The Reformed Botanic Practice; and the Nature and Cause of Disease Clearly Explained

John Hollins (Herbalist)

Jan 1852 · T. Simmons

About this eBook

"We have laid before the public in the following work, the American Reformed Practice of Medicine ... as ... commenced by Samuel Thompson [that is, Thomson]. ... We have endeavoured to lay before the reader whatever is of practical value in 'Thompson's patent practice,' and also the various improvements which have been made by succeeding practitioners ... But, in doing so, we have been compelled to abandon the theory of life and disease as advocated by Thompsonian practitioners generally ... expressing our obligations to Drs. Beach, Mattson, Comfort, Curtis, Worthy, and others ... We are likewise indebted to several of our English physicians who have aimed at medical reform. ... In the Materia medica of this work, we have introduced a considerable number of the English herbs whose virtues have been well tested and proved."--Preface, pages iii-x.

Ratings and reviews

Here is another old book I found with numerous recipes. This book is organized by affliction/disease in the first part. The second part lists recipes and how to make herbal remedies. It tells you how to make herbal tinctures, decoctions and infusions, extracts of plants, syrups, and pills. One thing I like about this book is the way recipes are given numbers. For example, No. 40-Cough Syrup is used for coughs, asthma, and other breathing problems (page 219). This herbal doesn't list every ailment you might run across. It isn't a gigantic herbal with 500 different plants. A lot of the plants in this book are common and easy to grow. Ginger, cayenne, lobelia, horehound, and many other herbs are listed. There are a few herbs that are hard to find like "Guaiacum (guaiacum officinale), but other than a very minor number of exotic herbs, you would have no problem growing your own herb garden or buying herbs to make close to all of the recipes in this book.