The Caribbean offers one of the most complex ethnological reservoirs of beliefs and traditional medical knowledge in the world. This book examines the traditional medical practices of the 18th century Jamaica and 277 medicinal herbs used in the treatment of 189 identified illnesses in John Lunan's work "Hortus Jamaicensis or Botanical Description..." published in 1814. The aim and scope of this book are five-fold.
To provide a complete list of the 277 medicinal herbs recorded in Lunan's work on Jamaican medicinal herbs, what illnesses they were used to treat, and the anecdotal accounts of their effectiveness. To place the use of medicinal herbs of the 18th century in the historical context of the development and structure of traditional medicine in Jamaica. To provide comprehensive contextual information on the etiology, preparation, and treatments that guided the use of medicine in the 1700s, including humors, astrology, and traditionally assigned active characteristics of plants relative to their function in treatment. To provide the modern terminology and the scientific analysis of the plants in relation to their phytochemicals and bioactive ingredients. To provide a record of how the plants used in Jamaica are used in other countries around the world today.