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Almonds

 The earliest of herbal compendiums, the Great Herbal of China, Pen T’sao Kang Mu, generally credited to the mystical Emperor Shen-Nung (2838 – 2698 BC) listed kernel preparations as being useful against tumors. (Halstead p9)

 Aulus Cornelius Celsus of ancient Rome compiled a number of encyclopaedias including his only surviving work, De Medicina in about 30 AD. This mentions the use of the bitter almond in treating ‘putrid flesh’.

 The Roman physician, Scribonis Largus, was the court physican to the emperor Claudius. In 47 AD he compiled a list of some 271 prescriptions including the administration of almonds for the treatment of bladder tumors.

 Pliny the Elder (AD 23 – 79) is one of the best known writers of the ancient world and his greatest work, the Naturalis Historia, is an encyclopedia containing much of the knowledge of his time. He discussed the use of bitter almond oil in the treatment of ‘condylomata’.

 Claudius Galenus (Galen) was a skilled 2^nd century physician who pioneered a number of surgical techniques including the removal of cataracts from the eye. He wrote extensively and eventually became the court physician to the emperor Marcus Aurelius. He advocated almonds in the treatment of ‘scirrhus of the liver’.

 The Roman physician Theodorus Priscianus of the 4^th century used almond oil to treat the ‘callus ulcer’.

 Marcellus Empiricus, a medical writer from an area in Roman Gaul (now Bordeaux, France) in the 5^th century, wrote De Medicamentis (On Medicines). He mentions the treatment of tumors of the bladder with almonds.

 Avicenna the 10^th century Arabian physician and philosopher served as physician and adviser to several Persian potentates. His Canon of medical science mentions the use of the oil of the bitter almond in the treatment of tumors of the uterus, spleen, stomach and liver

 Henrik Harpestraeng, the 12^th century Danish physician, used almond oil mixed with honey to treat a ‘hard spleen’.

 Nicholas Myreposos, the Byzantine physician of the 13^th century, powdered the shells of the almond and used the mixture in the treatment of carcinoma of the mouth.

 Ibn al-Baitar, the great 13^th century Muslim physician of Damascus, used almonds in the treatment of breast cancer.

 Conrad Gesner, the Swiss biologist of the 16^th century, wrote of the use of almonds in the treatment of ‘putrid cancers’.

 The Great Herbal of John Gerard, published in London in 1633 discusses at length the medicinal properties amygdalus, the almond, and states, “Bitter almonds doe make thinne and open, they remove stoppings out of the liver and spleene, therefore they be good against paine in the sides…” This is one of the earliest references to the analgesic properties of amygdalin, well documented in cancer patients in recent times. (Halstead p9)

 The great Flemish herbal of the same period as Gerard, compiled by R. Dodoens, recommends the use of bitter almonds for ‘rotting tumors’. (Rosenberg )

In 1845 the Persian Gazette Medicale published an article by the Russian physician, Dr T.Inosemtoff, Professor of the Imperial University of Moscow, who claimed to have successfully halted the further development of two cases of metastasized cancers using amygdalin. (Rosenberg)