Table 13.

Healing Qualities/Uses of Three Most Common Simples Modern Pharmacopoeia

Simple	Dioscorides – 100 AD	Paul of Aegina – 600 AD	Late Medieval Texts, 1000 AD – 1300 AD	National Institutes of Health, 2009
Almond (Bitter and Sweet)	Laxative, soporific, diuretic; use for pain, inflammation of the lungs, sores, flatulence, cough, stones, heartburn, dog bites, shingles, headache; provokes menstruation when used as a pessary. Gets rid of freckles. Bitter is stronger than sweet.	Bitter: attenuant and deobstruent of thick humors; detergent. Sweet: moderately hot.	Hot and humid in 1st degree. Sweet almond is weaker than bitter; provokes urine. Bitter is warming, abstergent, expels thick viscous humors from the chest and lungs; cures pain of the side, spleen; brings on birth, provokes menstruation; helps with pain, abscesses, ulcers.	Sweet almonds are a popular nutritious food. Researchers are especially interested in their level of monounsaturated fats, as these appear to have a beneficial effect on blood lipids. Note: Sweet almond should not be confused with bitter almond, which contains amygdalin and can be broken down into the poisonous substance hydrocyanic acid (cyanide). http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-sweetalmond.html Accessed 14 January 2010.
Horehound (White)	Given to tuberulars, asthmatics, and people who cough; brings up congestive matter from the chest; brings on menstruation and afterbirth; cleanses sores and ulcers; relieves side pain; sharpens the sight; used for earaches.	Calefacient in 2nd degree but more dessicative. Removes obstructions about the liver and spleen and those of the chest and lungs. Promotes menstruation. Detergent, discutient, incisive.	Hot and dry in the 3rd degree. Is diuretic; helps chest and asthma by moving cold and viscous humors; works against cough; helps with strangury (inability to urinate).	Since ancient Egypt, white horehound ( Marrubium vulgare L.) has been used as an expectorant (to facilitate removal of mucus from the lungs or throat). Ayurvedic, Native American, and Australian Aboriginal medicines have traditionally used white horehound to treat respiratory (lung) conditions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned horehound from cough drops in 1989 due to insufficient evidence supporting its efficacy. However, horehound is currently widely used in Europe, and it can be found in European- made herbal cough remedies sold in the United States (for example, Ricola®). There is a lack of well-defined clinical evidence to support any therapeutic use of white horehound. The expert German panel, the Commission E, has approved white horehound for lack of appetite, dyspepsia (heartburn), and as a choleretic. There is promising early evidence favoring the use of white horehound as a hypoglycemic agent for diabetes mellitus and as a non-opioid pain reliever. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-whitehorehound.html Accessed 14 January 2010.
Pennyroyal	Warms, thins, promotes digestion. Draws the menses, afterbirth, and embryos/fetuses. Brings up phlegm from the lungs; relieves nausea and stomach pain; soothes inflammations, gout, and itching. Use in a sitz bath for uterine inflations, indurations, and twistings.	Strongly calefacient and attenuant; rubefacient when applied externally; promotes expectoration of thick humor lodged in chest and lungs.	Drying and heating in the 3rd degree. Resolvent, diuretic; calefactive, applied externally for pleurisy; expels viscous humors in the 3rd from the chest and lungs; helps with asthma, nausea, purges phlegmatic and superfluous humors; provokes menstruation, expels fetus; rubefacient, helps spleen. (humors?), helps with asthma, nausea, purges flegmatic humors, helps with wind in the uterus [ventositabus matrices].	The essential oil of pennyroyal may act as an emmenagogue (menstrual flow stimulant) and induce abortion. However, it may do so at lethal or near-lethal doses, making this action unpredictable and dangerous. Future research to determine the safety and efficacy of the less toxic parts of the pennyroyal plant on the menstrual cycle is needed before a recommendation can be made. Medline Plus website, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-pennyroyal.html Accessed 14 January 2010.