Traditional knowledge might have been useful for the limited needs of the people of old times for being of magical novelty and also because the raw observations and heresy instead of scientific logic were the settled regime for healthcare in that period. Adopting those ancient practices for love of past without test of science is dangerous. If it works it should prove through science.
Even many of modern medicinal practices , when looked closely, evolved through what had been observed or known as raw knowledge. However those observations were tested through scientific methodologies, refined, developed and debated in community of experts before bringing them to our hospitals and dispensaries after years of research.
Just because some herb was known to people in old times as useful doesn’t make people of that period any scientifically advanced. Since beginning , people used to discover random herb or animal product useful for health through sheer experience. This is like they learnt to sow seeds for food or make stone tools or started fire or smelted for iron. These were chance discoveries of human. However those people could never explain what caused all that they found nor did they possess that urge to know what actually worked behind these discoveries. That's why they were never able to isolate antidote from snake venom or pencillin from fungus. That was exactly what we call lack of scientific temperament.
Now in present times we work with rational of science and have to test and validate every finding on established scientific principles. That’s why modern medical system is superset of all medicinal knowledge known so far and everthing which doesn’t conform to scientific validity must fall outside this sphere of acceptability. Even this also could be argued that many modern medicines are product of some plant, mineral or animal but here every process is scientifically reasoned, documented and validated on proven standards, principles and evidences besides questioning by regulators and peers.
