History of clays

• BC.

In ancient Egypt, the use of clays was already a custom. Due to its purifying, absorbent and sanitizing properties, the Egyptians used it for mummification bodies. The famous “Nile mud” was a material widely used during this practice. Before the Egyptians, it seems that the first known mummies were the “chinchorros” from Chile. Around 7,000 years before Christ, Chilean mummification consisted of eviscerating the body of the deceased and emptying their skull before coating their bones with clay. This reconstruction of the initial morphology is one of the first traces of clay in History!

From this time, clay was also present in the pharmacopoeia as evidenced by the papyri retracing the stories of humanity and oh-so-natural remedies! Burns, wounds, stomach aches, diarrhea, clay, among many other remedies, has found its place in relieving many ailments.

In the time of Greek and Roman Antiquity, Hippocrates the Great (460 to 370 BC), father of medicine, mentions the use of land of Lemnos, an island located in the east of Greece in the heart of the Aegean Sea. This particular land turned out to be composed of clay... And its conquest of notoriety was far from over...

• A.D.

In the 1st century AD, our famous clay was mentioned again as the land of Lemnos, by Pliny the Elder (23 to 79 AD), a Roman naturalist and writer, in his famous “Natural History” encyclopedia. Then after numerous appearances in treatises on medicine and pharmacology, between the 10th and the 13th century, these are great German naturopaths who participated, much later, in a real clay renaissance for medicinal purposes! In the 19th century, Sébastien Kneipp (1821 to 1897) a German priest became known thanks to his natural therapies. Among them, we find poultices made from clay and vinegar... Nowadays, the Kneipp method, focused on 5 main pillars which are hydrotherapy, herbal medicine, physical activity, a healthy diet and the recovery of 'a balance, is widely used in well-being and health establishments. Other German naturopaths such as Louis Kuhne (1835 to 1901) or even Pastor Emanuel Felke (1856 to 1926), have perpetuated, over the years, the use of natural remedies such as clays. Moreover, another German, (they are definitely ahead of us on this level…) Julius Strumpf, a Berlin doctor, successfully used white clay to treat a form of Asian cholera.

So many uses carried out throughout time testifying to an undeniable effectiveness...

Closer to us, during the wars of the previous century, various and varied uses followed... To fight against another infectious disease affecting the digestive system such as dysentery or to help our animal friends treat their wounds: mud baths they know and they practice instinctively! Clay has definitely had, has and will have many uses in humans but also in animals... And how can we talk about clay without talking about Raymond Dextreit (1908 to 2001), a pioneer naturopath of the last century in use and promotion of clay through numerous works published in the 1950s? His general commitment to various health themes even earned him the honor of being awarded the Peace Prize in 1989 for natural medicines by the Diplomatic Academy of Peace in Brussels. According to him, “All the possibilities for healing, prevention, and maintaining health are found in nature.” and the Company agree that Nature is full of treasures…

And finally, did you know that Gandhi (1869 to 1948), the great spiritual guide of India, was a supporter and keen on so-called natural medicines? And among them clay had its place!

• Nowadays

Today, after years put aside, the clays resurface ! This is the case for countries like France practicing so-called modern medicine because for other countries the use of clay has never disappeared... Indeed, in Madagascar for example, (yes it is an example which is dear to us) traditional medicine is still practiced and the Malagasy markets contain remedies that can be described as “local”. In other countries such as Morocco, it is the Rhassoul, a clay mainly used for beauty treatments, which is an integral part of the culture. More widely, it is traditionally used in North Africa during the hammam ritual.

If we focus on current so-called modern medicine, in France clay has soberly made its place. And yes, the famous Smecta® for example is none other than a medicine composed of a kind of clay: diosmectite. Also, a very recent way of using clay has (re)emerged. This is mud therapy, in other words mud treatment.

Definitely, clay has it under its belt and deserves to be known...