Silver and Viruses

@Eladar
Copper is more effective as a virus killer.

@deepthought said
Basically that reason is that bronze and iron corrode. Silver tarnishes in a way that's easy to clean. It's not to do with disease.

I'm pretty sure that silver goblets were used by the Romans thanks to
their anti-bacterial (and anti-viral?) properties. A while back I read something
about siver particles being tested as a drinking water treatment.

Alternative drinking vessels would have been wood, earthenware, horn or skin.

@deepthought said
Which leads me on to the second problem. Medieval Kings were not going to have much concern about the antibacterial properties of silver prior to the germ theory of disease or discovery of microorganisms.

Although they didn't know why I believe they were aware that silver
had some benefits - just from experience. In a similar way honey and a
wide range of anti-bacterial, anti-viral plants were used to treat wounds.
A lot of "old-wives tales" are based on fact.

@wolfgang59 said
Although they didn't know why I believe they were aware that silver
had some benefits - just from experience. In a similar way honey and a
wide range of anti-bacterial, anti-viral plants were used to treat wounds.
A lot of "old-wives tales" are based on fact.

The oligodynamic effects of heavy metals are well-known. They have been for quite some time.

Simply stated, the trick is in finding a cost-effective yet efficacious method of delivery.

@sonhouse said
@Eladar
Copper is more effective as a virus killer.

I think we're missing the point here.
Viruses aren't alive.
They're just dead lumps of protien.
I suppose some things will protect a living cell from being infected though

@venda said
I think we're missing the point here.
Viruses aren't alive.
They're just dead lumps of protien.
I suppose some things will protect a living cell from being infected though

They have quite a complex structure that can be destroyed.

@wolfgang59 said
I'm pretty sure that silver goblets were used by the Romans thanks to
their anti-bacterial (and anti-viral?) properties. A while back I read something
about siver particles being tested as a drinking water treatment.

Alternative drinking vessels would have been wood, earthenware, horn or skin.

The miasma theory blocks that. Because they have a theory that disease is caused by bad air they don't examine, or even outright deny, the empirical evidence. The Romans used lead goblets because it made the wine taste better. Given they didn't work out that that led to lead poisoning it seems implausible to me that they'd worked out that silver had more benefits than just bling effect.

@wolfe63 said
The oligodynamic effects of heavy metals are well-known. They have been for quite some time.

Simply stated, the trick is in finding a cost-effective yet efficacious method of delivery.

Bear in mind that there's a difference in treating a disease one already has and protecting against a disease one doesn't yet have. So I'm not denying that silver coins were placed on wounds to prevent sepsis - wolfgang's "they know it works, but they don't know why it works" argument works here. But they wouldn't use it to prevent disease that wasn't already present, because their theory of disease transmission is up the spout.

@sonhouse said
@Eladar
Copper is more effective as a virus killer.

Great, get you copper mask.

@venda said
I think we're missing the point here.
Viruses aren't alive.
They're just dead lumps of protien.
I suppose some things will protect a living cell from being infected though

The silver can mess the virus up so it cannot replicate. Once that has happened, the virus is no threat.

I would imagine it could be messed up in such a way that it can't attach to cells as well.

@Eladar
Why are you obsessing on silver when copper has been shown to be faster and even works if it gets its patina?

We should have all of our doorknobs and such made of copper or silver but you can guess which one is going to be cheaper.

@sonhouse said
@Eladar
Why are you obsessing on silver when copper has been shown to be faster and even works if it gets its patina?

We should have all of our doorknobs and such made of copper or silver but you can guess which one is going to be cheaper.

Why do you think I am obsessing?

What is the title of the thread?

Why are you obsessing about a tangent topic?

@Eladar
Because silver is inferior to copper as a virus buster.
So you use silver and I'll use copper and save a LOT of money.

I think it quite plausible that people in antiquity noticed that those who
drank from silver vessels fared better when there was a disease doing the
rounds. This is what a World Health Organisation (WHO) paper says;
Silver has been known to have antibacterial properties since Roman times.

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/silver-02032018.pdf

This is an interesting article

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443992/