The dream of a long life without disease and suffering has excited the imagination of scientists at all times. Hundreds of scientific treatises are devoted to the search for a panacea - a cure for any disease. But none of the thinkers of the past managed to come close to unraveling the composition of the universal healing substance. And the word "panacea" has always remained synonymous with fruitless attempts to achieve the impossible.
Elixir of Eternal Toad
In the early Middle Ages, all science was represented by alchemists. Alchemy came to Europe from the East and was a bizarre mixture of philosophy, theology, mathematics, chemistry and medicine. One of the first Arab scholars who became famous in the Old World was Jabir ibn Hayyan (in European transcription - Geber), who lived in Iran in the 8th-9th centuries. Peru Ibn Hayyan owns the famous treatise "The Book of Seventy", which sets out the main theses of alchemy.
There is also a curious chapter on metals in this book. It was Geber who formulated the idea of "curing" base metals, as a result of which gold could be obtained. The scientist believed that all earthly metals are composed of a mixture of mercury and sulfur in varying proportions and mature underground. But if you interfere with the maturation of gold, there is a chance to speed it up. This requires a certain elixir (from the Arabic al-iksir - "dry"), which is able to "cure" any metals, to give them the desired properties. This is how the idea of the philosopher's stone was first presented to the world - a substance capable of changing the composition of metals.
But where does the panacea have to do with it, you ask? The thing is that Geber thought that a side property of the elixir is the ability to heal the human body. There is a kind of logic in this: since a certain substance heals inanimate matter, why shouldn't it do the same with living matter? At the same time, Geber mercilessly ridiculed the classical, "magic" ways of obtaining the elixir of health and immortality.
“You just need to find a toad that has lived ten thousand years, then catch a thousand-year-old bat, dry them, crush and grind into powder, dissolve in water and take a tablespoon every day,” the scientist wrote mockingly, hinting at the backwardness of market recipes for health and longevity.
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Alchemy for the Good Christian
In the 13th century, the Franciscan monk Roger Bacon lived in England. He was a versatile educated and terribly inquisitive person. Which naturally led him to search for a remedy for all diseases. For there were plenty of ailments around in those days, and doctors had not yet really learned how to cope with most of them.
Bacon thought a lot about the nature of diseases and, being an exemplary Christian, came to the conclusion that people get sick because they are sinful. Therefore, he suggested looking for a panacea not only in the chemical laboratory, but also in the church. Bacon believed that the bodies of Adam and Eve before the Fall were clean and not subject to any ailments.
Therefore, a good Christian should try to learn the structure of the bodies of the first people, and most importantly, strive for righteousness. As, for example, the holy patriarchs did before the flood, which allowed them to significantly extend their lives. In addition, of course, you need to take the coveted alchemical elixir: this substance can bring all the fluids in the body into a state of perfect harmony. But only on condition of observance of moral Christian laws! Sinners who longed for health and longevity, having drunk the elixir, will become infected with all known and unknown diseases and will suffer from them not only during life, but also in hell.
Despite the obviously religious nature of his thinking, Bacon managed to fall out of favor with the church hierarchs. First he was expelled from all universities, then accused of witchcraft and eventually arrested. It was rumored that the Franciscan still invented a wonderful elixir, but did not want to share the recipe - for which he paid. But, most likely, he simply had nothing to say …
Harmony of fluids
The days of the alchemists are over. They were replaced by a new, enlightened medicine. In the 18th century, the idea of a magic elixir was already a source of ridicule. But the research of the Austrian doctor Franz Anton Mesmer gained immense popularity. With his treatise on "animal magnetism" he literally blew up the educated society. Mesmer believed that the human body has its own magnetic energy, the so-called fluid.
And this energy is capable of being transferred from a living object to a non-living one, accumulating, distributing, and strengthening. A fluid that has dried up under the influence of certain circumstances becomes the cause of the disease. Therefore, in order to heal the patient, it is necessary to harmonize his natural magnetism. This can be done by transferring fluids from the doctor to the patient.
Mesmer became immensely popular. Still: according to his theory, no medicines are needed at all, you can heal with a glance and a simple laying on of hands. Mesmer's recommendations nullified the age-old achievements of classical medicine. And besides, they promised complete healing from any ailments, since all of them - from the plague to mental retardation - are caused by the violation of only one function of the body: the ability to produce animal magnetism. By the way, Mesmer was the first to figure out how to charge plain water, giving it medicinal properties.
The ideas of magnetism remained at the forefront of fashion for a very long time. And the scientist's works were not in vain: some of his developments have found a place in modern medicine. It is about hypnosis, thanks to which Mesmer achieved good results in medical practice. The only pity is that he himself did not quite understand the nature of his success. But he could become famous as the founding father of an entire psychotherapeutic school.
Barefoot "Baby" and "Kremlin pill"
The 20th century has changed a lot in medicine. Antibiotics, anesthesia, chemotherapy appeared, sophisticated surgical techniques were developed, and powerful drugs were invented. However, none of these revolutionary methods offer a 100% cure rate. A miracle cure was never found, but self-taught people appeared in abundance, curing terrible diseases in such strange ways that no science can explain it. All that remains is to believe in a panacea.
Remember at least a barefoot gray-haired old man with a long beard. The famous Porfiry Ivanov gathered around him followers and students from all over the country. The most hopeless ones went to him. And he believed that if diseases are transmitted from person to person, then health can also be transmitted in the same way. And he did. He undressed and undressed everyone, regardless of the diagnosis, let them out into the cold, poured ice water over them. And in an incomprehensible way, people recovered!
Ivanov, a former chronic inhabitant of psychiatric clinics, managed to attract thousands of adepts under his banner. But he could not explain to the scientific community what the secret of his system "Baby" is and why people are healed. Most doctors considered Ivanov a mentally ill charlatan, not devoid of charisma. But the facts are obvious: his system worked like a panacea, saving lives ruined by terrible ailments.
Around the same years, rumors spread in our country about a miracle cure that the Kremlin elite was using to preserve health and youth. Like, hence the abundance of the Kremlin elders, who do not want to leave high posts, even at a very old age.
They talked about the "Kremlin pills" that cure any disease and prolong life. But the Soviet system fell, and all the secrets were revealed. The mysterious panacea turned out to be just an experimental development of the Tomsk plant, which helps digestion. The micro-device had nothing to do with immortality …
The desire to conquer nature and live, if not forever, then at least for a long time, and most importantly, without torment and suffering, is so strong that a person continues to come up with more and more "pills" for all diseases and believe that they will save, help, will heal. But for many centuries, science has not been able to find that single magic remedy. And he is unlikely to ever find it.
But faith works true miracles and sometimes heals in a way that no modern medicine, created according to all the canons of highly developed science, is capable of curing. So it's probably not worth taking it away from humanity.
Andrey SITNIKOV