PAPYRUS
cyperus papyrus



The Ancient Egyptians commend it in a papyrus from 1700BC.
The Greeks and Romans followed suit.
The East African tribes and American Indians used it;
it features in The Koran and, needless to say,
it was known to the Aztecs.

They either combined the honey with salt, thus making it
more potent, or used a concoction of sap from the maguey plant,
which has a high concentration of sugar and forms a syrup on evaporation.

# So, finally, we have a serendipitous cure thanks to Mr D M, from Surrey,
prompted by recent comments in this column on the hazards of Chianti and pickled
herrings in exacerbating the urinary symptoms
associated with an enlarged prostate.

Mr D M reports the opposite effect from the four-egg omelette he shares
with his wife every Sunday evening.
It reduces the number of nocturnal visits he makes to the lavatory,
from his customary four times to just once.
But, on Monday nights,  it's back to the every-three-hours routine!
It would be interesting to hear from other men similarly affected,
who might wish to test out this unusual but simple remedy.

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