Medicine isn't always pretty, but it could be

Many ancient and traditional medicinal recipes call for animal parts, but modern medicine has its share of animal ingredients, too, and I ain’t just talking about how grandma told you chicken soup would cure your cold.

From bear gallbladders to tiger testicles, bird beaks to fish bladders and deer eyes to alligator skin, animal body parts in traditional medicines are believed to cure everything from acne to cancer, malaria to erectile dysfunction and phlegmy lungs to organ failure.

I know, it’s easy for us here in the cheap plastic seats of the 21st century to roll our eyes and say, �...