He begins with a survey of botanical and etymological information about the plant and then turns to the individual medical traditions in which his approach is essentially chronological. In this preliminary survey Hobbs reports that garlic (Allium sativum) is indigenous to Europe and Western Asia, but evidence for its existence in its wild state comes only from Manchuria. Along with the medicinal properties ascribed the plant among various peoples there also exists a wide range of belief in its magical powers.
In the medicine of the European tradition garlic played a very large role. Its use begins with the Egyptians, and the Assyrians and the Copts both used garlic for medicinal puposes. As Hobbs admits, information about the plant's properties is most easily accessible in the writings of the Classical writers. In the Hippocratic Corpus, for example, garlic is used as a fumigant for the uterus and in preparations for sores and for asthma, and Theophrastus comments on the prophylactic uses of garlic when harvesting hellebore.
Pliny and Dioscorides, however, provide the most comprehensive information about garlic in Classical medicine and it is upon these two writers that Hobbs especially relies. He recounts many of the popular traditions about the use and cultivation of the plant assembled by Pliny and also adds a chart showing those uses. A summary of Dioscorides' account of both the cultivated and wild strains of the plant is included. Galen's recommendations are also briefly mentioned.
The remainder of Hobbs' section on the European tradition is devoted to the herbalists of the Renaissance like Gerard, who often relies on Galen, and to the later writers Culpepper and Dr. William Lewis. The latter recommends garlic for coughs and chest problems but warns of its heating qualities. The concepts current in the late eighteenth century also informed the prescriptions for garlic found in Woodville's Medical Botany where an emphasis is placed upon the natural constitution of an individual. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries garlic was still recommended for stomach disorders and respiratory complications and was official in the U.S. Dispensatory as late as 1926.
The two remaining medical traditions receive far less attention. In the Ayurvedic tradition garlic was boiled with milk or mixed with sweeteners for a variety of conditions, including coughs, fevers rheumatism and worms. Its name in Sanskrit, mahanshada, means "panacea." The Chinese tradition records the use of garlic in the second millenum before our era, and it was regarded as a treatment for specific organs like the spleen and the kidney. It was thought to remove poisons from the system and to offset the effects of contaminated water and putrid meat. The author closes with the observation that there exist numerous simlarities between the use of garlic in ancient remedies and the "increasing awareness and appreciation of this ancient 'pungent panacaea'" in modern medical investigation and applications (p. 157).
Although this article does provide some interesting information drawn from a selection of sources both ancient and modern it is directed at a general audience. As such it suffers from a number of deficiencies. Foremost among these is a lack of adequate citation. For instance, Hobbs does not tell us where the Russian researchers Brekhman and Lazarov coined the term "adaptogens" to describe plants that strengthen the body against illness or stress (p.152) or even where one could locate an account of their research. In reporting material from ancient works, moreover, the reader can only refer to the bibliography to guess where specific information might be found. Since it is quite clear that he must rely on English translations, Hobbs has also omitted several other important ancient sources that treat garlic both as medicine and as a magic substance: e. g. Philumenos, De venenatis animalibus 9, Kyranides 3.3.8-9, and Geoponica 12.30.1, all of which attest to popular belief in garlic as a prophylactic against or cure for venomous bites. Largely overlooked too is garlic's ancient fame as a sexual stimulant, a reputation which it shares with the onion (Allium cepa).
Hobbs' bibliography itself is of limited scope, especially in view of recent accounts of research on garlic in the scientific literature (e. g. Eric Block. "The Chemistry of Garlic and Onions."Scientific American 252 [March 1985]: 114-119) and even in the press (Jane Brody. "After 4000 Years, Medical Science Takes a Serious Look at Garlic" New York Times, September 4, 1990: C1). Since he claims affiliation with the Institute for Natural Products Research, Hobbs certainly should have included Maude Grieve's A Modern Herbal (Cape: 1931. repr. New York: Penguin, 1977) for further information about garlic's uses in herbal medicine. In point of fact, a more comprehensive overview of current scientific research (Dorothy Foster Sly, "Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Poultice") and a more balanced treatment of garlic's position in the medical writings of the past (Alexandra H. Hicks, "The Official Story") may be found in a popular anthology (John Lloyd Harris, ed. The Official Garlic Lovers Handbook. Berkeley: 1986).
One other point should be noted here. Hobbs' assignment of garlic to the Lily Family (p. 152) is to be met with caution: the genus Allium has recently been placed in the closely related Amaryllis Family (L. H. Bailey. A Manual of Cultivated Plants. Revised Edition. New York: 1949; J. Hutchinson. The Families of Flowering Plants. Vol. 2. Second Edition. Oxford: 1959).