Overview of Dioscorides' recipes in Croatian books of folk recipes.

The aim of this paper is to present an overview of Dioscorides' recipes from his work De materia medica which are found in Croatian folk medicine preserved in books of folk recipes called ljekaruse. The particularities of five published and analysed Croatian books of folk recipes from the 17 th and 18 th century are examined. Recipes with drugs of herbal and animal origin, which are most often mentioned in Croatian books of folk recipes, and which were available in folk medicine at the time, are compared with those from Dioscorides' work. Many herbal drugs described in books of folk recipes are today used in contemporary phytotherapy, and modern biomedical research reveals new bioactive substances and confirms new and potential biological activities in medicinal plants used in folk medicine, which is the basis for further study of De materia medica by Dioscorides and ethnomedicinal collections. Croatian books of folk recipes are a valuable resource for multidisciplinary study, including for medicinal and pharmaceutical historians, philologists and ethnologists.

Narrating Resuscitation: Theory, Knowledge, and the Cultural Life of Eighteenth-Century Vitalism.

This paper considers the relationship between the practice of resuscitation in mid- to late eighteenth-century Britain, and vitalist physiology and medicine. It explores how the mix of mystery and fact presented in the scene of reanimation, and manifested in the resuscitated body as the site of such a compelling conjunction, is negotiated in contemporary vitalist theories of life and theoretical reflections on natural philosophical method. In this, it gives a particular prominence to the Scottish vitalists, especially William Cullen. It considers the attractions of resuscitation for addressing the particular epistemological predicament faced by vitalism: its combination of post-Newtonian empiricism and the inevitable conjecture-or "provisionally inexplicable explicative device"-necessary when faced with the mysteries of life. Finally, the cultural life of vitalism is considered in the work of William Hawes, Humane Society founder, and John Thelwall, radical journalist.

Self-Experiments with Psychoactive Substances: A Historical Perspective.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the rich tradition of self-experiments (SEs) with psychoactive substances carried out by scientists and therapists for more than a century. Scientifically inspired controlled SEs dominated until the end of the twentieth century, when ethical requirements minimized controlled SEs and "wild" SEs expanded particularly with the emergence of new psychoactive substances. The review focuses on laughing gas (nitrous oxide), cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, entactogens, and dissociative hallucinogens. This is due to the fact that substances that induce "complex" effects such as alteration of space/time experience, ego dissolution, and increased feelings and insights (e.g., hallucinogens, entactogens) represent by far the majority of SEs, whereas SEs with substances inducing "simple" effects such as euphoria, anxiolysis, dissociation, or emotional blunting (e.g., cocaine, opioids) are much rarer or even absent (e.g., benzodiazepines). Complex drug effects are much harder to describe, thus allowing SEs to fulfill a more important function.SEs with psychoactive drugs appeared to emerge in the mid-eighteenth century, which triggered a long-standing tradition throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century. SEs have been de facto performed for a variety of reasons, ranging from establishing scientific knowledge and gaining philosophical insights to compensating for personal deficits. Self-experimenters can be divided into two general types. Besides their scientific intentions, "exploratory" self-experimenters intend to expand awareness and insight, whereas "compensatory" self-experimenters might aim for coping with psychiatric symptoms or personality deficits. Scientific limitations of SEs are obvious when compared to double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Whereas the former might lead to more "realistic" detailed description of subjective effects, the latter lead to more solid results in respect to objectively measurable "average" effects. Possible adverse effects of SEs were identified that resulted in loss of scientific objectivity and decreased control over substance use and addiction, development of isolation, problematic group dynamics, and "social autism."

From Pharmacognosia to DNA-Based Medicinal Plant Authentication - Pharmacognosy through the Centuries.

For centuries, pharmacognosy was essential for the identification, quality, purity, and, until the end of the 18th century, even for the efficacy of medicinal plants. Since the 19th century, it concentrated on authenticity, purity, quality and the analysis of active substances, and was established as an academic branch discipline within pharmacy and continuously developed into a modern, highly sophisticated science. Even though the paradigm in pharmacy changed in the 19th century with the discovery of morphine and concentrated on single substances that could be synthesized fast by the upcoming industry, medicinal plants always remained an important element of the Materia medica, and during the last decades, medicinal plants continue to be a source of remedies, and natural products are an inspiration for new medicine. In this research, pharmacognostic skills remain an essential element, both with regards to identity, quality assurance of botanicals (both herbal medicines and supplements), and the discovery and development of new medicines. Over the years, the specific pharmacognostical tools have changed dramatically, and most recently, DNA-based techniques have become another element of our spectrum of scientific methods.

A History of Uremia Research.

The history of uremia research begins with the discovery of urea and the subsequent association of elevated blood urea levels with the kidney disease described by Richard Bright, a well told story that needs no recounting. What this article highlights is how clinical and laboratory studies of urea launched the analysis of body fluids, first of urine and then of blood, that would beget organic chemistry, paved the way for the study of renal function and the use of urea clearance to determine "renal efficiency," provided for the initial classification of kidney disease, and clarified the concepts of diffusion and osmosis that would lead to the development of dialysis. Importantly and in contrast to how the synthesis of urea in the laboratory heralded the death of "vitalism," the clinical use of dialysis restored the "vitality" of comatose unresponsive dying uremic patients. The quest for uremic toxins that followed has made major contributions to what has been facetiously termed "molecular vitalism." In the course of these major achievements derived from the study of urea, the meaning of "what is life" has been gradually liberated from its past attribution to supernatural forces (vital spirit, archaeus, and vital force) thereby establishing the autonomy of biological life in which the kidney is the master chemist of the living body.

Private and institutionalised patients' use of homeopathy in the early nineteenth century.

Medicine underwent a major crisis in the 18th century and several approaches, including homeopathy, were formulated to fill the void left by the fall of traditional Galenic medicine. While most of the literature deals with the reasons doctors had to shift to homeopathy, the patients' views became the focus of increasing scholarly attention along the past 20 years. In this article I present and discuss the current knowledge about the socio-demographic characteristics and medical complaints of patients who sought homeopathic care in the early 19th century in both private and institutional settings. The results show that not only patients from the higher and more educated classes sought homeopathic care, but a considerable number of individuals from the middle and lower strata did so too, even though they also had access to conventional hospitals. As to the clinical complaints, the reasons to seek homeopathic care were the typical ones for any general practice or hospital in the period considered.

Influence of Arabian Pharmacy on Diseases Tretament During Ottoman's Period in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Arab cultural heritage was an era of invaluable preservation and development of numerous teachings, including biomedical sciences. The golden period of Arab medicine deserves special attention in the history of medicine and pharmacy, as it was the period of rapid translation of works from Greek and Persian cultures into Arabic. They preserved their culture, and science from decay, and then adopted them to continue building their science on theirs as a basis. After the fall of Arabian Caliphate, Arabian pharmacy, continued to persevere, and spread through Turkish Caliphate until its fall in the First World War. That way, Arabian pharmacy will be spread to new areas that had benefited from it, including the area of occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because of the vast territorial scope of the Ottoman Empire, the focus of this paper is description of developing pharmacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the time of Ottoman reign.

From a religious view of madness to religious mania: the Encyclopédie, Pinel, Esquirol.

This paper focuses on the shift from a concept of insanity understood in terms of religion to another (as entertained by early psychiatry, especially in France) according to which it is believed that forms of madness tinged by religion are difficult to cure. The traditional religious view of madness, as exemplified by Pascal (inter alia), is first illustrated by entries from the Encyclopédie. Then the shift towards a medical view of madness, inspired by Vitalistic physiology, is mapped by entries taken from the same publication. Firmed up by Pinel, this shift caused the abandonment of the religious view. Esquirol considered religious mania to be a vestige from the past, but he also believed that mental conditions carrying a religious component were difficult to cure.

Explanatory models for homeopathy: from the vital force to the current paradigm.

Facing claims for and against the scientific status of homeopathy, one is entitled to ask: is there a scientific model for homeopathy? In this study we reconstructed the model put forward by Hahnemann. The results showed that it was essentially based on the assumption of a 'vital force' exclusive to living beings. While the vital force was a basic element of 18th-century science, the existence of such a sui generis force of nature was refuted with the formulation of the law of the conservation of energy by mid-19th century. As a function of that fact for homeopathic theory, we discuss the history of the rise and demise of the theory of the vital force from the last quarter of the 18th century to 1830. Finally, we call the attention to the paradigm shift biology underwent starting at the end of the 19th century as the framework for contemporary views on the functioning of living beings and consequently, of the effects of pharmacological agents on them.

Doctors and Their Patients in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries.

How can these finings be interpreted in conclusion? Analysis has revealed firstly that, depending on the chosen period, the socio-geographical situation and the profile of the individual doctor's practice, the clientele varied widely in terms of gender, age and social rank. The consultation behaviour of men and women changed noticeably. Findings overall suggest that up until t8o the gender distribution varied in the individual practices. There was a trend for women to be overrepresented in urban practices during the earlier period. But in general, from the mid-nineteenth century they predominated - in towns as well as in the country in allopathic as well as homeopathic practices. The absence of children, which was bemoaned by many physicians, did not apply to the practices under investigation. On the contrary: the percentage is consistently high while older patients remained underrepresented right up until the end of the period under investigation, even though their proportion increased in the individual practices during the course of the nineteenth century In each of the nineteenth century practices investigated - and increasingly among the lower and middle classes - the physicians' services were used by several members of the same family. We have found no evidence to support the thesis that up until the nineteenth century academic physicians were mainly consulted by aristocratic or wealthy bourgeois patients. The theory probably applies only to early modern urban doctors. In the practices examined here, from the middle of the eighteenth century, patients from all social strata went to consult physicians. The participation of members of the lower classes or from an artisanal, (proto) industrial or agricultural background clearly increased over time 'despite ubiquitous economic and cultural barriers. That the annual numbers of consultations per physician increased - despite the growing number of physicians available - suggests that for economically disadvantaged social groups also, the consultation of learned physicians became more common: in towns from the first half of the nineteenth century and in the country from the middle of the century. In addition, the individual findings reveal that, prior to the introduction of statutory health insurance for salaried persons, patients of more secure social standing consulted a physician considerably more frequently in the course of the year than lower class patients. While the patient structure clearly changed around 1800, the relationship between physician and patient continued without major changes from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The therapeutic encounter up until the end of the investigated period can be summarized as a negotiation process. Patients were discerning in their choice of healer and did not refrain from using rival services. They sought help for unpleasant symptoms such as indigestion, pain or fever, and only rarely in cases of emergency Therapy was decided on after an exchange between a critical and autonomous client and the medical specialist who was generally willing to compromise. While the patient structure clearly changed around 1800, the relationship between physician and patient continued without major changes from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The therapeutic encounter up until the end of the investigated period can be summarized as a negotiation process. Patients were discerning in their choice of healer and did not refrain from using rival services. they sought help for unpleasant symptoms such as indigestion, pain or fever, and only rarely in cases of emergency. Therapy was decided on after an exchange between critical and autonomous client and the medical specialist who was generally willing to compromise.

Anatomical Mercury: Changing Understandings of Quicksilver, Blood, and the Lymphatic System, 1650-1800.

The use of mercury as an injection mass in anatomical experiments and preparations was common throughout Europe in the long eighteenth century, and refined mercury-injected preparations as well as plates of anatomical mercury remain today. The use and meaning of mercury in related disciplines such as medicine and chemistry in the same period have been studied, but our knowledge of anatomical mercury is sparse and tends to focus on technicalities. This article argues that mercury had a distinct meaning in anatomy, which was initially influenced by alchemical and classical understandings of mercury. Moreover, it demonstrates that the choice of mercury as an anatomical injection mass was deliberate and informed by an intricate cultural understanding of its materiality, and that its use in anatomical preparations and its perception as an anatomical material evolved with the understanding of the circulatory and lymphatic systems. By using the material culture of anatomical mercury as a starting point, I seek to provide a new, object-driven interpretation of complex and strongly interrelated historiographical categories such as mechanism, vitalism, chemistry, anatomy, and physiology, which are difficult to understand through a historiography that focuses exclusively on ideas.

The 'Preliminary Discourse' to Methodical Nosology, by François Boissier de Sauvages (1772).

The eighteenth century witnessed an intense drive to classify diseases as natural kinds. Together with Linné, Macbride, Cullen, Sagar and Vogel, François Boissier de Sauvages, Professor of Medicine at Montpellier, was an important player in this process. In his monumental Nosologie Méthodique, Sauvages based his nosological system on the more botanico view proposed by Thomas Sydenham, namely, that human diseases (including mental ailments) should be classified in the same way as were plants. Classic Text No. 104 is an abridged translation of the Preliminary Discourse to the Nosologie Méthodique.

[Retrospect and prospect of medicinal plants cultivation in China].

There is time-honored history and culture of medicinal plant cultivation in China. In the present review, the medicinal plant cultivation history in china was summarized, its current situation and question were analyzed, and the prospects of medicinal plant cultivation research were pointed out, with the purpose of accelerating the growth of medicinal plant cultivation research.

[The Seongho () School's Study of the Ancient Learning () and Its Influence on the Debate about Materia Medica in the Late Joseon Dynasty].

This study will determine the ways in which the ancient learning (gu xue, ) scholarship of the Seongho School, and its interest in the materia medica (ben cao xue, ) were related during the late Joseon period. The Seongho School centered its studies mainly on classical Chinese texts of the Han (206 BC－AD 220) and pre-Han (?－221 BC) (xian-qin lianghan, ) periods rather than those of the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279). gu xue scholarship emerged during the Ming dynasty era (1368 －1644) as an alternative to the scholarly trends of the Song dynasty, which were dependent on Zhu Xi's (, 1130－1200) Neo-Confucianism and its interpretation of Han and pre-Han classical Chinese texts. This scholarly trend influenced Korean and Japanese literature, philosophy, and even medicine from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Focusing on Korean scholarship, we find a great deal of research regarding the influence of gu xue on Korean classical Chinese literature and Confucian philosophy in the late Joseon period; however, no study has examined how this style of scholarship influenced the field of medicine during the same period. This study will investigate how the intellectuals of the Seongho School, who did the most to develop gu xue among Joseon intellectuals, were influenced by this style of scholarship in their study of the materia medica. Jeong Yak-yong (1762－1836), the representative intellectual of the Seongho School, did not focus on complicated metaphysical medical theories, such as the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory (yin yang wu xing shui, ) or the Five Movements and Six Atmospheres theory (wu yun liu qi shui, ). Instead, his interests lay in the exact diagnoses of diseases and meticulous herbal prescriptions which formed an essential part of the Treatise on Exogenous Febrile Disease (Shang han lun, ) written by Zhang Zhungjing (, 150－219) in the Han dynasty. The Treatise was compatible with the scholarly purpose of gu xue in that they both eschewed metaphysical explanations. The Seongho School's interest in the materia medica stemmed from a desire to improve the delivery and quality of medical practices in rural communities, where metaphysical theories of medicine did not prevail and the cost of medicine was prohibitive.

[History of oyster as drug from the origin to the 21st century]. / Histoire de l'utilisation de l'huître comme médicament des origines au XXIe siècle.

Since Antiquity, oyster is a subject of interest and medical use, as indicated by Oribiase and Galien. From the 17th century, this unique drug was proposed by physicians for various diseases, and more often for (la rage). One could think that that drug disappeared at the 20th and 21st centuries. But we can observe that it was still recommended by several authors as drug. Still today, companies offer oyster under various forms for allopathic and homeopathic treatments, as well as for food supplement. Research are ongoing to discover active substances within oyster and their potential medical interests.

New approaches within the history and theory of medicine and their relevance for homeopathy.

Conventional sciences have brought forth a wealth of knowledge and benefits, but they have not always been clear and precise about their legitimate scope and methodological limitations. In contrast, new and critical approaches in modern sciences question and reflect their own presuppositions, dependencies, and constraints. Examples are quantum physics, theory and history of science, as well as theory and history of medicine, sociology, and economics. In this way, deprecative dogmatism and animosity amongst sciences ought to be lessened, while the field opens up for each science to redefine its appropriate place in society. This would appear to be a chance for homeopathy, as new approaches, especially within the social and economic sciences, suggest that being a follower of Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) may have advantages and privileges that conventional medicine seems to be lacking and whose relevance was overlooked during the rise of economic thinking in the last two centuries.

Hahnemann and placebo.

Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) known today as the founder of homoeopathy, was - as far as we know - the first physician who administrated placebos to his patient on a systematic and regular basis. This study is based upon unpublished documents (e.g. patients' letters) in the Archives of the Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation in Stuttgart. It also profited from the critical edition of Hahnemann's case journals and the editorial comments which have also been published in this series. Hahnemann differentiated clearly between homeopathic drugs and pharmaceutical substances which he considered as sham medicine (e.g. milk sugar). A close look at Hahnemann's case journals reveals that the percentage of placebo prescriptions was very high (between 54 and 85 percent). In most instances Hahnemann marked placebos with the paragraph symbol (§). The rationale behind this practice was that Hahnemann had encountered the well-known problem that patients were used to taking medicine on a daily basis as it was typical for the age of heroic medicine. The main reason for giving placebo was therefore to please the impatient patient who was used to frequent medications in allopathic medicine, not only every day but sometimes also hourly.

[Revision to origin of northern Artemisia argyi in Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao gangmu)].

The origin of northern Artemisia argyi recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica(Bencao gangmu) is Fudao(Chinese characters) in Tangyin county, While there is only Fudao(Chinese characters) instead of Fudao(Chinese characters). Whether indeed Fudao(Chinese characters) is Fudao(Chinese characters)? By reviewing the genuine evolution of A. argyi, doing textual research on Fudao(Chinese characters) and combing with field survey data of national census of Chinese Materia Medica resources, this paper concluded that the word Fudao(Chinese characters) firstly emerged in Figure Canon of Chinese Materia Medica(Bencao tujing) of Susong in Song dynasty and was applied in later generations, but the implication was not clear, then emerged both Tangyin and Fudao(Chinese characters) in Compendium of Materia Medica(Bencao gangmu). The place Fudao(Chinese characters) is one of the graves of Bianque, that existed from Shang and Zhou dynasty and never changed until now, the A. argyi of Tangyin was famous from the grave of Bianque in Fudao(Chinese characters), which could infer that Lishizhen considered Fudao (Chinese characters) was Fudao(Chinese characters) indeed, and the origin of northern A. argyi was Fudao(Chinese characters) in Tangyin county.

["Purified empiricism": Johann Christian Reil's (1759-1813) attempts at a foundation of medicine in relation to its tradition, kantianism, and speculative philosophy]. / "Geläuterte Empirie": Johann Christian Reils (1759-1813) Versuche zur Grundlegung der Medizin im Spannungsfeld von Tradition, Kantianismus und spe- kulativer Philosophie.

Johann Christian Reil's (1759-1813) importance lies in his theoretical approach to medicine. Following Kant in his early work, he attempts to combine medical experience with an underlying conceptual structure. This attempt is directed against both the chaotic empiricism of traditional medicine and speculative theories such as vitalism. The paper starts from his early reflections on the concept of a life force, which he interprets in the way of a non-reductive materialism. In the following, the basic outlines of his Theory of Fever will be shown. The Theory is a systematic attempt at finding a new foundation for diagnosis and therapy on the basis of the concept of fever, which is understood as modification of vital processes. The paper ends with a discussion of his later work, which has remained controversial so far. It shows that the combination of practical empiricism and scientific theory remained rather unstable in this early phase of the development of modern medicine.