It is safe to assume that the overwhelming majority of people out there think that poop is disgusting. However, poop is also widely available, and way back in the ancient world, some people figured that feces could have some medicinal benefits. Below are some interesting facts about ancient poop remedies.
Ancient Poop Remedies
Nobody today knows the exact details of just how somebody in the distant past first arrived at the brainstorm that poop could be used as medicine. Whether or better or worse, that is one bit of knowledge that has vanished into the mists of history. There probably was an interesting tale involved. However it came about, by the time that humans finally settled down and civilization arose, poop was often prescribed to treat a variety of illnesses and assorted maladies.
For example, physicians in ancient Egypt praised the curative powers of dog, donkey, gazelle, and fly poop. Not only were they convinced of those creatures’ droppings medicinal properties, they also believed that they had the power to ward off evil spirits. Animal poop was applied to wounds in a bid to heal them. On the one hand, that might have caused tetanus and some infections, especially if poop was applied to open cuts. On the other hand, the microflora in some animal droppings contains antibiotics, so it just might have worked from time to time. At least enough times to keep alive the belief in the medicinal benefits of poop.
Fly Feces Medicine, and Crocodile Poop Contraceptives
Some interesting questions arise from the use of fly poop as medicine, and not just about whether it was actually effective. The more fascinating question is just how did people back then, long before the invention of microscopes, even manage to spot, let alone gather, tiny fly feces? However they went about the collection of fly poop, Egyptian doctors had a good reputation in the ancient world. As a result, many other cultures back then looked up to and tried to imitate ancient Egyptian medical practices.
One such culture was ancient Greece, which borrowed quite a bit from Egypt. One of the borrowed things was the use of crocodile poop as birth control. Women in ancient Greece believed that crocodile poop inserted into their vaginas was a highly effective contraceptive. It might have even worked. At least in the sense that to encounter a vagina full of or smelling like crocodile poop might have been such a huge turn off, that it killed off any desire for intercourse in the first place.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
BBC – The Weird History of Contraception
History Halls – Fat Men’s Clubs: When Obesity Was Celebrated, and Thin Was Not In
Medical Daily, October 7th, 2016 – The Use of Poop in Medical Treatments Throughout History
