History of Hypericum (St. John's Wort)

Hypericum or St. John’s Wort is used widely because of the perception that is a safer, ‘natural’ antidepressant. The Latin name Hypericum derives from the Greek and means ‘over an apparition’ a reference to the belief that the herb was so obnoxious to evil spirits that a whiff of it would cause them to depart the premises quickly.

The name ‘St. John’s Wort’ has its origin in Christian folk traditions. One belief held that red spots appeared on the leaves during the anniversary of St. John’s beheading and symbolized his blood.

St. John’s Wort was first mentioned in Roman times by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD. Around the same times, Diascorides, a Roman army doctor born in Greece recommended the imbibition of St. John’s Wort with special liquids ‘to expel many choleric excrements’.

Diascorides recommended the herb for a host of ailments, including sciatica and for the treatment of poisonous reptile bites.

Over 1,000 years later, the famous German physician Paracelsus was one of the first to mention St. John Wort as are remedy to treat mental disturbances and also other disease.

The modern history of St. John’s Wort extract probably began in 1984, when Commission E of the former German Federal Health Agency, which was determining recommendations for the use of herbal drugs, published a positive monograph about St, John’s Wort, recommending it use for psychoautonomic disturbances, depressed mood, nervousness and anxiety.
History of Hypericum (St. John's Wort)

A Course of Treatment by Egyptian Doctors in 1300 BC

A Course of Treatment by Egyptian Doctors in 1300 BC
Egyptian doctors were well aware of their limitations, however, and were told not to inflict unnecessary suffering on their patients, so there were many case where they had to say at least – ‘An ailment not to be treated’. They were recommended to take note of the treatments and medicines they used and of their effects, so that they had a record for similar cases in the future.

There were medicines to be taken internally, other to be applied to the outside of the body, and others still to be inhaled. Egyptian ingredients that can be identified today appear to be sound herbal remedies. However, some medicines had ingredients such as mice, beetles and dung, which aimed to drive out the demons causing the illness.

The Egyptians had a remarkable knowledge of the way the body worked, and knew about its internal arrangements through mummifying the dead. For them, the heart was the most important organ; they new that it pumped blood round the body, and that the pulse ‘spoke the messages of the heart’. They also knew that injuries to one side of the brain affected the opposite side of the body.

Doctors sometimes used surgery as well as medicine to treat patients, and opened injured skulls to relieve pressure in the brain. Before an operation the surgeon gave his patient a drink, presumably a painkiller, ‘to render it agreeable’. In the New Kingdom the painkiller might have been opium, imported from Cyprus. Because of the importance the Egyptians attached to ritual purity the surgeon and his assistants washed themselves and purified the instruments in fire before the operation. Both of these would cut down the risk of infection.

The Egyptians were a deeply religious people and prayers would always be used as well as medicines, even for the simplest ailments. In difficult cases, magic might be employed. It was also possible to visit temple of a deity associated with medicine, such as Imhotep, which had priests trained as a doctors. At some temples the sick could spend a night close to the god’s sanctuary. During such stay, called ‘incubation’, the patient might be cured by the deity, or dream of the god and receive instructions for treatment. Even if no help was forth coming, the sufferer was spiritually comforted.
A Course of Treatment by Egyptian Doctors in 1300 BC