-- [ From: Kathryn P. Rosenthal * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --

Hi, Wolf.  You wrote:
>
> in thinking about such things, i began to wonder what the "paleo
perspective" on using plants as medicine is........stuff deleted........
.... i'm more interested in the philosophic answer than the practical
one....

I'd like to have more info. in this area too.  I've been using herbs for
about 20 yrs. and have found some very helpful, while others are simply
dangerous.  I met an old hispanic woman in southern New Mexico last
winter who grows and sells herbs; she has done so for decades.  The
woman was selling some herbs that were actually harmful if taken
internally, yet she explained how they should be used and even
recommended them for babies.  When I (trying not to be too rude) pointed
out that I had read several studies showing that some of her herbs were
for external use only, or even for use as insecticides, she said that I
was totally wrong and that, "All herbs are safe; they are just like
vegetables and anyone can eat them."

So, I began to realize that even though the way humans found out about
the medicinal uses of plants through a long, long process of trial and
error, did not guarantee that they knew what they were doing in all
cases!  For example, the old woman recommended an herb for babies when
they had colic, and that herb would probably stop colic, but was known
to have very toxic side effects.

Wolf, have you thought of posting your "herbs as medicine" question to
the PALEODIET list?  There should be a paleoanthropologist or two who
could answer you, and I'd love to see what they had to say.

Take care,
Kathryn in Michigan