I have been studying herbs and herbal medicine for several years now, with special focus on historical use of medicinal herbs. A great many of our everyday medicines are descended from simple herbal remedies that we have forgotten or laid aside in the interest of commercially prepared and synthetic drugs. For example, willow bark tea, frequently used for headache relief, contains Salicylic Acid from which we now get Aspirin (Thompson). Digitalis, for treating heart conditions, comes from the Foxglove and Quinine, for treating malaria, is from Cinchona, also known as Jesuit's Bark or Peruvian Bark (Thompson). Clove oil was, and still is, used for toothaches. Many of the spices we use in the kitchen including ginger, cloves and cinnamon are antiseptic. The heavy use of spices in food in the days before refrigeration was not so much because the meat was bad at the time of preparation, but because these …