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Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicine or "Herblism" as it is known is a traditional form of mediine passed through the generations and uses plants or plant extracts as its bases as well minerals. and includes Aromatic (smell) therapy. Although these practices are hundreds of yeas old very little modern day research has been done to define scientifically te benifits of these medicinal compounds.

Herbalism dates back thousands of years and in fact an "ice Man" dating back 5,300 years in Switzerland was found to have herbal medication amongst his personal effects. In anthropology (the study of animal behaviour) it has beenfound that injured or unwell animals seek out bitter tasting plants in response to there aillments and infact indigenous tribe healer claim they learnt herbilism by observing sick animals.

Moder Herbalists, known as Phytotheapists usually explain a herbs uses by it's chemical consituents. Herbalism as become more popular in the 21st centuary with many Botanics shops appearng on town high streets, although these Phytothearpists do conceed that modern day medicine is better in emergancy situations.

Some examples of herbs and plants used as medicine acan be found here.

The first recorded list of Herbs and there effects was in the Chinese Herbalists book "Shennong Bencao Jing" which could be dated as far back as 2,700 B.c and lists 365 plants and their medicinal uses. Romans and the ancient Greeks also practised Herbal Medicine and Pedanius Dioscorides, included a list of over 500 plants and their uses in his 5 volume De MAteria Medica compendium, a precurrsor to all modern day Pharmicutical Encyclopedias.

The 15,16th and 17th saw many herbalisim boks being available in English for the first time, and wth this a renewed appeal to this sort of medicine, with a "genral History Of Plants" being published in 1597 by John Gerard althugh this was more or less a translated version of a Belgian herbalist by the name of Dodoens work, and as the translation was poor contained many errors, but later on The Blach Death and syphilis saw a change in direction away from Herbal meds into Chemical drugs such as Copper Sulfate and Arsenic which were used to treat these diseases.

Inmoden times Herbalism has been given a resurgence with up to twenty -five precent of modern drugs using herbal extracts along with people having renewed their use of traditional therepys, and Chinese medicine. In 2004 the NAtional Centre for Complementary & ALternative medicine found that 18.9% of Amerians over the age of 18 were usingt Herbal therapy to combat illness.