A wide-ranging compilation on the materia medica of the ordinary people of Britain and North America, comparing practices in both places. Informative and engaging, yet authoritative and well researched, Encyclopedia of Folk Medicine reveals previously unexamined connections between folk medicine practices on either side of the Atlantic, as well as within different cultures (Celtic, Native American, etc.) in the United Kingdom and America. For students, school and public libraries, folklorists, anthropologists, or anyone interested in the history of medicine, it offers a unique way to explore the fascinating crossroads where social history, folk culture, and medical science meet. From the 17th century to the present, the encyclopedia covers remedies from animal, vegetable, and mineral sources, as well as practices combining natural materia medica with rituals. Its over 200 alphabetically organized, fully cross-referenced entries allow readers to look up information both by ailment and by healing agent. Entries present both British and North American traditions side by side for easy comparison and identify the surprising number of overlaps between folk and scientific medicine.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

The Kentucky Encyclopedia's 2,000-plus entries are the work of more than five hundred writers. Their subjects reflect all areas of the commonwealth and span the time from prehistoric settlement to today's headlines, recording Kentuckians' achievements in art, architecture, business, education, politics, religion, science, and sports. Biographical sketches portray all of Kentucky's governors and U.S. senators, as well as note congressmen and state and local politicians. Kentucky's impact on the national scene is registered in the lives of such figures as Carry Nation, Henry Clay, Louis Brandeis, and Alben Barkley. The commonwealth's high range from writers Harriette Arnow and Jesse Stuart, reformers Laura Clay and Mary Breckinridge, and civil rights leaders Whitney Young, Jr., and Georgia Powers, to sports figures Muhammad Ali and Adolph Rupp and entertainers Loretta Lynn, Merle Travis, and the Everly Brothers. Entries describe each county and county seat and each community with a population above 2,500. Broad overview articles examine such topics as agriculture, segregation, transportation, literature, and folklife. Frequently misunderstood aspects of Kentucky's history and culture are clarified and popular misconceptions corrected. The facts on such subjects as mint juleps, Fort Knox, Boone's coonskin cap, the Kentucky hot brown, and Morgan's Raiders will settle many an argument. For both the researcher and the more casual reader, this collection of facts and fancies about Kentucky and Kentuckians will be an invaluable resource.

This book documents hundreds of customs and traditions practiced in countries outside of the United States, showcasing the diversity of birth, coming-of-age, and death celebrations worldwide. From the beginning of our lives to the end, all of humanity celebrates life's milestones through traditions and unique customs. In the United States, we have specific events like baby showers, rites of passage such as Bat and Bar Mitzvahs and "sweet 16" birthday parties, and sober end-of-life traditions like obituaries and funeral services that honor those who have died. But what kinds of customs and traditions are practiced in other countries? How do people in other cultures welcome babies, prepare to enter into adulthood, and commemorate the end of the lives of loved ones? This three-volume encyclopedia covers more than 300 birth, life, and death customs, with the books' content organized chronologically by life stage. Volume 1 focuses on birth and childhood customs, Volume 2 documents adolescent and early-adulthood customs, and Volume 3 looks at aging and death customs. The entries in the first volume examine pre-birth traditions, such as baby showers and other gift-giving events, and post-birth customs, such as naming ceremonies, child-rearing practices, and traditions performed to ward off evil or promote good health. The second volume contains information about rites of passage as children become adults, including indigenous initiations, marriage customs, and religious ceremonies. The final volume concludes with coverage on customs associated with aging and death, such as retirement celebrations, elaborate funeral processions, and the creation of fantasy coffins. The set features beautiful color inserts that illustrate examples of celebrations and ceremonies and includes an appendix of excerpts from primary documents that include legislation on government-accepted names, wedding vows, and maternity/paternity leave regulations.

Our health is our most important asset. Health and the provision of healthcare is fundamental to the welfare of any nation. The desire to have and sustain good health cuts across national, cultural, geographic, and political boundaries. Every region of the world has had one form of traditional medicine at some stage in its history. Traditional medicines have been a part of human history all over the world, with knowledge being transferred from generation to generation. It refers to diverse health practices, knowledge, and skills based on ancient indigenous experience that are used to maintain health as well as to cure, diagnose, or prevent illness. This book focuses on ten most popular traditional medicines around the world. It is a valuable source of guidance and direction for organizations and individuals interested in traditional medicine. It provides an introduction to traditional medicine so that beginners can understand it, its increasing importance, and its developments in contemporary time. It is a must-read book for anyone who cares about traditional.

There’s never been a better time to be prepared. "This book is an indispensable basic manual for the real-life issues that await us in the decades to come. . . [A] treasure trove of practical wisdom."—James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere Matthew Stein’s comprehensive primer on sustainable living skills—from food and water to shelter and energy to first-aid and crisis-management skills—prepares you to embark on the path toward sustainability. But unlike any other book, Stein not only shows you how to live green in seemingly stable times, but to live in the face of potential disasters, lasting days or years, coming in the form of social upheaval, economic meltdown, or environmental catastrophe. When Technology Fails covers the gamut. Inside, you’ll learn: The basics of installing a renewable energy system for your home or business How to find and sterilize water in the face of utility failure How to keep warm if you’ve been left temporarily homeless Practical information for dealing with water-quality issues Alternative health and first-aid techniques Each chapter describes skills for self-reliance in good times and bad. Chapters Include: A survey of the risks to the status quo Supplies and preparation for short- and long-term emergencies Emergency measures for survival Prepping water, food, shelter, and clothing First aid, low-tech medicine, and healing Securing energy, heat, and power Metalworking Utensils and storage Low-tech chemistry engineering, machines, and materials Fully revised and expanded, When Technology Fails ends on a positive, proactive note with a chapter on “Making the Shift to Sustainability,” which offers practical suggestions for changing our world on personal, community and global levels.

"Distilling baby's first tear into the eye of a blind man to make him see"; "Plucking herbs upward for emetics and downward for purgatives"; "Stroking one's goiter with a dead man's hand to make the growth shrivel away"--these are not beliefs and customs found among primitive peoples in remote parts of the world but are examples of hundreds of items of magical medicine found in Professor Hand's remarkable collection of essays dealing with this neglected field in twentieth-century Europe and America. Fantasy and imagination still have free reign in people's lives, more than any of us will admit. In a time when science is preeminent, irrational thinking ca lay hold on the mid of man as much as in olden times. Folk medicine has expanded in recent years to include holistic medicine and other forms of alternative medicine, but little attention has been paid to magical medicine. Despite the benefits of medical science in an advance culture, the magical medicine of Europe and America has clung to an unusually rich and original body of magical lore that lies at the base of its folk medical thought. Ethnomedicine in the inner cities of America can be better understood by practitioners who know something about folk medicine and, especially, if they kno some of the basics of magical medicine. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1980.

Readers of this expansive, three-volume encyclopedia will gain scientific, sociological, and demographic insight into the complex relationship between plants and humans across history. Comprising three volumes and approximately half a million words, this work is likely the most comprehensive reference of its kind, providing detailed information not only about specific plants and food crops such as barley, corn, potato, rice, and wheat, but also interdisciplinary content that draws on the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The entries underscore the fascination that humans have long held for plants, identifies the myriad reasons why much of life on earth would be impossible without plants, and points out the intertwined relationship of plants and humans—and how delicate this balance can be. While the majority of the content is dedicated to the food plants that are essential to human existence, material on ornamentals, fiber crops, pharmacological plants, and carnivorous plants is also included.