Green Medicine: The Search for Plants That Heal by Margaret B. Kreig (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS Green Medicine: The Searchfor Plants That Heal. By Margaret B. Kreig. Chicago: Rand McNaIIy, 1964. Pp. 462. $5.95. That skilled science writer Margaret Kreig offers what appears to be the first popular history of medicinal plants. Most scientists and laymen who are interested in medicinal plants are familiar with the classic 4000 Years ofPharmacy by Charles H. LaWaIl (18711937 ), but few apart from pharmacognocists are acquainted with the earlier two-volume work by Hermann Peters.or the many accounts ofherbáis, such as those by E. S. Rohde, A. C. Klebs, CharlesJ. Singer, A. R. Arber, or Dr. and Mrs. Moldenke. A standard reference remains the History ofPharmacy by Edward Kremers and George Urdang, but it is not detailed with regard to medicinal plants. In meeting this need, Margaret Kreig has written a delightfully informative and exciting book about the search for plants that heal. It should be of great interest to pharmacognocists, pharmacologists, psychologists, anthropologists, members ofthe health professions generally, and to all good people who enjoy adventure and good storytelling. She carefully lists the important pharmacognosy sources, beginning with T. W. C. Martin's Grundriss of 1832. Mrs. Kreig was staked in her venture by her husband. Happily for her, her parents took care ofher three boys while she accompanied a scientific expedition down the Amazon, under the direction of Bruce Halstead, Director of the World Life Research Institute of Colton, California. Spending four years in study, travel, and interviewing in preparation for her effort, Margaret Kreig has produced a book that is exceptional in many ways. It is well illustrated and skilfully written. The information in it is not conventionally detailed but is artistically organized, and it is interwoven so well with sharp personal observations and commentary that it is extremely beguiling. It is well documented, although not in a conventional manner, and it is well indexed. Written with verve and ability, the book is organized into three major parts. The first part gives an account ofthe many individuals who have sought for worthwhile remedies from plant sources. This includes a rather long introductory account ofthe effort to obtain strophanthus as a source for steroids. The search was not particularly satisfactory, since yams, from Mexico, turned out to be much more suitable as raw material for steroid drugs than the exotic strophanthus from Africa. The account proceeds with an intriguing description ofthe work ofDr. Richard Evan Schultes in his search for rare plants in the Amazon region. In the second part of the book Mrs. Kreig gives "Biographies of Botanicals" in a brilliant manner. She describes "The Incredible History of Quinine" in a skilful way, although she does neglect Clements Markham. She does fulljustice to William Withering 415 and his extraordinary introduction ofdigitalis in the late eighteenth century. She goes on with the descriptions ofcurare, chaulmoogra, sarsaparilla, and yams. The last part ofthe book is devoted to "Frontiers ofResearch." It opens with an interesting account of periwinkles and the promise of active principles from them which might be useful in cancer. There is an admirable account ofrauwolfia, the Hindu "snakeroot " which contains so many active chemicals useful in psychotic conditions. This introduces a considerable discussion ofdrugs for mental conditions, including compounds of ergot, morning glory, and mushrooms. The book ends with briefdescriptions ofdrugs from the sea and an enthusiastic closing about the way in which the worldwide search continues. Altogether, Green Medicine is a charming, delightful, informative, and valuable book. It can well serve to inspire many young naturalists to undertake the increasingly difficult but always rewarding search for plants that may be helpful in our continuing effort to control disease, sickness, and pain. Chauncey D. Leake University ofCalifornia San Francisco Medical Center The Inner World ofMental Illness. Edited by Bert Kaplan. New York: Harper and Row, 1964. Pp. 467. $3.95 (paper)· Here is a splendid book that ought to be in the library ofevery physician today—certainly ofevery physician who would like to learn how the mind ofthe mentally disturbed patient works. In 1908 I bought the book, thenjust published, by Clifford Beers The Mind That FoundItself. In it I learned so much about the working ofthe mind ofamanwho had become mentally...