Why was "consumption of gypsum" seen as relevant medical problem following 'De Materia Medica'?
Upvote:1
It's likely because of presumed medical properties.
This page (in French), for instance, offers that Gypsum (called both Gypse and Albâtre in French) as a component to make skin rejuvenating creams in Ancient Egypt. There are a few sensible sources at the bottom of the page to back the claim.
This dictionary of Medical Matter from 1837 (in French) offers that sodium carbonate ("Albâtre calcaire") had been used as an absorbent against stomach pain and diarrhea, as well as against scurvy, and that gypsum proper, or calcium sulfate, had been used according to Paul of Aegina against stomach diseases. That is, IMHO, the most likely source of why it might have been absorbed for and attributed with medical properties.
In more modern times, this dictionary of medicine, surgury and pharmacy from 1834 (in French) also offers that gypsum was used to soften tumors.
I would add: don't discount hocus pocus reasons. This other page (French yet again) holds without citing a source that Gypsium (under Albâtre) has a slew of esoteric benefits, including appeasing effects, self-confidence, bone benefits, and improvements when visiting your radiologist to detect liquid elements if you happen to be hold it in a certain way. If the couple of times I interacted with people who were into would-be properties of crystals are anything to go by, there's an ages old laundry list of beliefs on mineral topics and I wouldn't be surprised the slightest if at least a few of these benefits originate from alchemy treaties, religious beliefs, obscure classical treaties, etc. that got passed on through generations after countless rounds of Chinese whispers.
Upvote:1
Book V of the De Materia Medica itself contains the medical uses of gypsum known at that time. The (uncopyrighted) text is in German, but a google translation roughly reads:
The gypsum has astringent, a skin forming force; he stops bleeding and holds back the sweat; but enjoyed it kills the type of suffocation.
We also have historical reference of gypsum being used, with fatal results.
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History in BOOK XXXVI. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF STONES, has a section devoted to the common uses of gypsum as a plastering compound. He also reveals its dangers:
There is one remarkable fact connected with this substance; Caius Proculeius,461 an intimate friend of the Emperor Augustus, suffering from violent pains in the stomach, swallowed gypsum, and so put an end to his existence.
We can conclude gypsum was historically used, and fatal consequences were known to occur if misused. It would be only logical to also list any counter-agents, no matter how common or uncommon the need may have been. Think of it as an "in case of poisoning, use this" type of protective instruction.
More post
- 📝 Has there been talk of a post-work economy before?
- 📝 How was the United States able to produce excellent tanks in 1942?
- 📝 What is the historical evidence behind the claim that the Soviet armies perpetrated mass rapes during their stay in Germany?
- 📝 Why do Strabo, Pliny and Diodorus cite Pytheas in disbelief?
- 📝 How accurate are ancient history busts?
- 📝 Why did towns became ghost towns after the mines dried up?
- 📝 Can there be hidden ancient archives in Saudi Arabia?
- 📝 How did pirates back in the day not get killed themselves when they attacked ships?
- 📝 Why is Killiniq island divided between Nunavut and Labrador?
- 📝 Was Italian production after August 1944 significant in the German war effort?
- 📝 What was the trend of forced labor in Germany and its conquered territories during WWII?
- 📝 Were the Nazis the first to use phenol as a means of execution?
- 📝 In the Revolutionary War, why did General Howe attack Philadelphia, instead of continuing his march to join General Burgoyne?
- 📝 Why did Henry III of England give his sons English names, other than naming them after his favourite saints?
- 📝 Was the Iraqi Mukhabarat modelled on the German Reichssicherheitshauptamt, and in what ways?
- 📝 What were the main reasons that the Industrial Revolution happened in Great Britain?
- 📝 In the governments of the Reconstruction South, were Blacks in government always under the control of Whites?
- 📝 What became of Nazi Germany's embassies in neutral countries?
- 📝 How widespread was practice of fusion of Graeco-Roman and barbarian names?
- 📝 Have sanctions ever stopped a nation from starting or continuing a war?
- 📝 How much in total did Nazi Germany spend on their war machine
- 📝 Did Washington like or dislike the monarchical styles of address proposed by John Adams?
- 📝 Why require every ploughman to make his own plough?
- 📝 What factors enabled Europe to conquer almost the whole world?
- 📝 How many people died in the nazi concentration camps and death trains and marches?
- 📝 Athenian tribute lists
- 📝 Why did World War I victors let Germany pay reparations in German Marks and gave it the option to default via inflation?
- 📝 Why do all my history books divide Chinese history after the Han dynasty?
- 📝 When was Nazi paramilitary organisation Waffen-SS liquidated in the legal sense?
- 📝 New Zealand uniform or elsewhere?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was "consumption of gypsum" seen as relevant medical problem following 'De Materia Medica'?
- 📝 Why was the Ottoman empire not seen as an Arabic empire?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Why was France granted an equal status among victors of World War II?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why was Poland spared from the Black Death?
- 📝 Why China was able to unify and not Europe?
- 📝 Why was Africa colonized last of the continents in the Age of Discovery?
- 📝 Why was Britain willing to return Hong Kong but not Gibraltar?
- 📝 Why was Spanish Fascist dictatorship left in power after World War II?
- 📝 Why was the Scout movement so successful?
- 📝 Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?
- 📝 Why was it "acceptable" for Prince Charles to marry a divorced woman, when Edward VIII had to abdicate for marrying divorcee Wallis Simpson?
- 📝 Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- 📝 In the Soviet Union, why was the Cheka renamed so many times?
- 📝 Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
- 📝 Why was the Japanese Army's fatalities inflicted:suffered ratio so low in the Pacific theatre?
- 📝 Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
- 📝 ‘Avoid sleeping on your back’ & ‘breathe in toilet smells’ were seen as precautions against the Black Death. Why did doctors think these would work?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 Why was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh?
- 📝 Why was no Nobel Prize for Literature awarded in 1935?
- 📝 If the Ch’in dynasty was so short-lived, why was China named for it?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why does the Great Wall of China follow such a bendy route?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 Why was Germany not as successful as other Europeans in establishing overseas colonies?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?