At the 60,000-year-old burial site of a Neanderthal man, researchers found eight species of flowering plants—laid there, some surmise, to fortify the man as he journeyed to the next life.

Evidence of use of herbal remedies goes back some 60 000 years to a burial site in a cave in northern Iraq, which was uncovered in 1960

The history of cannabis use goes back as far as 12,000 years, which places the plant among humanity's oldest cultivated crops, according to information in the book "Marihuana: The First Twelve Thousand Years

The olive was first

domesticated in the

Eastern

Mediterranean

between 8,000 and

6,000 years ago,

according to new

research.

Garlic is one of the earliest documented plants used for medicinal purposes. It has been used for over 7000 years and is native to Central Asia.

It was found in Egyptian pyramids and ancient Greek temples and has Biblical references.

There are notations about garlic in medical texts from Greece, Egypt, Rome, China and India! Many of these places used the garlic is similar ways, even though they weren’t sharing ideas! Garlic is good for our health!

The olive was native

to Asia Minor and

spread from Iran,

Syria and Palestine to

the rest of the

Mediterranean basin

6,000 years ago

Written evidence of herbal remedies dates back over 5,000 years, to the Sumerians, who created lists of plants.

Garlic has a 5000 year history as an indispensable part of ancient and modern civilizations’ medicine, cooking, religious traditions, and folklore.

Garlic has been cultivated by humans for the last 5000 years

Basil was used in

many ancient cultures

more than five

thousand years ago. It

was grown in the

Middle East, India and

the Mediterranean

region.

Native to central Asia, garlic is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world and has been grown for over 5000 years. Ancient Egyptians seem to have been the first to cultivate this plant that played an important role in their culture.

Carrots originated some 5000 years ago in Middle Asia around Afghanistan, and slowly spread into the Mediterranean area. The first carrots were white, purple, red, yellow, green and black - not orange. Its roots were thin and turnip coloured

By as early as 3000BC in Crete, the olive was widely cultivated and a very prized commodity. Very sophisticated ships loaded with earthenware amphorae were built solely for the olive oil trade. In fact, Olive Oil trade may have been the source of wealth for this advanced Minoan civilization.

For over 5,000 years garlic has

been used as food, medicine, an

aphrodisiac, money, and magic

potions. Garlic warded off the

evil eye, was hung over doors to

protect medieval occupants from

evil, gave strength and courage

to Greek athletes and warriors,

protected maidens and pregnant

ladies from evil nymphs, and was

rubbed on door frames to keep

out blood thirsty

vampires. Garlic clove pendants

hung around the neck protected

you from the sharp horns of a

bull, warded off local witches,

kept away the black plague, and

even prevented others from

passing you (or your horse) in a

race.

Ancient records show that the benefits of Aloe Vera have been known for centuries, with its therapeutic advantages and healing properties surviving for over 4000 year.

There is evidence that suggests garlic was cultivated in China 4000 years ago.

For the last 4000 years of human history Garlic (Alliumsativum) has been both cherished and reviled, both sought for its healing powers and shunned for its pungent after effects.

From miracle drug to vampire repellent to offering for the gods, this unassuming plant has had an undeniably important place in many aspects of human history, and today enjoys a renewed surge in popularity as modern medicine unearths the wonders of this ancient superfood.

Some also contend

that the cultivation of

the olive began

around 5000 B.C. on

Crete and the

neighboring Greek

Islands.

Archaeologists have

discovered clayey

sculptures of garlic

bulbs dating from

3700 BC, while

illustrations with

garlic have been

found in another

crypt from 3200 BC

were actively utilizing the garlic healing qualities, and there is a belief that they brought the garlic to China, from where it was later spread to Japan and Korea. Garlic expansion probably occurred in the old world first, and later in the new world. Nonetheless, some historians still claim that garlic originates from China

The earliest record of

Aloe Vera is on a

Sumerian tablet

dating from 2100 BC.

The first recorded herbal study, called the ShennongBencaojing, was written around 2,000 BC by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong(The Divine Farmer). He is known for a multitude of innovations such as seed preservation, dietary revolution (he advocated a vegetable-focused diet) and tasted hundreds of herbs. The document contains descriptions and information for 300 plants.

The earliest reference

to opium growth and

use is in 3,400 B.C.

when the opium poppy

was cultivated in lower

Mesopotamia

(Southwest Asia). The

Sumerians referred to it

as Hul Gil, the "joy

plant."

Garlic as part of the

daily diet,

particularly for the

working class involved

in heavy labour, as it

was presumed to

maintain and increase

strength and

productivity

The oldest known list of medicinal herbs is Shen Nung’s Pen Ts’ao or Shennong Ben Cao Jing (c. 3000 B.C.), a Chinese herbal that is probably a compilation of an even older oral tradition.

Burned cannabis seeds have also been found in kurgan burial mounds in Siberia dating back to 3,000 B.C., and some of the tombs of noble people buried in Xinjiang region of China and Siberia around 2500 B.C. have included large quantities of mummified psychoactive marijuana.

Both hemp and psychoactive marijuana were used widely in ancient

The Egyptian Imhotep(2667 - 2648 BCE) is the first physician in history known by name. The earliest known surgery in Egypt was performed in Egypt around 2750 BCE. The KahunGynaecologicalPapyrus treats women's complaints, including problems with conception. Thirty four cases detailing diagnosis and treatment survive, some of them fragmentarily

The Chinese book on roots and grasses “Pen T’Sao,” written by Emperor ShenNung circa 2500 BC, treats 365 drugs (dried parts of medicinal plants), many of which are used even nowadays such as the following: Rhei rhisoma, camphor, Theae folium, Podophyllum, the great yellow gentian, ginseng, jimson weed, cinnamon bark, and ephedra.

Cannabis came to the South Asian subcontinent between 2000 B.C. and 1000 B.C., when the region was invaded by the Aryans — a group that spoke an archaic Indo-European language. The drug became widely used in India, where it was celebrated as one of "five kingdoms of herbs ... which release us from anxiety" in one of the ancient Sanskrit Vedic poems whose name translate into "Science of Charms.“

Cannabis came to the Middle East between 2000 B.C. and 1400 B.C., and it was probably used there by the Scythians, a nomadic Indo-European group.

The Ancient Greeks also valued garlic although those who had eaten garlic were forbidden entry into the temples (they were called ‘rank roses’). During the archeological excavations in the Knossos Palace on the Greek island of Crete, garlic bulbs were discovered dating from 1850–1400 BC.

Dating to 1800 BCE, it

is the oldest surviving

medical text of any

kind. Medical

institutions, referred

to as Houses of Life

are known to have

been established in

ancient Egypt as early

as the 1st Dynasty.

The Myceanes used

cumin to season food

around 2000 BC. It

was used in Egypt

during the time of the

Pharaohs not only as a

food spice but also to

mummify the

deceased kings,

including King Tut

around 1323 BC

Dating from 1600-

1700 BC, the Yale

Babylonian Tablet,

represent the earliest

known compilation of

culinary recipes. The

cornerstone of the

Mesopotamian diet

was the alliaceous

plants, onion, leek

and garlic.

he Bible clearly states that for 400 years, (probably around 1730 to 1330 B.C.) while the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and no doubt being forced to help build some of the pyramids, garlic as well as some of the other herbs in the same family, was part of their diet.

The Ebers Papyrus, written circa 1550 BC, represents a collection of 800 proscriptions referring to 700 plant species and drugs used for therapy such as pomegranate, castor oil plant, aloe, senna, garlic, onion, fig, willow, coriander, juniper, common centaury, etc.

Pharaonic Egypt used cumin as a medicine around 1550 BC as the Ebers Papyrus states.

Saffron used

as medicine on the

Aegaean island

of Thera. The Ebers Papyrus, an

Egyptian medical

papyrus dated

sometime around 1500

B.C., mentions garlic 22

times as a remedy for a

variety of disease

Well-preserved garlic

cloves were found in

the tomb of King

Tutankhamen who

ruled from 1334 BC to

1325 BC.

The youngest pharaoh

Tutankhamen (1320

BC) was sent on his

trip to life beyond the

grave escorted by

garlic, as a patron of

his soul and protector

of his wealth.

Archaeologists have

discovered garlic

bulbs in the pyramids

Babylonian medical

text, however, is

the Diagnostic

Handbook written by

the physician Esagil-

kin-apli of Borsippa,

during the reign of

the Babylonian king

Adad-apla-iddina

(1069- 1046 BCE).

Babylonian "Diagnosti

c Handbook" is

written by the

physician Esagil-kin-

apli of Borsippa

Soldiers were fed garlic to provide them with more courage, and garlic was part of the military’s daily diet.

During the first Olympic Games, garlic was taken by athletes before they competed presumably to enhance performance.

Garlic was used to protect the skin against poisons or toxins.

Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, used garlic as part of his therapeutic armamentarium, advocating its use for pulmonary complaints, as a cleansing or purgative agent, and for abdominal growths.

In Homer's epics The Iliad and The Odysseys, created circa 800 BC, 63 plant species from the Minoan, Mycenaean, and Egyptian Assyrian pharmacotherapy were referred to. Some of them were given the names after mythological characters from these epics; for instance, Elecampane (Inulahelenium L. Asteraceae) was named in honor of Elena, who was the centre of the Trojan War. As regards the plants from the genus Artemisia, which were believed to restore strength and protect health, their name was derived from the Greek word artemis, meaning “healthy

As far as Americans are concerned, coffee is a merely three hundred years old. In other places and cultures it has been a widespread phenomena for a much longer time. There are records indicating the use of coffee as early as 800 B. C.

In fact, Homer speaks of a bitter black beverage that has powers of stimulation and for all we know Homer might have been speaking of coffee.

The first known Greek medical school opened in Cnidus in 700 BCE. Alcmaeon, author of the first anatomical work, worked at this school, and it was here that the practice of observing patients was established

According to

Theophrastus (370–

285 BC), the Greeks

offered gifts to their

Gods consisting of

garlic bulbs, which

they used to lay on

the main crossroads.

Orpheus referred to

garlic as a remedy.

In the first millennium BCE, there emerges in post-Vedic India the traditional medicine system known as Ayurveda, meaning the "complete knowledge for long life". Its two most famous texts belong to the schools of Charaka, born c. 600 BCE, and Sushruta, born 600 BCE

Herodotus (500 BC) referred to castor oil plant, Orpheus to the fragrant hellebore and garlic, and Pythagoras to the sea onion (Scillamaritima), mustard, and cabbage. As a digestive aid, Confucius wrote as far back as 500 B.C. of never being without ginger when he ate

It was around 500 BCE that turmeric emerged as an important part of Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of natural healing that is still practiced today. Ayurveda translates to “science of life”–ayur meaning “life” and vedameaning“science or knowledge.

The works of Hippocrates (460–370 BC) contain 300 medicinal plants classified by physiological action: Wormwood and common centaury (Centauriumumbellatum Gilib) were applied against fever; garlic against intestine parasites; opium, henbane, deadly nightshade, and mandrake were used as narcotics; fragrant hellebore and haselwort as emetics; sea onion, celery, parsley, asparagus, and garlic as diuretics; oak and pomegranate as adstringents

Hippocrates practises and teaches medicine in about 400 BC on the Greek island of Kos. He will later be regarded as the father of medicine - partly because he is unlike his more theoretical contemporaries in paying close attention to the symptoms of disease, but also because a century or more after his death a group of medical works is gathered together under his name.

Theophrast (371-287 BC) founded botanical science with his books “De CausisPlantarium”— Plant Etiology and “De Historia Plantarium”—Plant History. In the books, he generated a classification of more than 500 medicinal plants known at the time.

According to

Theophrastus (370–

285 BC), the Greeks

offered gifts to their

Gods consisting of

garlic bulbs, which

they used to lay on

the main crossroads.

Orpheus referred to

garlic as a remedy.

Herophilus of

Chalcedon (325 - 280

BCE), working at the

medical school

of Alexandria placed

intelligence in the

brain, and connected

the nervous system to

motion and sensation

The Romans adopt the Greek god

of medicine Asclepiu

s by stealing his

sacred snake

from Epidaurus and

setting up

a temple on the Tiber

Island.

The Greek physician

Galen (129 - 217 CE)

was also one of the

greatest surgeons of

the ancient world and

performed many

audacious operations,

including brain and

eye surgeries.

From its origin to the

present, ginger is the

world’s most widely

cultivated

herb. Testimonials of

both the medicinal and

economic importance of

ginger have been

recorded as far back as

five thousand-year-old

Greek literature to 200

B.C.

Garlic was probably

introduced into Japan

from Korea along with

Buddhism in about 30

B.C

In his work “De re

medica” the renowned

medical writer Celsus

(25 BC–50 AD) quoted

approximately 250

medicinal plants such as

aloe, henbane, flax,

poppy, pepper,

cinnamon, the star

gentian, cardamom,

false hellebore, etc.

China has detailed

records of successive

Imperial reigns

starting from the Xia

dynasty (approx. 21st

c B.C. to 16th c BC)

During the Shang

dynasty,which

succeeded the Xia,

(16th c BC to 11th c

BC)16-11

The chief physician of Nero’s army recommended garlic to “clean the arteries” i.e. use garlic to improve cardiovascular status (The circulation of blood was not discovered until hundred years later).

Garlic was also recommended for gastrointestinal tract disorder, treatment of animal bites and for alleviation of joint disease and seizure

Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79), a contemporary of Dioscorides, who travelled throughout Germany and Spain, wrote about approximately 1000 medicinal plants in his book “Historia naturalis.” Pliny's and Dioscorides’ works incorporated all knowledge of medicinal plants at the time.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), a Roman physician and scientist from the first century, considered garlic a universal remedy

In 65 A.D.,

Dioscorides, a Greek,

wrote his Materia

Medica (13.152.6 ). This was a practical

text dealing with the

medicinal use of more

than 600 plants

Circa 77 AD he wrote the work “De MateriaMedica.” This classical work of ancient history, translated many times, offers plenty of data on the medicinal plants constituting the basic materia medica until the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance

In the famous De MateriaMedica 77 A.D. Dioscorides recorded that ginger “warms and softens the stomac

The famous physician from the end of the Eastern Han period, Hua Tuo (b110 AD d208 AD, approx.) was a master of each aspect of internal and external medicine. In particular, his surgical skills reached a very high level

The earliest known reference to the Doctrine of Signatures is in the writings of Galen (131-200 AD). He was a physician, writer, surgeon and philosopher who became the most famous doctor in the Roman Empire and whose theories dominated European medicine for 1,500 years

There was a medical scientist in the Eastern Han period named Zhang Zhongjing (b150 A.D. d219 AD) who wrote a sixteen volume work entitled Discussion of Cold Induced Disorders. In the areas of epidemic, external heat disorders, jaundice, gynecology, and others, this text set down a complete set of treatment principals. Zhang Zhongjing’s theory and prescriptions are still of great practical value today.

The Tang dynasty medical scientist, Sun Simiao (b540 AD d682 AD), was from ShaanXi province, Yao county. He was a child prodigy, and at 15 he not only had a thorough understanding of Daoism and the classics of many of its sects, but had also deeply researched Buddhist classics. Sun Simiao not only earnestly studied the ancient classics of Chinese medicine, he also diligently gathered experience from folk medicine. Gathering knowledge from so many sources, he was able to understand, systematize and summarize the theory and methods of those who came before him, thereby bringing new content to Chinese medicine.

The first hospital was

founded by Caliph Al-

Walid I an Ummayad

Caliph (705-715 AD) in

Jundishapur, a Persian

city in the province of

Ahwaz, according to

Nagamia.

Charles the Great (742 AD–814), the founder of the reputed medical school in Salerno, in his “Capitularies” ordered which medicinal plants were to be grown on the state-owned lands. Around 100 different plants were quoted, which have been used till present days such as sage, sea onion, iris, mint, common centaury, poppy, marsh mallow, et

After 750 the Muslim Arab world had the ancient works on medicine translated into Arabic, and Islamic physicians engaged in some significant medical research. Notable Islamic medical pioneers include the polymath, Avicenna, who, along with Imhotepand Hippocrates, has also been called the "father of medicine". He wrote The Canon of Medicine, considered one of the most famous books in the history of medicine.

The first true Islamic hospital was built during the reign of Caliph Harun-ul-Rashid (786-809 AD) in Baghdad. A well-known physician, JibrailBakhtishu, was invited to head the new bimartistan. It achieved fame and other hospitals were built in Baghdad.

Yuhanna Ibn Masawyh (777 -857) was regarded as amongst the great translators of work from Greek into Arabic, but he also acted as a physician to the Caliphs and served at a hospital. He is believed to have written the works 'Disorders of the Eye' and 'Knowledge of the Oculist Examinations' as well as Kita al Mushajjar al-Kabir, a short work including descriptions, diagnosis, symptoms and treatments of disease

Al Hakm (Died 840) wrote the earliest known book in the medical sciences in the Islamic world and it drew heavily upon Greek sources, including information about physiology, surgery and general healthcare, amongst other sections.

Al-Kindi (800-870), another of the great Islamic polymaths, further contributed to the history of medicine. This scholar was heavily influenced by the work of Galen, and also made unique contributions of his own to the field. In his Aqrabadhin (Medical Formulary), he described many preparations drawn from plant, animal and mineral sources

Hunayan ibn Nishaq (808-873), known as Johannitus in the West, was one of the titans of Islamic medicine and was a prominent author of medical texts, covering a variety of disciplines. As well as extensive translation work, he wrote a book called 'The Book of Introduction to Medicine,' which drew heavily upon Galen but also included many unique and novel additions. His work was probably the first Islamic medical text translated into Latin.

Al Tabari, (810 - 855) wrote a book known as 'The Paradise of Wisdom,' in 850, which was based largely upon the earlier works of Galen and Hippocrates, but it also included an appendix with translations from Indian sources. Like many physicians of the time, his work involved providing better and more detailed encyclopedias, containing the medical knowledge available at that time. Sadly, it is believed that most of his works are lost and are only referred to as quoted in later texts.

Al-Razi, known to the

Europeans as Rhazes

(may be spelt Rhases,

Rasis, Rasi or ar-Razi)

(850 - 923), was at the

forefront of Islamic

research into medicine.

A prolific writer, he

produced over 200

books about medicine

and philosophy,

Throughout the

Middle Ages European

physicians consulted

the Arab works “De

Re Medica” by John

Mesue (850 AD),

During the Song and Yuan periods (960 AD to 1368 AD), due to the invention of printing technology and further advances in paper making, large quantities of Chinese medical texts were printed and published.

"Not only is every sensation attended by a corresponding change localized in the sense-organ, which demands a certain time, but also, between the stimulation of the organ and consciousness of the perception an interval of time must elapse, corresponding to the transmission of stimulus for some distance along the nerve.

The Muslim scholar who composed a treatise on the early origins of Indian and Chinese drugs, mentions that the black seed is a kind of graincalled alwanak in the sigzidialect. Later, this was confirmed by Suhar Bakhtwho explained it to habbii-l-sajzi (viz. Sigzi grains). This reference to black seed as "grains" points to the seed's possible nutritional use during the tenth and eleventh centurie

Ibn al-Haytham was the first scientist to argue that vision occurs in the brain rather than the eyes in his Book of Optics (Edition III). Moreover, he pointed out that personal experience has an effect on what people see and how they see and that vision and perception are subjective feelings

Iranian physician Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna (980-1037 A.D.), combined the herbal traditions of Dioscorides and Galen with the ancient practices of his own people in The Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi at-tibb). One of the most influential medical texts ever written, Avicenna’s Canon spread through Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.“Canon Medicinae” by Avicenna (980-1037), and “Liber Magnae Collectionis

In the year 1000 A.D., coffee was mostly used for medicinal purposes. It has been reported than in 1400 a Yemeni goat herder saw his flock eating some reddish berries and consequently becoming excited and restless. When this goat herder told a monk about this they gathered the berries together and boiled them in water. They found that the resulting beverage could get rid of sleep and weariness.

was a physician and

Islamic scholar and

philosopher in

Moorish Spain. He

wrote a five volume

treatise on medicine

called Al-

Culliyat (The

Fundamentals),

or Colliget.

One of the most important medical books of its time was written by the physician Ali al-Husayn Abd Allah Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna). His massive manuscript, called the Laws of Medicine, was completed around 1030 AD and translated into Latin in the 12th Century

Born in Cordoba in 1126 and at one time a student of Ibn Zuhr, Abu ‘l-Walid Muhammad ibnAhmed ibn Muhammad ibnRushd was in many respects to the western caliphate what IbnSina was to the eastern one. Known in Europe as Averroes, he became known mainly for his works on philosophy. IbnRushd’s principal medical work, a slender volume called Kitab al-Kulliyat fi al-Tibb(General Rules of Medicine) became an important prcis of medicine

Simplicum

Alimentorum Et

Medicamentorum” by

Ibn Baitar (1197-

1248), in which over

1000 medicinal plants

were described

Ibn Al-Nafis (born 1213) goes down in the history of medicine as the first scholar to understand the respire-circulatory system, although his knowledge was incomplete. He understood that the heart was divided into two halves and stated that there were no pores connecting the two halves of the heart, as proposed by Galen. Al-Nafis stated that the blood could only travel from one side of the heart to the other by passing through the lungs

One of the largest

hospitals ever built was

the Mansuri Hospital in

Cairo, completed in

1248 AD under the rule

of the Mameluke ruler

of Egypt, Mansur Qalaun

Marco Polo's journeys

(1254-1324) in

tropical Asia, China,

and Persia, the

discovery of America

(1492)

The Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 AD to 1911 AD) marked the later period of feudalism. Many “Confucian Physicians” emerged, learning outside of the government system, usually with family elders or as apprentices of famous doctors. Every part of Chinese medicine was enriched, the amount of materia medicaincreased and there were many new achievements.

Vasco De Gama's journeys to India (1498), resulted in many medicinal plants being brought into Europe. Botanical gardens emerged all over Europe, and attempts were made for cultivation of domestic medicinal plants and of the ones imported from the old and the new world.

Paracelsus (1493-1541) was one of the proponents of chemically prepared drugs out of raw plants and mineral substances; nonetheless, he was a firm believer that the collection of those substances ought to be astrologically determined. He continuously emphasized his belief in observation, and simultaneously supported the “Signaturadoctrinae”—the signature doctrine.

Turner (1508 – 1568),

who was known as the

Father of British

Botany, believed mint

was good for ‘ye

stomack’ and is

pleasant in sauces.

At Basel, in Switzerland, Vesalius publishes in 1543 his great work -De humanicorporis fabrica(The Structure of the Human Body). There are seven volumes including numerous magnificentwoodcutillustrations. The book is an immediate success, though naturally it enrages the traditionalists who followGalen. Galen's theories have, after all, the clear merit of seniority. They are by now some 1400 years old.

Garlic was brought

into Great Britain in

1548, from the coasts

of the Mediterranean

Sea, where it was

present in abundance

Lonicerus (in 1564)

recommended garlic

against helminthes,

and externally for

curing a range of skin

diseases and dandruff

The great pharmacologist of the Ming dynasty, Li Shizhen, (b1518 AD d1593 AD) spent thirty years consulting some 800 texts and personally harvesting herbs for use in treatment to write the great classic, Materia Medica , containing 52 articles. The text contains 1,900,000 Chinese characters and records 1,892 medical materials from plants, animals, and minerals

While Paracelsus and Culpeper promoted the doctrine of signatures and astrological herbalism, medical practice was changing. Men like Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

William Harvey (1578-1657) were transforming science from a speculative to an experimental process. This new emphasis did not mix well with the revival of the doctrine of signatures and astrology: thus, biological and medical science began to separate from traditional herbalism. Herbalists who focused on classification and refused to acknowledge signatures and stars formed the science of botany. Physicians who found Harvey’s circulation of the blood more useful than Culpeper’s movements of the planets started what might be called scientific medicine

James I's

Counterblaste to

Tobacco in 1604

strikes a telling note:

"Smoking is a custom

loathsome to the eye,

hateful to the nose,

harmful to the brain,

(and) dangerous to

the lungs."

A century later, Englishman Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) revitalized another ancient facet of herbalism: astrology. Astrological herbalists connected herbs to different signs of the zodiac. They treated specific ailments by determining what sign and planet ruled over the part of the body that needed care and then prescribing an herb of the same astrological sign. According to Culpeper, “he that would know the reason of the operation of the Herbs, must look up as high as the stars.”

in 1720 a thousand

inhabitants of

Marseille were saved

from garlic the

spread of the

epidemic of plague

Most of us are familiar with turmeric as a cooking spice. It appeared in Hannah Glasse’s 1747 cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. Hannah shares a recipe for India pickle made with turmeric; a later edition calls for turmeric in a recipe for Indian curry.

In 18th century, in his work Species Planetarium (1753), Linnaeus (1707-1788) provided a brief description and classification of the species described until then. The species were described and named without taking into consideration whether some of them had previously been described somewhere. For the naming, a polynomial system was employed where the first word denoted the genus while the remaining polynomial phrase explained other features of the plant (e.g. the willow Clusius was named Salix pumilaangustifolia antera). Linnaeus altered the naming system into a binominal one. The name of each species consisted of the genus name, with an initial capital letter, and the species name, with an initial small lette

William In hisAccount of the Foxglove(1785) Withering gives clinical details of how to prescribe extract of foxglove, or digitalis, in the treatment of dropsy and hints that it may be of use for heart disease (for which it remains an important drug to this day)

Opium Wars of the

mid-1800s.

Subsequent Chinese

immigration to work

on the railroads and

the gold rush brought

opium smoking to

America.

In 1803, morphine,

the principal

ingredient in opium,

was extracted from

opium resin. Morphine

is ten times more

powerful than

processed opium,

quantity for quantity.

This antique opium

pipe set, 1821,

highlights the

exquisite details that

could be afforded by

rich Chinese opium

smokers

Endive

The endive was accidentally discovered by a Belgian farmer around 1830. At the time, chicory roots were used as a coffee substitute. The farmer stored them in a cellar, forgot about them and, when he came back to pick up the roots, discovered that they had sprouted white leaves. Curious, he ate some and found them to be tender, moist, crunchy and slightly bitter

Peter James Begbie,

on observing

indigenous medicine,

wrote in 1834 of “the

probability of this

race yet revealing to

us many medicinal

shrubs which will

prove highly valuable

in compounds.”8

From the beginning of the Opium War in 1840, China was continually defeated by outside forces. China lost land in war reparations and its autonomy in many cities. There were some Chinese people who, as a result of the national crisis, developed a cultural inferiority complex and produced a tide of complete opposition to their own culture

In 1858, Louis Pasteur

wrote that garlic

killed bacteria. As he

maintained, it was

effective even against

some bacteria

resistant to other

factors. He also noted

that garlic

killed Helicobacter

pylori

Cocaine was first

isolated (extracted

from coca leaves) in

1859 by German

chemist Albert

Niemann

was an Unani physician, and also an Indian patriot and freedom fighter in the struggle for independence. He was also a great advocate and champion of the indigenous systems of Ayurvedicand Unani Medicine, and pioneered scientific research into their treatments.

First synthesized from

morphine in 1874, the

Bayer Company of

Germany introduced

heroin for medical

use in 1898.

Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who used the drug himself, was the first to broadly promote cocaine as a tonic to cure depression and sexual impotence.

In 1884, he published an article entitled “Über Coca” (About Coke) which promoted the “benefits” of cocaine, calling it a “magical” substance.

Freud, however, was not an objective observer. He used cocaine regularly, prescribed it to his girlfriend and his best friend and recommended it for general use.

In 1886, the popularity of the drug got a further boost when John Pemberton included coca leaves as an ingredient in his new soft drink, Coca-Cola. The euphoric and energizing effects on the consumer helped to skyrocket the popularity of Coca-Cola by the turn of the century

In the early 1900s, innovations in chemical analysis allowed scientists to extract and modify active ingredients from plants. In America, clashes within the medical community and a growing infatuation with isolated chemicals led to the decline of herbal remedies. However, even today 40% of all pharmaceutical drugs are based on botanicals.

In 1912, the United States government reported 5,000 cocaine-related deaths in one year and by 1922, the drug was officially banned.

The mint history in the United States continued when in 1912 the mint Lifesaver was introduced.

As late as in 1944, the

oily, colorless,

unstable substance

called allicin was

isolated from garlic

by Cavallito and

Bailey. Later it was

established that

allicin has strong

bactericide power

Muhammad Saeed was

born in Delhi. He

migrated to Pakistan

when India was

partitioned in 1947.

Nescafe was first

introduced into

Switzerland and by

1956 coffee was

everywhere

In the 1960s, National

Cancer Institute

researchers began

examining an extract

from the yew’s inner

bark, thinking it held

potential as a cancer

treatment

1966 to 1976, traditional doctors were purged from the schools, hospitals and clinics, and many of the old practitioners were jailed or killed. In 1976, under the auspices of Lu Binkui, the man who established the first hospital and university in Nanjing

By the late 1970s, they isolated Taxol from the yew extract. Taxolstops the division of cells, including cancerous ones. In 1989, the results of a trial of Taxol taken by women with ovarian cancer showed that 30 percent of the patients improved, and the Food and Drug Administration approved Taxol’suse as a drug in 1993.

In the 1970s, cocaine emerged as the fashionable new drug for entertainers and businesspeople. Cocaine seemed to be the perfect companion for a trip into the fast lane. It “provided energy” and helped people stay “up.”

In 1979, the National Association for Chinese Medicine was established, and many of the traditional texts underwent editing and were republished. In these last few decades, while Chinese medicine has existed in a fragile state, hope has also sprouted as interest in it grows both in China and abroad.Chinesemedicine has undergone nearly 100 years of rejection and attack, yet it wasn’t eradicated.

In 1989, Pat Reppert of

Shale Hill Farm and Herb

Gardens organized the

first Garlic Festival held

in the Hudson Valley –

and perhaps on the East

Coast

In 1992, the Kiwanis

Club of Saugerties

held their first Garlic

Festival at Cantine

Field in Saugerties,

New York