MAY 14, 2011 MURDER MAGIC AND MEDICINE

"Do not compromise yourself. You are all you've got." Janis Joplin

Did she compromise herself with drugs? She died so young. Talent gone. When you think of those who die so young, both famous and not famous, do you think they compromised themselves?

I will no longer compromise myself. I am only one human being. I am not superman. I compromised myself with my addictions. Since the addictions are still present but in the dormant phase, I could find other things to compromise myself. These others could be people in my life. I can be powerless over anything. I could be powerless over friends and my life would get unmanageable. No longer. Why compromise myself? I am not going to compromise medial care because the government, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are dictating how I practice. I am a people's physician--the country doctor as my British friend calls me.

I love books. The older the better. I always use http://www.alibris.com/ to find old books. I used this site to find Julia Childs first cooking book as a gift. Nearly nineteen years ago, John Mann published Murder, Magic and Medicine (Oxford University Press). When I received the book it belonged appropriately to an Englishman, James Buffington. This adds mystery to the book. Who was Mr. Buffington?

The magic is the account of the evolution of modern medicine from its root to folk medicine. The use and abuse of natural products has led to the development of the drugs we use today. We take these drugs for granted. I fixated on the medicine portion of the book, especially the history of antibiotics. We use super gun antibiotics for simple infections, thus we are creating the super resistant strains of bacteria. Soon there will no antibiotics strong enough to fight off infection. It is unimaginable to think that once we used goat's dung to treat burns or scribe's excrement for boils. I can understand the oil and honey for ear infections. Today I would rather use mullein root over an antibiotic.

The surgeon Ambroise Pare used new born puppies boiled in oil of lilies and earthworms to treat gunshot wounds. What would the animal right activists say about that today? It is sickening to think of this!

The history of the discovery of penicillin from John Snow to Oliver Wendell Holmes to Alexander Fleming is fascinating. The latter discovered this antibiotic from a mold. I compare the discovery of penicillin among these giants to the discovery of the HIV retrovirus between the Americans and the French. The penicillin race was done abroad so no Americans knew of the struggle. Unfortunately tragic fire struck Boston in 1943 at the Coconut Grove nightclub with many dying. Many of those surviving victims were treated with the new antibiotic, penicillin.

So mold led to the discovery of antibiotics. We are now years ahead in the discovery of various types of antibiotics. I have had great success with the herbs Yarrow and Chaparral (despite the smell). My favorite culinary herb that has great antibacterial and antiviral properties is still Allium- GARLIC !

Until tomorrow...