On the back cover of the book, it states: "Stephen Harrod Buhner is one of the foremost voices of our time for the return to an ecological foundation of healing.  A national lecturer of herbal medicine and adjunct faculty member at the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies..." 

     In the Forward by James A. Duke, Ph.D., it states: "Stephen Buhner has arrived (and shares with you, the reader) the frightening truth that you won't find in the Journal of the American Medical Association:  We are running our of weapons in the war of germs.  Since germs can go through a generation in 20 minutes or so, instead of the 20 years or so it takes us humans to reproduce ourselves, it's no small wonder that the germs are evolving resistance to our chemical weapons as rapidly as we develop them."...."It is certainly easier to demonstrate how two compounds can work synergistically than it is to figure out how 200 or 2000 different compounds (and more, as are present in all herbs) can work synergistically.  So, the scientific community will be reluctant to consider the remarkable synergistic suites of compounds that have evolved naturally in plants.  But we really cannot afford to ignore these.  For nature favors synergies among beneficial, plant-protective compounds within a plant species (with antibacterial, antifeedant, antifungal, antiviral, and insecticidal properties), and selects against antagonisms."...."When we borrow the antibiotic compounds from plants, we do better to borrow them all, not just the single solitary most powerful among them.  We lose the synergy when we take out the solitary compound.  But most important we facilitate the enemy, the germ, it is ability to outwit the monochemical medicine.  The polychemical synergistic mix, concentrating the powers already evolved in medicinal plants, may be our best hope for confronting drug-resistant bacteria." 

     In the Preface, it states with regards to the Author: "I came to herbal medicine as many of us do: I became ill, and modern medicine could not help me.  I felt betrayed.  I was shocked, then angry.  Then I began to think about a great many things in new ways."...."Because I was raised in a family of powerful political physicians, I was raised with the belief that after millennia, man (and modern medical science) had defeated disease.  I was taught to believe that we were all on the threshold of everlasting, disease-free life.  It was a tremendous shock, then, when reality took me aside and whispered in my ear.  That murmured secret was an antibiotic-resistant ear infection. My physician at the time leafed futily through pharmaceutical advertising circulars, trying one antibiotic after another to no avail.  Unknown to both of us, all that we were doing was killing off the friendly bacteria in my body and leaving the way open to the antibiotic-resistant strain to multiply unhindered."..."Eventually I turned to herbs for treatment when it was clear that pharmaceuticals could not help.  And, as they often do, herbal medicines worked.  This was not the first time that plant wold had cured what for me, was a painful disease." 

      With regards to "Eucalyptus spp.": "Actions: Antibacterial, antimalarial, antifungal, antipyretic, antiseptic, stimulates mucous secretions, diaphoretic." 

      Further, with regards to "Eucalyptus spp.": "Active against: Malaria, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella dysenteriae, Haemophilus influenzae, enterobacteria, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella spp., Helicobacter pyloria.  The essential oil is effective against just about every microbe." 

     Under the topic of "About Eucalyptus", it states the following:  "Eucalyptus is excreted from the body through the lungs and urine.  It is therefore especially useful for upper respiratory and urinary tract infections.  Test results by researchers throughout the world have confirmed eucalyptus as one of the agents with the broadest spectrum against antibiotic-resistant disease.  Though there has been a great deal of research on its effects in animals, there has been little in humans other than its long historical use by indigenous peoples and, subsequently, medical practitioners of many countries.  One major advantage of the herb and essential oil is that its scent is pleasing, especially in a sickroom and to the sick.  This uplifting odor of the herb is in its own way a powerful additive to the healing process in that it helps alleviate the inevitable depression attending long and severe illness."

Reference:  Stephen Harrod Buhner, in the book entitled "Herbal Antibiotics, Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria", Storey Books, Pownal, Vermont, 1999, the first excerpt is from the back cover of the book; the second is from the "Forward" on pages v-vi; the third is from the Preface of pages vii-viii; and the remainder are from pages 30-31.