Lecture introductory to the course of materia medica and pharmacy : in the University of Pennsylvania, for the session of 1835-6 / by George B. Wood.

  • Wood, George B. (George Bacon), 1797-1879.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture introductory to the course of materia medica and pharmacy : in the University of Pennsylvania, for the session of 1835-6 / by George B. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    11/28
    At no period of antiquity had the science of Materia Medica advanced beyond the mere rudiments. The catalogue of medicines was numerous, but abounded in superfluities, introduced either upon false experience or absurd theoretical opinions. Thus, resemblances or analogies in colour, shape, or other sensible property, between the medicine and certain parts of the body or certain products of disease, were supposed to have an important bearing upon its curative powers; and a mysterious influence naturally existing, or imparted by incantations or other supernatural agency, was believed to be possessed by various substances, which were worn as amulets about the body. Objects calculated to inspire disgust, fear, or horror, were thought to extend over the frame the same spells in which they held the spirit; and hence toads, reptiles, venom- ous insects, and even human bones received a place in the Materia Medica. Many of these absurdities, though long since banished from the schools, have found a refuge among the vulgar, even in the most polished nations, and, in various- semi-civilized countries of the old continent, flourish in almost their pristine vigour. To most of us it may appear strange, that men of the least cultivation should ever have yielded to such absurd claims upon their faith; but no stretch of credulity seems too great for an intellect not carefully instructed in fundamental truths; and when we witness, among our own contemporaries, such extravagances as a belief in the almost universal virtues of a secret panacea on the one hand, and in the powerful efficacy of the trillionth of a grain of silex on the other, our wonder is directed away from the peculiar folly of the ancients, to the general weakness and fallibility of the human intellect- Abounding as the ancient Materia Medica did in superflu- ities, it was greatly deficient in remedies of real importance. Many of our most valuable vegetable medicines had not been discovered; very few from the mineral kingdom were used internally, and the whole circle of chemicals, now