Ancient Medicine: Lamb’s Ear

Ancient Medicine: Lamb’s Ear

We know Lamb’s Ear as the soft, silvery-green leaves in a flower garden that are fun to pick and are especially good for children to “pet”. But once upon a time, Lamb’s Ear was also known as Woundwort, because the leaves were believed to have...
Ancient Medicine: Comfrey

Ancient Medicine: Comfrey

You may have known that honey could be used as a dressing for wounds, and some of you out there perhaps knew that willow bark contained the main ingredient in aspirin, but I dare say not too many people know the uses of Comfrey. Comfrey has had lots of other names...
Ancient Medicine: The Water-Loving Willow

Ancient Medicine: The Water-Loving Willow

Another staple of ancient medicine was the water-loving willow tree. The use of willow bark dates back to Hippocrates in 400 BC. American Indians chewed willow bark to relieve fever and inflammation. Willow bark contains a substance called salicin. Salicin is used to...
Honey and Ancient Medicine

Honey and Ancient Medicine

Did you know that honey has been used for at least 2,000 years as a dressing for wounds and burns? Ancient medicine and the use of herbal potions and tinctures play a role in my first two early historical novels. In the first, A Secret Hope, I gave my character,...
Dioscorides – Father of Modern Pharmacology

Dioscorides – Father of Modern Pharmacology

Pedanius Dioscorides was a Greek physician, born about 30 AD in Asia Minor (now modern Turkey). Two thousand years after his birth he is still remembered for the major contribution he made to medicine and pharmacology. Dioscorides was attached to the Roman Empire...
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