Book Review: The Backyard Medicine Chest

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The Backyard Medicine Chest: An Herbal Primer
• By Douglas Schar
• Elliot and Clark
• PO Box 21038, Washington, DC 20009-0538, 1995
• Softbound, 160 pages
• $12.95
• ISBN 1-880216-28-0.

The Backyard Medicine Chest is a primer for the would-be herbalist, intended as a simple, fun, entry-level herbal for the reader who has little previous experience with the medicinal uses of herbs. It contains inexpensive herbal solutions to thirty common ailments that are usually treated with nonprescription drugs: digestive problems, respiratory problems, female problems, problems with muscles, joints, and back, nervous problems, and skin problems. The book also offers instructions on making tinctures and a base cream.

Under each major topic is a discussion of individual conditions; among digestive disorders, for example, are diarrhea, constipation, indigestion, intestinal flu and nausea, and hemorrhoids. Each of these subsections includes a profile of a single herb useful for treating that condition. Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum) is recommended for the treatment of diarrhea. Although few herbal practitioners today use it, cranesbill is an effective astringent owing to its high tannin content. Regrettably, little scientific research has been done on this herb.

Boneset is the featured herb for the treatment of influenza and the common cold. Early North American documents show that boneset was a popular remedy for fevers related to colds and influenza. It was also prescribed for influenza by eclectic medical practitioners of the nineteenth century. Laboratory experiments during the past decade have confirmed that various Eupatorium species, including boneset (E. perfoliatum), have immunostimulatory activity. Boneset otherwise has not received much recent scientific study except for the identification of relatively high levels of liver-damaging pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the leaves. Neither boneset nor damiana, which Schar recommends for nervous exhaustion, fits the description of safe and well-researched herbs that the author sets forth in the introduction.

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