Medical Uses of the Moon Metal Silver

Silver, one of humankind's first weapons against bacteria, is receiving new respect for its antiseptic powers, thanks to the growing ability of researchers to tinker with its molecular structure.

Doctors used silver to fight infections at least as far back as the days of ancient Greece and Egypt. Their knowledge was absorbed by Rome, where historians such as Pliny the Elder reported that silver plasters caused wounds to close rapidly.

In 1884, a German doctor named C.S.F. Crede demonstrated that a few drops of silver nitrate into the eyes of babies born to women with venereal disease virtually eliminated the risk of blindness among such infants.

But silver's time-tested if poorly understood versatility as a disinfectant was overshadowed in the latter half of the 20th century by the rise of antibiotics. Full Story

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