Abstract
In an attempt to deduce which plants might have been used for their anticancer activities in traditional oriental herb medicine, 127 prescriptions were selected from 'Dong-Eui-Bo-Gam', the Classic Handbook of Korean Traditional Medicine, written by $H_{UH}$ Jun and published in 1613. These are the prescriptions indicated for the systemic treatment of various tumors and some conditions resembling tumors, e.g. inflammatory masses and indurations, and they include 150 natural products of plant origin. The frequency of appearance of each medicinal plant in these selected prescriptions was compared with the frequency of its appearance in all prescriptions listed in 'Bang-Yak-Hap-Pyon', another popular Oriental Medicine Formulary in Korea, written by $H_{WANG}\;Pil-Su$ in 1885. From the latter book, $H_{ONG}$ has recently enumerated frequencies of 235 medicinal plants included in a total of 467 prescriptions. Chi-square tests revealed that 11 plant remedies appear with significantly higher frequency in the prescriptions for "tumors", and 10 for "inflammations". The plants with potential antitumor activities, in decreasing order of statistical significance, are Scirpus maritimus, Curcuma zedoaria, Prunus persica, Rheum coreanum, Foeniculum vulgare, Rhus vernifera, Daphne pseudogenkwa, Galarhaeus sieboldiana, Croton tiglium, Raphanus sativus and Galarhaeus pekinensis. The drugs for potential antibacterial or anti-inflammatory activities are Olibanum(Frankincense), Forsythia coreana, Lonicera japonica, Gleditchia officinalis, $M_{YRRH}$, Trichosanhes kirilowii, Astragalus membranaceus, Rheum coreanum, Platycodon grandiflorum and Fritillaria verticillata. Despite the uncertainties involved in the terminology of various diseases used in pre-modern medicine, and the reservations about the efficacy of remedies used for those diseases, it would be worthwhile to investigate these few selected plants for anticancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory or antifungal effects, employing modern scientific methodology.