Chinese Traditional Medicine

I found this information earlier today . I wanted to post it here so you could learn more about it. 

ANIMAL PARTS AND CHINESE MEDICINE

Dried flying lizards  Chinese medicine shops often sell things like dried starfish, bear paws, dried snakes, starfish flakes, dried scorpions, horse gallstones, rats fetuses picked in oil, turtle shells, powdered snakes, powdered horns, fuzzy elk antlers, frogs, birds' beaks, snakeskins, umbilical cords from donkeys and herring spawn wrapped in kelp—or medicines that contain these things as one of their ingredients. Medicines made from animals often purport to have properties which are associated with the animal.

Elephant skin is taken for acne; monkey heads are eaten for headaches and turtle heads are consumed for labor pains. Snakes are supposed to make one stronger. Snake glands are good for the eyes. Powdered snake gall bladder is reputed to be a cure for bronchitis.

Coin snakes are one of the more popular remedies. Held together with sticks, they are sold coiled up with the head popping out of the middle and fact look like black quarters. They are boiled into a thick black liquid that is sipped like tea.

 Chinese believe that eating turtles is supposed to make one live longer. Turtles have long been associated with longevity. Tons of turtles from five different species are shipped from Malaysia and Vietnam to China. Turtle blood is available at Wall-Marts in China.

 Lizards are taken for high blood pressure and the skulls of gazelles are ground into powder to make people strong. Bull gallstones are highly valued and very expensive. They are yellowish and about the size of nickels and are used to treat fevers and inflammation.

 Insects used Chinese medicine include pulverized weaver ants for asthma, powered cockroaches for stroke and silkworm feces for typhus. Dried cicadas are boiled in a soup to improve eyesight. Bee venom, honey and other bee products have been used for centuries by as folk remedies in China. Black scorpions sell for $12 a pound.

This is just some of the uses of animals in Traditional Chinese Medicine. There more that I am posting into parts ..