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The Doctrine of Signatures
- Plants As Medicine
When we're not feeling
well today we hardly think about the amazing variety of medicines
available to us. Whether these medicines are naturally occurring
or are synthetic products we rarely stop to consider what life
would be like without them. What was medicine like in ancient
times? What were thought to be cures, and why? Most historical
evidence suggests that for the vast majority of mankind's existence,
our medicines were derived from plants and were, almost without
exception, incorporated into the religious ceremonies of various
cultures.
Plants have contributed significantly to our treatment of diseases,
with many playing important roles in the development of modern
medicines. Echinacea has been proven to strengthen the human
immune system, compounds derived from Mayapple are used in the
treatment of various cancers, and a chemical found in a Vinca
(Periwinkle) from Madagascar has improved our success in treating
childhood Leukemia to nearly ninety percent!
I've always wondered what caused early healers to believe a
plant would have some curative property. The Doctrine of Signatures,
one of the earliest recorded medical philosophies, proposed that
everything on the planet had been put here by God (or gods, depending
on which culture you study) for the benefit of man. In order
to recognize the specific curative property of any given plant,
one had to be able to recognize the signature which God had placed
on it. Having been granted the ability to recognize these signatures,
the healer was normally a figure of high religious office.
The oldest use of these "signatures" probably occurred
in China, where the extensive use of plants in medicine continues
today. In the Chinese practice, different plant characteristics,
particularly the color and taste, are supposedly related to various
human organs; yellow and sweet help the spleen, red and bitter
work for the heart, green and sour for the liver, and if the
plant is black and salty it is thought to help the lungs.
The formal Doctrine of Signatures was proposed by a Swiss physician,
Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493
- 1541) who adopted the Latin name, Paracelsus. He traveled
throughout Europe as well as in Asia and Africa during the early
16th century searching for new plants and treatments. His doctrine
was further developed and popularized during the European Renaissance
as a logical extension of the then popular belief in the unity
of nature.
Naturally enough, early settlers in this region who found themselves
surrounded by strange new plants had to apply the doctrine to
many new species. In many cases they were aided in their studies
by the Cherokee Indians, and other Native American peoples they
encountered. One of the more common practices at the time was
to look for similarities in appearance between the plant and
a human organ. If the plant resembled an organ it was assumed
to be beneficial in treating ailments of that organ.
Two of my favorite spring blooming wildflowers fall into this
last category. The first is Hepatica, or Liverleaf as it is
sometimes called. We have two varieties which occur in this
area, Round-lobed Hepatica, Hepatica americana, and Sharp-lobed Hepatica,
H. acutiloba. A distinguishing feature of both species
is the three-lobed leaf which was thought to resemble the lobes
of the human liver. Not only did this supposed resemblance provide
the genus name, Hepatica, it also lead to the belief that when
processed into medicinal form the plant would alleviate liver
ailments. This belief was so strongly held that records indicate
in 1883, some 450,000 pounds of the dried leaves were sold in
North America. Modern pharmacological studies indicate that
the plant has no medicinal value.
Another group of spring flowers are the Bellworts, of which
three are commonly found in our area. Large-flowered Bellwort,
Uvularia grandiflora, Perfoliate
Bellwort, U. perfoliata, and Wild Oats, U. sessilifolia
are easily identified by their drooping, bell- shaped, yellow
flowers which resembled the uvula in the human throat. This
led to the Latin genus name, Uvularia, as well as the consumption
of various tinctures and other concoctions in an ineffective
attempt to cure many different throat ailments.
Through a long process of trial and error we know that plants
can provide many useful medicines. Our current estimate is that
there are at least 3 million species of plants on the planet
with only about 250,000 of them having been classified. Of these,
only about 10% have been studied for medicinal applications.
These studies are difficult and expensive, yet for all we know
may provide us with cures for cancer, HIV, or the common cold.
This article was originally published in Travel
Host Magazine, November/December 2003
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