USING SULFUR-CONTAINING MINERALS IN MEDICINE: IRANIAN TRADITIONAL DOCUMENTS AND MODERN PHARMACEUTICAL TERMINOLOGY

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sulfur occurs naturally in the earth's crust as a pure element (native sulfur), as well as sulfide and sulfate minerals. From the biochemical point of view, sulfur is a vital element because it is a constituent of enzymes and other key proteins. In addition to modern uses of minerals, in old Iranian documents of traditional medicine, attention was paid to physico-chemical properties of minerals and the various methods of administration. In this review, the traditional usage of sulfur and sulfide minerals (e.g. orpiment, realgar and stibnite) and sulfate minerals (e.g. alum, jarosite, epsomite and melanterite) as documented in the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna (also known as Ibn Sina) and the Zakhireh Kharazmshahi of Jorjani, is compared with new findings about the advantages and disadvantages of these minerals in medical geology. The main conditions for the selection of mineral drugs was described first by Avicenna. There is a high correlation between old and modern pharmaceutical practices. The most important results concern the application of alum as a hemostatic agent (to inhibit hemorrhages), the use of jarosite as a method for treating osteoarthritis, the choice of melanterite for treating eczema, killing insects and as an anti-bacterial agent, the use of epsomite as an active ingredient in laxatives, homeostatics and mineral supplements, and the extensive use of sulfur in dermatology for its keratolytic effects and its supposed anti-microbial effects. In this review, newly developed pharmaceutical information about the use and effects on health of sulfide minerals will be compared to traditional pharmaceutical applications.