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Medicinal clay
The use of medicinal clay in folk medicine goes back to prehistoric times. Indigenous peoples around the world still use clay widely. Such uses include external application to the skin and geophagy. The first recorded use of medicinal clay goes back to ancient Mesopotamia.
A wide variety of clays are used for medicinal purposes—primarily for external applications, such as the clay baths in health spas (mud therapy). Among the clays most commonly used are kaolin and the smectite clays such as bentonite, montmorillonite, and fuller's earth. However, their use is declining, and modern evidence-based medicine has ended the use of many types.
The first recorded use of medicinal clay is on Mesopotamian clay tablets around 2500 BC. Also, ancient Egyptians used clay. The Pharaohs’ physicians used the material as anti-inflammatory agents and antiseptics. It was used as a preservative for making mummies and is also reported that Cleopatra used clays to preserve her complexion.
The Ebers Papyrus of about 1550 BC is an important medical text from ancient Egypt which contains traditional advice going back many centuries earlier. It describes the use of ochre for a wide variety of ailments, including for intestinal problems.
Lemnian Earth was extracted on the island of Lemnos starting from classical antiquity and continued to be in use until the 19th century, and was still listed in an important pharmacopoeia in 1848. The clay was shaped into tablets with distinctive seals stamped into them, giving rise to its name terra sigillata—Latin for 'sealed earth'. The earliest mention of its application as a medicine appears in Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica, dated to approximately 50–70. Many other classical authors, including Pliny and Galen, recommend Lemnian Earth for the treatment of poisonings, open wounds and other illnesses.
The other types of clay that were famous in antiquity were as follows.
All the above seem to have been bentonitic clays.
In medieval Persia, Avicenna (980–1037 CE), the 'Prince of Doctors', wrote about clay therapy in his numerous treatises.
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Medicinal clay
The use of medicinal clay in folk medicine goes back to prehistoric times. Indigenous peoples around the world still use clay widely. Such uses include external application to the skin and geophagy. The first recorded use of medicinal clay goes back to ancient Mesopotamia.
A wide variety of clays are used for medicinal purposes—primarily for external applications, such as the clay baths in health spas (mud therapy). Among the clays most commonly used are kaolin and the smectite clays such as bentonite, montmorillonite, and fuller's earth. However, their use is declining, and modern evidence-based medicine has ended the use of many types.
The first recorded use of medicinal clay is on Mesopotamian clay tablets around 2500 BC. Also, ancient Egyptians used clay. The Pharaohs’ physicians used the material as anti-inflammatory agents and antiseptics. It was used as a preservative for making mummies and is also reported that Cleopatra used clays to preserve her complexion.
The Ebers Papyrus of about 1550 BC is an important medical text from ancient Egypt which contains traditional advice going back many centuries earlier. It describes the use of ochre for a wide variety of ailments, including for intestinal problems.
Lemnian Earth was extracted on the island of Lemnos starting from classical antiquity and continued to be in use until the 19th century, and was still listed in an important pharmacopoeia in 1848. The clay was shaped into tablets with distinctive seals stamped into them, giving rise to its name terra sigillata—Latin for 'sealed earth'. The earliest mention of its application as a medicine appears in Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica, dated to approximately 50–70. Many other classical authors, including Pliny and Galen, recommend Lemnian Earth for the treatment of poisonings, open wounds and other illnesses.
The other types of clay that were famous in antiquity were as follows.
All the above seem to have been bentonitic clays.
In medieval Persia, Avicenna (980–1037 CE), the 'Prince of Doctors', wrote about clay therapy in his numerous treatises.
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