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It was 1959 and the global polio epidemic was at its peak; in Canada alone there were 190,000 cases and almost 2000 deaths. But long before Jonas Salk developed his vaccine, in some remote corners of Eastern Europe, rural grandmothers had been brewing an herbal tea for centuries that both cured and prevented the disease.
When a Bulgarian pharmacologist finally noticed the phenomenon, he found the contents of the tea were simple: boiled bulbs of galanthus – our common snowdrop.
From the beginning, every human civilization has had some form of medical professional within their number. The shaman, the wise woman, or the priest was turned to for healing when wounds and illness threatened lives.
These physicians’ success or failure almost always depended on the depth of their knowledge of the plants around them. Their wisdom came from eons of trial and error and was handed down through the generations, often by word of mouth.
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“ Contrary to popular belief, the name snowdrop doesn’t refer to either their colour or their early spring arrival in our gardens.
It comes from the German name of a popular style of 16th century drop earring called schneetropfen. ” |
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Looking carefully at ancient legends, traditional stories, and even the bible, for medical clues is yielding some important discoveries. For example, in Homer’s The Odyssey snowdrop was probably the flower he called ‘moly’. This flower was the cure Odysseus was given to rescue his crew after Circe turned them into pigs. Scientists now believe that Circe bewitched his men with the atropine (taken from jimsonweed), a chemical that induces hallucinations and amnesia, for which galantamine (from snowdrops) is the antidote.
From that early discovery in Bulgaria in the 50’s, the snowdrop, along with several other members of the narcissus family, has been the subject of intense study – and it’s paid off. |
Today, snowdrop bulbs provide one of the most powerful drugs in the fight against Alzheimer’s: galantamine. It works by increasing the amount of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, the chemical deficiency in Alzheimer’s disease.
To early humans it must have seemed like magic that garlic could heal a septic wound and willow bark could reduce a fever and ease pain.
No wonder they told stories that featured these miracles embellished with gods, monsters, spells and potions. We are thankful they did, and thankful science is turning its attention to finding the facts buried within the fiction. |
