Anecdotal animal behaviors suggest that herbs must have been used by our ancestors even before the civilization began. A certain herd of elephants in Africa were observed to make regular visits to a remote cave at night apparently to feed themselves on the brine on the walls in the cave. Dogs have an instinct to seek green stuffs, and are observed to bite and chew on grasses or leaves although it is a rare event. When the ancestors of human being encountered illnesses, they might have resorted to natural materials available for them, such as water, mineral, plant or animal materials.

Like the Chinese, Indians, and Sumarians, Europeans developed their own medical systems employing herbs available for them. Western herbal medicine arose before 3,000 B.C. in the ancient Egyptian civilization, and in Greece, Rome, and Middle East. Up until the 20th centuries, medicines in the West was synonymous to herbal medicine. Egyptian papyrus recorded about seven hundred herbal medicines around 1,600 B.C. The first written records on herbal medicine in Europe are found in the writings of the Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460-377 B.C.), who has been revered as the father of medicine. Hippocrates wrote about more than 300 herbal remedies. Around the first century A.D., another Greek physician Dioscorides, recorded 500 herbal remedies in his "De Materia Medica", which has been in use through the Middle Ages. Galen was a famous Roman physician who also administered herbal medicines.

The traditional herbal medicines passed from generation to generation to Middle Age Europeans continued to localize and diverge, without forming a consensus, standardized practices. Experienced local experts or doctors made their own formula and prescription to help the ill. Earlier Greek and Roman medical records were preserved in some of the monastries, which grew botanicals for their own medicinal use. The invention of printing technology in the 15th century was calaytic to the spreading of once clandestine knowledges of recipes and methods, making them more accessible to the mass. John Gerard, a physician to the Tudor family published "The Herball or General Historie of Plantes" in 1597; it was one of the first English herbals. It was quickly followed by Nicholas Culpeper's "The English Physician Enlarged", an interesting blend of folklore, astrology, and botanical medicine. Both books became extremely popular and are still quoted byherbalists today. [cited from "New Herb Bible", 2002 eds. by Earl Mindell, Ph. D.]

Then, of course, the western herbalism reached the New World along with the settlers, and blended with the botanicals, some of which are native to the continent America, that the Native Americans have found effective and used for medicinal purposes for centuries. Herbal medicine lost popularity in 20th centuries and was by and large replaced by new medical techniques and particularly by the novel, fancy, and effective synthetic drugs that took control of the markets in the US and Europe. The trend turned in late 20th century as people were seeking alternative, safe, natural approaches due in part to the fear of the strong side effects of the drugs and rising cost of modern healthcare. By the turn of last century, the Human Genome Project (HGP) completely deciphered the genetic make-ups of ourselves, and several strategically important model organisms. It is an on-going, monumental event in the history of science and history of human civilization. HGP has offered great hopes of a wonderful, unprecedentedly productive future for medical and pharmaceutical industries.

As anticipated by many, scientists and industrial experts are all dumbfounded by the abyssimal complexity in the genetic codes of ourselves and other creatures. Now, how do these mind boggling codes translate into the conquor of genetic, and other incurable diseases? It will happen, given enough time, but within a decade or two?

Herbalism is returning, for the good of us all. Herbalism is a science, though it tends to resort to anecdotal proofs, and scientific backups are still missing in many cases due to our reluctance to make substantial investment to this field. In the long run, complete understanding of life will (hopefully) make healthcare a fairly straightforward and predictive science, which, when achieved, will allow us to decide whether or not a new drug is to be used for patients based on knowledge and prediction, not based merely on the clinical trials (and errors) on a handful of probands. Our dream of overcoming our own biological limits will come true once we understand ourselves completely and precisely. However, it will probably take many decades or even centuries before our science and technology advance that far. Herbs are not necessarily obsolete or inferior to the synthetic drugs, and will keep playing significant roles, until the time comes.


Western Herbs