Roborans
A roborant (also: invigoration or tonic ; Latin roborare strong, strengthen) is a substance that is occupied for just this purpose, for improvement of the general condition. A corresponding product is now usually referred to as a tonic or build-up preparation.
history
Arsenic (III) oxide (arsenic, As 2 O 3 ) was used not only as a murderous poison but also as a roborans. In his canon of medicine , which was translated into Latin by Gerhard von Cremona in the middle of the 12th century and subsequently remained the most important textbook of Western medicine until the 17th century, Avicenna pointed out the invigorating effect of arsenic, but paid attention to it the known toxic effect on an exact dosage. Miners or messengers in the mountains use it to improve performance, horse dealers use it to be able to better sell old-age animals. The widespread use of arsenic trioxide (more precisely: diarsenic trioxide or arsenic (III) oxide) only declined when its carcinogenic effects were recognized.
Even wine has long been regarded as a tonic.
present
Today, the entire spectrum of luxury foods available (for example coffee with caffeine ), medicinal plants , vitamins , trace elements and dietary supplements are used to “increase performance” and “preventive care”. However, there is often a lack of pharmacologically sound evidence of benefits.
swell
- ↑ Rolf Giebelmann. Years of toxicology 2005; Institute for Forensic Medicine in the Clinic of the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (PDF; 14 kB).
- ↑ PTA Forum Arsenic - The dose makes the poison; Silke Wedekind .
- ^ Willy Louis Braekman: A Middle Dutch version of Arnald of Villanova's Liber de Vinis. In: Janus 55, 1968, pp. 96-133; here: p. 124 f.