An in-depth study of traditional folk medicine in Vermont, written by a formally trained doctor. Folk medicine is an imperative aspect of many Vermonters’ lives and health. Trained medical doctor D. C. Jarvis set out to investigate this traditional approach to herbal medicine and produced this little guide to provide knowledge and understanding of the nature and long-successful uses of folk medicine. An invaluable read for anyone interested in daily increased vitality. The chapters featured in this volume include: - Vermont Environment and the Life Span - The Animal Laws - Your Beginning - Your Racial Pattern and Vermont Folk Medicine - The First Yardstick of Your Health - The Instincts of Childhood - Potassium and Its Uses - The Usefulness of Honey - The Usefulness of Kelp - The Importance of Iodine - Castor Oil and Corn Oil - Medical Reasoning Behind Vermont Folk Medicine

Spells are conjured, herbs collected, and potions concocted in this fascinating history of the practices and beliefs of Norway's folk healers at home and in the New Land.

For the first time ever, an active practitioner describes the history, folklore, and remedies of Southern and Appalachian Folk Medicine in this groundbreaking guide for curious herbalists. This book is the first to describe the history, folklore, assessment methods, and remedies of Southern and Appalachian Folk Medicine—the only system of folk medicine, other than Native American, that developed in the United States. One of the system's last active practitioners, Phyllis D. Light has studied and worked with herbs, foods, and other healing techniques for more than thirty years. In everyday language, she explains how Southern and Appalachian Folk Medicine was passed down orally through the generations by herbalists and healers who cared for people in their communities with the natural tools on hand. Drawing from Greek, Native American, African, and British sources, this uniquely American folk medicine combines what is useful and practical from many traditions to create an energetic system that is coherent and valuable today.

David Hufford's work exploring the experiential basis for belief in the supernatural, focusing here on the so-called Old Hag experience, a psychologically disturbing event in which a victim claims to have encountered some form of malign entity while dreaming (or awake). Sufferers report feeling suffocated, held down by some "force," paralyzed, and extremely afraid. The experience is surprisingly common: the author estimates that approximately 15 percent of people undergo this event at some point in their lives. Various cultures have their own name for the phenomenon and have constructed their own mythology around it; the supernatural tenor of many Old Hag stories is unavoidable. Hufford, as a folklorist, is well-placed to investigate this puzzling occurrence.

In the first comprehensive exploration of the history and practice of folk medicine in the Appalachian region, Anthony Cavender melds folklore, medical anthropology, and Appalachian history and draws extensively on oral histories and archival sources from the nineteenth century to the present. He provides a complete tour of ailments and folk treatments organized by body systems, as well as information on medicinal plants, patent medicines, and magico-religious beliefs and practices. He investigates folk healers and their methods, profiling three living practitioners: an herbalist, a faith healer, and a Native American healer. The book also includes an appendix of botanicals and a glossary of folk medical terms. Demonstrating the ongoing interplay between mainstream scientific medicine and folk medicine, Cavender challenges the conventional view of southern Appalachia as an exceptional region isolated from outside contact. His thorough and accessible study reveals how Appalachian folk medicine encompasses such diverse and important influences as European and Native American culture and America's changing medical and health-care environment. In doing so, he offers a compelling representation of the cultural history of the region as seen through its health practices.

A Classic Collection of Original Medical Remedies and Household Recipes Written by traveling physician Dr. Alvin Wood Chase, this reprint of Dr. Chase’s Recipe Book and Household Physician, on Practical Knowledge for the People, features a well of practical information on dozens of topics and subjects, including: Home remedies for illnesses and injuries Nursing and midwifery Food Household maintenance Beekeeping Medical terminology and diseases And many more! The book provides an in-depth look into more than eight hundred wildly varied and fascinating “recipes” which helped, and can still help, people with everyday health concerns and various household chores. It also gives readers a unique look at what life was like more than 130 years ago.

Recipes for homemade tonics, salves, and poultices that can prevent, heal, and cure common health ailments are featured in this reference to folk medicines. Products in the kitchen cabinet, refrigerator, medicine chest, and garden can replace or supplement many expensive medicines through the innovative formulas detailed. Easing arthritis with a hot pepper cream, relieving back pain with a hot tea toddy, and lowering cholesterol with a dash of lemon juice are examples of the benefits of using these home remedies.

Hailed as a “classic” by leading herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, this botanical compendium provides a wide-ranging history of herbalism and useful guidance for healing with herbs Matthew Wood is one of the United States’ most renowned herbalists and the author of Seven Herbs: Plants as Healers, a watershed book in teaching herbal healing as a part of total wellness. With The Book of Herbal Wisdom, he continues and expands this study, creating a must-read guide for anyone who works in the natural health field or is interested in self-healing with herbs. Wood creates a vast and sweeping history of herbalism, drawing on Western botanical knowledge, homeopathy, Traditional Chinese medicine, and Native American shamanic botany. Detailing the history and use of more than forty plants, he shows how each tradition views a plant, as well as its use in cases drawn from his own herbal and homeopathic practice. An initial section describes signatures, similar, and patterns in these traditions, and elements, temperaments, and constitutions. Wood has two objectives: to demonstrate how herbal medicines are agents of healing and wisdom, and to give the reader a useful catalog of plants for medicinal uses. His clinical observations of his patients bear the wry wisdom of the country doctor; his love of plants is evident in lush botanical descriptions, which show the connection between remedies—whether homeopathic, Chinese, or Native American—and the plants from which they are derived. An introduction to centuries of lore about healing from indigenous traditions, The Book of Herbal Wisdom integrates and describes North American Indian medicine, homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Western herbalism like no other contemporary botanical compendium.

The preeminent doctor and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel is repeatedly asked one question: Which country has the best healthcare? He set off to find an answer. The US spends more than any other nation, nearly $4 trillion, on healthcare. Yet, for all that expense, the US is not ranked #1 -- not even close. In Which Country Has the World's Best Healthcare? Ezekiel Emanuel profiles eleven of the world's healthcare systems in pursuit of the best or at least where excellence can be found. Using a unique comparative structure, the book allows healthcare professionals, patients, and policymakers alike to know which systems perform well, and why, and which face endemic problems. From Taiwan to Germany, Australia to Switzerland, the most inventive healthcare providers tackle a global set of challenges -- in pursuit of the best healthcare in the world.