Health and Medical Benefits of Silver; Part One – A Brief History

Part One of a Three-Part Series

Because of its ability to kill bacteria, silver is used by the medical community as an antiseptic and a disinfectant.  There is also an “alternative” (non-FDA-approved) medicine product called colloidal silver used by many people.  

Silver is used extensively in the health and medical community in a variety of ways, which is one of the reasons it is increasing in value as a commodity. 

I want to discuss these uses in more detail; but first, you might enjoy the following historical facts.

A Brief History

When the ancient Greeks noticed that their wealthier soldiers, who used silver canteens, didn’t get dysentery but that the other soldiers often did, they began lining their eating and drinking containers with silver.   The ancient Romans used silver nitrate therapeutically because it caused wounds to heal more quickly.

Throughout the centuries, royal households not only stored their food and drink in silver or silver-lined containers but they were served their food on silver plates, drank out of silver cups, and used silver eating utensils.  It is believed that the reason royalty managed to survive so many plagues was because they ended up ingesting small amounts of silver when they ate; plus they often took it for medicinal purposes.

There was one minor downside.  When taken internally, silver accumulates in the body and eventually can cause a slight bluish tinge of the skin (a condition known as Argyria).  That is why royalty is referred to as “blue bloods.”

However, “born with a silver spoon in his mouth” is a more recent phrase.  In the early 18^th century, it was discovered that babies who were fed with silver spoons were healthier than babies who were not.  Of course, the reason you think of wealth and artistocrats when you hear this phrase is because it was the wealthy who could afford the silver spoon.

Early American pioneers learned that if they put a silver dollar in a jug of milk, it would last longer without spoiling.  They also kept their silverware (and silver and copper coins) in water barrels to prevent bacteria and algae.

In the early 1880s, German obstetrician Dr. Carl Siegmund Franz Credé began to administer a 2% silver nitrate solution in the eyes of newborn infants, thus virtually eliminating blindness in newborns caused by diseases such as ophthalmia neonatorum.  It was then reduced to a 1% solution and is still used for the same purpose today.

In the early 20^th century, silver foil dressings were used for wounds and continued to be used extensively until just after World War II.  They were listed in the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) until 1955.

In 1901, the first colloidal silver compound was created and was patented as Argyrol, the only non-toxic antibiotic available at the time.  In 1924, the first electro-colloidal silver was produced and became widely used in medicine as one of the mainstays of anti-microbial treatment.   

Part Two of this Three-Part Series will discuss the use of silver within the current medical community.  Part Three will explain how and why colloidal silver is used as an “alternative” medicine.

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