Silver has a long anecdotal history of making stored drinking water safe and keeping it “fresh”.
The King of Persia (- 550 BC), insisted his water be stored in silver vessels. Alexander the Great used silver urns to store drinking water for his troops. Hippocrates (- 400 BC) used silver to dress wounds. The Romans stored water and wine in silver vessels. Silverware and silver jewelry was placed in ships’ drinking water containers.
In frontier America, pioneers, in wagon trains, and in the Australian outback, settlers suspended silverware in drinking water tanks; placed silver coins in drinking water casks and dropped silver dollars in milk buckets.
During the early 1800s and the American Civil War and the First World War, surgeons used silver sutures to close wounds. It was common practice to place silver-foil dressings over wounds. Doctors used silver nitrate to treat skin ulcers, compound fractures and suppurating wounds. Very dilute silver nitrate solutions were applied to the eyes of newborns to prevent eye infections. During the 1920s, over 3 million prescriptions were written annually for medicinal silver. Silver dressings were used extensively until after World War II. Silver dressings were listed Physician’s Desk Reference until 1955.
