Chinese Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicine is a healing art that has been practiced for thousands of years in China where it is held in equal esteem with acupuncture and Western medicine. Ephedrine, used in the treatment of asthma and Digitalis are only two of the many modern drugs that were described and used thousands of years ago. Recent evidence suggests that some drugs when used in their unrefined state and in accordance with the laws of traditional Chinese medicine may be more effective in treating certain diseases than Western methods.

The book provides for the first time in English a substantial exposition of Chinese herbal medicine as well as a detailed presentation of the many crude drugs that comprise the Chinese pharmacopeia. Designed as a primer in holistic medicide, it opens with a brief overview of history and traditions and a theoretical section that discusses Oriental philosophy as it applies to herbal medicine. Among the topics covered are yin and yang, stages of disease, principles of diagnosis and pathology, and the adaptation of the body to cure.

Material which until now has been unavailable to anyone not fluent in written Chinese is presented in sections "Teas and Other Herbal Preparations" and "Herbs". The appendixes provide thorough cross-indexing of Chinese and Japanese names and their Latin counterparts as well as Chinese characters for these names. The Chinese characters for the formulas enable the reader to go to any of the herbal pharmacies in the United Sates and abroad listed in the appendix and present a chose prescription to be filled.