42 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



HORTICULTUKE IN RELATION TO MEDICINE. 

 By E. M. Holmes, F.L.S. 

 [Lecture given on May 23, 1905.] 



Although the art of horticulture must have commenced at a very early 

 period in the history of civilisation, the only ancient records available 

 indicate that little if any regard was paid to the culture of plants for use 

 in medicine. The character of the earliest gardens is suggested by the 

 brief description of the Garden of Eden, which contained every tree that 

 is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The mythical account of the 

 Tree of Life is chiefly interesting from a medical point of view in that 

 it indicates a belief that medicinal and life-giving properties reside 

 in plants, and the story of the creation of Eve in that it recognises 

 the possibility of surgical operations being performed under the use of 

 anaesthetics or hypnotism, such as might have been known to the 

 Egyptians. The fact is probably often overlooked that it was when 

 Adam was cast into a deep sleep that the first and most extraordinary 

 surgical operation on record was stated to have been performed. 



It may be interesting here to inquire how a knowledge of the 

 medicinal properties of plants was first obtained. Doubtless, in the case 

 of savages, by experiment as to the edible nature of plants, as in the case 

 of Eve, or as to their cooking capabilities, as in that of the sons of the 

 prophets who gathered wild gourds and shred them into the pot, discover- 

 ing thereby the bitter, purgative, and griping properties of the now 

 valuable medicinal colocynth, or bitter apple, a plant not uncommon in 

 Palestine. To imaginative persons any characteristic feature of a plant 

 would naturally suggest a particular use, and would be taken as an indica- 

 tion that Nature signified that the plant should be so used, and thus 

 doctrine of Signatures, as it is called, apparently developed. Many 

 instances of this belief occur : one can easily understand that the extra- 

 ordinary likeness of the seed of the strophanthus to an arrow should 

 suggest to the untutored savage its use as a poison for arrows : that the 

 red colour of certain plants (e.g. Polyporus sanguineus) should be taken 

 as an indication of their value for stopping bleeding, and that the yellow 

 colour of others should point them out as a remedy for jaundice, as, for 

 instance, berberry bark (Berberis vulgaris). 



The mandrake [Atropa Mandragora) is another instance of this belief. 

 The root occasionally presents a faint resemblance to the human 

 form, and this apparently suggested its use to Rachel as a remedy for 

 sterility. Even at the present day the root is sold in Egyptian bazaars as 

 a charm. A trimmed specimen brought thence a few years ago, by Mr. 

 W. Martindale, presented a stronger resemblance to the human body than 

 it would otherwise have done. Its use probably led to the discovery that 

 it possessed anaesthetic properties ; for, as shown by Dr. Sylvester, it was 

 used in ancient times, before undertaking surgical operations, as we use 



