Work on herbal text may last a lifetime

Calendula is just one of 3000 herbs contained in a 1588 medical herbal text which medical herbalist Sandra Clair has begun translating. Ms Clair believes the book may be the oldest herbal book in New Zealand. Photo by Jane Dawber.

The 1588 book, written in early German, details the use of 3000 herbs and was "a treasure trove of recipes", Ms Clair said.

"The book holds a summary of outstanding herbal knowledge and forgotten recipes that await rediscovery.

"I find it amazing to see how the detailed observations described almost 500 years ago are increasingly confirmed by the latest scientific studies."

Known as the Materia Medica, the book was regarded as the most comprehensive book on herbal medicine in the Western world, and she wants to ensure the knowledge it contains "stays alive", she said.

Ms Clair, originally of Switzerland, has begun the project by concentrating on 12 herbs and expects this initial work will take her at least three years.

She plans to analyse which ancient uses of these herbs are still known today and if their efficacy can be verified by modern scientific methods.

Three European universities have been enlisted to help with the work.

Reading the small, densely written Fraktur font is slow work.

Five hundred-year-old words, which may no longer be in use or whose meaning has changed, have to be interpreted, and weights and measures have to be converted to modern day equivalents.

"I really hope once I have done the pilot study we can enlist other people to follow because this is beyond my lifetime, really.

"There is a lot of knowledge in there I believe we should go deeper into and set up clinical trials to validate it."

Some of her discoveries so far had been "nothing short of sensational", Ms Clair said.

Apparently, penicillin was already known in the eighth century, although not by that name. Foxglove, which contains the compound digitalis, was used to treat a variety of heart conditions, and morphine, which is derived from the poppy plant, is still one of the most important pain-relieving substances ever known.

Prof Jacobus Theodorus Tabernaemontanus, who wrote the text and published it in 1588, two years before his death, spent 36 years summarising the knowledge of the most significant antique, medieval and contemporary Western herbal textbooks available at the time, including the work of Hippocrates and Dioscorides.

The professor was a pharmacist, as well as a medical doctor, and consequently the recipes contained in the book were "very precise", Ms Clair said.

"A lot of books say chamomile is good for stomach upsets, but people don't know how to use it."

The book contains detailed descriptions of the herbal plants with drawings of "outstanding quality and beauty" and describes the virtues of each herb and its uses.

It does not just discuss medicinal uses of herbs, but also talks about food and lifestyles to maintain good health, such as what to eat, what to do to keep skin clear and that a detoxification should be done at the beginning of spring.

Most medical texts at that time would have been written in Latin, but the professor wrote it in early German, so it would be accessible to "lay people" who could not afford medical care as a reference book, as well as to doctors.

Ms Clair uses some of the recipes in products she produces at her natural therapies company, Artemis.

Eventually, she plans to translate her work from modern German to English.

edith.schofield@odt.co.nz