The strange fact is that although many doctors still do no think much of herbs and herbalism, large numbers of synthetic medicines used by doctors are originally derived from plants. The medicines may have been extracted, altered, and re-synthesized for the purpose of standardization and so on, often the original discovery and isolation of the drug was made through traditional herbs.

As one eminent British scientist said about ginseng, "It is no use doing any research on it until we know what it contains". This attitude is precisely that which prevents western medical experts from understanding and utilizing the wealth of traditional medicines. Who cares what chemicals are inside the plant, as long as it works safely? Besides, ignoring some important medicines which happen to be too complicated to yield known active ingredients, there is a more serious danger. The process of extracting and defining active principle may leave out other constituents which are present in the plant and arc important for a balanced treatment. The herbalist understands that herbs work not just from active ingredients but the combined effects in total. Extraction of only the active component (practice of medicine today) is not only unnecessary but may even be harmful which the case for most drugs is.

"Ginseng is one of the few herbs for which there is clear scientific evidence that there are more medicinal powers in the entire plant than in any of the chemicals so far isolated from it", explained Dr. Stephen Fulder in his book "Ginseng".