Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels: The Science behind Folk Remedies - Tapa dura

Honey, Mud, Maggots and Other Medical Marvels investigates a multicultural roster of age-old remedies often dismissed by twentieth-century Western medicine as harmful or foolish but now shown to have real scientific validity. This book calls upon the medical establishment to open itself up to the possibilities of alternative therapies - remedies that have stood the test of time precisely because they work. Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein take a fascinating excursion into the world of folk medicine, unearthing stories that range widely across time and place, from ancient Egypt to the rain forests of contemporary Latin America. Most important, an increasing number of physicians, pharmaceutical researchers, and scientists are recognizing the wealth of knowledge that can be retrieved from abandoned practices of earlier eras and from non-Western civilizations. While warning against panaceas and crackpot cures, the authors vigorously argue that conventional medicine ignores at great cost the world of folk medicine and propose that we establish rigorous protocols for the systematic exploration of folk remedies. Written with wit and narrative force, Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels is as much about the unexpected origins of contemporary medicine as it is about the effectiveness of alternative remedies.