Herbs and Weeds #6

While an effort has been made here to preserve the content and flavor of Künzle's presentation, there are some concepts he held that have been deleted. He believed that a group of five herbs included in his 9-herb formula called Professor's Tea, are "slightly radioactive, which probably explains their healing power." For one of the herbs, Benedict's Herb (Geum urbanum), he states that "it contains radium." I don't know the origins of the idea that the plants contain radium and are radioactive, but it may have been based on the use of indicator plants for finding mineral resources (some plants are better than others at absorbing certain minerals from the soil; examining the plants can suggest what minerals lie beneath). Regardless, in the modern context, radium content and radioactivity wouldn't be considered a benefit, but a distinct detriment.
Apparently, soon after the discovery of radioactivity (in 1896 by Henri Becquerel) and radium as a source of radioactivity (in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie), this property was thought by some to be responsible for healing virtues of several plants, and Künzle accepted this notion. In fact, at the same time as he was writing Herbs and Weeds, a popular fountain, pouring forth water rich in radioactive radon, was set-up at the hotel Disentiserhof, in Switzerland, to serve as a medicinal therapy. Radon had been discovered in 1900 by Friedrich Dorn, who called it "radium emanation." Künzle also applied the concept of the healing potential of radiation, somewhat haltingly, to crane's bill (Geranium robertianum), for which he said: "This plant possesses the power of eradication [of inflammatory and febrile diseases] because it is radioactive or because the Creator has endowed it with this virtue." Without contradicting the idea of endowment by the Creator, the modern developments of pharmacology have revealed active constituents and mechanisms of action other than radioactivity to explain the purported effects.

Also deleted are some proposed therapeutic regimens in Künzle's original work that did not reflect actual cases he had observed. He presented a treatment for bubonic plague (should it ever arise again), using so-called pestilence roots (coltsfoot and the related herb petasites, also known as butterbur or sweet coltsfoot), with the statement that "after being administered, the powder causes strong perspiration and only persons able to perspire freely can be cured." This concept of perspiration curing a feverish disease is an old idea passed on over the centuries (and mentioned in many healing traditions). There is probably no viable evidence of efficacy for either the pestilence roots themselves, or for induction of perspiration, as a method of therapy for bubonic plague. These herbs are no longer relied on to treat infectious or epidemic diseases, nor is induction of perspiration any longer so assuredly believed to be a treatment for deadly infections as it was in his day. Nonetheless, proponents of natural healing often propose that "cleansing" of the body by eliminating toxins through diuresis, laxative effects, or perspiration will resolve many symptoms and diseases (see the Appendix for Künzle's applications of these methods). Petasites remains a popular herb, but mainly for treating pain, and has been researched as a potentially useful remedy migraine therapy. Both coltsfoot and petasites contain small amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids which carry a minimal but potentially serious risk for liver damage; petasites extracts without this component are now marketed.

Künzle had learned from another priest (whom he did not name in his book) about the treatment of children's diseases and had passed on the concept he learned: many of these diseases were due to insufficient urination. Among the diseases he mentioned were eczema, skin eruptions, and measles as the main cases, but also eye and ear troubles and epilepsy as possible cases. He pointed out that "the urine must be forced," meaning that urination had to be attained in order to get the cure. One of his favored herbs for this purpose was rhizomes of quickgrass (Triticum repens). This, and other diuretic herbs used at the time, may prove of some benefit to these diseases, even if the mechanism of action involves anti-inflammatory or anti-infection properties rather than solely the diuretic actions of the herbs. Naturopathic doctors today also give diuretic herbs as part of the natural therapy for these conditions, following the concept that the disease is due to accumulations of toxins that can be eliminated, in part, by stimulating urination. In China, the doctors indicate that many of these disorders are said to be due to "damp" syndromes and are treated also with diuretic herbs. Modern knowledge of these diseases does not seem to imply a relationship between their occurrence or resolution and urinary excretion, but we don't know if that is simply a missed observation.

http://www.itmonline.org/kunzle/index.htm

www.DEPSYL.com

http://back2basicnutrition.com

http://bionutritionalresearch.olhblogspace.com/