Today I noticed a story which seemed interesting. It had to do with the recent archaeological finding of a vial of face cream from Roman times. Laboratory scientists analyized and were successful in recreating the compound.
Naturally, I assumed some interesting herbs might have been found, but then realized that scientists would be looking at the chemical fingerprint of the creme which might not provide much info about the species of plants used.
Reading the article, it turned out to be a moot point: the only interesting plant-based ingredient was starch, which could come from a variety of plant sources. The other two ingredients were refined animal fat and tin. Not very exciting from an herbal point of view, but as I was near the end I opted to finish reading the article.
As the researchers point out, tin has no medicinal value so they conclude that its function must have been as a pigment. The non-toxic properties of tin would have been a plus, because the health risks of lead were becoming recognized by the second century AD.Hold the fort and back up the friggin' truck. Are you telling me that we've known about the dangers of lead to organic systems FOR THE PAST 1800 YEARS? How can this not outrage everyone? Lead paint and water pipes were used not very long ago! Are we that collectively stupid as a species?
Oh wait, strike that question.
Posted by Evo Terra at November 04, 2004 03:17 PM | TrackBack (0)