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Sauer’s Herbal Cures: America’s First Book of Botanic Healing, 1762-1778 Translated and edited by William Woys Weaver, Routledge, 2001. ISBN: 0-415-92360-3, $37.50.
In 1762, Christopher Sauer, a Philadelphia printer and business rival of Benjamin Franklin, added the first pages of a serial herbal to the almanac his press published each year so that the country folk who could not afford his books would have “a small herbal at little cost” which reminded them of how to use the plants in their own gardens to dose themselves and thus avoid the high cost of doctors. Nearly 240 year later, the herbal remains a useful adjunct for any gardener seeking to improve their health with the plants at their disposal.
Of course, 21st century gardeners rarely bother with goose fat and rabbit suet as binders, but recipes for ginger candy, lemon balm pancakes, and cinquefoil butterscotch should persuade even the fussiest children to “take their medicine.” Distilled waters, cordials of all types, fancy herbal vinegars and a luscious white wine simmered cherry butter should gladden the hearts of adults. Livestock remedies, mostly feed additives and poultices, are sprinkled throughout.
Why hasn’t this herbal remained in common use? Sauer, member of a Pennsylvania Dutch sect now known as the Church of the Brethren, published in German. Suspicious that the American Revolution was an attempt by English-Americans to deny rights to ethnic minorities such as himself, he remained loyal to the British Crown. Unfortunately, when the Crown lost the Colonies, his resentful business competitors (like Franklin!) saw to it that Sauer lost his printing press. As English became the primary language in Pennsylvania, there was little incentive to reprint a German language herbal by a “traitor.”
As anyone who’s pored over Nicholas Culpeper’s (1616-1656) herbal knows, historical reprints may make fascinating reading, but they are horribly difficult to actually use – especially when someone is sick. William Woys Weaver, a scholar of Pennsylvania Dutch folkways, has not only smoothed the herbal’s original Baroque-era Swiss German into readable English, he includes sections on Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen techniques, measurements, a glossary of 18th century medical terms, an extensive index that references plants, aliments and common uses, then tops it all off with individual essays before each herb in Sauer’s text that puts the plant’s use in context. Thus, while preserving the history of this 18th century document, Weaver makes it both understandable and useful for the 21st century herbalist.
As Weaver himself says, “the Sauer herbal is rooted in the medical thinking of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, yet in its own unique way, it forms a bridge between that era and 18th century Colonial America. It is not a product of the leading thinkers of that period, but rather a barometer of the mindset of the working class. It is a people’s herbal and that is what makes it so fascinating to read over and over again.”
Rosemary Gladstar suggests that anyone serious about herbal medicine should consult at least two or three herbals for any condition. Along with Penelope Ody’s The Complete Medicinal Herbal, Sauer’s Herbal Cures should be on every herbalist’s bookshelf.
Reviewed by Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John’s United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden
Phoenixville, PA
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