The Practices of Traditional Western Herbalism places the function of westernherbs in their true historical context, apart from homeopathy, traditionalChinese medicine, and Ayurveda. Recently there has been a revival of interest inwestern herbalism, but practitioners haven't been able to explore its benefitsdue to a void of information on the topic - the system of medicine the herbs fitinto had all but disappeared. To remedy the situation, herbalist Matthew Woodhas researched the old-time practices and reconstructed them for modern use. Inresuscitating western herbal medicine and bringing it up to date, he gives hisreaders a powerful tool for holistic theory and treatment. Wood makes the pointthat plant medicines, because they are made from a broad range of chemicalcomponents, are naturally suited for the treatment of general patterns in thebody. He argues against the biomedical model of standardization, in which herbsare refined and advertised as if they were drugs suited to an exact disease orcondition.