"From the Known to the Unknown:" Nature's Diversity, Materia Medica, and Analogy in 18th Century Botany, Through the Work of Tournefort, the Jussieu Brothers, and Linnaeus.

The growth of botany following European expansion and the consequent increase of plants necessitated significant development in classification methodology, during the key decades spanning the late 17th to the mid-18th century, leading to the emergence of a "natural method." Much of this development was driven by the need to accurately identify medicinal plants, and was founded on the principle of analogy, used particularly in relation to properties. Analogical reasoning established correlations (affinities) between plants, moreover between their external and internal characteristics (here, medicinal properties). The diversity of plants, names, and botanical information gathered worldwide amplified confusion. This triggered the systematisation of the collection and referencing of data, prioritizing the meticulous observation of plant characteristics and the recording of medicinal properties as established by tradition: it resulted in principled methods of natural classification and nomenclature, represented by the genus, to enhance reliability of plant knowledge, which was crucial in medical contexts. The scope of botany increased dramatically, with new methods broadening studies beyond traditional medicinal plants. The failure of chemical methods to predict properties, particularly of unknown flora, amplified the reliance on analogy and on natural affinities.

The Doctrine of Signatures, Materia Medica of Orchids, and the Contributions of Doctor - Orchidologists.

The heritage of medicine is written in many forms. One repository is to be found in the history of orchids, the world's largest family of flowering plants. Orchids were so named by Theophrastus (c.372-288 BC) who recorded their medicinal use as an aphrodisiac and the promoter of virility, in the context of the Doctrine of Signatures. Such use endured for millennia, and was recorded both by Paracelsus (1493-1551) and Linnaeus (1707-1778). The history of orchidology and medicine are entwined in four domains: (a) orchids and their historical materia medica, within the paradigm of the Doctrine of Signatures; (b) the enduring and extensive contemporary medicinal and culinary use of orchids such as Vanilla and salep extracts of Orchis; (c) the scientific contributions of doctors as orchidologists; and (d) the heritage of more than a hundred doctors' names in the scientific etymology of the Orchidaceae family. Prominent orchidologists have included the Scottish doctor-soldier and botanist, Robert Brown (1773-1858); the Director of the State Herbarium at Leyden and the Rijks Museum, Carl Ludwig Blume (1796-1862); and Dr William Sterling MD (1888-1967). Among the more than 1250 genus names (and 33,000 species) of orchids are the names of more than a hundred doctors, their lives and works perpetuated in the scientific etymology of this family of exotic, beautiful, flamboyant, intriguing and often expensive flowers. Generic names record the lives and works of such as Aristotle (384-322BC) in Aristotelia Loureiro 1790; Cadet de Gassicourt (1769-1821) in Cadetia Gaudichaud 1826; Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) in Sirhookera O. Kuntze 1891; and Dr Theodore Daniel Vrydag Zynen (fl. 1820-1850) in Vrydagzynea Blume 1858. One of the principal horticultural genera of orchids, Brassavola, records the life and work of the Ferrara and Padua physician and botanist, Antonio Musa Brassavola (1500-1555). The first Slipper Orchid bred as a hybrid, Paphiopedilum harrisianum (by John Dominy [1816-1892], at Exeter in England) was named after his colleague, the Devon surgeon, Dr John Harris (1782-1855).

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.

Papel de la botánica médica en la farmacoterapia colombiana desde finales del siglo XIX hasta comienzos del siglo XX / Role of the medical botanic on colombian pharmacotherapy since XIX century to beginings of the XX century

Esta investigación trata de la Botánica Médica y su importancia en la terapeútica y la materia médica en Europa y Colombia, a finales del siglo pasado y comienzos de este siglo. Está dividido en dos capítulos: El primero muestra la evolución de la materia médica, paralela a los cambios en los conceptos de enfermedad que se dieron en Europa; el segundo clasifica los medicamentos utilizados en Colombia en la época mencionada, según el esquema presentado por Trousseau (1876) en su tratado de Terapeútica y Materia Médica. Para su realización consultamos fuentes bibliográficas primarias y secundarias, recopiladas en la sala de investigadores de la Biblioteca Nacional. Nos basamos principalmente en tratado de Terapeútica y Materia Médica de Trousseau, Los medicamentos que hacen honor a la medicina, de Rafael Gutiérrez y las publicaciones periódicas: Revista Médica de Bogotá, La Homeopatia, Repertorio de Medicina y Cirugía, y la Gaceta Médica de la época mencionada. Se encontró la importancia de las plantas medicinales y como con el tiempo fueron desplazadas por principios activos sintetizados químicamente