Ringworm, many websites say, is a fungal disease. Fungus, I imagine, must be a miniatured form of mushrooms. But mushrooms are commonly found on inanimate things like decaying trees, not on animals. I had ringworm on my right foot. And biologically I am a member of the species, homo sapiens, which is an animal species.
I was looking for a cure for this skin disease. I found some home remedies, among which I liked this one: apply the paste of Neem (Azadirachta indica, scientific name) or Babul to the affected area. There are a lot of Neem trees in our street. Neem, I guess from its scientific name, must have originated in India. And it must have originated a long time ago, tens of thousands of years, may be, I don't know exactly.
I got out to get some Neem leaves. There was a tree just in front of the house, but its branches were chopped a week before in the fear that in rain it would fall on another house nearby. I moved a few steps towards the temple where there were three or four more trees. I plucked a few leaves and came back. I was thinking, who planted those trees? May be someone knew that it can cure diseases like mine and planted them. May be.
How this Neem paste is going to cure my disease? The paste must have, among other things, some chemical compounds in it which may be lethal to the disease-causing fungus. And why should the Neem tree store these chemical compounds in its leaves? Because it also wants to defend itself against fungi; similar to the fungus on my skin or other. We two face similar threats.
But this simple tree has the means to fight a dangerous microbe, and a member of the most advanced species on the earth, I, do not. Why is it so? May be because I can go to that tree and pluck some leaves, whenever I want, without asking permission or even a "thank you".
Allopathic medicines for the disease may be containing these or other chemical compounds to kill the fungus. Such medicines are prepared after a lot of research and testing, I have heard.
When did the tree do research and testing? This happened over tens of thousands of years before this tree was born. This tree received the results of that process when it was still attached to its mother/father, when it was a seed. Now this tree whispers to the trees of its kind yet to be born, attached to it, among many other things, that: "this particular chemical compound is effective against this particular fungus".
And a human like me will come again to the next tree seeking relief, and pluck its leaves. That is a continuity.
May be. I don't know.
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