Folklore

The search for the bisindole derivatives (22) was originally (81) initiated on the basis of folklore. A brew made from Jamacian periwinkle had estabhshed itself in local medicine as a treatment for diabetes and it was this material that was investigated and found to contain the cytotoxic compounds (22), among others. No materials useful in the treatment of diabetes have been reported from this source. 

The words aromatherapy, aromachology, and aromakinetics are coinages of the 1990s. Aromatherapy, once based on a tradition of folklore and herbal medicine, is being investigated scientifically. 

The use of fragrant substances has been continuous, and the use of Hpids or emoUients for anointing is fully documented in historical writings. However, it is probably not justifiable to identify the recipes passed on from antiquity as cosmetics. The compositions based on folklore and mysticism were replaced by more scientifically acceptable products beginning about 1875. The first edition of a handbook of cosmetic chemistry pubHshed in 1920 included a foreword noting that scientific cosmetic chemistry did not exist prior to that pubHcation (1). A few years later, texts on cosmetic chemistry and other formularies became available (2). 

Since ancient times, the light emitted by fireflies and glow-worms has attracted the curiosity of people. Descriptions of the phenomena are frequently found in old poems, songs and folklores of many countries. Old scientific studies of these phenomena are also numerous, particularly after the 17th century. However, the chemical study was not begun until the early 20th century. 

Burgmayer, P. R. Cotton, I. J. Knowles, G. Oxygen Scavenging and Passivation in Steam Generating Systems Fiction, Folklore and Fact. Betz/NACE Annual Conference and Corrosion Show, USA, 1992. 

Vegetables also contain carboxylic acids that contribute to their flavors. One example is oxalic acid, prevalent in spinach and rhubarb. Raw rhubarb leaves are mildly poisonous, and folklore holds that the toxic substance is oxalic acid. However, raw spinach can be eaten safely despite its equally high content of this acid. 

Chlorinated taxodione 8 was also found along with taxodione 1 from the stem of Rosemarinus officinalis, although its biological activity is yet to be studied (Scheme 8.2).21 Maytenoquinone 9, a structural isomer of taxodione 1, has been isolated from the roots of several medicinal plants such as Maytenus dispermus,22 Salvia melissodora,23 and Harpagophytum procumbems (devil s claw)24 used in folklore medicine. 

Hobbs C. Ginseng facts and folklore. Herbs for Health 2 35-38, 1997. 

Gerish, William Blyth. John Kellerman, the "last of the alchemists". Hertfordshire folklore, no. 9. Hertford , 1910. 

Bolton, Henry Carrington. The Porta magica, Rome. Read to the American Folklore Society, New York branch, November 9th, 1894. Boston, New York ... 

Read to the American folklore society, pp. 73-78 from a journal... 

Dennys, N.B. The folklore of China. London Hongkong Trubner China Mail Office, 1876. 156p. 

Bayley, Harold. The lost language of symbolism an inquiry into the origin of certain letters, words, names, fairy-tales, folklore, and mythologies. London Williams Norgate, 1912. 2 vols (375, 388p.)... 

The development of the first effective analgesic drug, opium, was almost certainly adventitious, and occurred in prehistoric times. The use of the dried exudate from slitting the immature capsule of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, as an analgesic, sedative and euphoriant, has a long folkloric history. Isolation of the principal active component morphine (1) as a pure crystalline compound represented one of the early landmarks in organic chemistry. 

The United States and Turkey are the world s largest producers of boron.1 Economically important sources are from the ores rasorite (kernite) and tincal, which are both found in the Mojave Desert of California, with borax being the most important source there. The famous 20-Mule-Team Borax, now a part of chemistry folklore, originates from the time when teams of 20 mules used to haul colemanite from Furnace Creek in Death Valley 166 miles south to Mojave. Elemental boron in its impure form can be obtained by the reduction of the oxide B203 by magnesium, and in the pure form by the reduction of BC13 by hydrogen on hot filaments.1... 

The first case is the most likely to be a problem with new plastic samplers. Although there is little in the literature to substantiate the belief, folklore has it that aging most plastic samplers in seawater markedly reduces the subsequent leaching of plasticisers. The second case is known to be a problem in fact, the effect is used in the various Teflon surface film samplers already mentioned. This problem alone would seem to militate against the use of Teflon for any sampling of organic materials, unless a solvent wash of the sampler in included routinely. With such a solvent wash, we introduce all of the problems of impurities in the reagents. 

Doughnuts are made in many shapes but the ring shape has acquired some folklore. It is said that a ship s captain had them made like this to allow them to be put on the spokes of the ship s wheel. There is a more prosaic explanation. If the product is fried the heat can only travel slowly through the product because it is a poor conductor of heat. The hole in the middle prevents a situation where the outside becomes over cooked before the middle is cooked. 

Chiauzzi, E. J., Liljegren, S. (1993). Taboo topics in addiction treatment An empirical review of clinical folklore. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 10, 303-316. 

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