Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Hundreds of years ago, the practice of shamans became a normal thing to find in Indonesian society. Apparently, this phenomenon also attracted the attention of a doctor named Friedrich August Carl.

This curiosity arose when he served as a doctor in Semarang in 1823. At that time he saw that many people, including Europeans who lived there, chose to go to shamans to treat health problems.

He was even more surprised when those who went to the shaman returned to health. Finally Carl attempted to observe this practice closely.

In “European Physicians and Botanists, Indigenous Herbal Medicine in the Dutch East Indies, and Colonial Networks of Mediation” (2008) by Hans Pol, Carl mentions that shamans try to guess diseases based on symptoms. From there he will give herbal medicine, not forgetting the mantra to recite to the patient.

Hebral medicine has an important role in the treatment of shamans. However, herbal medicine is only based on habits and experience, not insight and knowledge.

Next, Carl researched herbal medicines used by shamans and the general public. He asked the public, traders, patients and his own wife, even making himself and several patients experimental objects.

He included the results of his research in a book entitled Pratische Waarnemingen Over Eenige Javaansche Geneesmiddelen (Practical Observations on Several Javanese Medicines). It contains a list of herbal medicines alongside modern medicines, as well as including medicines based on disease categories in accordance with medical science.

From there, many doctors from the Dutch East Indies also used herbal medicine as a form of treatment. According to them, solutions to treating modern diseases are easier to find with herbal medicine.

Carl’s name was also quite well known at that time. He was the first doctor to create and practice Indonesian-style herbal medicine guidelines.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

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