Historical Wound Healing with Frankincense and Myrrh

Dear Readers,

The Christmas season is rapidly approaching. The hustle and bustle of shopping for just the right gift for that special person or persons in our lives takes precedence over most other things. This brings to mind the first Christmas gifts the Magi brought to the baby Jesus as recorded in Matthew 2:11,“On coming to the house, they saw the Child with his mother, Mary, they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, and incense (frankincense), and of myrrh.” What does this have to do with wound care? More than you would imagine.
Frankincense and myrrh are resins from bushy trees, which only grow in the Horn of Africa and the South Arabian coast.These resins were shipped as far as India and carried overland as far as Rome. They were more valuable than gold because of their scarcity and the need for them to be imported. Frankincense would give off a fragrant scent when warmed and was prized for embalming the bodies of Egyptian royalty. Its role in wound care was to counter the foul smell of many wounds. Myrrh had some sweet scent, but was prized more for its ability to heal wounds. The use of myrrh as a wound salve is mentioned in the Smith and Embers papyri from Egyptian writings of 2500 BC. In 1370 BC, Pharoah Amenophis IV, husband of Nefertiti, received a request from Milkili, one of his military lieutenants serving in Palestine saying, “And let the King, my Lord, send troops to his servants, and let the King, my Lord, send myrrh for medicine.”¹ It was said that he refused to fight until the physicians with his troops had enough supply of myrrh to treat all the wounds that would be suffered in the battle. In the first century AD, Celsus recommended a lotion of wine and myrrh for treatment of burns.²
How was myrrh used to treat wounds? It was dissolved in water and placed on the wound or mixed with flour, honey, beef fat, butter, and fibers from plants then applied to the wound.After the discovery of bacteria it was found that myrrh was an effective antibacterial agent killing Staphylococcus aureus and other gram-positive organisms. It is less effective against gramnegative organisms. Its effectiveness against bacteria is still as useful today as it was centuries ago. In the embalming of royal Egyptian bodies, the antibacterial effect of the myrrh helped prevent deterioration of the body. Obviously, it was effective since we have many of those bodies still existing today.
Many old treatments may be of use to us today.We have already discussed the use of honey and its current effectiveness on the treatment of wounds. Maybe we shall have a myrrh-based wound care product in the future. If you get a Christmas present for which you see no particular use, you might want to hang on to it. You never know how important it could be to you.