A Short History on the Medicines of Nature
By Lilian Chia

Way back in the early 1900s, vegetables, cereals and fruits were simply things to eat. Everyone including doctors only thought of these things as substances that will satisfy one's appetite and at the same time supplied fuel to the body. Beyond this fact no one had the slightest knowledge of the healing effects it have on our bodies.

But with the introduction of biochemistry as one of the topics overed in medical schools, human kind began to discover the fundamental, that health and strength do not depend so much on the specific substances we ingest as food, as they do on the vital organic and mineral contents of these substances!

Tomato
When first cultivated, the tomato was thought to be poisonous even by medical men of standing, was considered as a cause of cancer, and partaken of by few people. With its development into a large, luscious fruit-vegetable, the old idea was thrown into the discard with many other erroneous popular opinions, and the tomato was accepted both as wholesome food and as a delicacy. What is the real, though generally unknown reason for its popularity? Nothing less than its richness in organic and mineral elements, possessing as it does, an average of Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, Phosphorus, besides other valuable elements.

Swiss Chard
Swiss Chard, once not even considered either herb or vegetable, but a weed, is now almost as great a favorite as broccoli. Its contents include Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Phosphorus, and other elements just as valuable though less in quantity.

Celery
Celery is possibly one of the most universally appreciated vegetables. Not so long ago it was considered an herb, splendid as a tea for the nervous. Celery, like the tomato and the apple, has developed from a favorite medicine into a food.

Rhubarb
Rhubarb is another vegetable that was considered a medicine of value in constipation. Gradually it was accepted as good material for delicious pies, then as an appetizing sauce, and finally, splendid for the making of wine!