Panacea (medicine)

The panacea /pænəˈsiːə/, named after the Greek goddess of universal remedy Panakeia, Panacea, also known as panchrest, was supposed to be a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. It was sought by the alchemists as a connection to the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, a mythical substance which would enable the transmutation of common metals into gold.

The Cahuilla Indian people of the Colorado Desert region of California, according to legend, used the red sap of the elephant tree (or Bursera microphylla) as a panacea medicine.

A panacea (or panaceum) is also a literary term to represent any solution to solve all problems related to a particular issue. The term panacea is also used in a negative way to describe the over use of any one solution to solve many different problems especially in medicine.

The Latin genus name of ginseng is Panax, (or "panacea") reflecting Linnean understanding that ginseng was widely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a cure-all.

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