galantamine is the best agent for restoring memory and cognitive function Why galantamine is the best available agent for restoring memory and cognitive function when age begins to take its tollGalantamine is an alkaloid found in certain flowers, notably the common snowdrop, the daffodil, and the spider lily. Most of the galantamine used commercially today is extracted from daffodils or is synthesized in the laboratory. Galantamine's history as an herbal supplement dates back to the time of Homer, when it was used to restore memory - and that is its primary use to this day. In the United States, galantamine can be obtained without prescription as a nutritional supplement. The modern rediscovery of galantamine about 50 years ago in Bulgaria led eventually to a startling hypothesis regarding the Odyssey, Homer's epic celebration of heroic memory. Our current knowledge of pharmacology and ethnobotany suggests that the medicinal plant that Hermes, the messenger of the gods, gave to King Odysseus of Ithaca to enable him to rescue his crew of sailors from the seductive spell cast upon them by the beautiful sorceress Circe was probably the snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), which contains galantamine! Circe's spell, in Homer's description of it, bore the earmarks of amnesia and hallucinatory delusions such as those caused by atropine, which is found in jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), a plant also known to the ancient Greeks.
