum. It consists mainly of digested food, pine needles, clay, grass, dirt, and wool. Russian zoologist Leonid Sabaneyev showed that such "clusters" can be modest in size - up to half a meter.
Traditional healers value bear's plug for the fact that it contains useful microelements, essential oils and rare enzymes, and use it as a valuable medicinal raw material.
However, opponents of such "medicines" remind us that the body of a wild bear is inhabited by many parasite larvae, microorganisms, bacteria and viruses. Is it worth the risk for the sake of dubious effects?