Time to go the A Moment of Science mailbag. Alistener writes:

接下来是《科学一刻》听众来信时间。我们的一位听众写道：

Dear A Moment of Science,I've heard that pork canbe used to stop a nosebleed.

亲爱的《科学一刻》栏目，我听说猪肉能被用来治流鼻血。

Is this true, or just a myth?

这是真的吗，还是虚构出来的?

Well, there are lots of anecdotal stories about doctors in the 17-and 1800s stuffingpatients'noses with salt pork to stop nosebleeds.

呃，现在流传着许多这样的奇闻趣事，说的是18，19世纪的医生将腌猪肉塞进病人的鼻子里治疗流鼻血。

But the practice fell out of favor at some point because the meat wasn't always the freshest,and often swarmed with bacteria and other dangerous parasites.

但是在某些时候，这一疗法并不流行。因为猪肉并不总是最新鲜的，经常有细菌以及其他有害的寄生虫。

But recently, doctors at the Detroit Medical Center used this old folk method to treat a youngchild who suffered from frequent and prolonged bloody noses.

但是在近期，底特律医疗中心的医生们就用这一偏方来治疗一名小孩子。这个孩子频繁地流鼻血且持续时间很长，她深受其苦。

Using so called nasal tampons made of raw, salt pork, which they packed into her nose, the docswere able to stop the bleeding withintwenty-four hours.

医生将由生的腌猪肉做成的，所谓的鼻子止血棉，塞进她的鼻子。在24小时之内，医生们成功的止住了这个孩子的鼻血。

Now, to be sure, trying this admittedly weird sounding method on a single patient hardlyconstitutes an in depth study.

说老实话，只在一名病人身上尝试这个听起来确实古怪的老偏方，几乎难以构成一项有深度的医学研究。

But the pork treatment seems to have worked in this case.Why?

但是在这个案例中，猪肉疗法看起来起作用了。这是为什么呢?

It could be that raw salt pork has certain qualities that help stop the bleeding.

可能的原因是，生的腌猪肉具有某种特性，有助于止血。

Or maybe thecombination of cold and salt narrow the blood vessels while the fat kick-startsclotting.

或者可能是，在脂肪快速凝固的同时，低温和盐的共同作用使血管收缩。

In any case, it's an interesting example of how some old folk cures might have some basisinscience.

不管怎样，这都是一个有趣的例子，关于一些老偏方如何具有科学依据。