HERB - colds and flu - terminology

[Sue Rogers]

There is a book called "Plagues and Peoples" by William McNeil, written
around 1975.  I have only scanned this, not read it in depth, but he
discusses various historical epidemics and what they might have been.  I
really need to review it in more detail - in my copious amounts of spare
time!!!  

One of the reasons that I refer to Gerards (besides the fact that I have
it) is that it is available, since Dover reprints it.  And even though
Thomas Johnson's additions were around 1633, I feel like this is mostly
still writing down practices that had been around for a while.  So it
seems to me that most of the material would fall into the gray area and
be acceptable.  There are some other herbals from the late 1500's that I
have seen quoted (such as Turner's) that seem to match Gerard.  Since I
don't have these, I can't say for sure.  And for that matter, I have not
read ALL of Gerard!  I just think he is a good starting place.  

Some of the earlier herbals are harder to track down, and seem to me even
harder to decipher.  But I work on it - albeit somewhat sporadically.

Suzanna, herbalist, Barony of the Steppes, Kingdom of Ansteorra (Dallas,
TX)

On Tue, 23 Jan 2001 20:02:26 -0500 Gaylin Walli <iasmin at home.com> writes:
>Suzanna sez:
>
>>I wonder if some of the "plague"s that were not the
>>Black Death might have been flu epidemics.
>
>I've actually wondered this myself and was unable to find any evidence
>to support it in the research materials I'd found on the black death, 
>to
>be honest. But just because I didn't find anything, doesn't mean it 
>isn't
>a good theory we have. :)
>
>>Comsumption is considered to
>>be TB, but again the term was used in a more general sense for a 
>chronic
>>lung condition, and might apply to any long-lasting respiratory 
>problem.
>
>True. In looking more, just to prove to myself that I couldn't find 
>the
>word "cold" or "flu" I did come across OOP references to it in 
>Fettiplace.
>
>>If you can find a copy of Gerard's Greate Herball (which Dover 
>reprints,
>>though it is expensive) he has an index by disease in the back.
>
>This would be a good place to start, I think, but again we run into
>the problem that Thomas Johnson added to and expanded the book
>in 1633. I'm thinking about posting the reasons in a separate e-mail
>because I think it would help people figure some stuff out about
>using Gerard as a reference for A&S and the pitfalls that might
>trip them up.
>
>>Because Gerard
>>talks about different kinds of ague and has different treatments for 
>some
>>of them.  So to some extent I disagree slightly with jasmine's 
>earlier
>>comment.
>
>YEAH! You know, this is the kind of thing I enjoy. Someone who's 
>willing
>to disagree for a decent reason. Thanks! You've made my day!
>
>>But on the whole, I agree that the approach would have been
>>more symptomatic treatment (still what we do today for colds...)
>
>Okay, so did anyone save the period chicken soup reference for
>treating the sick? I know we have it in the archives somewhere....
>
>Iasmin
>
>Iasmin de Cordoba, iasmin at home.com
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