Abstract
The therapeutic effect of peat has been known for a long time. The application of peat to medicine is mainly in the recouperation to working capability of a patient after illness or an operation, in rheumatism and in special cases for gynaecology. Furthermore bactericidic, fungistatic, anti-viral and perhaps also cacinostatic effects have been observed. Knowledge of these effects are, at present, mostly empirical. To elucidate the mechanism of action, several natural scientists and medical research workers co-ordinated their efforts. The differences in conditions for the formation of low-bog and raised-bog peat cause differences in the composition of their constituents. The separation of the different fractions of peat using conventional methods is described. The bitumen and humic acids fractions are the most therapeutically interesting. Substances in the bitumen fraction, such as sterins and hormones, and precursors of humic acids such as lignin degradation products, are of physiological interest for their variety of biochemical reactions. The high molecular weight, spherical, colloidal humic acids are important for the transport of heat from a peat-slurry bath, into the nucleus of the body of the patient.
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