來自這個古老的愛爾蘭教堂的泥土確實有治愈的功效

來自這個古老的愛爾蘭教堂的泥土確實有治愈的功效

When residents of Northern Ireland's County Fermanagh have a health issue, particularly an infection, they turn to the church.

當北愛爾蘭弗馬納郡的居民出現(xiàn)健康問題，尤其是感染時，他們會求助于教堂。

And the church gives them dirt. But the Sacred Heart Church in the town of Boho doesn't dole out just any dirt. The soil taken from its churchyard has long been known for its restorative properties — an uncanny ability to fight infection.

教堂給他們泥土。但是波西米亞小鎮(zhèn)上的圣心教堂并不僅僅施舍泥土。長期以來，從教堂墓地里挖出來的泥土以其修復(fù)功能而聞名——一種不可思議的抗感染能力。

This is the graveyard at Sacred Heart Church overlooking the Boho countryside. According to local belief, the soil from the church can cure infections. (Photo: Youngbohemian [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)

As the BBC reports, a person only has to wrap the soil in cloth and place it under the pillow. A prayer or two doesn't hurt. And by morning, that infection is in full retreat.

據(jù)英國廣播公司報道，人們只需要用布把泥土包裹起來，然后放在枕頭下。祈禱一兩句也無妨。到了早上，感染就完全消退了。

Just remember: The church, like a library, asks that its miracle soil be returned.

只要記住:教會就像圖書館一樣，要求歸還它那神奇的泥土。

But is it really a miracle? Or is the soil steeped in the mysticism of the druids who occupied the land before the church was built?

但這真的是一個奇跡嗎?還是土壤浸透了德魯伊教的神秘主義，他們在教堂建造之前就占領(lǐng)了這片土地?

Or is there a perfectly good scientific explanation for that potent Irish soil?

或者對于愛爾蘭的土地有一個完美的科學(xué)解釋嗎?

Back in 2018, microbiologist Gerry Smith and other researchers from Swansea University Medical School suspected the latter. And sure enough, after a thorough lab analysis, they identified not so much the hand of God at work, but rather the hand of sod.

早在2018年，斯旺西大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院的微生物學(xué)家格里·史密斯和其他研究人員就懷疑是后者。毫無疑問，經(jīng)過徹底的實驗室分析，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)的與其說是上帝之手，還不如說是超氧化物歧化酶之手。

Streptomyces are true bacteria and are the source of two-thirds of the various frontline antibiotics used in medicine. What you see here is growth of Streptomyces sp. myrophorea. (Photo: G Quinn/Swansea University)

They found the ground surrounding the church teeming with a new strain of bacterium — a powerful inhibitor of infection belonging to the family Streptomycetaceae.

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)教堂周圍的地面充滿了一種新的細菌——一種屬于鏈霉菌科的強大的感染抑制劑。

That's the same bacteria strain used to produce antibiotics. Indeed, in test results published in Frontiers in Microbiology, the church's "healing soil" managed to kill several disease-causing organisms, including some that antibiotics couldn't control.

這是用來生產(chǎn)抗生素的同一種細菌。事實上，在發(fā)表在《微生物學(xué)前沿》雜志上的測試結(jié)果中，教會的“愈合土壤”成功殺死了幾種致病微生物，其中包括一些抗生素?zé)o法控制的微生物。

As the BBC notes, it was effective against pathogens identified by the World Health Organization as major threats to human health.

正如英國廣播公司(BBC)所指出的，它對世界衛(wèi)生組織認定的威脅人類健康的主要病原體是有效的。

"When we brought the soil back to the laboratory we found a new species of streptomyces that had never been discovered before and it contained many antibiotics and some of these antibiotics actually killed some multi-resistant pathogens," Smith told the news organization. "Originally I was surprised as it was a folk remedy and there seemed to be a lot of superstition around it, but in the back of my head I realized that there's always something behind these traditions or they wouldn't be going on so long."

“當我們把土壤帶回實驗室時，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種新的鏈球菌，這是以前從未發(fā)現(xiàn)過的，它含有許多抗生素，其中一些抗生素實際上殺死了一些具有多重耐藥性的病原體，”史密斯告訴該新聞機構(gòu)。“起初我很驚訝，因為這是一種民間療法，似乎有很多迷信圍繞著它，但在我的腦海里，我意識到這些傳統(tǒng)背后總有一些東西，否則它們不會持續(xù)這么久。”

In fact, it's likely the churchyard soil has been clearing up potentially deadly infections — and saving lives — since the time of the druids. After all, centuries before the advent of antibiotics, simple infections killed countless people.

事實上，從德魯伊?xí)r代開始，教堂墓地的土壤就一直在清除潛在的致命感染，并拯救生命。畢竟，在抗生素出現(xiàn)之前的幾個世紀，簡單的感染就奪去了無數(shù)人的生命。

And with more and more people becoming resistant to antibiotics, superbugs are taking an increasingly deadly toll.

隨著越來越多的人開始對抗生素產(chǎn)生抗藥性，超級細菌正造成越來越多的死亡。

Which is why scientists are heeding the wisdom of the saints. Or druids. Or farmers. And looking more closely at the Earth as a source of healing.

這就是為什么科學(xué)家們注意圣人的智慧?；虻卖斠痢；蛘咿r(nóng)民。更近距離地觀察地球，將其視為療愈之源。

"Our results show that folklore and traditional medicines are worth investigating in the search for new antibiotics," notes molecular biologist and study-co-author Paul Dyson in a press release.

“我們的研究結(jié)果表明，在尋找新的抗生素的過程中，民間傳說和傳統(tǒng)藥物值得研究，”分子生物學(xué)家、該研究的合著者保羅·戴森在一份新聞稿中寫道。

"Scientists, historians and archaeologists can all have something to contribute to this task."

“科學(xué)家、歷史學(xué)家和考古學(xué)家都可以為這項任務(wù)做出貢獻。”