Throughout human history there has existed the myth of the ultimate panacea, a 'cure-all' medicine, sometimes called the elixir of life. The word 'panacea' is derived from the name of the Greek goddess of healing, Panakeia. In ancient Greek, pan means 'all' and akeia means 'remedy'.
Western mythology has the philosopher's stone, which Christian tradition says was taken out of the Garden of Eden by Eve. It has the power to turn base metals into gold and to bestow immortality and was sought by alchemists throughout the Middle Ages as the ultimate panacea.
China has its own version of the myth. It is said that Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unify China, sent a contingent of several hundred young men and women in search of the fabled Mount Penglai to find a 1,000-year-old magician living there who knew the secret of the elixir of life. The search was in vain and, fearing death for their failure to find the elixir of life, the men and women never returned and were thought to have colonised Japan. Ironically, the emperor died from mercury poisoning. For some strange reason, people from antiquity to the Renaissance had a morbid fascination with mercury and consistently failed to recognise its fatal characteristics. Maybe it was because they all went mad and died before they could record their findings.
It is theoretically possible for science to overcome our failing bodies and the inevitability of death. It has already prolonged life, with life expectancy rising year after year despite our polluted planet's ills. But I find it difficult to imagine we will ever find out what makes life tick, what makes an inanimate substance come to life, what gives it a soul, so to speak.
The closest thing medicine has to a panacea is water. Fluid therapy is useful in many diseases and conditions. My lecturer in anaesthesiology said: 'If in doubt, fluids are always the correct choice.' Water is essential for life to exist, it is the medium in which our cells live, it is what our cells are primarily made of, it is the substance that surrounds our DNA, intracellular proteins and enzymes, and it is essential for many of the chemical reactions that occur in our cells.
The traditional medical practices of many cultures often use substances that resemble an organ to stimulate that organ and help fix its ills. For example, in Chinese medicine it is thought the humble walnut has medicinal properties that aid the brain. Because the contours of the walnut have a remarkable resemblance to the cerebral contours of the brain, traditional practitioners linked the two.