Evidence suggests that Neanderthals, living 60,000 years ago in present-day Iraq, used plants for medicinal purposes following the example of animals. The first generally accepted use of plants as healing agents was depicted in cave paintings discovered in the Lascaux caves in France, which have been radiocarbon dated to between 13,000 - 25,000 BC.  About 16 centuries before the birth of Christ, German medical scholar Paul Unschuld tells us that in the Shang Empire, we find the first written evidence of the Chinese use of herbs for healing.

Plants that are used as medicines have been referred to as “herbs” for over 4,000 years by European and the Mediterranean cultures. The word “herb” is a derivation of the French word “herbe” and the Latin word “herba.”

Brief History

The invention of writing became the focus around which herbal knowledge could accumulate and grow.  About 2000 B.C.E., King Assurbanipal of Sumeria ordered the compilation of the first known Materia Medica – an ancient form of today’s United States Pharmacopoeia – containing 250 herbal drugs.  During the Middle Ages, trade in herbs became a vast international commerce and many substances now used in traditional Chinese medicine originated from places such as Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and the Americas. 

During the 1600’s, society saw the first two-tier health system emerge: herbs for the poor and exotics (plant, animal, or mineral extracts) or drugs for the rich.  In the 1700’s, Dr. William Withering was the first to isolate an active constituent from a plant, including foxglove which became to be seen as so potent that only licensed practitioners were permitted to use it. 

In the 1800’s, herbal medicines started being replaced by mineral-drug-based treatments and serious side effects began to be documented.  It was also during this time that Eclectic medicine was born, a blend of the old and the new – using modern science to understand the body and herbs to treat the diseases – which was an extension of early American herbal medicine traditions. The Eclectic doctors were doctors with a philosophy of “alignment with nature,” and they eventually numbered in the thousands, published numerous books and journals, and treated millions of patients over many decades, primarily with herbal medicines. In the U.S., the regular doctors were appalled at the success and popularity of the herbal healers and in 1847, the American Medical Association was founded to serve as a focal point for the concerted effort to wipe out natural remedies in favor of new drug remedies. One way to do this was to issue licenses to practice medicine based upon achieving certain standards of competence. Their requirements for approval included laboratories and texts that were not used or needed by herbalists.  Herbal and eclectic medicine in the USA virtually died out for the next 60 years, preserved only in folk tradition and by the Natives.

Medicinal herbs began to make a come-back when they were extensively used during World War I as drugs were in short supply. 

Herbal Medicine Today

Today, the use of herbs to treat disease is almost universal among non-industrialized societies.  The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of the world’s population presently uses herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. Herbal medicine is a major component in all traditional medicine systems and a common element in Ayurvedic, homeopathic, naturopathic, traditional Chinese medicine, Eclectic medicine, and Native American Indian medicine.

At one time, herbalism was an honorable profession that laid the foundations of modern medicine, botany, pharmacy, perfumery, and chemistry.   Many traditionally-used herbs have been put to the scientific test and many have proven to possess remarkable curative powers and is one reason for the renewed interest in herbalism that we are seeing today.  Scientists abroad have validated the efficacy of many medicinal plants, from Europe to the Orient.  However, almost all of the current research validating herbal medicine has been done in Germany, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Russia. Even though substantial research is being done in other countries, drug companies and laboratories in the U.S., so far, have chosen not to put much money or resources into botanical research.  The result is that herbal medicine does not have the same place of importance or level of acceptance in the U.S. as it does in other countries.

As more people become aware of the dangers inherent in the synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and modern highly processed foods, they are becoming justly concerned with the impacts these products may have on their ability to attain and maintain excellent long-term health.  As a result, a renewed interest in natural remedies, including herbs, is emerging.

Health, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a state of complete physical, emotional, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.  Northland Holistic Health provides enlightened guidance on how a natural approach to health can address a wide range of health issues confronting people today.