CHARACTERIZATION OF CLAYS USED FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES IN THEARCHIPELAGO OF CAPE VERDE

Abstract

Samples taken from pieces of two clays being commercialized for medicinal purposes(alleviation of gastrointestinal problems, treatment of abscesses, furuncles and wounds, aswell as of skin ailments, and cosmetic applications) by saleswomen of natural products at thepublic market of the town of Praia, in the island of Santiago, archipelago of Cape Verde,were submitted to several analyses, such as, granulometric analysis, mineralogical analysis,chemical analysis, cation exchange capacity and exchangeable cations, and plasticity, inorder to find out any scientific justification for the applications referred to. One of the studiedclay is composed of dioctahedral illite, and the other clay is composed of dioctahedralsmectite, dioctahedral illite and kaolinite. Other analytical data support the capacities of thestudied clays to be used as healing materials. These clays as other natural healing clays aretraditionally used for internal detoxification (particularly in the gastrointestinal tract), fortrauma injuries, for skin ailments and for cosmetic applications.

Keywords

• clay characterization
• medical use
• cape verde