Just imagine a world without herbs. You would be flavoring your food with spices or even with natural minerals, because you did not know all about the value of the plant world to make a difference between a bland dish, and a delicious one. Also, just imagine trying to get rid of a cold more than 5000 years ago, by rubbing your face with cold water. Until somebody decided that he was feeling really cold and he needed something hot to drink. So he just put some water on to boil, but because he did not like the taste of bland water, he just added some nice green leaves. Hey, this chance combination turned out to be really tasty. It also happened to cure his cold and made him feel really warm. Believe it or not, most of the herbal lore, which has passed down to us down the ages has been found due to experimentation or by Lucky chances. Also, anything which my goats, sheep, horses and cattle liked may not have suited my innards and vice versa. That is why you do not give your cats and dogs , well spiced food, especially your pizza remains, unless you want them really sick. At that time people did not know much about writing, because we are talking about prehistoric times. However, down the generations, they passed on this knowledge to the people of their tribe. And when they met up with other people of other tribes, they shared this knowledge. This continued some sensible person decided that this knowledge had to be stored up for the use of future generations. And so this compile addition of herbal lore and information was born and the teachers, the wise men helped mankind for ages to come. This included the knowledge of the essential oils in the plants. Basil and mint essential oils are excellent for cooking and in beauty products. Many of the herbs and remedies known to our ancestors have been lost with the passage of time. However, a lot of these remedies are still being rediscovered by chance, or through documents, found in excavations. Many of the plants which were so common during the time of the Pharaohs are now extinct. Nevertheless, their knowledge can be considered to be the basis of modern medical knowledge. They knew all about how to use onions to cure colds, as well as heart diseases. Thanks to the Eber papyri , modern researchers are researching on the benefit of onions to cure heart ailments.--Provided by publisher