Divine Origin of the Craft of the Herbalist Book

Despite Budge's constant interjections of sneering disdain for the 'savage and superstitious' beliefs and practices of the oldest civilizations, there is much of interest in his tracing of a transmission of knowledge throughout northern Africa, the middle east, and the Mediterranean in antiquity.

i was particularly cheered to find the etymology of "alchemy" as coming from the Arabic particle al and Kemeia, "the land of black earth" -- an old name for Egypt -- hence, the art of the Egyptians. Budge draws connections in lineage and application from Egypt and Akkadia through Greek, Latin, Ethiopian, Assyrian, Arabic, and finally Coptic herbals, and while in this short volume none of these are covered in great depth, the broad strokes give a clear picture of the course of this art and science through that span of time.