that preferred to see healing in divine hands without negating the value of
medical interventions. In extreme cases, which I have witnessed myself on a
couple of occasions, the name of a seriously sick person was changed in an
attempt to thwart the evil designs of the Angel of Death.
Given the survival of these customs, and an increasingly pervasive
concern about the direction of modern medicine, it is not surprising to
record the continuing use of traditional practices. In recent years studies
have indicated the use of medicinal plants among the rural population of
Israel and within the country’s ethnic groups, especially those from such
countries as Iraq, Iran and Yemen. These substances, usually obtained from
local rather than imported products, are considered to be based on the
Galenic tradition and adapted to an Arabic and Moslem form during the
Middle Ages. The contemporary emphasis on modern therapeutics has
modified this tradition but not eliminated it.
Lev and Amar have identified animal, mineral and especially plant prod-
ucts used in the modern Israeli popular medicine market.^80 They found well
over 200 plant products in common usage. While enumeration of all the
products is beyond the scope of this article many will be familiar to those
who would keep a supply of simple herbal home remedies for minor
ailments not thought sufficiently important to call on the services of a physi-
cian. Thus, there are such common vegetables as onion, cauliflower and
garlic, cereals such as oats, and herbs and spices such as tarragon, worm-
wood, cumin, cloves and dill. Hyssop oil is used for backache, clove oil for
toothache and rosemary remains a popular remedy for kidney stones, while
the use of the seed of the emetic nut Strychnos nux vomica, substantially
having the properties of the poison strychnine, is used for its stimulant
action on the gastrointestinal tract, for itch and for inflammations of the
external ear. In chronic constipation it is often combined with cascara and
other laxatives to good effect. The list of products includes only cultivated
plants. Wild plants are still gathered by healers and patients but they are not
commonly sold in the traditional shops.
The 20 animal products include such substances as beeswax and honey
used for burns, eye inflammation and coughs, but also deer horn employed
as a general tonic and for drug addiction. Musk oil and grain is used for
high blood sugar while snail operculum, from the shell lid, deals with the
evil eye. There were fewer than 20 mineral products available, many, such
as clay, earth, sulphur and ferrous citrate, known also as green vitriol, used
to treat skin problems. Galena, otherwise known as lead sulphide but often
containing silver admixtures, antimony and zinc products, is used for eye
problems. Apart from sulphur the most frequent mineral prescribed was
alum, long known to have antibacterial properties and used in modern
deodorants, is not only used as a disinfectant but also to reduce liver size and
as a general tonic. Nevertheless, Lev and Amar relate that the commercial
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