Plants, Minerals, and Molds Combat Disease Highlights in The History of Pharmacy
Plants were probably man's first source of medicine. The Chinese were said to have compiled a catalogue of medicinal herbs as early as 3000 B.c. Egyptian apothecaries, in 1500 B.C., knew how to compound herbs, mineral salts, and animal substances into salves, gargles, powders and purgatives.
Dioscorides, a 1st century Greek physician, compiled a herbal treatise that became a standard text on medicines for more than 1500 years. He described the narcotic effect of the mandrake root, which resembles the human body. Because it was believed that while being dug up the plant emitted screams that could cause madness, dogs were used to uproot it.
The first Dguggists were Arabs. By the 12th century, pharmacy had become a specialty with its own code of standards. arab druggists invented "sugar coating" by mixing bitter medicines with rose water and fruit syrups to make them palatable.
Paracelsus, an early 16th century doctor and alchemist, was the first to propose that chemical medicines could be used to combat specific diseases. About the same time, products from the New World and from the Indies, cinnamon bark, guaiac, and cinchona bark, became popular ingredients in Europe.
Poisoons, such as belladonna, have long been used for medicinal purposes. In the 1780's, William Withering developed digitalis from the foxglove plant for the treatment of heart diseases. In the early 19th century, experimental pharmacology was poineered by French physicians Francois Magendie and Claude Bernard, when they studied the action of curare and other arrow poisons.
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Pharmacy is a science which may be defined as the collection, preparation, and com-pounding of medicinal substances, and its history is part of the history of medicine.
Early Origins.
There were compounders of medicine in Babylorua and the word pasisu, which described a compounder of ointments and cosmetics, is equal to our word pharmacist. The latter word derives from the Greek pharmakon, a drug or poison, and is probably Egyptian in origin.
Who first used plants as medicine we do not know. But someone - or more possibly, many different people - discovered that some plants are good to eat and still others have healing properties. This was a first step in a lengthy process of trial and error in which man built up his vast knowledge about plants. The following is a digest starting from what we know to be the earliest recordings of medicinal herbal use to present day conventional medicine.
Many of the trees and plants in the garden, surrounding the restored Doctor’s home, served as a "natural pharmacy" from which the nineteenth century doctor could prepare remedies and cures for the villagers. This authentic garden was developed and maintained by the Southern Ontario Unit of the Herb Society of America. The following perennial herbs are typical of those commonly used to stock a storehouse of remedies.
Comfrey
Symphytum officinale
Old time remedy herb used for compresses applied to injuries.
Elecampane
Buying herbal medicines can be a very confusing endeavour, many choices line the store shelves, but often we cannot be sure about their freshness and the exact ingredients that they contain. Many people turn to making their own medicines because they know what is in the pot-exactly. Making your own medicine is like cooking: very rewarding in many ways, but there is a time-consuming prerequisite-learning and preparation. After all, we are calling it a medicine!
Herbs comprise a group of several thousand plants with widely varying actions. Some are nourishers, some tonifiers, some stimulants and sedatives, and some are potential poisons. To use them wisely and well, we need to understand each category, its uses, best manner of preparation, and usual dosage range.
Our pets-mainly dogs and cats, but also birds, rodents, fish-are living longer. Modern veterinary medicine successfully eliminated many parasitic and infectious diseases that were common in the past. But in the last decade the growing practical experience and scientific research studies support the interest in the complementary (or alternative) form of veterinary medicine.
Spring Blues
Green - verdant, lush, and full of life - is of course the colour of spring. But there is another colour of spring which runs a close second - blue.
Look around the early spring garden or woods and blue can be found everywhere. No other colour is as abundant among spring’s herbaceous plants (except the acknowledged spring winner: green!).
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