Description
Book SynopsisA fascinating picture of how `natural' remedies survive into contemporary use. Many domestic plant remedies were used within living memory in rural East Anglia - and indeed survive today, as shown in this volume. Informants have been for the most part elderly country people, and in almost every instance, this information has never been written down, but has been preserved orally from one generation to the next. A surprisingly large number of these native plant remedies has come to light, and an analysis of them brings out many interesting points, including the apparent accuracy of oral testimony, when compared with written information on the subject of plant remedies. Another perhaps surprising point to emerge is that new plant remedies are still being developed, some involving the use of widely grown food vegetables.
Trade ReviewFor most readers this book will offer something both new and interesting. Judged simply by its entertainment value, Hatfield has produced a very good book [that] contributes something quite important to a growing historiography of self-dosing, lay-medicines and commonplace books, extending by some one hundred years the time frame for a meaningful analysis of these issues. [...] It is well worth reading. * THE JOURNAL OF RURAL HISTORY *
This little book fills an important gap in the twentieth century usage of herbs in domestic medicine in the British Isles. It is a tonic to read Gabrielle Hatfield's seriously respectful treatment of it and the seam of wisdom she mines there. * THE HERBAL THYMES *
