People lost their eternal youth simultaneously with eternal life: Adam and Eve, who threw themselves into the abyss of passion, frivolously lost these two bonuses received from the Creator. All subsequent time passed in fruitless attempts to return what was lost. And if eternal life is in a very distant perspective, then rumors of eternal youth caught by the tail haunt people since ancient times.
The oldest found literary source, dating from the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, contains the myth of the Sumerian king Gilgamesh, who tried to preserve his youth forever. In the story, she is presented as a beautiful flower received from the hands of the gods. The king went through hard trials and found the coveted plant. However, while he was bathing, before applying the wonderful plant, the flower was carried away and eaten by an insidious snake …
Chinese system
Since ancient times, China has been diligently looking for ways to preserve youth and eternal life. One of the emperors categorically ordered the healers to find a rejuvenating medicine. After long studies of various remedies, the coveted potion was presented to the ruler, the main component of which was the ginseng root. However, the miracle did not happen - the emperor was getting old as before. Then the monks of the Huashan Temple were brought to him, where Taoism and the art of meditation were actively practiced. The "youngest" novice of this monastery was over 120 years old, and he was fresh and healthy, like the rest of his older comrades. The secret of youth was hidden in many hours of meditation and a special system of exercises Hu Chun Gong (translated from Chinese - "exercise for the return of spring"). But only in the 80s of the last century the general public discovered this health-improving gymnastics.
Elixirs of Youth
What should be done or taken to rejuvenate? This question continued to torment people in the dark period of the Middle Ages. But looking for such a remedy was dangerous. The fight against heresy, accusations of witchcraft and witchcraft, the countless fires of the Inquisition made alchemists extremely secretive. However, their science did not stand still. Most often, plants, milk and blood of various animals served as raw materials for creating wonderful drinks. In the ancient Indian Vedas, as many as three types of the divine elixir of soma are mentioned - a drink exuded by the moon itself.
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Another type of rejuvenating potion is haoma. It is named so in honor of the deity Haom, dismembered by other gods and became a component of the magic elixir. According to scientists, this drink contains ephedra, hemp, amanita, rhubarb. The juice of these plants was mixed with milk, which symbolized the return to the world of the One God and the Creator of everything on earth. There is evidence that the elixir had a hallucinogenic effect.
Adventurer's charm
One cannot but mention among the seekers of eternal youth and the great genius of self-promotion, the mysterious Count Alessandro Cagliostro (aka Giuseppe Balsamo), who lived at the end of the 18th century. The charming adventurer was well-known to many of the royal houses of Europe, and the Russian emperor also received him favorably. Cagliostro's wife, charming Lorenza, with her precocious youthful appearance, was a living advertisement for his secret elixir of youth. However, the voyage to Russia was the last for the hoaxer: upon his return to Italy, the inquisitorial court declared Juzzi a heretic and sentenced him to death. The count was saved by repentance and public burning of manuscripts. The execution was commuted to life imprisonment. There, in prison, Cagliostro and died 4 years later. Then the recipe for the youthful elixir was considered lost forever.
But at the end of the last century, information appeared in the Italian media that the Count's manuscripts were preserved in the archives of the Inquisition, including the recipe for the coveted potion. However, it was more likely a system of procedures - a 60-day cycle, which included all the methods of rejuvenation known at that time: bloodletting, fasting, diets, baths, drugs. At the end of the course, a person had to acquire new teeth, hair, skin, young internal organs. However, science, alas, has not received the officially registered results of such a wonderful transformation.
Cut and sew
The turbulent XX century was marked by the development of applied science in all branches of human life. The search for eternal youth continued, but now they took a strictly scientific basis. Alchemy was replaced by xenotransplantation - the transplantation of organs and tissues from the organism of one biological species into the organism of another species. A pioneer in this area was our compatriot who took French citizenship, Sergei (Samuil) Voronov. A graduate of the Voronezh Real School, in exile he became a student of the French biologist Alexis Carrel. In less than 30 years, Voronov defended his medical degree. In Egypt, he studied the effects of castration of eunuchs, in Europe he treated diseases of the thyroid gland. Simultaneously with his medical practice, he conducted experiments on human rejuvenation through organ transplantation. He started, as usual, with animals. Elements of the testicles of young individuals of goats, sheep, and bulls were transplanted into the old. The effect exceeded all expectations! It was as if the animals were getting a new life, becoming active and capable of reproduction. A line of rich people eager to rejuvenate lined up to the doctor. Condemned criminals have become donors for the flow of operations. When demand exceeded supply, Professor Voronov, having created his own nursery, began to raise baboons and chimpanzees. It was they who later became suppliers of "raw materials". His speech made a splash at the convention in London. The operation was not technically difficult, and the elderly world elite saw xenotransplantation as a chance to regain youth. A line of rich people eager to rejuvenate lined up to the doctor. Condemned criminals have become donors for the flow of operations. When demand exceeded supply, Professor Voronov, having created his own nursery, began to raise baboons and chimpanzees. It was they who later became suppliers of "raw materials". His speech made a splash at the convention in London. The operation was not technically difficult, and the elderly world elite saw xenotransplantation as a chance to regain youth. A line of rich people eager to rejuvenate lined up to the doctor. Condemned criminals have become donors for the flow of operations. When demand exceeded supply, Professor Voronov, having created his own nursery, began to raise baboons and chimpanzees. It was they who later became suppliers of "raw materials". His speech made a splash at the convention in London. The operation was not technically difficult, and the elderly world elite saw xenotransplantation as a chance to regain youth. The operation was not technically difficult, and the elderly world elite saw xenotransplantation as a chance to regain youth. The operation was not technically difficult, and the elderly world elite saw xenotransplantation as a chance to regain youth.
However, there was no miracle. The aging body received a dose of hormones (they were not yet known about), after which a positive effect arose. Alas, short-term.
Hormones are not a panacea
1935 was the last year in the era of anti-aging transplantation. It was at this time that hormones were discovered, they began to be taken in the form of medicines. Pharmaceutical transnational corporations entered the scene. By the end of the 20th century, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had become extremely popular, especially among women. She could restore female youth with its external and internal manifestations. The ladies were happy. But … After a while, the statistics showed disappointing results: HRT increased the risk of cancer and strokes many times over. They decided to abandon the constant use of hormonal drugs for rejuvenating the body.
In the XXI century, organotherapy has offered us a new fashionable tool - stem cells. Information about the positive results of the use of these cells is interspersed with scandals and revelations, victims of the not fully explored method of rejuvenation are multiplying.
History repeats itself, and eternal youth remains so far an unattainable dream of mankind. But is it worth looking for something that is not conceived by nature itself? …
Journal: Steps of the Oracle # 11. Author: Victoria Zueva
