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antiquemom
Upstart Joined: 19 May 2010 Posts: 5	Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:23 am    Post subject: willow bark   Just a thought that came to me while reading. It seems that many Regency authors feel that willow bark tea cured many, many ills. I've read where one woman helped a patient who was dying because no one could bring down his fever. she called for willow bark tea and it cured him. The latest one was to cure migraine headaches. I see that it is still used today, but I personally have never heard of anyone using it. Can it be helpful?
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KalenHughes
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100	Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:25 am    Post subject:   Yes. Willow bark is the origin of aspirin and is still widely sold in health food stores. From Wikipedia: Quote: The leaves and bark of the willow tree have been mentioned in ancient texts from Assyria, Sumer and Egypt[8] as a remedy for aches and fever,[9] and the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about its medicinal properties in the 5th century BC. Native Americans across the American continent relied on it as a staple of their medical treatments. This is because it contains salicylic acid, the precursor to aspirin. In 1763 its medicinal properties were observed by the Reverend Edward Stone in England. He notified the Royal Society who published his findings. The active extract of the bark, called salicin, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicin is acidic when in a saturated solution in water (pH = 2.4), and is called salicylic acid for that reason. In 1897 Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin (in his case derived from the Spiraea plant), which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally Acetylsalicylic acid, was named Aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). _________________ -Kalen w/a Isobel Carr Ripe for Pleasure, May 2011 Book 1: The League of Second Sons www.isobelcarr.com
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antiquemom
Upstart Joined: 19 May 2010 Posts: 5	Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:07 pm    Post subject: Willow Bark   Thank you Kalen for your prompt and informative reply. That explains why so many regency books mention it.
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KalenHughes
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100	Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 3:53 pm    Post subject: Re: Willow Bark   antiquemom wrote: That explains why so many regency books mention it. But not why anyone would hail the heroine as a genius for using it, LOL! It would have been a common item in most households by the Regency. _________________ -Kalen w/a Isobel Carr Ripe for Pleasure, May 2011 Book 1: The League of Second Sons www.isobelcarr.com
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