U ovom radu navedeni su razlozi zasto se ljudi sve vise okrecu alternativnoj i komplementarnoj medicini, prednost ovih metoda u odnosu na konvencionalnu medicinu i farmaceutsko-hemijske preparate, kao i istraživanja i statistike o koristenju alternativne medicine. Da bi se bolje shvatili znacaj i uloga alternativne medicine u lijecenju, osim podjele opste medicine, objasnjene su i grane alternativne medicine sa posebnim osvrtom na metode lijecenja vezane za farmaceutsku struku, a to su homeopatija, fitoterapija i aromaterapija.U poglavlju o homeopatiji navedeni su oblici i primjena homeopatskih lijekova, kao i njihova prednost u odnosu na klasicne lijekove. Fitoterapija kao najstariji oblik medicine koristi se ne samo u lijecenju, vec i u prevenciji mnogih bolesti. Biljne lijekove podržala je i Svjetska zdravstvena organizacija koja pruža pomoc nastojanjima nerazvijenih zemalja da povecaju upotrebu biljnih lijekova i time trose manje ionako ogranicenih sredstava na gotove tvornicke lijekove. Aromaterapija kao sastavni dio fitoterapije polako zauzima svoje zasluženo mjesto u savremenoj medicini. Etericna ulja ostvaruju svoje dejstvo na sve celije organizma i tako ga vracaju u ravnotežu. Opisani su nacini primjene kao i djelovanje na organizam. Navedeni su razlozi vracanja prirodnom lijecenju i smanjenju bolnickih troskova i upotrebe sintetskih lijekova koji ponekad nanose vise stete nego koristi.

Continuing our previous researches of antimicrobial activity of plant sorts P. speciosa and P. tommasiniana, which are characteristic for Balkan Peninsula, we examined ethyl acetate, ethanol and acetone rhizoma and root extracts (concentration 1:1) of the plants examined. To examine the antibiotic effects we used diffusion method from Ph. Eur ed. 4 as the method for antibiotics examinations. In this work the activity of prepared extracts was examined on Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6632, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Staphylococcus epidennidis ATCC 2228 and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739(2). The base used for Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6632 had the following composition: peptone 5 g, meat extract 2,4 g, agar 15 g and purified water up to 1000 g. Base A for antibiotics examination by diffusion method was used to examine Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, Staphylococcus epidennidis ATCC 2228 and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739. Ethyl acetate extracts were also examined on Silicagel G60 plates by thin layer chromatography with mobile phase: glacial acetic acid, ether, hexane, ethyl acetate. (20:20:20:40 V/V/V/V). The examined extracts showed antimicrobial effect, and obtained chromatographs contribute to better knowledge of the analytics of examined plant material.

The quality of medicinal herbs containing tannin as an active component depends on the kind and content of tannin. Tannin is determined by using various methods which are usually mentioned in pharmacopoeias. In our paper we examined the content of tannin in plant material using the following methods: a method according to Ph. Yug. II, Ph. Yug III, Ph. Yug IV, a method with casein, a method of precipitation with brucine, and a method of relative astringency (RA) determination (tbl. 1 and 2). Our results showed that the obtained values of the content of tannin depended on the method which was used. Therefore, it is necessary to specify the method with the obtained value for the content of tannin. In spite of numerous examinations of the content of tannin in the plant material which were performed by the authors, it was difficult to determine the best method since, beside tannin, there were other phenolic and also non-phenolic substances in the plant material more or less influencing the content of tannin. The results obtained in this paper contribute to a better knowledge of the analytics and quality of tannin and the plant material which contains tannin as an active component.