The popular use of herbal medicine stems from roots in ancient history, part of which is explored in an exhibition of rare books now on view at Bernard Becker Medical Library.
"Powerful Grace Lies in Herbs and Plants" continues through April in the Drs. Robert J. and Helen H. Glaser History of Medicine Gallery on the seventh floor of the library at 660 S. Euclid Ave. The joint exhibit is presented by the University's medical library and the Missouri Botanical Garden Library. Culled from the two institutions' rare book collections, the exhibit includes 45 herbals, or books on medicinal plants. The exhibit, a year in the planning, was curated by a five-member team representing both libraries.
Since opening in October, the exhibit has drawn three times the number of visitors to any previous show. An explanation for that popularity -- and one reason the exhibit was created -- is the resurgence of interest in the United States in herbal medicine and natural remedies.
"It is becoming very fashionable and very much used in alternative medicine," said Lilla Wechsler, rare book librarian at the Becker library and a curator of the show.
In fact, days before the exhibition opened, one of the plants featured in the show made international news. Scientists validated the ancient practice of using extracts from the Hypericum perforatum, or St. John's wort, to treat depression.
The use of plants as medicine has a history as far back as ancient Greece and China. Even today, herbal medicine is the medical treatment for about 80 percent of the world's population. Half of the 25 best-selling pharmaceutical drugs originated from natural products, and 25 percent of new and renewed prescriptions in the United States are derived from plants. Much of the scientific research that spawned these drugs was initiated by folklore about the healing power of plants.
However, the widespread use of herbal remedies has led to near extinction of some plants. "We wanted to make a note about the importance of conservation of medicinal plants," said Linda Oestry, research librarian at the botanical garden and one of the curators of the exhibit. "Collecting medicinal plants in the wild can decimate plant populations, and so there's growing worldwide interest in the conservation and sustainable cultivation of medicinal plants."
The combination of Wechsler's knowledge of rare books and Oestry's plant expertise created an exhibit that covers more than herbal medicine from the 15th through 19th centuries. Five centuries of advances in printing also are part of the exhibit.
The books in the exhibit are beautifully illustrated, from simple 15th-century woodcuts to detailed, colorful copper-plate etchings and 19th-century lithographs.
An exquisite example of lithography -- and the only book in the exhibit by a local author -- is George Julius Engelmann's "Cactaceae of the Boundary." Engelmann, who helped establish the botanical garden, published the book on cacti in 1858 in St. Louis.
One herbal in the exhibit has branched into cyberspace. The botanical garden has put the illustrations from Hermann Köhler's three-volume 19th-century "Medizinal Pflanzen" on the World Wide Web at www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/library/kohler/.
Along with the books, the exhibit includes a few plant specimens and explanations of many plants' medicinal uses. Also interesting are some of the stories behind the books' creators. For example, Nicholas Culpeper (1616-54), who wrote "Culpeper's English Physician and Complete Herbal," was a proponent of astrological botany. An astrologer and a physician, Culpeper believed disease was caused by planets. His cure was to use the herbs of opposite planets, so that a disease caused by Jupiter, for instance, would be cured by plants associated with Mars.
Elizabeth Blackwell (circa 1700-58), one of the first women to achieve fame as a botanical illustrator, took on the endeavor for her husband: The money she earned freed him from debtor's prison.
Though the works in this multifaceted exhibit are centuries old, they are far from dated.
"Unlike a medical book from 300 years ago, a botany book is still a reliable source," Wechsler said. "These books that were not used much in our library contain a knowledge that is still valid and certainly very useful for modern botanical research."
Along with Wechsler and Oestry, the exhibit was curated by Huber Walsh of the botanical garden library and James Curley and Polly Cummings of the Becker library's Archives and Rare Book Division. The exhibit is open from 7:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to midnight Sunday. For more information, call 362-4235.
-- Martha Everett
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