Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
While modern day America uses a few common minerals for medical purposes,
other countries manufacture tons of pharmaceuticals using a variety of minerals and
fossils (Aschoff and Tashingang, 2001). More than 90 minerals, mineraloids, and
rocks have been used for benefi cial purposes with clay minerals leading the list, fol-
lowed by quartz, amber, hematite, pearl, and malachite. Various illnesses and maladies
have been treated with these Earth materials, such as malachite and clays for infec-
tions, clays and pearls for gastrointestinal problems, and amber for alcoholism and to
strengthen the immune system.
In ancient cultures the only available healing materials came from plants, animals,
or minerals. Often the color of a mineral was believed to be related to the condition
of an illness such as blood disorders being treated with a red mineral like hematite or
ruby. Reasons for use of these Earth materials range from actual effectiveness to the
placebo effect.
Little research exists as to the actual curative and palliative qualities of miner-
als. However, the actual healing signature of one mineral that had been used for over
5,000 years (Nunn, 1996) was demonstrated in an
in vitro
experiment. The purported
anti-microbial properties of malachite were verifi ed in a preliminary study with
Staphylococcus aureus
and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(Limpitlaw, unpublished data).
This study showed that knowledge of healing properties of certain minerals existed
and was utilized for millennia.
HOT SPRINGS AND RELATED GEOLOGIC PHENOMENA
Visiting hot springs and thermal baths for prevention and cure of a variety of illnesses,
once popular in the USA, has fallen out of favor. This practice, however, is still popu-
lar in many other cultures. For example, in some European countries, going to a hot
springs “cure” is included in medical insurance.
The study of the therapeutic benefi ts of naturally occurring mineral waters is
known as balneology. In the US, this science is not well known, and is seldom prac-
ticed. However, throughout Europe and Japan, balneology and hot springs therapy is
very much a part of routine medical care. Medical prescriptions are given by licensed
doctors for the treatment of a wide range of conditions, and utilizing mineral waters as
a part of preventative medicine is widely recognized and encouraged.
Advocates claim a large number of health problems can be cured by hot spring thera-
pies. In Japan nine different chemical classes of hot springs have been recognized (simple,
chloride, hydrogen carbonate, sulfate, carbon dioxide, iron, sulfur, acid, and radioactive).
Each class of hot spring is reputed to be effective in treating a wide range of health
problems such as burns, hypertension, diabetes, gout, muscle aches, hemorrhoids, and
so on. (Mio Takeuchi, 2002, personal communication).
There appears to be little in the way of epidemiological support for such claims in
the US medical literature. A brief review of the National Library of Medicine abstracts
of articles dealing with the therapeutic effects of hot springs revealed that most authors
are from Japan. Other authors were from Germany, Turkey, China, Portugal, Greece,
and Israel. The one article by a US author reported on the historic use of hot springs to
effectively treat venereal disease.
