In the study of herb remedies for the cure of abnormal conditions we find that nature is a most wonderful provider. Not a want or real need of any creature or thing upon this earth can be, unless there is in existence somewhere the material with which to supply that want. It is quite true that the want may never be supplied, but that is not because it could not be, but because of our ignorance or inability to comply with the laws of nature with out limited means. I am an optimist and believe that in the course of time sin, sickness, and misery will be reduced to a minimum so small that health and happiness will be hard to appreciate for want of comparison.
There are some of the ills of the present time, however, which is many cases refuse to yield to the ordinary remedies commonly used by physicians, and even to the good herb remedies of which we have been studying, but we have not learned all there is to learn about the priceless treasures of nature, so we will continue out studies until each mother, daughter, father, and son has had an opportunity, at least, to learn something of the best known, most valuable, and easily obtained natural remedies.
There are many readers of the Home Health club lectures who in some way have conceived the idea that I do not use, recommend, or allow the use of any medicine by the patients who come to me for help. This, however, is an erroneous impression, for I have often stated that I believed there could be found in nature a cure for almost every ill that human flesh is heir to, but, unfortunately, we are not yet wise enough to find out and apply all of them. Perhaps, in the course of time, all these wonderfully beneficial possessions of nature may be made plain to us. Many things are being discovered day to day, which, in the grand total, add to the sum of human happiness and relieve human suffering. New combinations and uses of foods, herbs, and other materials supplied by an all-wise Creator are the fruits of toil, thought, and experiment by earnest, honest workers.
The fact remains, however, that many of the supposed new discoveries of today that are heralded from the house top and make the supposed discoverer famous for a brief period, are simply the good old-fashioned remedies of our great-grandmothers, relegated to the rear and long neglected by the great majority of medical men. Yet their virtue remains, and when accidentally discovered by some modern graduate of our splendid colleges, the revelation is such a surprise that he can hardly believe the evidence of his own senses.
About a year ago I was called in consultation with one of the most successful practitioners of medicine which it has been my good fortune to meet in many years. He was frank and honest and when he found a case that did not yield to the prescribed remedies of the system which he had been taught, he was quite willing to use any other remedy that would effect a cure. In other words, he wanted to cure his patient, and cared not who supplied the remedy if he was satisfied that harm would not follow its use. The case proved to be a stubborn one in which the kidneys were involved, and he could not make any decided change in the condition. Before I had made any suggestion he told me that he had once before treated a similar case a number of miles in the country, and was about to give it up in despair when a very old woman living near the patient came in one day while he was there and asked him privately if the kidneys of the patient were not affected. He was surprised at her question as he had not told any member of the family the nature of the disease, but he frankly admitted to the good old mother that such was the case and also that he feared a fatal termination. She told him that if he would first call at her house on the following day before seeing his patient she would give him a remedy that would effect a cure, but that it might take her several hours to find the herbs she required. He asked what they were, saying that he could probably secure them at the apothecary's shop. She smiled in a knowing way and said: "No, doctor, you would not find them there, and if you did, I doubt your using it; so I will not tell you. It will cure your patient if you will prescribe it, but if I were to give it to the family myself they would not allow the patient to take it."
After much thought he decided to prescribe the old woman's remedy, arguing that, as the case appeared hopeless, there could be no harm in a trial, and if it proved a success he might learn a valuable lesson. The patient got well, but the good doctor could not induce the old woman to divulge the secret, and it was in the hope that I might solve the mystery that he had called me in. I was tempted to do as the old woman did - supply the remedy and refuse the formula - but by so doing I would lose an opportunity to benefit many, so I told him the simply truth about a lowly herb which grew in certain swamps and of other herbs that must be combined with it, and what do you think he said? With a look of supreme disgust upon his face at his own stupidity, he said: "Well, I'll be durned, if it doesn't take a man a long time to unlearn some of the fool things which he gets pounded into his head at college. Why, my mother gave me that very thing when I was a boy and saved my life when the doctors had given me up."
He used the remedy, and his patient is alive and well today. What those remedies were, with many others, will be told in these columns in alphabetical order, and after describing the various herbs and their properties, which will take a number of months, I will then give the formula for various combinations of them and their preparation at home, as well as their uses.I will, for your convenience, define some of the terms used in medicine which will occur often and are not familiar to all:
TONICS are medicines which increase the tone of the fiber, Thus giving strength to the system.
NARCOTICS are substances by which the action and powers of the system are diminished. They have the effect of producing sleep.
ASTRINGENTS are agents which bind and contract the fibers of the body.
ANTISEPTICS are remedies used to prevent or arrest decomposition.
EMETICS are medicines which excite vomiting, regardless of what may have been previously taken into the stomach.
PURGATIVES, or CATHARTICS, are medicines which increase the natural motion of the intestines, thereby producing an irregular discharge.
DIURETICS are medicines which increase urinary discharge.
SUDORIFICS are agents which produce copious sweatings.
EXPECTORANTS are medicines by which the discharge of mucus from the lungs is increased.
ANTI-SPASMODICS are medicines having power to allay irritation and spasms.
RUBEFACIENTS are agents which when applied to the skin redden, stimulate, or inflame it.
ANTACIDS are medicines which aid in removing acidity in the stomach.
DILUENTS are medicines increasing the fluidity of the blood.
EMOLLIENTS are agents which soften and relax the fibers of the body.
ALTERATIVE is applied to substances which promote a favorable change in the system when diseased, thus restoring the functions of the body to a normal condition.
COUNTER IRRITANTS are agents applied to the surface which have the power to excite inflammation, or eruption, thus changing the disease from internal to external parts.
PECTORAL MEDICINES are those which have the power to relieve and cure affections of the lungs and breast.
In collecting vegetable medicines, the season for securing the roots is the springs, before the sap rises, or in the fall, after the sap is dead. Barks may be stripped from the shrub or tree at any time when the sap prevents it from adhering to the wood. The outside portion is shaved off, the bark cut very thin, and dried in the shade. Medicinal plants should be gathered while they are in blossom, though their medicinal properties are not wholly destroyed until after frost appears. They must also be dried in the shade. Flowers and seed should not be collected until fully ripe. Dry in the shade. All vegetables for medicinal use, after being dried, should be kept as nearly air tight as possible and in a dry place, and may thus be preserved for many years.
Proceed to Chapter Two
