Pharmacy History
222 PHCL
Muneera Alwhaibi Msc
Pharmacy history lab 1
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Objectives:
Brief overview of profession roots.
Study history from its origin in ancient Babylonia
through the middle of the twentieth century.
Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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For as long as the human species has encountered
disease, injury, and illness, people have sought relief.
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Empirically based
trial and error.
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Knowledge based
facts , comprehension.
Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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Pharmacy in ancient times
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It was practiced in prehistoric times as people used the water,
plants and earth around them for soothing compresses on
wounds and ailments.
Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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Babylon often called the cradle of civilization, provides
the earliest known record of practice of the art of the
apothecary.
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Practitioners of healing of this era (about 2600 B.C.)
were priest, pharmacist and physician.
Sumerian clay cuneiform tablets
Some oldest pharmacy records are found in Sumerian clay cuneiform
tablets that date about 2000 B.C.
 Medical texts on clay tablets record first the symptoms of illness, the
prescription and directions for compounding.
Sumerian clay cuneiform tablets
Symbols that appear in the
'world's oldest prescription'
Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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Pharmacy in ancient times
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An ancient china (2000 B.C), emperor Shen Nung
investigated the medical properties of hundreds of herbs.
Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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Pharmacy in ancient China: The emperor Shen Nung:
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He recorded and documented 365 native herbal in a book
called Shen Nung Pen Ts'ao Ching .
Shen Nung Pen Tsao Ching
Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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Pharmacy in ancient times
Egyptian priest, prepared medicines.
 The Ebers papyrus, which dates from
1900-1100 B.C, is the best known
pharmaceutical record from ancient history.
 It contains 800 prescriptions using 700 drugs.
 Many modern dosage forms are referred to in the Ebers
papyrus (gargles, snuffs, inhalations, suppositories…..)
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Ebers papyrus
Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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Pharmacy in ancient times
Ancient Greece lived the father of botany, Theophrastus (300 B.C)
has observations about the medicinal qualities of herbs.
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Pharmacy events before the middle ages
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Pharmacy in ancient times
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Hippocrates formulated the theory of the four humors that parallel
the four elements:
 (air- blood, water- phlegm, earth-black bile, fire- yellow bile).
He surmised that disease was caused by an imbalance of these bad
humors
Pharmacy differentiate during middle ages
Pharmaceutical knowledge- and the number
of drugs available- grew considerably.
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Thanks primarily to the Arab world.
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Pharmacy as a separate activity began to develop and privately
owned pharmacies were established in Islamic lands.
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First known apothecary shop was opened in Baghdad in the 8th
century, and the Muslims carried this concept into Europe during
wars and other excursions into Africa, Spain, southern France.
Pharmacy differentiate during middle ages
Pharmacy events during middle ages
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Pharmacy differentiate during middle ages
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Ibn Sina (circa 980-1037)- Avicenna- intellectual giant, he was a
physician, poet, philosopher, diplomat, companion of Persian
princes and rulers.
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His Canon Medicine brought together the best knowledge of the
Greeks and Arabs into a single medical text.