Aim High 5 Unit 5 You're cured!

Unit 5 Page 40 read.

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Exercise 2. Read and listen to the text.

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The healing power of plants.

Some of the best-known medicines come from a plant. People have used plants to treat illnesses for thousands of years, and scientists today are searching in jungles and tropical rainforests for plants that may contain substances to cure cancer and other serious diseases.
A. Aspirin
The ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates recorded the use of the bark of the Willow tree as an effective remedy for headaches, pains and fever. Willow bark had been used in this way in many cultures for centuries. In 1829, German scientist Johann Buchner identified the specific pain-relieving substance of Willow bark. Buchner found that its special ingredient was an acid which was extracted and used as a medicine. Unfortunately, the acid upset the stomach and doctors found that many of their patients couldn't tolerate it.
In 1853, a French chemist called Charles Frederic Gerhardt was able to neutralize the acid. He added an ingredient that reduced the irritation caused by the acid. Fortunately, this ingredient did not diminish its healing power, but Gearhart had no interest in marketing his discovery.
In 1899, a German chemist named, Felix Hoffmann, became interested in the Willow bark medicine. Hofmann’s father suffered from arthritis, and he found that the acid of the Willow bark relieved his pain. Hofmann convinced his employer, buyer, to market the acid. buyer agreed, and in 1900, aspirin was patented and sold to the public.
B. Quinine
is found in the bark of the cinchona tree. Since the 1600s, it has been used to treat malaria, a potentially deadly disease carried by mosquitoes.
According to one legend, a Native American with a high fever was lost in an Andean jungle. When he drank from a pool of water, he was surprised by its very bitter taste. Realizing the water had been contaminated by the surrounding cinchona trees, he thought he had been poisoned. However, his fever abated, and he returned to his village to share his experience.
Europeans who visited the Andes in 1630 learned of the Native Americans treatment for malaria. Soon another legend of the discovery of quinine. Spread throughout Europe. It involved the countess of chinchona, a noblewoman from Spain who had visited Peru. While in Peru the Countess allegedly contracted a fever, which was cured by the bark of a tree. The legend says that she returned to Spain in 1638 with the bark, thereby introducing quinine to Europe. In 1742 a Swedish scientist visited Peru and named the tree chinchona in honor of the noblewoman. However, the legend is not accurate because the countess never had malaria and actually died in Colombia before ever returning to Spain.
C. Digitalis
One of the most important heart medications is made from a common flower called foxglove. Many people grow foxglove in their gardens, but it also grows in the wild, along roadsides and in wooded areas.
In 1775, an English Dr. Named William Withering heard that a peasant woman was curing the swelling associated with heart problems using the foxglove flower. Withering wanted to learn more, so he visited her. The woman had no idea why Foxglove worked, but it was clear that it relieved the swelling. Withering began studying foxglove. Through trial and error, he learned that an effective medicine could be made from crushing the plant's dried leaves, which were picked just before the plant produced flowers. He also discovered that foxglove could be lethal if the patient was given too much. In spite of his warnings about beginning with a low dose, many doctors prescribed the medicine in amounts that were too large, and many people died. Today the medicine known as digitalis has been researched very carefully and doctors are knowledgeable about the correct doses.
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