The Book of Ginseng: And Other Chinese Herbs for Vitality

332 Pages·1993·48.61 MB·English

by  Stephen Fulder

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STEPHEN FULDER'

THE BOOK OF
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BOOK
THE OF
GINSENG
AND OTHER CHINESE HERBS
FOR VITALITY
STEPHEN FULDER,
PH.D.
Healing Arts Press
Rochester, Vermont
Healing Arts Press
One Park Street
Rochester, Vermont 05767
Copyright © 1980, 1990, 1993 by Stephen Fulder, Ph.D.
All rights reserved. No part ofthisbook maybe reproduced orutilized in any form
orby any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopyingand recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
Note to the reader: This book is intended as an informational guide. The remedies,
approaches, and techniques described herein are meant to supplement, and not to
be a substitute for, professional medical care or treatment. They should notbe used
to treat a .serious ailment without prior consultation with a qualified healthcare
professional.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publicadon Data
Fulder, Stephen.
[Tao ofmedicine]
The book ofginseng : and other Chinese herbs for vitality / Stephen
Fulder.
p. cm.
Originally published: The tao ofmedicine. Rochester, Vt. Healing
:
Arts Press. cl99().
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-89281-491-8
—
1. Ginseng Therapeutic use. 2. Medicine, Chinese. I. Title.
[RM666.G49F84 1993]
615'.321-^c2() 93-14-095
CIP
Printed and bound in the United States.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Healing Arts Press is a division ofInner Traditions International
Distributed to the book trade in the United States by American International
Distribution Corporation (AIDC)
DistributedtothebooktradeinCanadabyPublishersGroupWest(PGW),Montreal
West, Quebec
Distributed to the health food trade in Canada by Alive Books, Toronto and
Vancouver
Distributed to the book trade in the United Kingdom by Deep Books, London
Distributed to the book trade in Australia by Millennium Books, Newtown,
N. S. W.
This book is dedicated to
Joseph Needham, FRS, 'a sage who,
while clad in homespun, conceals on
his person a priceless piece
ofjade'

1
1
Contents
Acknowledgements 1
Foreword: How to Swallow this Book 13
PART BACKGROUND
1:
1 The Root with Two Faces 17
Panacea or panegyric?; Dipping a finger; The bamboo
curtain; The ginseng industry
2 Medicine in a Cul-de-sac 30
The symptoms ofour times; Our favourite diseases; Homo
librium; Homo equilibrium; The rise ofscientific medicine;
The see-saw; Sacrificing long-term health for short-term
survival; The drugs we get are the drugs we deserve; Over
the eastern wall
3 The Chinese Alternative 53
The enigma; The ancestry; The elements; A health which
stands the test oftime; Chinese medicine today; Oriental
drugs and the herbal emperor; The techniques ofChinese
drug therapy; The barefoot doctors' medicine chest; The
harmony remedies
PART EXPOSITION
2:
4 Ginseng 85
*Small root goes, goes, goes'; The plant; The root that hides
from man; Mass production; Ginseng in Europe; Boone's
cargo; Other relativiss; Man-root and mandragora; The uses
ofginseng: Shen Nung and the Encyclopaedia Britannica; The
Cherokees' 'Little Man': Ginseng's relatives in use;
Signposts
5 Analysis ofa 'Celestial Medicine' 118
Brekhman and the Russian soldiers: a sprint into new
territory; Tired mice; Chopping behaviour; Balanced
arousal; Learning and forgetting; Bringing other kingly
remedies into the laboratory; The deer and the spiky shrub;
The deer; Existing Western harmony drugs?
6 Taking It Apart 144
The root gives up its secret substances; Variations on a
theme; New horizons; The supporting cast
7 The Hormone Hypothesis 156
The quest for a theory; Inside the milieu interieur; Fight or
flight; Drugs against stress?; The key: the battle for survival;
Hormones and harmony; The hypothalamic puppet-master;
Ginseng and the stress hormones; 'Ginseng doesn'tjust go
toyourhead, itgetseverywhere'; Anhypothesis;Re-
thinkingarousal;Hormonesandotherharmonyremedies;
Thedarksideofstress;Thesoftkiller;Thehealinglight
PART IMPLICATIONS
3:
8 Towards a Pharmacology ofHarmony 189
Prevention- pure and applied; Medicines for the healthy;
On the road to recovery; On cancer; Postponing the
cardiovascular catastrophe?; Diabetes; Drugs versus drugs;
Harmony therapy
9 The Elusive Elixir 214
Withdrawal ofthe aphrodisiac myth; Hormone help for the
menopause; *A decade to your life?'; Ageing and the
harmony remedies; Ginseng as a geriatric tonic
10 Somatensics 231
'Although living creatures are the utmost in perfection they
cannot overcome exhaustion.' Nei Ching; The art ofarousal;
The next generation ofstimulants?; The poor tonics;
Somatensics; Health and the energy-vampire; Depression:
new hope?; Working with somatensic drugs; Soviet