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In the history of herbal medicines, there are two chemical found in medicinal plants that were pioneers: cortisone and rauwolfia. Cortisone was produced from an African plant, strophantus, and the Mexican yam, and used to treat arthritis. Rauwolfia is a plant in Asia that produced a chemical which treated high-blood pressure.
Cortisone In the late 1940’s, it was discovered that a drug called cortisone helped people who were crippled with arthritis. An enormous demand arose for this new healing substance. But the only known source of cortisone was the bile (fluid from the liver) of oxen. It took the bile of thousands of oxen to make a single gram of the drug. Since a new source had to be found, scientists turned to the plant world. A certain African plant, strophanthus, had been used for centuries as an arrow poison. It was found to contain a chemical from which cortisone could be made. Scientists already knew that this chemical had a powerful effect on the heart. Scientists then found a Mexican yam that was rich in a chemical from which cortisone could also be manufactured. Mass production of the drug began, enabling millions of sufferers from arthritis to get relief. In this case, unlike most others, the plant provides only the raw material. Further work is needed to turn it into the desired medicine. Rauwolfia Ancient Indian medicine books describe the marvelous cures obtained from the roots of the snakeroot plant, which grows on the mountain slopes. In the 1950’s, a German physician and botanist, Leonard Rauwolf, described this plant that he found on an expedition to Asia. The plant, now called rauwolfia, was though to possess magical powers. It was used to cure everything from diarrhea to headaches. Later, Europeans claimed that rauwolfia roots relieved worry and anxiety. Nevertheless, this plant was not used by scientific medicine until the 1930’s. At that time, Indian scientists began a study of ancient medicinal plants. They found that chemicals from rauwolfia roots lowered high blood pressure and could calm mentally disturbed people. In 1949, a Bombay doctor published his findings on the use of rauwolfia in the treatment of high blood pressure. Doctors in England and the United States tried rauwolfia on their patients. Within a short time, there was a big demand for the drug. Then the research began for the active chemical in the rauwolfia roots, for the powdered root that was being used was expensive, and supplies were limited. Finally, in 1952, three Swiss chemists isolated some white crystals from the root. The chemists called their new drug reserpine. Soon it became possible to manufacture reserpine in large quantities. Doctors throughout the world used it in treating high blood pressure. They also found it had a calming, or tranquilizing, effect on the mentally ill. Today reserpine and similar drugs are used everywhere to calm upset nervous systems and to relieve tension.
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