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MEDICINAL HERBS AND THEIR USE
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MEDICINAL HERBS
EDUCATIONAL ROUTE
I. MEDICINAL PLANTS
AND THEIR USE
II. THE APPLIED ARTS
IN THE FIELD OF MEDICINAL PLANTS:
BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATIONS
ON PAPER, CERAMIC AND GLASS
III. THE SPICE ROUTES
IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE
RESERVATIONS
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Medicinal plants and popular traditions
An ancient legend tells that Asclepius, the mythological god of medicine, had learned the art of healing after seeing a dying sheep make a special effort to eat a wild plant, upon which it regained its strength.
Man probably began to use wild plants to cure his ills after seeing animals do so instinctively, as in the case of Asclepius's sheep. The use of natural plant remedies developed over the millennia until it was transformed into the science of medicinal plants or phytotherapy. Man still makes use of plants today, despite the fact that development of chemical treatments and pharmaceutical science seems to have supplanted this ancient art.
The use of easily taken and fast-acting drugs has only made the use of slow but effective "grandmother's remedies" appear to have fallen into disuse, but the body of knowledge in the field of medicinal plants has remained active in popular tradition and is handed down from generation to generation orally. Medicinal plants cultivated in the Middle Ages, such as sage, rosemary, chicory, mallow, etc., are still used today in spite of historical and technological changes.
Currently, the traditional use of plants is relegated to the memory of the more elderly, who act as the depositaries of an ancient wisdom that is slowly being lost. However, it is also true that the greater part of their knowledge has been written down and codified.
Moreover, everywhere there exists a specific body of knowledge relating to local plants, their use and the methods of collection.
The
methods
used to transform plants into medicinal remedies were and remain fundamental to the effectiveness of the final product.
The same
techniques for the preparation
and application of herb teas, decoctions and pomades were very simple but effective and are substantially the same as are used today.
Popular medicine survived the advent of official medicine, which became established at the start of the thirteenth century at the time of the first universities, because the poorest classes, linked to agriculture, continued to practice self-treatment with officinal plants or the intermediation of healers. Popular medicine included a magical component whose purpose was to keep at bay malign forces, which were considered to be the causes of sickness.
The properties of the plants, meanwhile, had the task of curing the symptoms. In some cases official medicine also made use of popular plant-based remedies before and after the advent of chemistry.
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