From Magic to Medicine

The New Healing Herbs: The Ultimate Guide to Natures Best Medicines
by Michael Castleman

Discover how to get the most from nature's oldest remedies

In this revised edition, The New Healing Herbs provides up-to-date profiles of 100 of the most widely used medicinal plants, detailing the therapeutic benefits and healing properties of each of these amazing natural cures. Inside you'll find:

• Valuable advice for buying, storing, and preparing herbal remedies
• Clear, concise dosage instructions and safe-usage guidelines
• A comprehensive cure-finder chart with treatments for more than 100 common conditions - Ginkgo to improve and even reverse symptoms of macular degeneration... Cinnamon to treat cuts and scrapes... Marshmallow to boost immunity... St. John's wort to speed healing... Coffee for weight loss... Ginger for colds... Apples as a source of first aid... And much more!

Chapter 1

5,000 Years of Herbal Healing

In 1991, on a glacier in the Italian Alps that had melted back to an unusual extent, hikers stumbled on a dead body. It turned out to be the naturally mummified body of a prehistoric man who had frozen to death some 5,300 years before and whose remains were preserved in the ice.

Dubbed the Iceman, he's been studied by Italian anthropologists ever since. He wore straw-lined leather shoes, leather clothing, a thick coat made from woven grass, and a bearskin cap. He carried a wooden bow, a leather quiver filled with stone-tipped arrows, a flint-bladed knife, a wood-handled ax with a copper blade, and a food pouch that still contained dried deer meat and a prune.

The Iceman's pouch also contained two mysterious corklike lumps about the size of walnuts that were pierced through and strung together on a leather thong, indicating that they were of value. The lumps turned out to be bracket fungus (Piptoporus betulinus), one of many mushrooms that grow in shelflike plates on tree trunks.

This species of fungus contains agaric acid, a potent laxative, and an oily resin that is toxic to some bacteria and intestinal parasites.

The scientists studying the Iceman had no idea why he would have carried bracket fungus until, in 1998, a painstaking autopsy of his digestive tract turned up the eggs of an intestinal parasite (Trichuris trichiura) in his rectum.

It now appears that the Iceman knew he carried the parasite, which causes abdominal pain, and was using bits of bracket fungus to treat his condition. Given its laxative and antiparasitic action, the fungus probably provided some benefit.

This discovery ranks as the world's oldest documented example of the practice of medicine, and it suggests that prehistoric humanity was more medically sophisticated than previously believed. After all, the Iceman or someone else had diagnosed his malady correctly and had recommended a reasonably appropriate treatment - an herbal treatment - around 3300 b.c.

Animal Attractions

Just what is a healing herb? The word herb comes from the Latin for "grass." Technically, herbs are plants that wither each autumn, plants other than shrubs or trees. But many woody perennials are used in herbal healing, such as slippery elm, tea tree, and white willow. To an herbalist, the phrase "healing herbs" applies to every plant with medicinal value.

Prehistoric sites in Iraq show that the Neanderthals used yarrow, marshmallow, and other herbs some 60,000 years ago. What attracted them to these plants?

Animals played a key role. Prehistoric humans were keen observers of the world around them. No doubt our ancestors noticed that when animals appeared ill, they sometimes ate plants that they ordinarily ignored. Humans sampled these plants, in many cases noticing curious effects - wakefulness, sleepiness, laxative action, increased urination, and so on. The herbs that caused these effects were incorporated into prehistoric shamanism, and later into medicine.

Animal-inspired herbalism has continued into modern times. The controversial herbal cancer therapy marketed by Harry Hoxsey was reportedly inspired by a cancer-stricken horse who ate unusual herbs (more on this later).

Aromatic Magic

Early humans were also attracted to healing herbs' aromas. They rubbed strong-smelling herbs on their bodies to repel insects and to hide their human scent from animals that they feared or hunted. They also adorned themselves with sweet-smelling herbs to please their mates.

Fragrant herbs evolved into the first perfumes and embalming mixtures. Demand for them spurred ancient trade. During the Middle Ages, when Europeans believed that bathing was unhealthy and farm animals often shared human living quarters, homemakers spread aromatic "strewing herbs" to freshen the air. Herbalists still prepare scent baskets (potpourris) today, and the perfume industry still creates most of its fragrances from herbal essences.

But foul odors, not fragrant ones, were key to the development of herbal healing. Early humans used plants such as rosemary, thyme, dill, and virtually all of today's culinary spices to mask the stench of rotting meats. Today, we use culinary herbs and spices only as flavor enhancers, but to prehistoric humanity, flavor enhancement was incidental to food preservation.

Prehistoric humanity had no refrigeration, and meats spoiled quickly. Spoilage destroyed precious reserves, and early humans learned the hard way that eating rotten meats caused illness and sometimes death. No doubt some prehistoric homemaker happened to lay some rotting meat on a bed of wild mint, sage, basil, or some other aromatic herb, hoping the herb's fragrance would mask the meat's malodorousness. It did, and as a bonus, the meat didn't spoil as quickly.

Our ancestors began wrapping meats in aromatic herbs to preserve them, which led to other astonishing discoveries. Those who ate preservative herbs along with meats suffered less illness. As an added benefit, the meats tasted better.

Surely, our ancestors must have decided, aromatic herbs were magic. As time passed and magic was incorporated into religion, ancient civilizations came to view aromatic herbs as gifts from the gods. This is why many herbs figure prominently in ancient myths and religions.

Thanks to modern science, we know that the oils that give aromatic herbs their fragrance and flavor contain antimicrobial compounds that kill many food-spoiling, disease-causing microorganisms. In fact, rosemary and sage have food-preservative action comparable to that of the commercial preservatives BHA and BHT.

Copyright © 2002 by Michael Castleman. Excerpted by permission of Bantam, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Michael Castleman is an award-winning health journalist with more than 30 years' experience reporting on conventional and alternative medicine. He is the author of 10 books - including Blended Medicine: The Best Choices in Healing, Nature's Cures, and Before You Call the Doctor - as well as numerous articles for publications and online information services.