Looking into Google Scholar I found this book "Nutritional anemias" by U. Ramakrishnan. At page 3 it is written: "Ancient Greeks recognized the benefits of iron salt to improve muscolar weakness in injured war veterans. The weakened suffurers hoped to assume some of the strenght of this metal by drinkin water in which a sword had rusted".
Unfortunately the note is not visible. Is someone able to give me any reference regarding the medical use of iron rust in ancient Greece?
Ramakrishna is citing a 1977 study by E R Hughes on human iron metabolism in, Metal Ions in Biological Systems: Iron in Model and Natural Compounds. Vol. 7, Sigel, H., Ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1977
You will probably need to look that work up to find what, if any, source, Hughes cites for his argument. I can find later works by E.R.Hughes on line, but not that article.
You will need to loook C. Conophagos - G. Papadimitriou,
"La technique de production de fer et d’acier parles Grecs anciens en Attique pendant la pério de classique" in Minutes of Academy of Athens 56 (1981) 148-172 (in Greek). Resume (in Fr. p. 169-171
Thank you Kathleen and Panagiotis for your answers, unfortunately the Hughes' book is not avalaible in my univesity and it's a little bit expensive to buy without knowing for sure if it talks about the topic.
The Conophagos paper is written in Greek, which I don't speak, could you please Panagiotis tell me what it talks about?
Any other suggestion?
Here is a negative result. Dioscorides (1st century, C.E.), the Greek authority on materia medica, did NOT indicate the use of iron rust for weariness/fatigue. He recommends applying iron rust for leucorrhea, but notes it causes barrenness when drunk [presumably by women]. Also good smeared on for skin and eye problems, strengthening gums, helping gout, restoring hair to bald patches. Water or wine in which red-hot iron has been quenched is a good drink for colic, dysentery, spleen disease, cholera, and slackened stomach. Also can be a substitute for the topical rust salves. I've only paraphrased. See Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus, De materia medica, trans. by Lily Y. Beck, second, revised, enlarged edition, (Altertums wissenschaftliche Texte und Studien, 38) (Hildesheim: Olms, 2011), Book V: chapter 78 (para 5), and Chapter 80, pp. 368, 370. Beck's translation is unquestionably the best in English, and worth every penny.
Take the book of U. Ramakrishnan. You will need to look at p. 6, note 3
Thank you all,
Panagiotis I have read the French summary of the Greek paper you attached, but it seems about iron production and not about medical use, am I correct or am I missing something?
Francesco, you may have tried already, but have you talked to your library about the possibility of interlibrary loans?
As I said earlier, without that book it's hard to know what, if any, source, Hughes cites for his argument.
One possibility, though, is that it refers to the story of Iphiclus, son of Phylacus, in the Greek Myths. The story is related in Apollodorus as a treatment for impotence. http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL122/1921/pb_LCL122.351.xml.
See also http://www.innvista.com/health/ailments/anemias/iron-deficiency-anemia/
Hello Kathleen
unfortunately this book is not available on the online catalogue of my university library. I will have to go and ask directly.
Anyway I am familiar with the myth of Melampus and Iphiclus, I don't think that's the reference the author talked about, because Iphiclus did not come back from war, at least as far as I know..
Francesco I sent you the book: "U. Ramakrishnan, Nutritional animias". See page 6.
Thank you Panagiotis for sharing that book. But what about the other paper you posted? I didn't get the connection..
Unfortunately the book "Metal Ions in Biological Systems: Iron in Model and Natural Compounds. Vol. 7" reports the same sentence without any reference, think it's a dead end...
How can someone give such a sentence without any source? Unbelievable..
I'm sorry it proved to be a dead end, Francesco, but it doesn't surprise me. I have seen similar cases of such disinformation where people cite an older reference work without actually checking that works source. In that case a reference in passing was made that X had identified a particular vague place name with a specific place. The book gave full reference details, and had added this as a point of interest for anyone who wanted to check it out. But it was not the older author's primary interest. A later scholar treated that reference as dogma without properly checking the sources, and wasted a lot of time building a 'thesis' around that identification.
That sort of thing happens probably more often than we like to think. There has been a lot of debate on RG about the validity of using Wikipedia entries as a reference, but the same problems can beset even peer-reviewed published works. It's perhaps too easy to accept a cited reference in what seems to be an authoritative book, without bothering to look up and check the cited reference.
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