Herbalism Western Herbalism Traditions 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Physiomedicalism, a 19th-century American herbal tradition derived from Thomsonianism, emphasized which therapeutic principle?
- High-dose toxic purging to expel disease
- Supporting and stimulating the body's vital force to heal itself (Correct answer)
- Replacing plant medicine with synthetic chemical drugs
- Treating disease exclusively through dietary changes
Correct answer: Supporting and stimulating the body's vital force to heal itself
Physiomedicalism focused on supporting the body's innate vital force using gentle botanical medicines rather than harsh heroic treatments like bloodletting or mercury.
Question 2: The four classical humors of ancient Greek medicine—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—correspond to which four temperaments?
- Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, Melancholic (Correct answer)
- Happy, Sad, Angry, Fearful
- Yin, Yang, Qi, Jing
- Vata, Pitta, Kapha, Tridosha
Correct answer: Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, Melancholic
In humoral medicine, blood = sanguine, phlegm = phlegmatic, yellow bile = choleric, and black bile = melancholic temperament.
Question 3: Matthew Wood's vitalist approach to Western herbalism draws heavily on which classical assessment tool to determine herb selection?
- Laboratory blood panels
- Tissue state theory (hot/cold, damp/dry, tense/lax) (Correct answer)
- Iridology and ear acupuncture
- Astrocartography and birth charts
Correct answer: Tissue state theory (hot/cold, damp/dry, tense/lax)
Matthew Wood revived tissue state theory—assessing whether a patient's tissues are in a hot, cold, damp, dry, tense, or lax state—to match herbs energetically.
Question 4: The American Herbalists Guild (AHG) was founded in 1989 primarily to:
- Lobby Congress to classify herbs as prescription drugs
- Establish professional standards and a peer-review process for clinical herbalists (Correct answer)
- Create a government registry of all herb farmers in the US
- Eliminate competition between herbalists and naturopathic doctors
Correct answer: Establish professional standards and a peer-review process for clinical herbalists
The AHG was founded to create professional standards, an ethics code, and a peer-reviewed membership process for clinical herbalists in the US.
Question 5: Which book, published by John Gerard in 1597, became one of the most influential herbals in the English-speaking world?
- The Physica by Hildegard of Bingen
- Theatrum Botanicum by John Parkinson
- The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes (Correct answer)
- A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve
Correct answer: The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes
Gerard's 'Herball' of 1597 catalogued hundreds of plants with uses and illustrations, shaping English herbal knowledge for centuries despite some inaccuracies.
Question 6: The term 'adaptogen,' now central to Western functional herbalism, was first coined in which decade by Soviet pharmacologist Nikolai Lazarev?
- 1920s
- 1940s (Correct answer)
- 1960s
- 1980s
Correct answer: 1940s
Nikolai Lazarev coined the term 'adaptogen' in 1947 to describe substances that increase non-specific resistance to stress.
Herbalism Western Herbalism Traditions 2
Physiomedicalism, a 19th-century American herbal tradition derived from Thomsonianism, emphasized which therapeutic principle?