Lecture 2- Foundations Of Western And Herbal Medicine: History And Philosophy Flashcards
Name three influences on western herbal medicine
- ancient world- Greece, Rome, Arab traditions and Celtic traditions China or Ayurveda
- pre- existing indigenous practice
- the New World- the Americas
- naturopathic traditions
- modern developments of 20th and 21st centuries
Why is Hippocrates important?
Father of science
First to come up with a coherent system of medicine based on observation and measurement
Why was the decline of the Roman Empire important in the development of medicine?
Galenic medicine was at its height and left depositories of Galenic medicine all over the world which allowed it to develop in its own right
Roman Empire seeded it’s medicine and then collapsed
What was important about the Italian city of Salerno
It was the bridgehead of Arab culture and sire of famous medical school of Salerno which turned out famous physicians like Avicenna
What is meant by “the Quack’s Charter”
Written by Henry VIII who was fed up with getting importuned by surgeons, physicians and apothecaries and decided what the hell anybody can have herbal medicine.
Legislation that made it possible to use plants in their own healing
Still exists
What is the “Doctrine of Signatures”?
How the look of the plant suggests what part of the body it’s useful for: a leaf that looks like a lung, walnut brain, red berry blood
Who was Samuel Thomson and what did he contribute to Western Herbal Medicine?
Pig farmer in
America self taught study of Hippocrates and Native American Healing
Developed his own system of medicine which spring the Eclectics and physiomedicalists
Why was Albert Isaac Coffin important to UK herbal medicine?
Arrived in 1839 and taught the physiomedicalists system which became the official system in Britain
Founded the National Association of Medical Herbalists which is now known as the National Institute of Medical herbalists
How best is the origin of western herbal medicine described
From the Ancient Greece, local indigenous practice and North American tradition
Name the origins and date of the first documented Material Medica
From the Ayurvedic traditions BCE200
How would you describe the evolution of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to what it is know as today.
An aggregate of systems from Confucianism (BCE550)
Taoism (BCE400); first records appear in 4thC BCE from Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor’s classic)
Who was Asclepius
An Ancient Greek physician from BCE 1250 credited with “miraculous healings”.
What are the four elements of the Greek system of medicine and name the founder.
Air, fire, water, earth
Empedocles
Which ancient Greco-Roman philosophers (not physicians) are credited with laying the foundation of medicine for Hippocrates and Galen by explaining how the world works.
Empedocles & Aristotle
What are the four primary qualities and by whom were they assigned..
Hot, cold, dry, moist
Aristotle
Who created the first definite Western Materia Medica; when did he live and describe the contents of his work.
Pedanius Dioscorides, 1st century CE
Described 600 herbs in detail
Prototype model of herbal pharmacopoeia
This person was born in Pergamon (Syria) in 130CE, further developed Hippocratic medicine and was an early pioneer of surgery (on animals).
Claudius Galenus (Galen)
This Arab physician of 869CE emphasized the importance of diet and hygiene over drugs and introduced mercury for skin complaints.
Rhazez
This Arab physician advocated clean air, moderate diet, balance in work and rest, emotional positivity and the “evacuation of superfluities” aka detoxification.
Ibn Butlan of 1068CE
What part of Europe did the Arab physicians settle in the 1st century.
Salerno, Italy
The Arab physician who was a physician in Baghdad at age 17 and wrote a definitive medical text known as “Canon of Medicine”. He also recognized the influence of astrology on patient and plant.
Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
This Arab’s physician academic approach was forerunner of the modern university-trained physician.
Avicenna
From where did the Myddfai school of medicine reside and during what century.
Wales, 6th
Which two cities are regarded as the centres of excellence in Mediaeval Europe.
Salerno, Myddfai
The Dark Ages in England kept his medical knowledge with this entity.
The monasteries, the monks were the keepers of medical information
These two 10th Century books formed the compendia of Anglo-Saon remedies and charms in the Dark Ages.
Bald’s Leechbook & The Lacnunga
Explain why women were persecuted almost out of existence during feudal times.
Associated with witchcraft in the 15th C
What is the meaning of ‘Lacnunga’
An old English word meaning remedies
Which greater work contains the poem, “nine herbs charm” of Odin. Name four of the nine herbs therein.
The Lacnunga Mugwort Betony Lamb’s cress Plantain Chamomile Nettles Crabapple Thyme Fennel
Describe at least four occurrences that shaped the transition of medicine from the Middle Ages to the Modern World.
The Black Death
Syphilis
European trade with India & China (Marco Polo 1300)
Christopher Columbus 1492
The Herbalist Charter from Henry VIII 1542
16thC Paracelsus & ‘Doctrine of Signatures’
17thC Nicholas Culpeper: the People’s Herbalist
What disease from the year 1348 killed 1/3 of European population.
The Black Death
How was Syphilis reportedly spread and what two natural substances were used for treatment.
By French soldiers in 1496 after the siege of Naples Gum Guaiacum (a tree resin) & Sarsaparilla (a plant native to West Indies).
How did Mercury come to be known as “Quicksilver”
Surgeons, known then as “Quacks”, in attempts to treat Syphilis used mercury in unguents (oil/ cream) with some success.
This King of England was very interested in herbs and instated the “Quacks Charter”.
King Henry VIII (1491- 1547)
What invention resulted in the production of many herbal texts of the Renaissance era. Name one such text and it’s author.
The printing press, The Herball or General Historie of Plantes, John Gerard 1545
This doctor studied at Cambridge and is known as the ‘People’s Herbalist’. Explain why he became known by this title.
Nicholas Culpeper 1616-1654
Was passionately concerned for the poor, prescribing affordable but effective remedies.
Emphasized local garden herbs for all instead of expensive imported remedies
Nicholas Culpeper authored this book that has never been out of print to this day.
The Compleat Herbal
This physician developed the Doctrine of Signatures
Paracelsus (1493-1541) “nature marks each growth…according to its curative benefit”
Describe four contributions from North America that affected Western Herbal Medicine in Britain
- Mayflower 1620, first immigrant from Europe learned from native Americans
- Samuel Thomson (1769-1843)
- Physiomedicalists and Eclectics born out of Thomson’s school but represented separate American traditions
- Albert Coffin arrived from American in Britain in 1839 bringing physiomedicalists system with him
This self-taught herbalist was a pig farmer in America and advocated the use of Cayenne and Lobelia to address his theory of the three basic disease states: hot, cold, alternating hot/cold.
Samuel Thomson (1769- 1843)
Developed a system of health care licensing which for $20 allowed people to get lifelong health care.
Samuel Thomson 1769
What two branches were born out of and thus differentiated from Thomsonian herbalism. Which one had the greatest influence on herbalism in the British Isles and Ireland up to the present day.
The Eclectics
The Physiomedicalists
The Physiomedicalists
Name the founder and basic theory behind The Physiomedicalists
Alvah Curtis
Vis Medicatrix Naturae, try to remove blockages of life force
Stimulated by scientific discoveries of the day (circulation and nerves as physiological control systems)
Name the physiomedicalist author and the Work that describes extreme of pathological affects on human tissue (such as hot and cold).
How did he classify herbal actions?
JM Thurston, 1900
The Six Tissue States
Organ Specific: hepatic, nervine
Tissue Specific (general): astringent, stimulant
Name the founder and basic theory of The Eclectics
Wooster Beech 1794-1868
Blended scientific and traditional knowledge
Aimed at a comprehensive inventory of pathologies matched to specific remedies
What is “simpling” and from which school of herbal medicine did it arise?
Choosing a single herb to treat a complex range of symptoms in a person.
The Eclectics
John Uri Lloyd and Harvey Wickes Felter were the author of this Classic herbal work of the Eclectics.
The Professor King’s Dispensatory of 1898
The person and report that led to the demise of Naturopathic medicine and the development of the pharmaceutical industry.
John Rockefeller, Sr. 1839-1937
The Flexnor Report, 1910
This association was established to standardise medicine and led to the closing of most independent naturopathic and herbal schools
The American Medical Association (AMA)
Author of quote “Allopathic medicine triumphs, exclusively white and male”
Griggs, 1997
Introduced the Eclectic tradition to the UK in 1981
Dr. John Christopher
Discuss the establishment of the “scientific” method
Medical school training formalised in 18th, 19th C
Germ Theory, Pasteur and Koch set the stage for antibiotics
Vaccination
Many skeptics against natural medicine
