Herbalism is the oldest form of medicine in the world. It has been practised for thousands of years, and is still the most widely used method of healing in existence. This concise history reveals the development of herbalism through the ages, a unique journey from Neolithic Kurdistan to present-day Edinburgh. It also contains the casebook and autobiography of Duncan Napier, a Victorian practitioner of herbal medicince, with notes from a modern herbalist. From the creation of Lobelia Syrup for coughing to the 48 foot tapeworm, the history of Napiers makes for fascinating reading.


Tom Atkinson was an RAF Commando in the Second World War, and worked for 20 years as an advisor to the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. He established Luath Press in 1981 and has written a number of guidebooks to the Highlands. He became interested in herbal medicine when his long-standing duodenal ulcer was cured by a herbalist in Wales.