Encyclopedia of Folk Medicine: Old World and New World Traditions

Folklore, April, 2005 by Susan Drury

Encyclopedia of Folk Medicine: Old World and New World Traditions. By Gabrielle Hatfield. Santa Barbara, Calif., Denver, Col. and Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2004. 392 pp. Illus. 56.95 [pounds sterling] (hbk). ISBN 1-57607-874-4

This very readable book analyses the traditions of British and North American folk medicine, considering how folk remedies cut across a number of disciplines from botany and anthropology to religious studies and pharmaceutical science. As the author says in her Introduction, folk medicine "should be regarded as the origin of all types of medical practice. It predates any form of official medicine and includes self-treatment as well as treatment by community healers."

Folk medicine, largely based on oral traditions, has always presented considerable complexity and, as the author says, rarely can a particular remedy be traced back to one healing tradition. "For every folk remedy that we have today on record, there are many that have been forgotten, as the chain of oral tradition has been snapped." There has always been the problem that folk medicine has been tarred with a strong element of misunderstanding and a taste for bizarre remedies. This book, however, brings a welcome note of sanity by focusing on the recorded folk remedies and the community approach to healing.

The book is somewhat let down by its illustrations, which are meagre in number and both grey and fuzzy. On the other hand, this is a thorough and well-researched work with easy access via the ailment to be treated and the agent used, plus numerous crossreferences. All entries have bibliographies, often extensive.

This work will be a valuable addition for those interested in the origins of folk medicine and in the remedies used.

Susan Drury, The Folklore Society