Pharmacy Orientation (PIP 111) - Lecture 3

Pharmacy Orientation (PIP 111) - Lecture 3: History of Pharmacy

• Learning Outcomes:
  • Understand the development of the pharmacy profession across different historical periods.
  • Identify plants used in historical periods to treat diseases.

The Development of Pharmacy Through Time

• AD: Anno Domini, Latin for "in the year of the Lord"

• BC: Before Christ

• CE: Common Era (same as AD)

• Millennium: 1000 years

• Decade: 10 years

• Timelines: Provide chronological relationship between events.

Pre-historic Pharmacy

• Pharmacy as old as human civilization.
• Early humans used plants as medicines around 50,000 BC.
• Knowledge of medicinal properties gained through trial and error.
• World's first recorded prescriptions on clay tablets in Iraq around 2100 BC.

Antiquity

• Antiquity: The period roughly between 4500 BC and 450 CE.
• Pharmacy recognized as part of medical practice as far back as Sumerian times (2000-1500 BC).
• Earliest recorded drug preparation from Babylonia (2600 BC).
• Medical practitioners of this era often were priest, pharmacist, and physicians.
• Two practitioner classes existed:
  • Asipu: relied on spells and magical stones more than plants.
  • Asu: used a wide range of drugs and made them into pills, suppositories, and ointments.
• Common drugs of Antiquity: Cedar oil (antibacterial, wound healing, cough relief); Liquorice (upper respiratory diseases); Honey (antibacterial, wound healing).
• Imhotep: A physician and chief minister to King Djoser, considered a god of medicine.
• Egyptian medical texts show links between the supernatural and empirical healing. Prayers often preceded treatments.
  • Laxatives and enemas were prevalent.
• Papyrus scrolls: contain treatments for urinary problems, blood, hair, and bites.
  • Hieratic script (simplified hieroglyphics), used for business, scientific, and religious purposes.
  • Papyrus used as a formula book or collection of recipes.
  • Example: Kahun Papyrus (2000 BC) focused on veterinary medicines.
• Common medical treatments: Wine, vinegar, figs, castor oil; minerals like iron, lead, and copper sulfate; precious stones like emeralds and sapphires.
• Ebers Papyrus (1500 BC): contained 875 prescriptions and 700 drugs.
  • Included ointments, lozenges, suppositories, lotions, enemas, and pills.
• Examples of ancient Egyptian medical plants and their uses: Garlic (stimulating digestion, mouth rinses for toothaches and sore throats), Thyme (external antibacterial and antifungal agent for asthma), Cumin (flatulence relief), Persian henna (hair loss prevention). Garlic macerated in olive oil for bronchial and lung complaints.

The Middle Ages

• Period between the fall of Rome in 400 AD and the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
• Early Islamic medical practitioners translated and preserved Greek medical writings, including Galen's.
• Islamic doctors added to and improved on Greek medicine. Rhazes was an important figure.
• Arab physicians rejected the idea that foul-tasting medicines were the most effective. They emphasized elegant and palatable dosage formulations like syrups.
• First drugstores in Baghdad, 8th century AD
• Frederick II, ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, recognized pharmacy as a separate profession in 13th-century Europe.

The Renaissance and Early Modern Europe

• Period following the Middle Ages, 14th - 17th centuries.
• Re-interpretation of classical themes
• Re-evaluation of old concepts of diseases and drugs.
• Scientists isolated pure chemicals from plant-based drugs.
• Friedrich isolated morphine from opium in the early 1800s.