HERB - balm and ointment documentation (long)

[Gaylin Walli]

>After reading your post on balm & ointment documentation, I pulled our
>Gerard's Herbal and started looking at the pages listed in your post and
>found the info you mentioned.  Looks like I need to start reading Gerard's
>a little every.  What a daunting task!

It was this very task that led me to the discovery that a copy of
Gerard precariously placed on the knees while reading in bed can
effectively teach an annoyed cat to obey you at will. While I was
reading through the book (yes, each and every entry), I would take
notes. As I was reading in bed, the book remained propped on my
lap. But when you lean over to write down something, often you
go one way and that monstrous book goes another. Any cat who
is meowing next to the bed will be effectively flattened when that
book falls on them.

Now, if you really want some nifty information from a secondary
source, I have a fantastic book to recommend:

Majno, Guido. The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient
World. Harvard University Press. 1991. ISBN 0674383311

A copy of the paperback shouldn't run you more than 20$US,
but I'm certain an online source offers is for less, perhaps as
little as 15$US. I personally own a copy of the 1975 hardcover
edition, but I'm told there's no difference between mine and the
paperback edition I've listed above. I honestly can't recommend
this book enough.

The book itself does not focus on balms and ointments, but the
subject is discussed at length throughout the book with respect
to the treatment of wounds throughout history. I found it particularly
fascinating that some of the optimal mixtures listed in historical
document for wound treatments, that is the mixtures of honey or
beeswax or other ingredients are ones that I discovered through
trial and error on my own. The actual discussion of wound healing
from a medical standpoint is accessible to even the layperson and
includes pictures that bolster the text quite readily. The organization
of the book, from some of the earliest time periods through to the
later ones works very well.

My only complaint is that I wasn't particularly impressed with the
method of detailing how wound treatments would be meted out. Majno
takes considerable time describing who/what a healer was/did in
their time period. The etymology alone of these things is utterly
fascinating. But he uses this "person" as the vehicle for describing
which treatments might be made based on conditions they saw. While
fascinating, it was rather tedious to read through for the earliest of
the cultures described. I'm certain that my dismay with this method
of description stems directly from the difficulties inherent in
translating and transcribing ancient languages like hieroglyphics.

Have I blathered on enough? If you'd like to discuss this more,
please let me know. We can do it on list or off, though I'm sure
there are plenty of people on list who would like to participate.

My best regards,

Jasmine
Iasmin de Cordoba
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