Herbs simple for modern applications of healing with herbs

Herbs simple for modern applications of healing with herbs

What is a herbal simple? The English word “simple,” composed of two Latin words, singula plica (a single fold), means “singleness,” whether material or utilitarian. The term “Herbal Simple” has been applied to any domestic remedy that consists of only one ingredient and the herbal nature.

Simplers were guided in choosing their herbs, partly by observing animals who sought them for self-healing, and partly by discovering for themselves the sensitive properties of the plants, revealed through their smell and taste; also by their alleged resemblance to those diseases which nature allowed them to cure.

A doctor observing scurvy (a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency and characterized by spongy bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and weakness) and dropsy (swelling caused by excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues, or serous cavities) as widespread and prevalent diseases would deliberately follow the sheep and cattle to observe what plants they were feeding on. and from these simple herbs he composed an excellent medicine, mixed with sugar and water or honey to form a pasty mass suitable for oral administration. Which caused the effects against the same hideous afflictions.

In the same way, it has also been noted by others that "the dog, when not in good condition, would look for certain grasses of a medicine that causes nausea and vomiting or laxative (a remedy used for flushing the intestines. Sheep and cows, when sick, would devour medicinal plants (a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieves pain), an animal suffering from rheumatism would stay in the sunshine as much as possible; (hence Vitamin D) and parasite-infested creatures would often curl up in the dust.

Rather, Herbal Simples attempts to justify their use based on accurate chemical analysis and precise elemental research. From the beginning, medicinal herbs have only given us a traditional value and trained only depending on experience or observation, without applying scientific methods or theories, especially as in medicine.

Their selection has been praised solely by wise insight and judgment, and by the practice of successive centuries. But today, more detailed analysis in the laboratory and qualified testing by experts have broken down the various plants into their components and chemically determined the medicinal nature of these parts both individually and collectively. So that the study and practice of medicinal herbs can now be considered an exact science and the full confidence of the sick in providing trustworthy help and support in times of physical distress can be offered.

Scientific reasons, self-convincing, can easily be conclusive for prescribing all of our best-known native herbal medicines. Among them, elderberry, parsley, peppermint and watercress can be considered as well-known examples of this leading fact.

Juice from elderberries, cooked and thickened with sugar, or mulled wheat from elderberries, prepared from the fruit with raisins, sugar, and spices, was a popular throat remedy. But only recently has chemistry explained that elderberries provide “viburnic acid,” which induces sweating and is particularly effective against inflammatory bronchial pain.

Likewise, parsley is not only a popular pot herb and a garnish for cold cuts, but has also long been popular as a tea for inflammation of the mucous membranes, especially the nose and throat, the bladder or the kidneys. while the bruised leaves were highly praised as a poultice for swellings and open wounds. At the same time, the saying about the herb has become widely accepted that it “brings death to men and salvation to women.” Until recently, however, it was not known that the sweet-smelling plant provides what chemists call “apiol,” or parsley camphor, which, when given in moderation, exerts a calming influence on the major sensitive centers of life—the head and spine.

This would alleviate feverish irritability of the urinary organs caused by cold or other nervous shock. Parsley camphor also proves to be particularly beneficial for female irregularities (while it is used externally to stimulate slowly healing wounds).

Peppermint, its strong, strongly flavored sweet liquor or its lozenges taken as a confection have been popular since the days of our grandmothers to relieve colic in the intestines or to relieve stomach pain from flatulence. However, this practice has proven successful simply because the pungent herb has been found to spread grateful aromatic heat to the stomach and intestines while promoting the expulsion of wind. whereas we now know that an active ingredient “menthol” contained in the plant, which can be extracted from it as camphor oil, has significantly antiseptic and sedative properties, chemically anti-rotting and anti-rotting, and prevents a person suffering from indigestion.