I ran into a Smithsonian Magazine article while waiting at the doctor's office. You'd be surprised what strange insights you find when whiling away the minutes, or hour, or what feels like an hour, thumbing through one of these doctor's office magazines. You are intrigued by the title of a little story. You read it to pass the time and to momentarily forget the burning itch of poison ivy.
As often happens, you shelve what you just read when at last the nurse called you in. You went for something miraculous to happen but, unfortunately, the dermatologist told you it will take time for the treatment to provide full relief. There is no cure for poison ivy and the treatment of Prednisone and some creamy ointment are to provide relief only from the discomfort and that poison ivy dictates the time line when you can get back to feeling and looking normal again - free of the reddened pimply blisters on your forearms and legs. Since this is the second time I brushed upon these seemingly innocuous looking three-leaf ground dweller, its effect gets worse with each contact, the doctor counseled. Her advice: outsource the gardening to someone immune to the pesky plant; or, alternatively, put on a Hazmat suit in doing the chore.
As often happens, you shelve what you just read when at last the nurse called you in. You went for something miraculous to happen but, unfortunately, the dermatologist told you it will take time for the treatment to provide full relief. There is no cure for poison ivy and the treatment of Prednisone and some creamy ointment are to provide relief only from the discomfort and that poison ivy dictates the time line when you can get back to feeling and looking normal again - free of the reddened pimply blisters on your forearms and legs. Since this is the second time I brushed upon these seemingly innocuous looking three-leaf ground dweller, its effect gets worse with each contact, the doctor counseled. Her advice: outsource the gardening to someone immune to the pesky plant; or, alternatively, put on a Hazmat suit in doing the chore.
So much for dwelling on my predicament. There was nothing I can do the rest of the day and days following; so I mentally went back to the article I just read. I can't get it off my mind. Painters were working around the house, I can't do anything at the workshop, so I was going to read some more on the story from the internet. I was surprised how much there was on the subject that goes generally with this theme, "Snake oil salesmen may have been on to something". It is amazing to find out that in addition to The Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American devoted an article, A Royal Pharmaceutical Publication had one and a few other reputable articles. What gives?
"The term “snake oil” is used to describe any worthless pseudo-medical remedy promoted as a cure for various illnesses. By extension, snake oil salesmen are charlatans who sell such fraudulent goods".
Featured in "Huckleberry Finn" and western movies, snake oil salesmen were backdrop character spices, thrown in as subplot diversions but hardly the main story but almost always unsavory. But not so anymore is what was so surprising. The Smithsonian gave a time line of the history. Native Americans were known to use snake oil for various ailments. Soon the East-West transcontinental railroad tracks had to be laid during the last decade and a half of the 19th century. Over 4000 railroad workers built the portion of the rail system over the Sierras starting in 1868, almost 70% of whom were Chinese immigrants. Along with their culture, were their own Chinese medicine, salve and potions. Snake oil from Chinese water snake was the go to medicine to deal with aching muscles and feet. It didn't take long for snake oil to attain the cure-all reputation.
The Chinese laborers seemed to easily overcome, or get over quickly, sore muscles and blisters and fatigue despite the long back-breaking hours under all kinds of conditions. Many took note of the "wonder potion". And inevitably observant scalawags turned into scoundrels for easy-money flimflam schemes, hawking colored fake liquid in fancy-labeled bottles from town to town. But snake oil salesmanship was not a 19th or early 20th century phenomenon limited to America because there were international versions of it though not exactly patterned from the American West model. Just when snakes were already undeservedly much maligned throughout history, snake oil salesmen dug deeper into the deep recesses of human primal loathing of these most useful of all reptiles. (I'm sure I'll get a lot of push back on this but let's be objective about the ecological benefit snakes provide. Look up how disruptive and destructive the effects were to the ecosystem in many places where snakes were hunted down to total or near extinction).
Let's get back to snake oil. Well, well, now there is incontrovertible data from areas of research and studies that snake oil is after all a wonder cure-all. Below are two quotes from many published reports:
Coffee has its own story. It was good, bad, good, now back to bad (at least in California). We know Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper used to be sold at the pharmacy, ketchup started as a medicine, and if aspirin were to go through the FDA approval process today, it may not make it as an approved drug. These are just a few from stories of good and evil among human consumables.
Today researchers are in the jungles of the Amazon Rain Forest and other places around the world looking for plants that have medicinal values or collecting anecdotal endorsements from locals and indigenous people who use "naturally collected cures" from leaves to stems to tree barks, etc.
The first time I encountered poison ivy two years or so ago our local pharmacist advised me to get two boxes of baking soda (87 cents per pound - one box) from the grocery. As instructed I poured all the contents of one box into warm water in the tub. I soaked myself for 30 minutes. I repeated it a couple of hours later. That took care of it. Well, I got lazy this time, even over confident, so I merely rubbed baking soda over what I suspected were the affected areas. The price was a session with the dermatologist I described above.
Now we know baking soda like vinegar, is just one of those remarkable go-to stuff in our household that do wonders.
Now, if I can only lay my hands on some really genuine snake oil.
I hope someday, scientists will find something potently medicinal from poison ivy.
Meanwhile, a rhyming quote: "Leaves of five, let them thrive. Leaves of three, let them be". (Don't touch them!)
The Chinese laborers seemed to easily overcome, or get over quickly, sore muscles and blisters and fatigue despite the long back-breaking hours under all kinds of conditions. Many took note of the "wonder potion". And inevitably observant scalawags turned into scoundrels for easy-money flimflam schemes, hawking colored fake liquid in fancy-labeled bottles from town to town. But snake oil salesmanship was not a 19th or early 20th century phenomenon limited to America because there were international versions of it though not exactly patterned from the American West model. Just when snakes were already undeservedly much maligned throughout history, snake oil salesmen dug deeper into the deep recesses of human primal loathing of these most useful of all reptiles. (I'm sure I'll get a lot of push back on this but let's be objective about the ecological benefit snakes provide. Look up how disruptive and destructive the effects were to the ecosystem in many places where snakes were hunted down to total or near extinction).
Let's get back to snake oil. Well, well, now there is incontrovertible data from areas of research and studies that snake oil is after all a wonder cure-all. Below are two quotes from many published reports:
"According to a report published in the Western Journal of Medicine, the oil of the Chinese water snake is an excellent source of the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). This compound shows promise as a nutritional supplement and holistic treatment for several conditions".
"According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA, can relieve symptoms of stiffness and joint tenderness in people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis".
Other ailments or conditions snake oil may provide relief are summarized in an article from Scientific American on the benefit of snake oil:
"Research since the 1980s has demonstrated the necessity—and efficacy—of omega-3 fatty acids. These acids not only reduce inflammation, such as arthritis pain, but also improve cognitive function and reduce blood pressure, cholesterol and even depression. "Because of their chemical structure, omega-3's behave very differently in cell membranes than any other fat," says Susan Allport, author of The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do To Replace Them. "They're much more dynamic, they move around much more, so they allow a lot to happen in the cell membranes. And that's where enzymes do their work. So these fats allow enzymes to work."
There you have it. However, don't just immediately go out and buy snake oil. As always and so humanly true wherever and whenever money can be made, greed, fraud and deception are so well represented, even encrusted harder than barnacles, as to make salvaging the reputation of the snake oil salesman a quest in futility.
Now, this takes us to California:
"California judge rules coffee needs cancer warning label. Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle has ruled that California law requires coffee companies to carry an ominous cancer warning label because of a chemical produced in the roasting process. ... One is acrylamide, a carcinogen present in coffee".
Coffee has its own story. It was good, bad, good, now back to bad (at least in California). We know Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper used to be sold at the pharmacy, ketchup started as a medicine, and if aspirin were to go through the FDA approval process today, it may not make it as an approved drug. These are just a few from stories of good and evil among human consumables.
Today researchers are in the jungles of the Amazon Rain Forest and other places around the world looking for plants that have medicinal values or collecting anecdotal endorsements from locals and indigenous people who use "naturally collected cures" from leaves to stems to tree barks, etc.
The first time I encountered poison ivy two years or so ago our local pharmacist advised me to get two boxes of baking soda (87 cents per pound - one box) from the grocery. As instructed I poured all the contents of one box into warm water in the tub. I soaked myself for 30 minutes. I repeated it a couple of hours later. That took care of it. Well, I got lazy this time, even over confident, so I merely rubbed baking soda over what I suspected were the affected areas. The price was a session with the dermatologist I described above.
Now we know baking soda like vinegar, is just one of those remarkable go-to stuff in our household that do wonders.
Now, if I can only lay my hands on some really genuine snake oil.
I hope someday, scientists will find something potently medicinal from poison ivy.
Meanwhile, a rhyming quote: "Leaves of five, let them thrive. Leaves of three, let them be". (Don't touch them!)
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