Walk Softly – I’ve Got Some Snake Oil For Sale

by Geoffrey Carpentier

Throughout history, people offered the unsuspecting public snake oil – a cure-all for everything from childbirth to hemorrhoids to cancer. These elixirs contained no snake byproducts and certainly no snake oil - whatever that is? The concept arose in the 18th and 19th centuries, when travelling salesmen mixed up ‘secret’ blends of unspecified products and claimed they were proven to cure myriad ailments. Hogwash!

Many stories persist about traditional medicines and the strange things people believed. Many are, of course, fanciful, not scientifically supported, and sometimes quite dangerous, perhaps even fatal to the users of these products. I thought I might share some beliefs with you and perhaps offer insights to their validity.

Let’s start with poop! Ancient Egyptians and many other cultures used animal and human excrement as a panacea for many diseases and injuries. Not satisfied with just any poop, the Egyptians favoured the special attributes of gazelle, donkey, dog and fly dung as key ingredients in their medical arsenal. The bonus is, not only does dung effectively cure these ailments, but it also wards off evil spirits. Crocodile dung can act as a contraceptive: bonus! Warm hog’s dung (I guess cold dung doesn’t work as well) was used to treat nose bleeds. In more modern cultures, when one pulverizes the poop of a child it was used to treat epilepsy. In the 1600s, Robert Boyle, a philosopher and chemist, used human feces to treat cataracts - just pulverize the poop, stand back and blow it into someone’s eyes and the vision clears quickly and permanently!?

While the concept of using dung as a medicinal agent seems far-fetched, there is some validity to it, as cow dung has anti-microbial properties, making it valuable when treating some skin conditions. Additionally, it has been used in traditional medicine to treat arthritis and rheumatism and can also act as a detoxifying agent, for various conditions, such as boils, infections and open wounds.

Modern medicine offers a treatment, known as FMT (Fecal Microbiota Transplants) which can help people who suffer from various conditions, such as Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis or irritable bowel syndrome. Simply stated, the stool of a donor is inserted into a patient who struggles with digestive or autoimmune diseases. The concept makes sense, as the patient likely doesn’t have good gut bacteria, and this solves that issue. Once inserted, the patient can now produce their own bacteria from this fresh supply and better manage the disease. Long used in Chinese cultures, this practice has persisted throughout history to modern times, and in some cases a mother’s stool is placed in her infant, to help it develop beneficial bacteria.

Okay, moving on from poop, raw meat has been touted as a broad cure-all for many conditions, as well. For example, ancient Romans believed and trusted veal as a cure for rabies. Apparently, you simply opened a wound in the skin, where a rabid animal has bitten someone, then cover it with veal, wait a bit, add some lime, hog’s fat, a touch of wine, and, of course, some boiled badger dung and voila – cured!

Speaking of controversial medical practices, Australians believed, if you have rheumatism and want a surefire cure, why not just crawl into a whale carcass, lie there for about 2 hours and come out, good as new? Not sure there were that many rotting carcasses available, but if one became available, queue up folks! Bringing the concept of meat and poop, oh we’re back to that again, Egyptians (them again!) used mice as topical ointments and Medieval physicians used mouse excrement for intestinal worms.

Indigenous peoples throughout the world revered and celebrated nature and its animals, living in harmony and utilizing resources, both from the land and animals, for physical and mental well-being. Many cultures believed the animals’ strength, vitality and spirit could be transferred to them, through consumption and ceremony.

This is such an interesting subject, and I barely scratched the surface. I will continue this in the future and bring some more valid and somewhat absurd offerings to you, my faithful readers. Please remember, I am not a doctor, so don’t take anything herein as medical advice.

Geoff Carpentier is a published author, expedition guide and environmental consultant. Visit Geoff on-line, on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.