Ok...recently one of my old Spanish cousins told me her father made a fortune in the late 1800's by raising goats on the island of Curacao and selling the goat dung for "medicinal purposes." I have never heard of that before! I know manure can be used for fuel or fertilizer, but drugs? Can anyone with knowledge of this island's history (or history of medicine) shed some light on this and explain how livestock manure could be used for medicine? My family is totally stumped and we've been Googling for days! Thanks!
2007-04-08 06:32:11 · 2 answers · asked by Veritas 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
I don't know about Curacao, but cow urine and goat and elephant dung are common ingredients in traditional Indian medicine, as an example. I don't know *how* these things are supposed to be medicinal, but it was a common practice in olden days to try to use stuff which might possibly help, or at least *might* not hurt as medicine, because the doctors had no idea how to cure stuff! For example, leeches? How is that supposed to help? But they believed it.
2007-04-08 07:13:56 · answer #1 · answered by Halcyon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
LOL...I'm from Curaçao and I currently reside here and I've never heard of that in my life. Farmers who have animals usually do sell the dung to other farmers who don't have any animals but they mix that up in the ground so that the ground can become more fertile. Either that is what your cousin heard the story wrong or she's a really good story teller....
2007-04-08 22:31:05 · answer #2 · answered by samantha_pikero 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋