[TheForge] question for Bruce F. the Chemist

[robert hensarling]

Guys, ya know, Iron can be purchased in the form of pills.  Probably made 
with some sort of quality control or something.   I like the idea of 
drinking nails though :o)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Freeman" <freemab222 at yahoo.com>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2007 9:08 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] question for Bruce F. the Chemist


> Albin,
>
> Albin,
>
> I don't know to what extent the heat of the metal
> would have an effect, but I'd be surprized if a slack
> tub didn't contain considerable iron, in perhaps both
> the ferrous (2+) and the ferric (3+) states.
>
> Whether this would have a tonic effect, I don't know.
> Anemia can be treated with iron, but that's by
> ingestion, and I don't suggest anyone drink slack tub
> water.  This is especially true today, when cadmium
> and lead could well be present in this water.  (In the
> old days, copper, zinc, or lead might be present in a
> blacksmith shop, but probably not in great
> quantities.)
>
> Furthermore, I'm a subscriber of what might be urban
> legend that we should NOT include supplemental iron in
> our diets.  Rumor has it iron's the responsible entity
> for causing cholesterol to form arterial plaque.
>
> Now, it MIGHT be that the water in a slack tub was
> beneficial when topically applied specifically because
> it was mildly toxic.  If it kills disease organisms or
> parasites faster than it kills the patient, then it
> cures the patient!
>
> "Honey, Mud, and Maggots" is a fascinating book about
> old-time treatments.  Honey is excellent for open
> wounds.  Maggots (of the correct species only) are
> wondrous for cleaning out dead or gangrenous tissue
> from a wound.  I don't recall the benefits of mud.  In
> wartime, wounds were bound and allowed to drain, and
> though they smelled to high heaven, the wounded often
> recovered fully due to the power of the white
> corpuscles in the oozing pus.  Even the notorious
> bleeding procedure was apperently efficacious in 70%
> of the cases - though this would not be true today
> because the diseases for which it was efficacious no
> longer commonly afflict mankind.
>
> Accordingly, I consider the question of the efficacy
> of an iron tonic water to be outside the realm of my
> expertise.
>
> Bruce
>
> --- Albin Drzewianowski <dski1045 at qis.net> wrote:
>
>> Bruce,
>>
>> I was demonstrating in the Historic Forge at the
>> local Farm Musuem today.
>>
>> Towards the end of the day, as my arm starts giving
>> out, I look for any
>> excuse to talk instead of hammering.  So when
>> someone asked about the slack
>> tub, I gave them the story about how in the "old
>> days" people would come and
>> buy water from the slack tub for medicinal purposes.
>>  I thought that was
>> just a scam by blacksmiths to make a little money on
>> the side.  But one of
>> the guests asked whether the water in the tub would
>> pick up an iron from
>> having all the hot steel quenched or cooled in the
>> slack tub.  Also, small
>> pieces of hot steel that have been cut off are often
>> just tossed into the
>> slack tub.
>>
>> So the question is:   would quenching  or cooling
>> hot steel  or the presence
>> of small pieces of steel in the bottom of the slack
>> tub increase the iron
>> content of the water such that it would have some
>> medical benefit as some
>> kind of tonic???   Today, we have extra iron as a
>> supplement in lots of
>> things that we eat, but back in the "old days" they
>> did not.
>>
>> Inquiring minds want to know.
>> Albin
>> Westminster, MD
>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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