Cleopatra's stunner make-up cured eye disease as well

AFP ^ | Jan 7, 2010 | Unknown

[decimon]

PARIS (AFP) – Ancient Egypt's stunning eye make-up not only shielded wearers from the dark deeds of the evil eye but also protected them against eye disease, French scientists said Thursday.

Ancient Egyptians some 4,000 years ago produced the make-up used to darken and adorn eyes with lead and lead salts in mixtures that sometimes took a month to concoct, said Philippe Walter, who co-headed a team of scientists from the Louvre museum and the CNRS national research institute.

"We knew ancient Greeks and Romans too had noted the make-up had medicinal properties, but wanted to determine exactly how," he told AFP.

[decimon]

Heavy eyelid ping.

[omega4179]

lead has NO medicinal quality it is poison.

[Huskrrrr]

Italians used tincture of Belladonna to enlarge female eye pupils. You women had it rough, still do actually. I can’t imagine wearing high heels for an entire day.

[SunkenCiv]

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[zadox]

The central point of the article:

Contrary to widely held belief that lead is harmful, the team, using analytical chemistry, determined that "in very low doses lead does not kill cells." Instead, it produces a molecule -- nitric oxide -- that activates the immune defence system which beats back bacteria in case of eye infection.

I'm a bit skeptical, but hummmm.... might be...

[decimon]

You women...

Me? You talkin' ta me?

[JoeProBono]

[decimon]

This is about getting lead in the eye, not the pencil.

[JoeProBono]

Oh...sorry

[Huskrrrr]

;0)

[Old Student]

“lead has NO medicinal quality it is poison.”

So is arsenic, which was used to treat syphillis, successfully, for many years. Chemotherapy is the use of poisons to kill cancer in such doses that it kills the cancer faster than it kills the person who has cancer. Antibiotics are also poisons. Just because it is poison doesn’t mean it cannot have medical uses.

Just because it has medical uses doesn’t necessarily recommend it for them, either. You must do a cost/benefits analysis and see if it is worth using. If lead and lead salts are all you have, it might well be worth using.

[T Minus Four]

Stink-eye ping

[bvw]

Lead and tin compounds have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effects.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/n55772025q382801/

[Old Student]

“Lead and tin compounds have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effects.”

Many metallic salts have medicinal properties, and some are necessities of life. Dosage has some effect, too. Too much salt will kill you, not enough will kill you; you must find the balance point in there somewhere. Same with oxygen, another element that forms many compounds, some useful, some harmful.