Herbs in North America

Some historical sources on Chief Two Moon Herb Company of Atlantic City from the 1930s. Fascinating reading on how a Native American founded a patent herbal medicine company and became wealthy. Read how native veterans of the Custer massacre and the Battle of Wounded Knee came to visit in the 1930s.

Irrational prejudice against herbalism by conventional physicians has been by no means limited to the current crop of doctors. 19th-Century Doctors' Thoughts about Native American Medicine Compare these comments with the historical facts showing that Native Americans more than once showed colonists and early Americans how to cure serious diseases, and that many of the herbs used by Native Americans eventually led to the discovery of pharmaceutical drugs used in medicine today.

Classic Texts in herbal medicine

These texts are by no means outdated, and several of the remain as key texts at naturopathic medical colleges and at herbal schools today. They may be of great interest to the medical historian, as they are out of print and hard to find. Modern research supports many of the treatments here that were viewed as "unscientific" fifty years ago.

See extensive textbooks at the sites of Michael Moore and Henriette Kress

Western Medicine

History of medicine

The "Four Humors." Unani Tibb (Greek/Arabic/Islamic) Extensive links and history

Islamic Culture and the Medical Arts The most important influence in Western medicine from about 800 A.D. until 1600 A.D. A presentation by the National Library of Medicine.

Paracelsus, Five Hundred Years: Three American Exhibits Important insights into the shift from herbal to chemical medicines. Also from the National Library of Medicine.

Chinese Medicine

History of Chinese medicine links

Ayurvedic Medicine

History of Ayurveda