Herbal Medicine
Introduction
Herbal medicine involves the use of plants for medicinal purposes. The
term ‘herb’
includes leaves, stems, flowers, fruits, seeds, roots, rhizomes, and
bark, although in many traditions other naturally occurring substances
including animal and mineral products are also used. There can be little
doubt that the use of plants for healing purposes is the most ancient
form of medicine known. Men and women, led by instinct, taste, and experience,
used plants for healing which were not part of their normal diet; the
physical evidence for herbalism goes back some 60,000 years to a Neanderthal
burial site uncovered in 1960.
In China, Huang Di, the legendary Yellow Emperor is credited with writing
The Yellow Emperor’s classic of internal medicine (Huang Di Nei
Jing), which lists 12 herbal prescriptions. The authorship of China’s
first materia medica (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing) is credited to the mythical
Shen Nong (‘divine father’), the Yellow Emperor’s predecessor.
The Egyptians are also renowned for the use of herbs, and official schools
for herbalists existed in Egypt as early as 3000 BC. The Ebers Papyrus,
written around 1500 BC and discovered in 1862, contains around 876 prescriptions
made up of more than 500 different substances. Many of the founders of
the ancient Greek schools of medicine owed their learning to the Egyptians.
Hippocrates was tutored by Egyptian priest-doctors, and his writings
mention over 250 medicinal plants. A vast body of Greco-Roman knowledge
of herbs was preserved and enlarged upon by the Arabs. This knowledge,
much of which had been lost to Europe in the Dark Ages, was reintroduced
to Europe when the Crusaders returned from the Middle East. In India
too, traditional medicine incorporated a large number of herbal remedies;
the Indian Materia Medica, published in 1908, listed 2982 medicinal plants.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many Europeans emigrated
to North America. These settlers discovered that the indigenous Indian
population was skilled at using the native plants as medicines and they
began to incorporate them into their own remedies. Many of these new
herbal remedies from the Americas were also brought back to Europe.
Despite the popularity of herbalism in the West, by the beginning of
the eighteenth century, herbal medicine had begun to fall out of favour
with the medical profession, which considered it to be unscientific and
imprecise. In Britain, professional herbalism survived only through the
establishment of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists in 1864,
which is still flourishing today, and is the oldest register of practising
medical herbalists in the world.
Herbal traditions
There
are three main methods through which herbal medicines are prescribed.
The first is traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); herbal medicines are
an essential part of TCM and are prescribed according to an individualised
diagnosis, much as one would prescribe particular acupuncture points.
Ayurvedic herbs are also prescribed according to the main underlying
principles of Ayurvedic medicine on an individual basis. Western herbal
prescriptions are individually formulated and usually involve a mixture
of herbs. However, western herbal remedies are prepared solely from plant
material, whereas traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs may also use
some animal and mineral substances. Chinese herbs are usually prepared
as decoctions; this means that the herbal mixtures are boiled and a liquid
is prepared. Ayurvedic and Western herbs are usually administered in
alcohol-water extracts or tinctures. Standard or patented traditional
Chinese herbal products are available as pills, as are a number of individual
Western herbs. Herbal preparations are increasingly available in health
food shops and pharmacies over the counter to treat a variety of quite
specific medical problems (for instance, the use of St John’s Wort
in depression).
