By: Hale Software, Inc. © 1997
Photography by Martin Wall Botanical Services
Herbal Preparations by Diana Drummer, Herbalist
Introduction & Research by Brigitte Mars, Herbalist
CD List Price: $39.95

For anyone looking to enhance their health, herbs are definitely worth looking into. Over thousands of years herbs have been used as important drugs and as simple medicinal remedies. Modern research has analyzed the plants and established sound scientific basis of much herbal medicine. Contents The Herbal Pharmacy has collected about 300 of the most widely used herbs and listed their medical applications, along with:

• their common and alternate name
• the family each herb belongs to
• parts of the herb used
• their properties
• internal applications, topical uses and topical applications
• culinary uses
• energetics (bitter, cool, dry)
• chemical constituents
• contraindications
• comments How Easy Is The Herbal Pharmacy To Install?

The CD requires Windows 95 or later, 4 mb hard disk space and 32 mb RAM. Contents can be viewed using the brower that comes on the CD. Installation is pretty basic, but viewers will need to know how to install a program or someone who does. The CD could use more instruction on its packaging for those who've never installed a CD program before. Ease of Use

Once installed, moving around is easy. The program is organized and helpful. Finding specific information is a snap. Viewers will love the cross-referencing and links. A small Tool-Bar is provided with these options:

Introduction - The Introduction to The Herbal Pharmacy by Brigitte Mars who welcomes viewers and prepares them for their journey through the CD, advises them to use it as a guide, alerts them to the Bibliography and gives information about herself.

Search - Helps viewers find what they're looking for.

  

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Herbs - Viewers type what they're looking for or can scroll through the list.
Formulas - Around 100 recipes for multiple listed needs.
  

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Setup - For changing colors, font type and size.
About - The Herbal Pharmacy is by Hale Software, Inc. © 1997 VI.20.0
Exit For more examples of The Herbal Pharmacy:
Another handy icon is a clipboard/notepad, a place to save notes and paste information.

  

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An informative Tip Box pops up each time the CD has been started too. It can either be closed or explored for more tips on things such as how to change colors or inform viewers about other useful features. Usefulness

For anyone who's read a lot of herb books and knows how and what herbs can do to help aide in sickness and in health, most of the information provided may be familiar. For most though, reading through the Herbal Pharmacy could be enlightening. Either way this CD will be cherished for its ease of maneuverability, links and quickness in cross-referencing. It's neatly organized alphabetically, the instructions on how to use herbs clear, it gives advisability against particular remedies or treatments and Brigitte Mars states, "Some plants should be used with professional council and many avoided during pregnancy." There are even 300 helpful pictures in color of the herbs at each site. A larger view of them can be seen by clicking on the image. The Herbal Pharmacy is an easy to use, informative guide to the use of herbs and their healing properties. An asset to any home library. A comment received at botanical.com from an Herbal CD user:

The Herbal CD is fantastic. My daughter was able to get some organized information to use in her science fair project. Due credit was given in her references. We find out tomorrow (Thurs) how her project did. Her project was entitled "Antimicrobial Activity of Selected Herbal Extracts". Thanks again. We are very happy with the CD.      - Iris Just an update. My daughter won 1st place from the United States Navy/Marine Corp for her project. "Antimicrobial Activity of Selected Herbal Extracts" during the Appalachina Science Fair and has been invited to go to participate in the Nationals. Thanks again.      - Iris