Archibald Menzies on Albemarle Island, Galápagos archipelago, 7 February 1795.

Menzies made the earliest extant botanical collections in the Galápagos; five sheets, representing three endemic species, are known. Menzies's own account of the visit is also extant and is transcribed here from his manuscript journal.

Rediscovering MDMA (ecstasy): the role of the American chemist Alexander T. Shulgin.

AIMS: Alexander T. Shulgin is widely thought of as the 'father' of +/-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). This paper re-assesses his role in the modern history of this drug. METHODS: We analysed systematically Shulgin's original publications on MDMA, his publications on the history of MDMA and his laboratory notebook. RESULTS: According to Shulgin's book PIHKAL (1991), he synthesized MDMA in 1965, but did not try it. In the 1960s Shulgin also synthesized MDMA-related compounds such as 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MMDA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDE), but this had no impact on his rediscovery of MDMA. In the mid-1970s Shulgin learned of a 'special effect' caused by MDMA, whereupon he re-synthesized it and tried it himself in September 1976, as confirmed by his laboratory notebook. In 1977 he gave MDMA to Leo Zeff PhD, who used it as an adjunct to psychotherapy and introduced it to other psychotherapists. CONCLUSION: Shulgin was not the first to synthesize MDMA, but he played an important role in its history. It seems plausible that he was so impressed by its effects that he introduced it to psychotherapist Zeff in 1977. This, and the fact that in 1978 he published with David Nichols the first paper on the pharmacological action of MDMA in humans, explains why Shulgin is sometimes (erroneously) called the 'father' of MDMA.

[Studies on the crude drugs used for the folk medicine described in "mimi-bukuro"].

"Mimi-bukuro" is a book written by Moriyasu Negishi in the Edo period. M. Negishi (1737-1815) was a magistrate in the town of Edo. He was very much interested in listening and recording many kinds of stories, which were told by the various kinds of people, such as public officers, samurais, merchants, doctors, etc. Among the stories of this book, some stories were found concerning folk medicine, medicinal substance and charms. In this report, I studied the medicines which were used in these stories. The medicines originated from zoological, botanical and mineral substances. As the results of my studies, there were zoological, botanical and mineral medicines were 13, 36 and 4 species, respectively. The examples of such medicines were as follows. Zoological samples: Felis catus, Gallus gallus domesticus, Anguilla japonica and Rapana venosa. Botanical samples: Artemisia princeps, Nicotiana tabacum, Panax ginseng, Terminaria chebula and Piper nigrum.

Some salient features of 'Kitabul-Hashaish' with special reference to the manuscript preserved in Khuda Baksh O.P. Library, Patna.

The contributions of Dioscorides in the field of materia medica and pharmacology are unparalleled in the history of medicine. This great botanist of the 1st century A.D. made personal observations of the specific properties of drugs and presented them through illustrations for the first time. Almost all the physician authors of Unani system of medicine from Galen to Azam Khan have quoted Dioscorides. Kitabul-Hashaish was rendered into English and arabic and published repeatedly in the West. The book has great value and is quoted widely due to its authenticity. This unique work needs to be edited critically and afterwards translated into Urdu and other languages for the benefit of the present day students and scholars.