In the midst of fighting super bacteria which are resistant to modern-day antibiotics, a one-thousand year-old Anglo-Saxon potion made out of onions, garlic, wine, and bile from a cow’s stomach was found to wipe out the resistant superbugs like MRSA, according to new research.
Discovered in one of the earliest known medical textbooks, Bald’s Leechbook, this ancient ‘eyesalve’ remedy calls for two species of Allium (garlic and onion or leek), wine and oxgall (bile from a cow’s stomach) to be brewed in a brass vessel. So scientists made an attempt at duplicating the recipe.
“We chose this recipe in Bald’s Leechbook because it contains ingredients such as garlic that are currently investigated by other researchers on their potential antibiotic effectiveness.
And so we looked at a recipe that is fairly straightforward. It’s also a recipe where we are told it’s the ‘best of leechdoms’ — how could you not test that? So we were curious,” said Christina Lee, an expert on Anglo-Saxon society from the School of English at the University of Nottingham
Microbiologist Freya Harrison, who led the work in the lab at the School of Life Sciences, said: