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Throughout history, herbs have played an important part in a people's medicine. Remains of medicinal herbs in
stone-age burial sites have been found along with written records of herbs and their preparations from the ancient Egyptian,
Greek and Chinese cultures date back to 3000 BC or earlier.
 The most extensive medical record of the Egyptians, the Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1550 BC) found that many types of herbal preparations
were popular. Salves, ointments, teas and alcoholic extracts were recommended for many ailments, from the wounds of
war to a variety of menstrual difficulties. The Greek herbalist, Dioscorides, in his De Materia Medica (55 AD) gave instructions
for many different kinds of herbal preparations including alcoholic and vinegar tinctures. Centuries ago, in the central part of North America, Native Americans, especially
the Cheyenne and Comanche, gathered herbs that grew wild on the Great Plains. They used various herbs but for toothaches,
sore throats, tonsillitis, blood and lymphatic diseases, however Echinacea was an herb of  choice. More recently, early American settlers
learned about local herbs as they pushed westward and eclectic physicians relied heavily on these easily available and harvestable
native plants. Today, many of the preparations available
from manufactures in the United States and Europe are directly descended from ancient sources, including the early 17th century
- Phamacopeia Londonensis (1618), the first official drug book from Great Britain.
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