Posts Tagged ‘History’
Herbal Remedy History In A Nutshell
Since prehistory, humans are known to use herbs as remedies for all kinds of ailments and over a thousand species of plants were recorded for their healing properties. A good example is the depiction of plants as healing agents in the Lascaux caves in France which was dated with Radiocarbon dating process and the result revealed that it was made between 13,000-25,000 BCE
Chemical compounds produced in plants especially those made to protect themselves against predators such as toxins and to fertilize such as pollens, are all known to have therapeutic actions to human bodies. Some well known examples are inulin from the roots of dahlias, quinine from the cinchona, morphine and codeine from the poppy, and digoxin from the foxglove.
Today, herbal medicines are categorized as complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). CAMs are becoming very popular but especially so in Europe where CAMs are mainly produced.
There are numerous types of CAMs, but the most popular of all are herbal teas which are made mainly of leaves, roots and barks of plants. Well known herbal teas are chamomile, peppermint and ginger teas.
Second most popular remedy is the herbal tinctures, which are made by soaking the medicinal parts of plants in alcohol extracts and as a result, they can be stored for a much longer period of time. An herbalist can combine many tinctures and made them into one formula for a particular patient. Similarly, fluid extracts of plants are made in the same way as the tinctures, except that they are much stronger.
Powdered herbs and tablets are probably the easiest to consume and nowadays almost every medicinal herb has been made into tablet and capsule forms. However, some traditional herbalists may argue that the process in making tablets and powder which involve heating and drying may reduce the medicinal properties of the plants.
Herbal ointments and essential oils are for external use only. Ointments are used to treat wounds and rashes, while essential oils are used mainly because of their therapeutic scents that are believed to have effects to the human body and mind. This type of therapy is called aromatherapy and is increasingly becoming very popular all over the world.
Herbal remedies have been around for thousands of years and are hear to stay. They provide a great alternative to over the counter medicne at a greatly reduced price. Anyone who is considering to try an herbal remedy should give it a go because the Pro’s greatly out weight the Con’s.
Daniel Millions
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The History of Plastics and Plastic Surgery
While the subspecialty of medicine known as Plastic Surgery (one of the 22 recognized specialties of medicine) is now so incredibly common, there are few who would not know what it is. But yet, I will occasionally get asked this question by a new patient during our consultation…’now tell me where the plastic goes’…or…’will the plastic used in the operation get infected?’ Indicating that some still believe that the name ‘plastic’ in Plastic Surgery relates to a material and that plastic surgery operations involve putting in plastic materials.
While the time periods of development for both Plastic Surgery and plastic materials are similar, there is no direct link between the two. Plastic Surgery was not given its name because it used plastic materials in surgery. The Greek word, ‘plastikos’, whicih means to mold, shape, or give form to is the meaning behind the naming of the medical specialty Plastic Surgery. And this is certainly an accurate description of what Plastic Surgeons do…shape or mold human tissues into recognizeable body parts for either reconstructive (missing) or for cosmetic (existing) purposes. Plastic Surgery organized itself into a formal society in 1931 with the formation of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, recently condensed to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. It’s first formal training program began several years earlier in 1924 with the establishment of the first plastic surgery residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Formal board-certification in Plastic Surgery started in 1937 which dramatically raised the standards for the specialty.
Plastic materials developed right around the same time frame as Plastic Surgery. The earliest true thermosetting plastics had their beginning in the late 1800s with the commerically successful product known as Bakelite introduced in Britain in the early 1900s. But DuPont with its polyamide (nylon 66) plastic in the 1930s popularized the material here in the United States. New plastics followed quickly such as polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate. (acrylic). All these plastic materials become tremendously popular and necessary during World War II as components of many military products such as aircraft canopies and radar units. And here is where Plastic Surgery and plastic materials share yet another similarity…their development was propelled by wars, WWI and WWII. Military conflicts and the need for personal protection (plastic materials) and in the treatment of their war-related injuries (Plastic Surgery) served as a catalyst for both of their developments.
A final sidenote of both of their pre-WWII history is that they similarly converged to deal with a growing problem in the 1930s…motor vehicle accidents. As cars became more common, so did auto accidents and injuries from the shattering of glass windshields. Most commonly, severe facial lacerations resulted from windshields at the time. Plastic surgeons were a loud voice about this problem and spurned manufacturers, such as DuPont and Monsanto, to develope more-shatterproof windshields. As Plastic Surgery performs many huundreds of different operations from the face and throughout the body, very few have ever actually required plastic materials to make the operation successful. While breast and facial implants, which are very common and popular cosmetic operations today do use synthetic materials, they are a silicone-based rubber material. Technically, not a plastic material in the organic chemistry sense. Only the acrylic cranioplasty operation, where a piece of the skull is replaced by a plastic material, is the only procedure in all of Plastic Surgery where a plastic material is actually used. While not as commonly done today, acrylic cranioplasties are still done by some Plastic Surgeons and neurosurgeons as well.
Dr Barry Eppley is a board-certified plastic surgeon in private practice at Clarian Health in Indianapolis, Indiana. He writes a daily blog on trends in plastic surgery at
