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The medical use of earths and minerals is probably as old as the history of mankind. Particular types of clays and earths are still being used worldwide as therapeutic agents in the folk medicine of different countries. From the 19th century, the medicaments included in countries' pharmacopeias whose exact pharmacological activity or the chemistry of their active components was not known gradually decreased in number, despite their popularity among patients. With today's analytical armamentarium it may be time to reconsider returning some of those compounds to pharmacopeias. By using modern techniques in the past two decades, researchers have studied the active components of healing clays and their pharmacological properties. Many of them possess valuable therapeutic properties which could be used in modern medicine in pharmaceutical dosage forms. Our knowledge about the medical substances that our ancestors used through centuries could be used today as an evidence base for further clinical and pharmacological research. One of these substances is Armenian bole. In this work we studied the historical perspective of its therapeutic use in different countries. Also a sample sold in the market in Iran was purchased and X-ray diffraction analysis was performed on it to find out its chemical composition.

Medical sciences including pharmacy flourished in Persia throughout medieval times. The oldest pharmacopeias which discussed pharmaceutical formulations were created by them, called Qarabadin. Among various dosage forms which were described, Jawarish was a gastrointestinal dosage form which was made from different ingredients for different purposes such as stomach tonic, digestive, carminative, laxative, astringent, visceral analgesic, antihaemorrhoid, antiemetic, emetic, antireflux and anticolic. This paper, introduces their preparation, general considerations and five common examples of Jawarish.