Lecture 2

Question 1

how do we measure the success of the drug?

Answer 1

• reduction in deaths

- closure of hospitals such as mental facilities

Question 2

Balds leechbook recipe

Answer 2

• onion, garlic and part of cows stomach

- successfully and repeatdl killed MRSA

Question 3

ancient weights and measures

Answer 3

• apothecaries ‘weights - minims, scruples, grains, drams, ounces, and pounds

Question 4

when was the metric introduced

Answer 4

The metric system for pharmaceuticals was introduced to the British Pharmacopoeia in 1963, and to the US in 1971 - and we use it in Australia

Question 5

Plant Sources

Answer 5

 Leaves: tobacco, hemp, geranium, lavender, mint
 Gums, sap, resins: aloe, balsam
 Roots: ginger, galangal, turmeric, valerian, echinacea, liquorice
 Bulbs: lotus bulb, autumn crocus (colchicine)
 Flowers: chamomile, calendula
 Seed-heads: hemp, poppy
 Spices (dried plant parts): pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cumin

Question 6

Plants with psychoactive properties

Answer 6

 hemp plant – leaves and buds
 opium poppy – seed-head
 coca leaves - chewed
 betel nut - chewed
 kava leaves - chewed
 tobacco – smoked or chewed
 peyote - a cactus which produces mescalin
 mushrooms - psilocybin

Question 7

Mineral Sources

Answer 7

Clay – kaolinite
 Chalk
 Red ochre – iron salts?
 Mercury
 Arsenic
 Metal containers, e.g. bronze
 Verdigris – copper carbonate –
artists’ pigment
 Gold, silver, antimony

Question 8

Alcohol as medicine

Answer 8

• Beer - universal drink
• Wine or vinegar: hugely common as medicine - Hippocratic Corpus,
  Galen, Celsus
• Roger Bacon (c.1214-1294) The Cure of Old Age, and Preservation of Youth - healing properties of wine
• Distilled spirits – not until after around 1st century CE
• Antiseptic and anaesthetic properties

Question 9

What did the eberes papyrus contain

Answer 9

• Contains herbal and magical remedies for common complaints
• Most ‘medical’ treatments are based on purging: body contains toxins that cause illness, which need to be expelled from the body

Question 10

Shamanism and ancient egypt

Answer 10

• Amulets, sacrifice, augury/prophecy, divination, cursing, advice, teaching, trances, communication with animals or the dead
• Common global practice
• Combined role of spiritual and physical healer
• Could be male or female
• Bridge between spirit world and physical world

Question 11

Ancient Rome

-Dioscorides

Answer 11

• Pedanius Dioscorides (40-90 CE)
• Author of De Materia Medica, the first authoritative Western
  pharmacoepia (c.50-70 CE)
• Hugely influential throughout Europe until 19th century
• Describes about 600 plants – not all can be identified now
• Also includes animal products and minerals

Question 12

Roman Medicine - Galen

Answer 12

• Galen of Pergamon (129-216 CE)
• Influence extended well into the 1600s in Europe
• Is likely to be the author of most of the works attributed to him (over 500)
• Two-part treatise De Compositione Medicamentorum (On the Composition of Drugs)
• Strongly influenced by Hippocratic approach and humoral theory
• Carefully noted the exact measurements of drugs that he gave to patients
• Also believed in theriac – a mystery substance with 64 ingredients which could cure any illness in human beings

Question 13

what did classical islam medicine believe

Answer 13

Islamic world preserved Greek manuscripts from decline of Rome to early 1200s CE
- Heavily influenced by classical ideas –Greek, Roman - of
medicine and herbalism
- Humoral theory underpinned Islamic approach to drug therapy
- Al-Rhazi (864-930 CE) – wrote extensively on diseases and
treatments
- Introduced mercury-based compounds to pharmacopeia
- Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980-1037 CE) – his book Al Qanun contains more than 700 drug preparations

Question 14

What did the canon of medicine believe to help produce breast milk

Answer 14

• Eat the udders of sheep and goats
• An ounce of tree-worms or dried earthworms in barley water, drunk for several days
• Juices from the heads of salted fish, taken in water with dill
• Sesame, ground up and mixed with wine
• Dill seed (3 oz), seed of blue melilot (1 oz), leeks (1 oz), clover seed (1 oz), fennel seed (1 oz) – mix into a drink with fennel juice, honey, and butter

Question 15

Paracelsus

Answer 15

Challenged the theory-based approach to medicine

• Devoted mineralologist and toxicologist
• Championed the use of mercury to treat syphilis
• BUT – believed in humoral theory, alchemy, the occult, astrology