Where we lived, we didn't go to doctors. We dosed ourselves with the herbs all around us, and I think kids were healthier then than they are now.' Like other self-reliant folk in the hills and hollows of Appalachia, Ethel Radford follows the traditional healing arts of her ancestors. 'When the babies were fretful, a little warm catnip tea soothed them, and we made a fine cough medicine for croup from honey, vinegar, and alum.' Across the United States and throughout the world, many people still relay on nature's pharmacy to remedy their aches and ills. 'Such use of natural products-leaves, barks, roots, blossoms, and other parts of herbs and trees-is almost as old as mankind,' writes author Lonnelle Aikman. 'In fact, the botanical kingdom was by far the main sources of all drugs until synthetics came of age during the present century.' Nature's Healing Arts-illustrated with more than 185 vivid photogrphs and specially commissioned paintings-explores the saga of man's search for healing products, from the time-honored cures of country herbalists to the latest research by laboratory scientists. Many folk remedies have led to modern medicines, and today a growing number of scientist and physicians are turning back to nature for sources of new drug compounds. Natural medications continue to help fight age-old scourages-malaria, smallpox, and leprosy-and offer promise in developing cures for cancer, heart disease, and mental health problems. Exciting prospects for the future lie in undersea research, as marine scientists study organisms that may yield new 'wonder drugs.' 'It's almost as if nature were fighting back against the encroachments of modern civilization and technology,' writes Lonnelle Aikman, 'by speaking ever louder to those people with ears close enough to the ground to catch the clues ot her long-hidden mysteries.' Contents Foreword Folk medicine: An enduing art Legacies from the past Dawn of modern medicine Ancient scourges held at bay Toward conquests of old killers In pursuit of health Acknowledgments Additional reading, and scientific names of plants and animals Index