APHRODISAC AND DIURETIC
Its mood-enhancing aphrodisiac properties
were much appreciated: It vehemently incites
to Venus, and causeth conception in women,
hastens and facilitates their delivery, Sahagun wrote.
He commends it for the treatment of diarrhoea in children,
presumably because it is a good way
to replace lost fluid, as well as having a costive effect.
Cocoa helps the weak and debilitated
put on weight, while it also cleaneth
the teeth, sweeteneth the breath, provokes urine,
expels poisons and preserves from infectious diseases.

These observations apply only to the unadulterated
cocoa bean before it was sweetened with sugar
by the Spanish and fortifed with milk by the English
- so the customary nightcap might not be eqqually benecial.

A further reminder of the importance of learning from
the past also cropped up last week with an observation
about the astonishingly high survival rate among
the wounded survivors of the Battle of Waterloo
(just three deaths out of 52 injured soldiers
of the 13th Light Dragoons) and Trafalgar
(just six deaths among 102 injured sailors on the Victory).

Despite the non-existence of antibiotics,
blood transfusions, life-support machines and other
paraphernalia of modern intensive care,
most recovered, observed Professor Mervyn Singer,
of University College, London, in a public lecture.
Are we ignoring the lessons of Waterloo at our peril?

So how is it that, throughout history,
warriors have been severely injured and survived,
without succumbing to infections and gangrene.
The answer is honey, which we now know to be
more effective than most antibiotics in killing off bacteria
- while simultaneously absorbing fluid fromm in mamed tissues,
thus keeping wounds clean and healthy.




SOURCES
Cocoa for Cough
cocoa fruit tincture
organic cocoa beans

"Remedies rediscovered from centuries ago
can prove remarkably effective,"
writes Dr James Le Fanu.

Debi Guindon
Jan 3, 2005 10:46 am
Cocoa for a Cough

Sharing from another list...
In sickness and in health:
cocoa for a cough, and the lessons of Waterloo


HERBS ACTIONS


Back - Home - Next