ABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: In spite of the rich bio-cultural diversity found in the Neotropics relatively few herbal drugs native to South America are included in the global pharmacopoeia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In the attempt to historically explain the inclusion of herbal drugs into official pharmacopoeias we consider the disparate epidemiology and cultural evolution of the New and the Old World. We then trace the development of pharmacopoeias and review forces that worked towards and against the synchronization of pharmacopoeias and highlight the role of early chemical and pharmacological studies in Europe. Finally, we compare the share of exotic and native herbal drug species included in the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia with the share of exotic and native species included in the European Pharmacopoeia as well as those used for products registered with ANVISA. RESULTS: The domination of Eurasian herbal drugs in the European Pharmacopoeia seems to be conditioned by the geographical extension of Eurasia, which facilitated the interchange of materia medica and the creation of a consensus of use since ancient times. At the time of the Conquest the epidemiology of the Amerindian populations resembled that of pre-agriculturalist societies while no written consensus around efficacious medicine existed. Subsequently, introduced and well-tried plant species of the Old World gained therapeutic importance in the New World. CONCLUSION: The research focus in Europe and the US resulted in a persistence of herbal drugs with a historic importance in the European and US pharmacopoeias, which gained a status as safe and efficacious. During the last decades only few ethnopharmacological field-studies have been conducted with indigenous Amerindian groups living in the Brazilian Amazon, which might be attributable to difficulties in obtaining research permissions. Newly adopted regulations regarding access to biodiversity and traditional knowledge as well as the simplified procedure for licencing herbal medicinal products in Brazil prospects an interesting future for those aiming at developing herbal medicine based on bio-cultural diversity and respecting the protocols regulating benefit sharing.
Subject(s)
Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history , Animals , Brazil , Europe , Herbal Medicine/history , History, 15th Century , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , History, Ancient , History, Medieval , Humans , Medicine, Traditional/history , Plants, MedicinalABSTRACT
Se presenta una lista de remedios médicos basados en el uso de anfibios en la medicina popular española y en el Mundo Clásico. Se ha llevado a cabo una revisión de la bibliografía relativa a estudios de folklore, trabajos etnográficos e investigaciones en antropología social o médica. Se documenta un total de 113 remedios y el uso de nueve especies de anfibios, dos pertenecientes a la familia de los caudados (urodelos) y siete anuros. La mayoría de los remedios se basa en la "preconcepción" popular sobre la influencia de los mismos y la sanación mediante la transmisión del mal a un ser vivo. Se destaca el uso tradicional de algunas especies amenazadas, dato a tener en cuenta a la hora de tomar decisiones en el campo de la biología de la conservación y la educación ambiental.
This article presents a list of medical remedies based on the use of amphibians in Spanish popular medicine and in the classical world. It provides an overview of bibliography relative to folklore studies, ethnographic work and research on social or medical anthropology. It documents a total of 113 remedies and the use of nine species of amphibians, two from the family of caudates (urodeles) and seven anurans. Most of these remedies are based on the popular "preconception" about the influence of amphibians and healing by transmitting an illness to a living creature. The traditional use of certain threatened species is emphasized, an issue to bear in mind in decision-making in the field of conservation biology and environmental education.
Subject(s)
Animals , History, Ancient , History, 16th Century , History, 18th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history , Amphibians , Medicine, Traditional/history , SpainABSTRACT
This article presents a list of medical remedies based on the use of amphibians in Spanish popular medicine and in the classical world. It provides an overview of bibliography relative to folklore studies, ethnographic work and research on social or medical anthropology. It documents a total of 113 remedies and the use of nine species of amphibians, two from the family of caudates (urodeles) and seven anurans. Most of these remedies are based on the popular "preconception" about the influence of amphibians and healing by transmitting an illness to a living creature. The traditional use of certain threatened species is emphasized, an issue to bear in mind in decision-making in the field of conservation biology and environmental education.
Subject(s)
Amphibians , Medicine, Traditional/history , Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history , Animals , History, 16th Century , History, 18th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , History, Ancient , SpainABSTRACT
Neste texto, o autor faz uma viagem sentimental à farmacopeia brasileira do século passado, especialmente, os anos entre 1920 e 1960. É uma viagem, parcialmente, inspirada em recordações dos remédios que tomava ou ouvia falar, quando criança e adolescente e, principalmente, guiada pelos maravilhosos registros que pôde encontrar a respeito na rede mundial de computadores. Fala, principalmente, da propaganda, a comunicação estabelecida, via anúncios em jornais e revistas, entre os fabricantes de remédios e seus potenciais compradores. Mas não apenas dela: também do significado subjetivo que os remédios tinham ou têm para outras pessoas, que escreveram ou estão escrevendo sobre eles. (AU)
Subject(s)
History, 20th Century , Pharmaceutical Preparations/history , Drug Publicity , Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history , BrazilABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Latin American medicine in the 16th century produced the first collections of herbs with native plants from the New World. Treatises on popular therapies appeared, which included gallenic remedies as well as incorporating autochthonous plants. We review the main neurological diseases and their treatments described in The Treasure of Medicines for All Illnesses by Gregorio Lopez (1542-1596). DEVELOPMENT: Some critics claim that his work was an enumeration of empirical prescriptions, sometimes with a magico-religious influence, which was extended in successive reprints. Yet, this manuscript is probably the first treatise on therapeutics written by a European in the New World to describe the native remedies employed in the treatment of diseases. In the section entitled Remedies in alphabetical order the following neurological ailments and appropriate remedies to treat them are described: abscess, apoplexy, brain, chilling, cramp, gota coral or epilepsy, headache, melancholy, memory, migraine, nerves, palsy, paralysis, sciatica, stupor and vertigo. The list of diseases is very complete and includes syndromes ranging from fevers, colics and bruises to phthisis, scabs or burns. The copy of the manuscript in the Vatican contains a final section on Indian medicines, which includes a list of medicinal plants used at that time, with the names given in Nahuatl language. CONCLUSIONS: Headaches, epilepsy and conditions affecting the peripheral nerves were the neurological pathologies that were described at greatest length in The Treasure of Medicines for All Illnesses, and for which a greater number of natural prescriptions were compiled.
Subject(s)
Manuscripts, Medical as Topic/history , Medicine, Traditional/history , Nervous System Diseases/history , Pharmacognosy/history , Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history , History, 16th Century , Humans , Materia Medica/history , Mental Disorders/drug therapy , Mental Disorders/history , Mexico , Nervous System Diseases/drug therapy , Nervous System Diseases/therapy , Phytotherapy/history , Plants, Medicinal , SpainABSTRACT
The Mexican Pharmaceutical Society was founded in 1871. Pharmacists in this Society organized and supported activities to develop their profession, including the preparation of a Mexican pharmacopela, promotion of the interests of pharmacists and improvement of the profession, and the creation of a unified legal framework for its practice. This society played a central role in the institutionalization of pharmacy as a profession and in the expansion of pharmacists into new areas, especially in relation to the transfer of pharmacy training from the National School of Medicine to the School of Chemical Sciences in 1919. when they took on a new identity as chemists.
Subject(s)
Education, Pharmacy/history , Societies, Pharmaceutical/history , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Mexico , Pharmacists/history , Pharmacopoeias as Topic/historyABSTRACT
In the biological sciences the use of medicinal plants in indigenous cultures is commonly seen as being based on a long tradition ('traditional medicine'). However, under normal circumstances, ethnobotanical studies cannot provide evidence on the antiquity of specific uses for medicinal plants since oral traditions have a limited historical depth and archaeological evidence does not provide evidence for the specific medicinal use of a certain plant. Here, we provide evidence for the antiquity of medicinal plant use in the Olmec region in Mexico by comparing the pharmacopoeias of the linguistically related Lowland Mixe and Zoque-Popoluca. These cultures, separated for about 2000 years, have cognates for vernacular medicinal plant names in common. For fifteen species such cognate names were detected. Also, a statistically significant segment of the medicinal flora is used for similar purposes. Overall, 123 species are shared between the two groups and of these 62 have a similar usage. In nine cases they also have a similar name. These findings make a transmission of such knowledge since the time of the Olmecs highly likely.
Subject(s)
Indians, North American/history , Medicine, Traditional/history , Plants, Medicinal , History, 20th Century , History, Ancient , Humans , Linguistics/history , Mexico , Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history , Plants, Medicinal/classificationABSTRACT
The paper analyses the transformation of the Mexican pharmacopoeia, focusing on the presence of medicinal plants. Reflecting diverse processes, editions of the pharmacopoeia show a progressive modification in its content and profile. A text written to shape a Mexican materia medica, recognising empirical knowledge by the inclusion of popularly used resources and involving clinicians as authors and recipients, was transformed into a mainly industrial publication with no clinical references. The origin and implications of this process are explored.