The recent tragic flood has shown that it69制片厂制作传媒檚 entirely possible to go to sleep in a comfortable bed then to wake up with no food, drinkable water or any way to get to a physician. While we currently can enjoy an air-conditioned environment with our choice of packaged foods and advanced medical care, it69制片厂制作传媒檚 easy to become more dependent on our modern amenities. As of this writing flood-stranded folks are still being located who have managed to endure far outside their normal comfort level. In an earlier time and currently in more isolated communities the only resource for medical treatment was natural remedies or folk medicines.
A Back When article from 30 years earlier was of an elderly Melungeon man who had an encyclopedic knowledge of the local plants and their preparation as healing agents He had come from a time when outlying folks had no way of getting to a licensed physician, or the financial resources for a doctor or hospital visit. His knowledge as an herb doctor was a blessing to those less fortunate folks around him. Our meeting had a strong impact which would leave me with a high interest in his craft and which I never had the opportunity to really study.
While it69制片厂制作传媒檚 hard enough to even try to keep up with our modern culture, fewer people deeply study our natural world. One early mentor who had lived in the late 1800s and up into the 1900s once stated: 69制片厂制作传媒淲e69制片厂制作传媒檝e learned a lot since I69制片厂制作传媒檝e been alive, but we69制片厂制作传媒檝e forgotten most of what we learned in the last 2,000 years.69制片厂制作传媒 While my old Melungeon herb doctor friend has been gone for many years and taken his knowledge with him, I still know of one person who might well nearly rival that old gentleman. Doug Scott is a retired Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency biologist who has spent many years studying our vegetation.
On an earlier visit into upper East Tennessee, Doug never failed to identify any plant we came across. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he is the son of Dr. Charles and Anita McWhorther Scott and would have a year younger sister, Carolyn. The family would move around as Dr. Scott worked on acquiring his OBGYN credential. While young Doug was in Grahramwood Elementary School in Memphis, the family would move to Morristown for Dr. Scott to begin his practice.
Arriving in Morristown in 1959 young Doug would undergo a big change after beginning the 6th grade at Rose School with such memorable friends as John Hughett and Doug Deering. Two years at Morristown Junior High would be followed by graduating from Morristown High School in 1865. Moving on to the University of Tennessee, he would graduate with a degree in Forestry and would later receive a Master69制片厂制作传媒檚 Degree in Wildlife. In 1974 Doug would take a position as a biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency where he would stay for 34 years before retiring as the Assistant Regional Manager of the East Tennessee Region in 2008. Having not long ago having lost his beloved wife, the former Cathy Birely, Doug has daughters Julianne and Holly, along with grandchildren Chase and Chandler Edwards, along with Riley Collins.
Friend Dr. Greg Sexton has an interest in the relationship between healing plants and the beginning of the modern medical industry and was along for our visit. Doug and his long time friend, Judge Dennis Inman had been visiting upon our arrival, where Doug had laid out an array of plants with different uses. He would relate that his great grandfather had been a herb doctor in Kentucky, which was a key to Doug69制片厂制作传媒檚 interest.
As a disclaimer for those who might try some of the following remedies, Doug would quickly qualify the dangers of using wild plants in the place of prescribed modern medications by a physician,
69制片厂制作传媒淚69制片厂制作传媒檝e always been interested in the uses of plants and many people today are interested in herbal remedies69制片厂制作传媒, he added. 69制片厂制作传媒淵ou must get to thoroughly know the plants because so many toxic plants can be very similar to medicinal plants and cause bodily damage and even prove fatal. You must know the proper way to prepare them and be very careful with the dosages. It69制片厂制作传媒檚 easy to go overboard, so you must be careful. Many plants can be used in teas, or in a mixtures where 100% moonshine is often the best agent69制片厂制作传媒, he would strongly advise. Medicines from wild plants should only be made by the most highly experienced crafters and only used by a qualified physician
Handing Greg a long stalk of Joe Pye Weed Doug would tell that it was used for the flu, croup, whooping cough, rheumatism, as a diuretic, and for liver and kidney ailments. Next would be the common Dandelion where all parts of the plant have also served as food, and the dried roots having been used as a substitute for coffee. Dandelion roots were also brewed as a tea for liver, kidney, gall bladder and bladder ailments as well as for anemia and as a blood purifier.
Boneset is found in moist low ground and was used by Native American groups and would become common remedy by early Americans for fever, colds, flu, arthritis, rheumatism and gout. It would be widely used into the early 1900s with reported success. Plantain is commonly found on poor soil and would be a common folk medicine. After bruising the leaves it would be applied to bee stings, cuts, bruises, burns, slight wounds, sores, and spider and insect bites.
Agrimony would originally come from Europe and would be used as a tea for digestion and nerves as well as a poultice for wounds with its natural antibacterial properties. Native Americans would use the seed heads for diarrhea and fevers along with a root tea to build the blood. A herbal tea would be made from the whole plant and used for diarrhea, inflamed gall bladder, urinary issues, jaundice and gout. Gargled in the mouth, it was used for mouth ulcers and throat inflammation.
Wintergreen would be used for kidney stones, colds, headaches and sore muscles. Goldenseal, which comes in several species, could be made into a tea from its leaves and mature flowers for asthma, colds, allergies and as a natural antihistamine, while Purple Cone Flower (Echinacea} could be used in colds, flu and infections. Nettle leaves would be boiled into a tea and used as a blood purifier, diuretic, gout, rheumatism, poor circulation and internal bleeding.
A Catalpa tree has a large leaf and a seed pod that when dried into an 69制片厂制作传媒淚ndian cigar69制片厂制作传媒 it could be smoked and would have that would have a mild sedative effect, while the root bark could be made into a poltice for snake bite. Yarrow is a plant that was carried by Greek soldiers as a treatment for cuts and wounds. Sassafras is a unique American plant which at one time exported overseas and was commonly used as a spring tonic, but which only smaller amounts should be consumed. White Willow leaves which contains a chemical similar to aspirin (salicin) has long been used for such as fevers, arthritis, skin issues, tooth aches and other ailments with some benefits coming from chewing the twigs.
Sassafras, an unique American plant, was once exported to Europe also has many usages, but some sources say not to drink large amounts of the tea. Persimmon leaves contain Vitamin C and a tea was used for scurvy and was a natural antihistamine, while Mullein was used for bronchitis and chest congestion. Another long ago Back When article told of a Bean Station area doctor who had developed a cure for skin cancer with one of the elements being from the Slippery Elm where the inner bark was used for an upset stomach and digestion issues. Second only to Ginseng, Goldenseal was most lucrative medicinal plant on the early plant market.
Keep in mind that this article is only a primer for early medicines, before doctors and modern medicines were avaiable, and is to be used only in a historical context.
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