It may not be in favor today but urine was used in medicine for millenia.
In Rome, Richard Sugg at the Guardian tells us, Pliny the Elder recommended fresh urine for the treatment of "sores, burns, affections of the anus, chaps and scorpion stings", while stale urine mixed with ash could be rubbed on your baby for nappy rash. In early-modern Europe numerous medical luminaries went further. Pioneering French surgeon Ambroise Paré noted that itching eye-lids could be washed in the patient's urine – provided that it had been kept "all night in a barber's basin" first.
The father of chemistry, Robert Boyle, advised certain patients to drink every morning "a moderate draught of their own urine", preferably while "tis yet warm".
Read the many and unusual uses of urine
Know Science And Want To Write?
Apply for a column: writing@science20.com
Donate or Buy SWAG
Please donate so science experts can write
for the public.
If you're worried about activists using
media to promote fear and doubt about
science and medicine, you're in the right place.
At Science 2.0, scientists are the journalists.
with no political bias or editorial control. But
we can't do it alone so please make a difference.
We are a nonprofit science journalism
group operating under Section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code that's
educated over 300 million people.
You can help with a tax-deductible
donation today and 100 percent of your
gift will go toward our programs,
no salaries or offices.
If you value independent science
communication, collaboration &
participation, please contribute.
- Article Claims Black Carbon Is Invading The Placenta During Pregnancy But Don't Show What That Means
- Decapod Exoskeleton: Calcium Nucleating In The Cuticle
- Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease Management: Ultra-low Microcurrents
- Sexually Transmitted Depression Beliefs Are To Be Expected In A Culture Of Homeopathy, Endocrine Disruption, And Probiotics
- USDA Signals It Is Finally About To Tackle Organic Food Fraud
- Attention Athletes: Get Ready For Performance-Enhancing Bacteria Probiotic Microbiome Omics Hype
- Death By Stereotype: Do Unmarried Cancer Patients Get Inferior Care?
- Immigrants who committed felonies less likely than nonimmigrants to commit another felony
- CU researchers: Fast MRIs offer alternative to CT scans for pediatric head injuries
- Study questions routine sleep studies to evaluate snoring in children
- Sesame yields stable in drought conditions
- Brain imaging shows how nonverbal children with autism have slower response to sounds
Take a look at the best of Science 2.0 pages and web applications from around the Internet!
Comments