Science and herbs

Modern science has made a great difference to the ways in which herbs are used. The chemist likes to know exactly which substance in a plant is responsible for a particular effect. It is then possible to manufacture a synthetic compound which imitates the chemical structure of that sub-stance. Synthetic drugs are preferred be-cause they are more concentrated and it is easier to measure an accurate dose. Herbal treatments are sometimes still used even though analysis has failed to isolate the beneficial principle. But they are prescribed because they work and not because Galen or Culpeper approved of them.
Medicinal properties
The scent and flavour in herbs is mainly due to volatile oils. These are not just fragrant and tasty; they are often of medicinal use. The thymol in thyme is an effective antiseptic. The oil in pennyroyal deters insects, if rubbed on the skin. Volatile oils also increase the action of the kidneys and the rate of perspiration. They are helpful in cleansing the system of impurities and infections.
Glycosides are complex substances, built up partly of sugars. Among the glycosides are the lather-producing saponines, which are present in many plants. The soapiest of all is soapwort. The body is not able to absorb much of these substances and they tend to act as laxatives and expectorants. Hellebores and several other wild plants contain glycosides that are poisonous to man.
Hyssop, angelica and many other herbs contain tannins. These taste bitter and stimulate the digestive juices. They are valuable treatments for stomach com-plaints. Mucilage dissolves in water and becomes slimy. It is present to some degree in most food plants and is an aid to their digestion. The herbaceous mulleins are rich in mucilage and can be used to treat irritations of the mouth and throat. Alkaloids are nitrogenous substances and often poisonous. Some alkaloids are used as anti-spasmodics, some for liniments and ointments.

Yesterday's medicine today

The aspirin is by no means the only modern medicine to owe its existence to pre-scientific herbalism. The earliest Chinese herbal specifies the use of chaulmoogra oil, for the treatment of leprosy. The name of this wonderful drug was preserved down the centuries but was used nearly always to sell products that had no effect at all on the ravages of the disease. It was not until this century that the Hydnocarpus tree was identified. The oil it produces is believed to be one described by the emperor Sheng Noong. It has proved to be especially valuable in treating leprosy when an early diagnosis has been possible.
Wormwood, as its name suggests, is an age-old remedy for worms. A near relative of wormwood is now grown on a commercial scale in Iran and Turkistan for the manufacture of Sanotin, the modern remedy for round-worm.

Asian remedies

Ephedrine is an alkaloid extracted from the shrub Ephedra sinica. Asian doctors have been prescribing parts of this plant for thousands of years, to alleviate fevers and headaches. It operates on the nervous system and is produced under a variety of brand names in sprays and pills for asthma and hay fever. It can also be used to raise the blood pressure and in the treatment of some heart conditions. Its stimulating effect on the nervous system can result in insomnia.
The snake root is another modern wonder drug that was recognised by Hindu doctors at least 2,000 years ago. Western medicine has only recently learnt its value in treating psychiatric disorders. The alkaloids it contains is known as Reserpine and it acts as an anti-depressant.

A healthy diet

Much of the benefit of herbs lies in the vitamins and minerals they contain. In the past century scientists have learnt a great deal about the importance of a healthy diet. Vitamins only began to be understood in the 1880's. It was discovered that in parts of the world where polished rice was the main food, the disease Beriberi was likely to occur. The most typical symptom of the disease is the swollen belly so often seen in the victim of famine in underdeveloped countries. The health-giving ingredient that is removed from polished rice is now known as Vitamin B. The vitamin is in fact one of a group of twelve, all of which are necessary. Pellagra and pernicious anaemia are two of the worst conditions that result from Vitamin B deficiencies.

Cold prevention

The benefits of Vitamin C were recognised long before ascorbic acid had been isolated or given a name. Sailors on long sea voyages had always suffered from scurvy. During the 18th century, the captains of ships found that the disease cleared up if their men ate citrus fruits, particularly oranges and limes.
Vitamin C is present in the majority of herbs, parsley and rose hips being two of the richest sources. The body requires 30 to 40 milligrams of the vitamin every day, as it has no way of storing it. Some dieticians believe that massive doses of as much as ten grammes will prevent colds and other infections.
Vitamins E and A are also to be found in herbs. They are both fat soluble, unlike B and C which dissolve in water. Young nettle leaves and elecampane flowers can both contain vitamin A. Vitamin E can be obtained from spinach and dandelion leaves.

The poisonous cure

The bark of a twining plant called urari, which grows in Guyana, was used by the Indians to make a poison called curare. An arrow dipped in curare can paralyse a warm-blooded creature so that it dies in less than a minute and yet remains fit to eat. In modern medicine this virulent poison has been used in the treatment of spastic paralysis and as an ingredient in shock therapy.
The foxglove was used by the old herbalists to treat epilepsy and scrofula ("the King's evil"). It also had a strong connection with witchcraft. There is no record that it was ever prescribed for heart disease, but the function of the heart was not then fully understood by herbalists. They may even have cured heart attacks with foxglove leaves without a proper diagnosis of the symptoms.
The modern understanding of the powers of the foxglove began in 1785. Dr William Withering published a report on the herb's many medicinal virtues. His interest had been sparked off by a cure for dropsy, taught to him by an old countrywoman in Shropshire. Dropsy is a disease which causes the body to swell up with excessive fluid. Foxglove tea increased the patient's output of urine and reduced the visible symptoms. Withering thought that the plant's diuretic function was what mattered. But he was wrong. What he did not realise was that dropsy can be caused by congestive heart failure. The main benefit of the foxglove was in making the patient's blood circulate more efficiently.
Withering's service to medicine was in pointing others to the path of discovery. It was 150 years before digitalis was prescribed correctly. It is toxic but can be taken daily and has prolonged the lives of many millions of heart sufferers.
The foxglove is not the only poisonous plant to give good service in the hospital and consulting room. Deadly nightshade and henbane produce atropine and scopolamine which are used in shock therapy for schizophrenia and in the treatment of ulcers. Morphine is derived from the opium poppy and is the most effective of all pain killers but is only used reluctantly by the medical profession because of its addictive tendencies. Other medicinal herbs are so harmless that they are included in lozenges, vapour rubs, cough sweets and similar preparations. Myrrh, camphor, thymol, menthol, cinnamon and eucalyptus oil offer mild but effective relief to colds.

The fever bark

Quinine is usually replaced by a synthetic drug nowadays, but for centuries it was the only known cure for malaria. It is made from the bark of the cinchona tree, which grows wild in Bolivia and Peru. The Indians had always used it to cure fevers and taught their Spanish conquerors to value it. But they would only sell them the bark and always refused to let them know where the trees grew. Spanish missionaries brought the drug to Europe and so it became known as "Jesuit's bark". At first conservative medical men stuck stubbornly to blood-letting, the treatment by which generations of doctors had killed off their patients. Then, slowly, the drug was accepted.
By the 19th century quinine was in short supply. Europe's exploitation of her Asian colonies was hampered by malaria, but the South American Indians still held on to their secret. At last Charles Ledger obtained seeds. Cinchona trees took root in Java and Ceylon. Ledger's Aymara man-servant was murdered by his people for giving his master the precious seeds, but the tree's name, Cinchona ledgeriana records Ledger's success.

The future

The results achieved by plants like the foxglove and deadly nightshade make it foolhardy to dismiss other "folk cures". Mistletoe was used as a cure for cancer over 2,000 years ago and its use as a possible cure for the disease is now being reinvestigated.
Of course many old herbal remedies only worked because the body has an amazing ability to cure itself, and the patient's mind was set at rest by the doctor prescribing a sweet or foul tasting potion. But many of the potions were tried and tested and the fact that they have given way to synthetic drugs does not diminish their value in the past.
The Asiatic belief in ginseng may be partly due to the fact that, like the mandrake, it has a root shaped roughly like a human being. But that root is expensive, which suggests that people feel better for taking it. Hundreds of acres in the Appalachian Mountains of the U.S.A. are devoted to the crop, which is exported to a hungry market in Hong Kong. But medical opinion is divided as to whether it is a cure-all or a cure-nothing. Reports from Russia suggest that it affects the workings of glands such as the pituitary, adrenals and gonads but further tests will be needed to convince sceptics. It is possible that science will one day uncover the secret power of this root, just as it did for the poppy and the willow.

Note: This information is not intended as medical advice, and should not be relied upon as a substitute for consultation with your doctor who is familiar with your medical needs.