In what way is the action of drugs to be discovered? : an essay / by William Sharp, M.D.

  • Sharp, William, 1805-1896.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: In what way is the action of drugs to be discovered? : an essay / by William Sharp, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    6/84 (page 4)
    to the action of drugs. They have been given with in- cantations of every character. They have been worn as amulets and charms of every form, and of every material And these things have been done in all ages, and in every country, to avert or to remedy disease. Alas! that such a method of discovering the action of drugs should have existed, should still exist in the world. It is checked only where, and so far as, the influence of pure Christianity is felt. We may dismiss the further consideration of it here; but we should not do so without a blush: for we may well blush for the ignorance, for the folly, and for the sin which all such practices reveal. 2. TheT/ have been viewed astrologically. For many centuries a belief has been maintained that the action of drugs is under the government of the sun, moon, and stars. All the details of this misbelief are given with perfect good faith, and with entire confidence, so lately as the middle of the seventeenth century, in one of the most popular medical books of the time—by popular I here mean among medical men; this is the Pharmacopoeia of John Shroder. (1656). From the ninth chapter of this celebrated book, De influentiis Stellarum —a book, let me again observe, re- ceived and used by the orthodox physicians of the time— we may learn the puerile story of the star-gazers. A short extract will show the character of the state- ments :— Saturnus est planeta malignus, diurnus, masculinus, summe frigidus, Martis amicus, reliquis inimicus; lieni microcosmo correspondens. Res Saturninse — plumbum, antimonium, aconitum, cannabis, agnus castus, hyoscyamus, helliborus niger, opium, sabina, &c. Jupiter est planeta benevolus, moderate calidus, &c., epati correspondens. Res Joviales sunt stannum, argentum, berberis, men- tha, quercus, symphitus, &c. Mars est j)laneta summe calidus, atque siccus, &c. Res Martialis sunt cinnabar, arum, carduus, plantago, urtica, «&;c. V