Health effects of amber - historical references

Everyone has heard about the magical and healing properties of amber, although probably not everyone believes in them... But just in case, we nevertheless put on amber beads when we have thyroid problems, give teething children amber teethers and reach for amber tincture when we start to get cold... That is, we do exactly the same as our ancestors did centuries ago.

The beneficial effects of amber on health were noticed already in ancient times. In those days, amber beads were eagerly worn, with the belief that they prevented many diseases, including the formation of thyroid goiter, headaches and migraines, tonsillitis and sore throats. It was also recommended by the famous physicians of the time - Hippocrates and Claudius Galen. In Historia naturalis, Pliny the Elder wrote about the prevailing fashion among Roman women for amber necklaces worn not only for aesthetic reasons, but also for health reasons - for in those days amber was also believed to help with ear ailments and eye diseases, as well as stomach problems, and even with rage attacks and difficulty urinating.

During the Middle Ages, not only were these traditional amber treatments cultivated, but new ones were implemented that were based on the discoveries and observations of the time. St. Hildegard of Bingen, a mystic and herbalist, had a special share in this, recommending drinking amber tincture on beer, wine or water for stomach pains, and on milk for bladder diseases, as well as powdered amber with wine as protection against the plague. Amber was also valued for its healing properties in Arab countries - the famous physician Avicenna recommended it for diarrhea and hemorrhages, among other things, while the scholar al-Bīrūnī described that it "wards off the harm done by the onlooker with the evil eye."

Subsequent centuries also provide evidence of amber's use as a healing agent. Andreas Aurifaber, a scholar and personal physician to Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albrecht Hohenzollern, included 46 prescriptions for the use of amber in the treatment of such ailments as toothache, stomachache, rheumatism and heart arrhythmia, in his scholarly treatise "Succini historia," published in 1551. Nicolaus Copernicus also reached for it - and recommended its use especially for heart ailments. Prescriptions written down by this famous astronomer and physician have survived to the present day - one of them specifies the composition and method of making a syrup useful for hematuria.

The situation was similar in the following centuries - in each there was a belief in the healing properties of Baltic amber. It has survived to our time - today it may not occur to anyone to check virgin virtue with the help of amber decoction as it was still in the 19th century, but we won't hesitate to wear an amber necklace, rub amber ointment or put an amber nugget in our pants pocket. Just in case…