POVIJESNI PREGLED PERORALNE PRIMJENE NEOBRAĐENOG JANTARA

Abstract

The organic mineraloid gemstone, amber, a fossilized resin collected from Eocene deposits laid down around 44 million years old on the Baltic coast, has been an important geopharmaceutical in the western materia medica since classical times. Once rendered into powdered form, it could be delivered into the body using a wide range of vehicles including lozenges, pills, tablets, troches, electuaries, solutions and lohochs (lick-pots), and with toast and poached eggs. Acting either alone or in combination with a wide range of botanical, zoological and other geological ingredients, it was employed in the treatment of a huge range of diseases. Most prominent among these were various vascular disorders (e.g. haemoptysis, haemorrhage, excessive menstrual bleeding), problems with the urogenital system (e.g. tendency towards miscarriage, impotence, venereal diseases, strangury, dysuria and bladder stones) and alimentary conditions, particularly dysentery. A variety of infectious diseases, including plague, gonorrhoea, measles and fevers could be targeted with amber-containing preparations, as could epilepsy, melancholy and the ravages of old age. Rather more unusual applications included its use in the treatment of impotence, halitosis, drunkenness and a weak back.Dragi kamen, mineraloid organskog porijekla, jantar, fosilizirani ostatak 44 milijuna godina starih eocenskih naslaga s baltičke obale, bio je važan lijek mineralnog porijekla u zapadnjačkoj materii medici još od antike. U jednom trenutku pretvoren u prašak, mogao je biti unesen u tijelo koristeći široku lepezu sredstava uključujući pastile, pilule, tablete, dražeje, tekućine i lizalice, s prepečencem i prženim jajima. Djelujući zasebno ili u kombinaciji sa širokim spektrom botaničkih, zooloških i drugih mineralnih sastojaka, korišten je u liječenju velikog broja bolesti. Najistaknutije među njima bile su vaskularne bolesti (npr. hemoptiza, hemoragija, ekscesivno vaskularno krvarenje), problemi urogenitalnog sustava (npr. sklonost pobačaju, impotencija, spolne bolesti, strangurije, dizurije i kamenci u mokraćnom mjehuru) i probavne smetnje, osobito dizenterija. Raznolike zarazne bolesti uključujući kugu, gonoreju, ospice i vrućice, mogu biti tretirane preparatima koji sadrže jantar kao što to može biti i padavica, melankolija i staračka iscrpljenost Nešto neuobičajenija primjena bila je pri liječenju impotencije, neugodnog zadaha, pijanosti i križoboljama