Colloidal "Silver Bullet"
The metephor "silver bullet" is used to describe an effective solution to a prevailing problem and the expectation to cure it.
Why silver? Why not "lead" or "steel"?
Being Silver alludes to the perceived notion that the noble metal has curative or healing properties. This idea has pervaded through the ages. From early times the use of silver as a healer and anti-bacterial agent has been well understood. In the days of the Greek and Roman Empires,for instance, silver was used to keep water fresh by storing it in silver urns. It is recorded that Herodotus wrote of the usage of silver as far back as the 5th century BC. Through the centuries there have been many examples of the use of silver for keeping bacteria at bay and thereby preventing disease. During the great plagues that swept Europe it was thought that the wealthy were protected from the worst ravagesof the disease by their use of silver plates, silver goblets and eating utensils. Wounds of soldiers, injured in battle during the first world war, were treated with the application of silver leaf. Silver sutures were successfully used by doctors in surgery.
So the term "silver bullet" has some historical connotations.
As meshed food storage cabinets were displaced by the introduction of the refrigerator so the traditional usage of silver for fighting bacteria was replaced with the discovery of penicillin. Common knowledge of the antibacterial properties of silver, accrued over centuries was largely forgotten. Over time other antibiotics became available, widening the spectrum of treatable diseases.
Due to their misuse and oversubscription, however, their effectiveness has become increasingly reduced and with the coming of the so called superbug, great concern is being expressed as to what will replace them.
What is urgently required in today's world is a silver bullet capable of targeting and destroying these life threatening bugs that have become, in some cases, immune to synthetic antibiotics.
Could it be that the "noble metal" silver is the solution?
In the late 70's, whilst researching the regeneration of limbs, organs and spinal cords, Robert O. Becker, orthopedic surgeon, medical research doctor and author of "The Body Electric", discovered that silver ions promoted the bone growth and killed the surrounding bacteria.
In the highly respected publication Science Digest an article appeared in March 1978, headed "Our Mightiest Germ Fighter". It went on to declare "Thanks to eye-opening research, silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine. An antibiotic kills perhaps a half-dozen different disease organisms, but silver kills some 650. Resistant strains fail to develop. Moreover, silver is virtually non-toxic." Biochemist and pioneering silver researcher, Dr. Harry Margraf concluded by adding "silver is the best all-around germ fighter we have."
Colloidal silver, minute charged particles of pure silver suspended in water, can now be economically produced and is readily available. It is prehaps the natural alternative to prescribed antibiotics and is reported to be capable of healing many different ailments.
Prehaps the silver bullet healer indeed.
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