Pictured above is Bald’s Leechbook, a 10th Century Latin and Anglo-Saxon manuscript owned by the British Library. It’s a reference manual for what passed for pharmaceutical science at that time. And it’s holding up pretty well, even though it’s a thousand years old. Scientists made a salve using a recipe in the Leechbook. In laboratory experiments, that salve killed the deadly MRSA infection.
The drug is called “eyesalve.” It consists of two species of onion, wine, and cow bile. When prepared according to the instructions, eyesalve proved highly effective in treating MRSA-infected mice.
via Neatorama
Image: British Library
