Pharmacognosy is the oldest branch of all pharmaceutical
sciences.
πΏThe medicinal use of
plants dates back to prehistoric ages. The primitive man had a good knowledge
of the vegetable kingdom of his surroundings.
πΏForests and meadows were the pharmacies that supplied
him with the drugs needed for his medicinal use.
πΏSimple observation and
crude experimenting with slight intelligence led him to differentiate between
harmful and useful plants.
πΏFolk medicine emerged by
acquiring knowledge of crude drugs. Very gradually primitive man learnt which
plants were good edible and which were poisonous. He also found that some
plants (spices or condiments) preserved meat and disguised unpleasant flavours and
that other plants could be used for making extracts useful as arrow-or
spear-poison
πΏThe discovery of the
healing properties of plants is as old as the human race and was attributed to
the gods themselves. It was thought that poisonous plants were the abodes of
evil spirits, and curative plants and herbs, the abodes of benevolent spirits
or deities.
πΏVegetable drug-collectors
were known since the early history of man. In this way many drugs still
employed at the present day first came into use. Even now among certain
primitive people, medicinal evolution is at this stage and it is often found
that plants which have a medicinal reputation are those which are most worthy
of detailed scientific examination.
Ancient Egyptian Period:
πThe Ancient Egyptians
3000 B.C. were experts in using drugs for curing diseases. The healing of the
sick was undertaken by priest doctor and pharmacist “son” who prescribed and
prepared medicines.
πThe first recorded
prescriptions were found in Egyptian tombs. These are the hieratic papyri. The
most precious papyrus was that found by E. Smith, also known as the surgical
papyrus. It is a copy of an old text dated to 2980-2700 B.C.
πThe other two papyri are;
Ebers papyrus dated back to 3500 years is now preserved in University of
Leipzig, and the gynacologic papyrus of Kahun and Gurob. . Nevertheless, they contain about 400 primary
materials enclosed probably in the “Egyptian pharmacopeia” of the ancient
Egyptians.
πThe first group of this
materials includes those of an animal origin e.g. blood, meat, horn, milk, egg,
honey, wine and excreta.
☘The second group includes
materials of vegetable origin e.g. Acacia, Aloes, Gum, Myrrh, Pomegranate,
Colocynth, Linseed, Coriander, Cumin, Anise, Castor …etc.
πThey used all the
vegetable organs e.g. roots, rhizomes flowers, leaves, fruits, seeds, as well
as oils, and ashes.
πΏThe Mesopotamian
Therapeutic Formulae:
The Babylonian medicine, known through the interpretations
of the tables written in cuneiform script,
(lows of Hamorbi 772 B.C.). The
drugs used were mainly vegetable origin.
☘The Babylonian king Mardouk
Happaliden 11 (772 B.C.) had built a garden for medicinal plants e.g. Apples,
Pomegranate, Cucumber, Oranges, Garlic, Onion, Saffron, Fennel, Thyme, Coriander,
Rose, Laurel, Liquorices.
The other important notice was the application of the drugs
in the form of a decoction, usually administered before sunrise, as the
decoctions were prepared by night. The drugs were usually mixed with honey,
water, oil or wine.
The Mesopotamian
formulae include 250 materials of plants, 180 materials of animal source. Many
of these drugs were known to the ancient Egyptians.
Old Indian Medicine:
☘The principal aim of the old
Indian medicine was to prolong human life, hence the knowledge of the secrets
of vegetable drugs. So the “Riveda” and Ayurveda (Acoko 2000 B.C.), contained
the scared medicinal plants. The fresh plants were considered to be the most
effective, and the plants must be taken from fertile soil washed with pure
water, exposed to sun for a certain period and protected in the shade, always
directed towards the north. They classified drugs into two categories; the
purgative group including cathartics, emetics and these increasing nasal flows;
and the tranquilizers.
πThey used milk
decoctions, butter, honey sugar, sesame oil as bases for oral medicines. The
most celebrated Indian drugs are; Sandal wood, Clove, Pepper, Cardamom,
Caraway, Ginger, Castor oil, Sesame oil, Aloes, Galangal and cane Sugar.
The Old Chinese Medicine:
πΏBeside the famous
acupuncture, the Chinese medicine is very acknowledged for the herbal medicine.
The Pen Ts’ao Kang Moa 1000 B.C. (published only at 1597) contained an
incredible number of medicinal plants and drugs of animal origin. The Chinese
thought that for every disease, there must be a drug is only provided by the
nature. So their book includes many recipes for every disease. Among the plants
highly esteemed for its magic health inducing power is Ginseng, other drugs e.g.
Rhubarb, Star-Anise, Pomegranate, Aconite drugs were greatly employed.
πΏThe Pen Ts’ao Kang Moa
could be considered as pharmacopeia, it includes 8160 formulae prepared from
1871 raw materials essentially of vegetable origin. The drugs were used in the
form of decoctions, powders, pills, poultices, suppositories and ointments.
There is a lot in the old Chinese medicine to be discovered.
πΏThe Greek and Romans:
They treated many diseases by drugs. Pythagoras (580 B.C.)
used drugs as Mustard . Hippocrates (466 B.C.) was familiar with numerous
drugs, and wrote Corpus Hipocraticum 460 B.C. Theophrates, (370 B.C.) pupil of
Aristotle enumerated about 500 plants; Ergot was one of them.
πThe invasion of Alexander
the Great (335-325 B.C.) helped to increase the number of drugs known at that
time. The Greek Empire was followed by that of the Romans, and Dioscorides who
was a Greek by birth, travelled to Egypt and other countries bordering the
Mediterranean Sea and became acquainted with a great variety of plants and
drugs. He was the first to describe drugs, and his work “Greek Herbal of
Dioscorides” included not less than 5000 medicinal plants in addition to animal
and mineral drugs. He is considered the first known Pharmacognosist.
Piny who lived about the same time as Dioscrides, was also
an eminent author of natural history.
Galen (134-299 A.D.) was a physician and to him is ascribed
the use of “Galenical preparations”.
On the subsequent declince of the Roman Empire, a
retrogression of scientific activity took place until the Arabian Empire rose.
Islamic Contribution:
πΏWhen the Roman Empire
crumbled in its turn and Europe entered the long night of the dark ages. It was
the Islamic civilization that took up and kept light the torch of medicine, not
only translating the Greece-Roman medical literature into Arabic, but also
adding commentaries and original observations.
πΏIt is in Islamic writings
that are to be found the first beginnings of chemistry; the very name of which
is derived from an Arabic word “Kemia” as were also such familiar words alcohol
and alkali. It was through the Islamic literature that the earlier medical
knowledge returned to Europe.
π΄The Arabs added numerous new
plants and medicaments to those already known to the Greeks and Romans. In
their days, pharmacy attained its highest reputation and become an independent
branch of medicine.
π΄It is interesting to note
that the first dispensary was opened in Baghdad, the center of trade in those
days. The dispensary was made of Sandal wood and named “Sandalia”. Rhazes
(850-932 A.D.) who was born at Rai in Persia was a very prominent physician and
the director of Baghdad Hospital in the days of El-Mansour. He published a
famous book, “ALHAWI KABEER” Ψ§ΩΨΨ§ΩΩ
Ψ§ΩΩΨ¨ΩΨ±.
Outstanding among the Islamic writers was Ibn Sina (980-1037 A.D.) His “Canon” of
medicine has been described as the most famous medical text ever written and as
having dominated the medical schools of Europe and Asia and served as the chief
source of medical knowledge for 5 centuries, till the 15th century. "Ψ§ΩΩΨ§ΩΩΩ"
Ibn Al-Baitar was the best Arabian pharmacognosist and
botanist and ranks with Dioscorides in that respect. His book “Jame-ul-Muffrad
contains description of 2000 drugs. "Ψ¬Ψ§Ω
ΨΉ
Ψ§ΩΩ
ΩΨ±Ψ―Ψ§Ψͺ"
Shaikh Dawood El-Antaki. Wrote a book named “Tazkarat Uli
Al-Albab”, now known as “Tazkarat Dawood Antaki” which describes several
hundred herbs besides drugs of animal and mineral origin, it was written about
1008 A.D. "ΨͺΨ°ΩΨ±Ψ© Ψ―Ψ§ΩΩΨ―"
For a short period, there had been a slow progress in
science until the discovery of America and the sea routes to the East and West
Indies, which gave a new impulse to the revival of study of drugs.
The earliest books containing descriptions of drugs related
to as “Materia Medica” were called “Herbals” e.g. “Ortis Sanitatis” 1485,
meaning garden of health written in Latin and Published in 1491 in Mainz and
containing items from mineral, animal and vegetable origin arranged
alphabetically.
Before the study of drugs was systematized, they were
commonly described as independent units and for ease of reference were arranged
alphabetically under the great divisions of minerals, plants & animals.
