History of pharmacy

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Das Buch des Lebens by Marsilius Ficinus, Florence 1508. The history of pharmacy as an independent science is relatively young. The origins of historiography pharmaceutical back to the first third of the s. XIX which is when the first historiographies that while not touching all aspects of pharmaceutical history is the starting point for the final start of this science. Until the birth of pharmacy as an independent science, there is a historical evolution from antiquity to the present day that marks the course of this science, always connected to the medicine.

[edit] Prehistoric pharmacy

Paleopharmacological studies attest to the use of medicinal plants in pre-history.[1] The earliest known compilation of medicinal substances was ARIANA the Sushruta Samhita, an Indian Ayurvedic treatise attributed to Sushruta in the 6th century BC. However, the earliest text as preserved dates to the 3rd or 4th century AD. Many Sumerian (late 6th millennium BC - early 2nd millennium BC) cuneiform clay tablets record prescriptions for medicine.[2]

[edit] Antiquity
Ancient Egyptian pharmacological knowledge was recorded in various papyri such as the Ebers Papyrus of 1550 BC, and the Edwin Smith Papyrus of the 16th century BC. The earliest known Chinese manual on materia medica is the Shennong Bencao Jing (The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic), dating back to the 1st century AD. It was compiled during the Han dynasty and was attributed to the mythical Shennong. Earlier literature included lists of prescriptions for specific ailments, exemplified by a manuscript "Recipes for 52 Ailments", found in the Mawangdui tomb, sealed in 168 BC. Further details on Chinese pharmacy can be found in the Pharmacy in China article.

Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, Byzantium, 15th century In Ancient Greece, according to Edward Kremers and Glenn Sonnedecker, "before, during and after the time of Hippocrates there was a group of experts in medicinal plants. Probably the most important representative of these rhizotomoi was Diocles of Carystus (4th century BC). He is considered to be the source for all Greek pharmacotherapeutic treatises between the time of Theophrastus and Dioscorides."[3] The Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides is famous for writing a five volume book in his native Greek in the 1st century AD. The Latin translation De Materia Medica (Concerning medical substances) was used a basis for many medieval texts, and was built upon by many middle eastern scientists during the Islamic Golden Age. The title coined the term materia medica. In Japan, at the end of the Asuka period (538-710) and the early Nara period (710-794), the men who fulfilled roles similar to those of modern pharmacists were highly respected. The place of pharmacists in society was expressly defined in the Taih Code (701) and re-stated in the Yr Code (718). Ranked positions in the pre-Heian Imperial court were established; and this organizational structure remained largely intact until the Meiji Restoration (1868). In this highly stable hierarchy, the pharmacistsand even pharmacist assistantswere assigned status superior to all others in health-related fields such as physicians and acupuncturists. In the Imperial household, the pharmacist was even ranked above the two personal physicians of the Emperor.[4] There is a stone sign for a pharmacy with a tripod, a mortar, and a pestle opposite one for a doctor in the Arcadian Way in Ephesus near Kusadasi in Turkey. The current Ephesus dates back

to 400BC and was the site of the Temple of Artemis one of the seven wonders of the world, the home of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, Mary Magdalen and where St Paul read his letter to the Ephesians.

[edit] Middle Ages

In Baghdad the first pharmacies, or drug stores, were established in 754,[5] under the Abbasid Caliphate during the Islamic Golden Age. By the 9th century, these pharmacies were stateregulated.[6]

Arabic herbal medicine guidebook De Materia Medica of Dioscrides. Cumin & dill. c. 1334. The advances made in the Middle East in botany and chemistry led medicine in medieval Islam substantially to develop pharmacology. Muhammad ibn Zakarya Rzi (Rhazes) (865-915), for instance, acted to promote the medical uses of chemical compounds. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) (936-1013) pioneered the preparation of medicines by sublimation and distillation. His Liber servitoris is of particular interest, as it provides the reader with recipes and explains how to prepare the `simples from which were compounded the complex drugs then generally used. Sabur Ibn Sahl (d 869), was, however, the first physician to initiate pharmacopoedia, describing a large variety of drugs and remedies for ailments. Al-Biruni (973-1050) wrote one of the most valuable Islamic works on pharmacology entitled Kitab al-Saydalah (The Book of Drugs), where he gave detailed knowledge of the properties of drugs and outlined the role of pharmacy and the functions and duties of the pharmacist. Ibn Sina (Avicenna), too, described no less than 700 preparations, their properties, mode of action and their indications. He devoted in fact a whole volume to simple drugs in The Canon of Medicine. Of great impact were also the works by al-Maridini of Baghdad and Cairo, and Ibn al-Wafid (10081074), both of which were printed in Latin more than fifty times, appearing as De Medicinis universalibus et particularibus by `Mesue' the younger, and the Medicamentis simplicibus by `Abenguefit'. Peter of Abano (12501316) translated and added a supplement to the work of al-Maridini under the title De Veneris. Al-Muwaffaqs contributions in the field are also pioneering. Living in the 10th century,

he wrote The foundations of the true properties of Remedies, amongst others describing arsenious oxide, and being acquainted with silicic acid. He made clear distinction between sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate, and drew attention to the poisonous nature of copper compounds, especially copper vitriol, and also lead compounds. He also describes the distillation of sea-water for drinking.[7]

Tacuina sanitatis, XIV century. In Europe pharmacy-like shops began to appear during the 12th century. In 1240 emperor Frederic II issued a decree by which the physician's and the apothecary's professions were separated.[8] The first pharmacy in Europe (still working) was opened in 1241 in Trier, Germany.[citation needed] In Europe there are old pharmacies still operating in Dubrovnik, Croatia located inside the Franciscan monastery, opened in 1317 ; and one in the Town Hall Square of Tallinn, Estonia dating from at least 1422. The oldest is claimed to be set up in 1221 in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy, which now houses a perfume museum. The medieval Esteve Pharmacy, located in Llvia, a Catalan enclave close to Puigcerd, is also now a museum dating back to the 15th century, keeping albarellos from the 16th and 17th centuries, old prescription books and antique drugs.

A brief history of pharmacology

Originating in the 19th century, the discipline makes drug development possible. Pharmacology is one of the cornerstones of the drug discovery process. The medicinal chemist may create the candidate compound, but the pharmacologist is the one who tests it for physiologic activity. A promising compound is investigated by many other scientiststoxicologists, microbiologists, cliniciansbut only after the pharmacologist has documented a potential therapeutic effect. This article briefly presents the historical development of pharmacology and some of the basic methods used. Etymologically, pharmacology is the science of drugs (Greek Oswald Schmiedeberg, 1838 pharmakos, medicine or drug; and logos, study). In actual use, 1921. PHOTO: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF however, its meaning is limited to the study of the actions of MEDICINE drugs. Pharmacology has been defined as an experimental science which has for its purpose the study of changes brought about in living organisms by chemically acting substances (with the exception of foods), whether used for therapeutic purposes or not. Pharmacology studies the effects of drugs and how they exert their effects. There is a distinction between what a drug does and how it acts. Thus, amoxicillin cures a strep throat, and cimetidine promotes the healing of duodenal ulcers. Pharmacology asks How? Amoxicillin inhibits the synthesis of cell wall mucopeptide by the bacteria that cause the infection, and cimetidine inhibits gastric acid secretion by its antagonist action on histamine H2 receptors. The main tasks of pharmacologists in the search for and development of new medicines are

screening for desired activity, determining mode of action, and quantifying drug activity when chemical methods are not available.

Historical development Synthetic organic chemistry was born in 1828, when Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea from inorganic substances and thus demolished the vital force theory. The birth date of pharmacology is not as clear-cut. In the early 19th century, physiologists performed many pharmacologic studies. Thus, Franois Magendie studied the action of nux vomica (a strychnine-containing plant drug) on dogs, and showed that the spinal cord was the site of its convulsant action. His work was presented to the Paris Academy in 1809. In 1842, Claude Bernard discovered that the

arrow poison curare acts at the neuromuscular junction to interrupt the stimulation of muscle by nerve impulses. Nevertheless, pharmacology is held to have emerged as a separate science only when the first university chair was established. According to Walter Sneader, this occurred in 1847, when Rudolf Buchheim was appointed professor of pharmacology at the University of Dorpat in Estonia (then a part of Russia). Lacking outside funding, Buchheim built a laboratory at his own expense in the basement of his home. Although Buchheim is credited with turning the purely descriptive and empirical study of medicines into an experimental science, his reputation is overshadowed by that of his student, Oswald Schmiedeberg. Oswald Schmiedeberg (18381921) is generally recognized as the founder of modern pharmacology. The son of a Latvian forester, Schmiedeberg obtained his medical doctorate in 1866 with a thesis on the measurement of chloroform in blood. He worked at Dorpat under Buchheim, succeeding him in 1869. In 1872, he became professor of pharmacology at the University of Strassburg, receiving generous government support in the form of a magnificent institute of pharmacology. He studied the pharmacology of chloroform and chloral hydrate. In 1869, Schmiedeberg showed that muscarine evoked the same effect on the heart as electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve. In 1878, he published a classic text, Outline of Pharmacology, and in 1885, he introduced urethane as a hypnotic. In his 46 years at Strassburg, Schmiedeberg trained most of the men who became professors at other German universities and in several foreign countries. He was largely responsible for the preeminence of the German pharmaceutical industry up to World War II. In the United States, the first chair in pharmacology was established at the University of Michigan in 1890 under John Jacob Abel, an American who had trained under Schmiedeberg. In 1893, Abel went to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he had a long and brilliant career. His major accomplishments include the isolation of epinephrine from adrenal gland extracts (18971898), isolation of histamine from pituitary extract (1919), and preparation of pure crystalline insulin (1926). His student Reid Hunt discovered acetylcholine in adrenal extracts in 1906. Today, there is a pharmacology department in every college of medicine or pharmacy.