or associate with. An understanding of herbs and herbal

products projects us into a dimension where knowledge is

inter-related, demonstrating the universality of creation 

in Nature's alchemical laboratory and the operation of the

Universal Mind. The study of herbal wholistics and isolates

gives us a better appreciation of the ethnobotanical, socio-

economic and mystico-cultural influences in anthropology,

which have contributed considerably to the evolution of

folklore, traditional medicine, medical sciences and in part-

icular, organic chemistry. the philosopher, Hegel, stated:

     " All knowledge is one. If we can know everything about

        one thing, we will know all. "

    Village Medicine

              All these years of practice have taught me that med-

icine is holistic. Doctors do not cure patients; we merely

help them towards homeostatic equilibrium. Nature does

the rest. Treating the symptoms without rooting out the

cause is not holistic medicine. In fact, this is what we

have been doing all the time in orthodox medical practice.

In reality, no drug has ever healed a person. Hippocrates

stated :

      " The body heals itself; the physician is only

                        Nature's assistant. "

  The awakening to this time-honoured philosophy is

stimulated by my having to work in unfavourable conditions

in the outskirts of the Kahang rainforests, Johor, Southern Malaysia.

This town village is subjected to periodic floods,causing

overflowing from blocked drains and sewage, fouling the well-

water which is not chemically treated. The well water is

very acidic with a pH about 6 [ potable range is pH 6 - 10.5 ]

The low pH of the  drinking water is sure to affect the blood pH.

How this biochemical aberration is going to affect the paediatric,

geriactric and the pregnant population in Kahang? How the low

blood pH is going to affect those with chronic medical problems

and its inter-