The world of today is a world of progress, no one doubts about that. We have managed to do in 200 years of continuous industrial revolution, what we couldn’t do in thousands and thousands of tumultuous history. And yet, with all these technological breakdowns and synthetic substances, artificial food, not to mention the reign of King Plastic, some people still find the power and the wisdom to ask themselves how people in the past remained healthy and fit without nutritional supplements, drugs, even antibiotics. Their secret was that that they used what Mother Nature gave them: the plants to cure themselves. Fortunately, this knowledge hasn’t been forgotten; even if they’re not so widely used, plants have found their place in our civilization.
The story begins thousands of years ago, before the recorded history, when man didn’t know how to write or read, but knew how to follow their instincts. They discovered that certain herbs could alleviate their pains, others could make a wound disappear and others could even kill them. In the course of time, societies developed and with them appeared the means to transmit their knowledge other than orally.
5000 years ago, in Ancient China, people used rhubarb (Rheune palmatum) as a purgative without knowing anything about the actual active substances they contained. Also, they used Ephedra to treat asthma, even though the substance called ephedrine was discovered much later, in 1887 AD. All oriental ancient civilizations had their insights into the fascinating world of botany, as plants were one of the few elements to which they could resort to heal themselves. The famous king Hammurabi of Babylon (18th century BC) recommended mint to cure constipation and other digestive disorders. Mesopotamian doctors considered that the best time to take a herbal medicine was at night or early in the morning, a principle which is confirmed nowadays by modern studies. The Indians had an entire system of rules, prescriptions, remedies and practices, called Ayurveda, many of which involved the use of plants. They also had strict rules about when, by whom and from where the plants should be collected
People in Ancient Egypt knew and used the castor-oil plant, wormwood, saffron and oregano to heal and disinfect wounds; they also put coriander in their tombs so that the spirit will remain healthy in his afterlife. There are written records of their use of garlic (especially for the workmen who built the pyramids), indigo, mint and opium. The Greek and Roman civilizations have made a major contribution to the medical science. Although much of their studies stemmed from other cultures (Mesopotamian, Egyptian), they added precious information and, in time, they became more and more concerned about the diseases and cures as natural and realistic processes, rather than spiritual or magical. Physicians like Hippocrates, Dioscoride and others have recorded their discoveries; their works would enlighten the pre-medieval civilizations for many centuries after their death. Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica (1st century AD), which contained a list of hundreds of medicinal plants, along with their description and curative qualities.
The Dark Ages met with a lack of any further recorded herbal studies; the knowledge was probably transmitted from generation to generation – parents taught children, monks, even herbalist taught apprentices. However, there lived a great Persian physician by the name of Avicenna (Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah Ibn Sina) who wrote one of the most famous books in the history of medical science: The Canon, which also contained information about how plants should be used and their properties.
In1527, the Swiss thinker Paracelsus demonstrates that only a small part of the plant has an effect upon the human body (1g per 20 kg of plant), which is what we now call active substance. Later on, scientists have developed methods to isolate these substances.
However, the first complete categorization of all known medicinal plants was printed in a book called Theatrum Botanicum by John Parkinson in 1640 AD. In 1649 Nicholas Culpeper pulished A Physical Directory, which is considered one of the best herbal pharmacopoeia manuals still quoted today.
As chemistry as a science developed, physicians started to use more and more widely synthetic medicines, such as aspirin, which proved to have side effects. Yet all pharmacists and drug producers confirm the fact that, unlike artificially synthesized substances, medicines extracted from plants are more accessible to the metabolism and friendlier with the human body.
The cradle lands of civilization furnish us with written texts illustrating the use of herbs. The Ebers Papyrus, dating from about 1600 BC, lists some 700 drugs, charms and incantations. The majority of these drugs were herbs. Ancient Babylonian tablets of clay list some 230 commonly used preparations. Finally, the Ancient Chinese during the Shang dynasty (around 1700 BC) were writing texts on herbal medicine. The most famous Ancient Chinese text was a distillate of these early works, written as Shen Nung's Herbal in 273 BC.
The Classical Greeks were responsible for removing much of the magic from the practice of medicine. In particular, Hippocrates mentions some 250 useful herbs in his great works (or at least in the writings attributed to the great physician.) This was later extended by Dioscorides, a Greek physician of the first Century AD, who published his De Materia Medica, which contained over 600 medicinal plants. Hippocrates believed that the four elements, earth, air, fire and water, acted upon by some sort of vital force became activated into humors or Vital Fluids once they had been assimilated and absorbed into the body. There were four Vital Fluids - blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. He taught that air absorbed through the lungs would be transformed into blood; water would eventually become phlegm; earth (from the substance of food) would become black bile, and heat or fire would become yellow bile.
Aristotle added to this theory the idea of the elements being linked to the Four Qualities of hot, dry, cold and wet, was conceived as being a mixture of two paired qualities. This postulate allowed for the transformation of one element into another, if the predominance of one quality was altered. For example, Fire, which is Hot and Dry, plus Water which is Cold and Wet, could respectively lose Dryness and Coldness to form Earth, which is Cold and Dry; and Air which is Wet and Hot
The second Century physician, Claudius Galen, further refined this theory by linking the Vital Fluids (or humors) and Qualities with the Temperaments of Man. There were thought to be four basic temperaments - sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric.
The pure Choleric temperament is generally confident, irascible, touchy and proud. Ambition is usually well developed and there may be arrogance. The Phlegmatic, or lymphatic temperament is fussy, a bit obsessional, practical, but hates the limelight. The Sanguine temperament is excitable, impressionable, impulsive and sometimes unreliable. He can sometimes seem frivolous and thoughtless to others. The Melancholic temperament is cautious, serious, industrious and solitary. There is, of course, a tendency to become depressed.
According to these theories, diseases could be worked out as being hot or cold, moist or dry, or any appropriate combination. Balance could be restored, it was said, by utilizing the Doctrine of Contraries. This meant that a predominantly moist disease could be cured by administering a Dry remedy, whereas a Hot Drug would be most effective against a Cold disease. This system of pharmacology became known as Galenism, after Galen, and the drugs came to be known as Galenicals. Indeed, in our expression - as cool as a cucumber - we see a reference to the use of this simple vegetable as a Galenical.
It is a cooling agent, which has been found to have a scientific rationale, since it is rich in salicylates, which are related to aspirin.
This theory became the major model of medicine for the next millennium and a half, only being disputed as the Renaissance brought the scientific approach to western thinking. However, although herbalism went out of fashion it was never suppressed. As orthodox medicine developed in Europe emigrants to America carried herbal practice with them as they settled the great frontier. Our next significant character was one Samuel Thomson (1769-1843), a self-educated farm boy who learned his herbalism from a local wise woman.
Thomson was wise enough to put his method down on paper in a book which was to become an incredible success. It was decidedly based upon the old humoral theories and the temperaments of herbs and plants. It rapidly spread westwards by a companion to the Bible in the covered wagon trains carrying settlers across the great continent. Unfortunately, physiomedicalism, as the Thomson method became known, met considerable resistance from the rapidly developing American Medical Association towards the end of the nineteenth century. It may even have died out completely had it not been taken back to its roots by emigrants to Britain and Europe. It was a time when the soil was fertile, for the Industrial Revolution had created many great cities where people from the country had been forced to move to gain employment. The new herbalists readily found a market for their skills, since the former country people craved for their old country treatments rather than the expensive new drugs of the orthodox medical profession. Herbalism experienced a renewed popularity, to the extent that the Thomsonian approach was adopted as the basic philosophy of the fledgling organization, the National Association of Medical Herbalists.
This then is a very potted history of Herbal Medicine.
Both Alexandru Tandrau & Susan Atkinson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Susan Atkinson has sinced written about articles on various topics from All About Coffee, Energy Healing and Health. Susan Atkinson writes articles for CanAm College. CanAm College is a private vocational college offering correspondence courses in Natural Health, Hebalism, Nutrition, Beauty and Health, Stress Management, Counselling, Fitness and more. Please visit. Susan Atkinson's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.