PHARMACOGNOSY AND PLANT CHEMISTRY

Lecture ||Second Semester

History Preliminary Period
History of Pharmacognosy Ancient China

 Pharmacognosy- it was first coined by Johann Adam  Emperor Shen Nung (c 2700 B.C.) Investigated the
Schmidt medicinal value of herbs by tasting herbs to
 Lahrbuch der Materia Medica- hand- written discover their qualities.
manuscript of J.A. Schmidt published in Vienna. He  Written the first Pen T- Sao which has 365 entries.
was professor at the medico-surgical Joseph  He was able to study podophyllum, rhubarb,
Academy in Vienna, he is also Beethoven’s ginseng, stramonium, cinnamon, bark, and ephedra.
physician.
ShangHan Lun
Pharmacognosy
 Shang Han Lun written by Chang ChungChing/
 An applied science that deals with the biologic, Zhang Zhonggjing.
biochemical & economic features of natural drugs  And also known in English as the Treatise on Cold
and their constituents. Damage Diseases.
 Pharmacognosy is the study of plants or other  “T” is amongst the oldest complete clinical
natural sources as a possible source of drugs. textbooks in the world it is considered as one of the
 The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines four canonical works of Traditional Chinese
pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, Medicine.
chemical, biochemical and biological properties of  Chin Kuni Yao Lunh- historical origin of the most
drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug important classical herbal formulas that have
substances of natural origin as well as the search for become the basis of Chinese and Chinese- Japanese
new drugs from natural sources. herbalism “Kampo.”

Origins of Pharmacognosy and Plant Chemistry Sui Dynasty (598-618)

 Prehistoric humas acquired knowledge of medicinal  Bibliography of the History of Sui (Sui Shu Jing
properties of plants in the following ways: Ji Zhi)
 By guess work or by trial and error.  How to Cultivate Herbs (Zhong Zhi Yue Fa)
 While searching for food.  How to Collect Herbs in the Forest (Ru Lin Cai
 Signature of naturer. Yue Fa)
 By observing other animals’ instinctive
discrimination between toxic and palatable Sung Dynasty (960-1276)
plants, and  Standard pharmaceutical system has been
 By accidental discovery established throughout China.
 The medicine men monopolized the knowledge of  The preparation differs according to the needs for
drugs and hide that knowledge in some incantations. the treatment of disease.
Ancient Mesopotamia Later Ming Dynasty
 “Treatise of Medical Diagnosis and Prognosis”  Herbal with commentary (Pen T’sao Kan Mu)-
*1,600 B.C.) Considered of 40 tablets, it was written by Li Shi Zhen.
collected and studied by Jean Baptiste Labat.  Also known as the compendium of Materia Medica
 Example includes the management of excessive it is regarded as the most complete and
bleeding. comprehensive medical book ever written in the
 They were baked tablets written in Cuneiform. history of traditional Chinese medicine.
 Babylonia’s (c. 3000 B.C.): provides the earliest  It is considered as one of the four canonical works
known record of the practice of the art of the of Traditional Chinese medicine, along with Huang
apothecary. Di Nei Jing, Jin Gui Yao Lue, and Wen Bing Xue.
 Text on clay tablet includes the record of first
symptoms of illness, the prescription, and directions
for compounding, then an invocation to the gods.
 Two primary men in charge of treatment:
 Ashipu sometimes called as “sorcerer”-
diagnose the ailment.
 Asu- specialist in herbal remedies.

Ronquillo, M.F.
PHARMACOGNOSY AND PLANT CHEMISTRY
Lecture ||Second Semester
History Preliminary Period
Ancient Egypt Pedanios Dioscorides (40-80 A.D.)

Ebers Papyrus (1550 B.C.)  De Materia Medica (500 medicinal Plants)

 Is an organized pharmaceutical and medical
 The most complete medical document, the oldest knowledge.
and the most important medical papyri of ancient  Gives information pertaining to drug and their
Egypt. usage.
 It is a collection of 800 prescriptions, mentioning  De Materia medica libri quinque in Latin,
700 drugs. concerning medical matter in five volumes.
 Is a 110- page scroll, which is about 20 meters long.
Pliny de Elder (23-70 A.D.)
Edwin Smith Papyrus (1600 B.C.)
 Natural History - largest collection on plants from
 Contains surgical instructions and formulas for the Roman Period. Serves as a valuable resource
cosmetics. for the medicinal uses of plants in ancient
Kahun Medical Papyrus (1900 B.C.) medicine.
 He reports from the writings of many authors
 Is the oldest and deals with health of women, whose work does not survive.
including birthing instructions.
Claudius Galen
Ayurveda
 A third century A.D. Greek physician, who codified
 Ayurvedic writing mentioned medicines from plants the preparation of drugs using multiple ingredients
like ricinus, pepper, lily, valerian etc. by mechanical means called “Galenicals”
 Important Texts
 Caraka Samhita - most important Middle Ages
 Susruta Samhita - 760 herbs in 7 groups based  Ibn Sina (980-1037)
on their common properties.  One of the brilliant contributors to
 Astanga Hirdayam Samhita Pharmacy and Medicine.
 Sargadhara Samhita  He wrote “Book of Healing”
 Bhava Prakasa Samhita (Kitab Ashshifa) and the “Canon of
 Madhava Midariam Samhita Medicine.”
Assyrian Separation of Pharmacy and Medicine
 King Ashurbanipal (668- 626 B.C.)  In European countries exposed to Arabian influence,
 Suggest that around 2500 B.C. Sumerians public pharmacies began to appear in the 17th
already had commerce of crude drugs. century.
 Assyrians 660 B.C. 250 drugs were  1240 A.D. Sicily and southern Italy: Pharmacy was
recognized, discovered, and cultivated by separated from Medicine.
them.  Frederick II of Hohenstaufen presented the subject.
Ancient Rome and Greece Pharmacists with the first European edict
completely separating their responsibilities from
Aristotle (384- 322 B.C.) those of Medicine, and prescribing regulations for
their professional practice.
 A student of the great philosopher Plato listed more
than 500 plants of medicinal importance with their
description and uses.
A. One group specialized in diagnosing the disease
Theophrastus and prescribing the drug and became known as the
___________.
 Wrote the “De Historia Plantarum” and “De Causis
B. The other group specialized in collecting.
Plantarum”
processing, preparing and dispensing the drug and
 These books contain many kinds of plants and how
became known as the________ or _________.
they are used in medicine, and how to grow them.
C. In this way, Pharmacognosy progressed gradually
Krateus and formed the basis and beginning of both
pharmacy and medicine.
 First herbalist who produced an illustrated work on
medicinal plants.

Ronquillo, M.F.
PHARMACOGNOSY AND PLANT CHEMISTRY
Lecture ||Second Semester
History Preliminary Period
Anglo- Saxon Leechcraft Philippine Pharmacognosy

Herbarium Apuleius  Magdalena C. Cantoria (1924- 2008)- research dealt

particularly on the morphology, physiology, and
 One of the most copied herbal manuscripts contains biochemistry of drug plants. She has done studies on
over 100 herbs. the pharmacognosy of agar (from Philippine
The Leech Book of Bald seaweed), rauwolfia, datura, mint, and piper species;
these are considered pioneering research efforts in
 Contains many formulas and herbal remedies in a local pharmaceutical science.
fairly sophisticated system of therapeutics.
The Era of Pure Compounds
Family Myddvai
 In 1803, a new era in the history of medicine
 Practiced herbalism in a highly artful degree, their  Isolation of morphine from opium
work in written in physicians of Myddvai.  Strychnine (1817)
 Quinine and Caffeine (1820)
Monastic Pharmacy
 Nicotine (1828)
 During the Middle Ages, remnants of western  Atropine (1833)
knowledge of Pharmacy and Medicine were  Cocaine (1855)
preserved in the monasteries (5th-12th centuries)
William Withering
 Manuscripts were translated or copies for monastery
libraries.  Discovered the use of digitalis and published “An
 Monks cultivate herbs in the garden, herbs were Account of The Foxglove and Some of its Medicinal
prepared based on the art of apothecary. Uses.”
 In 1875, the first active part of foxglove was isolated
The Renaissance
and called digitoxin.
 Otto Brunfels (aka Brunsfels or Braunfels) was a
Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Seturner
German theologian and botanist. Carl von Linne
listed him among the “Fathers of Botany.”  Isolated the 1st opium’s narcotic principle morphine.
 Hieronymus Bock- German botanist, who began the  He also recognized and prove the importance of
transition from medieval botany to the modern alkaloids.
scientific worldview by arranging plants by their
relation or resemblance. Joseph- Bieniamin Caventou and Pierre- Joseph Pelletier
 De Nuovo Receptario- 1st pharmacopeia with  They isolated:
official status originated in Florence, Italy. It was  Emetine- Ipecacuanha
published and became the legal standard for the city-  Strychnine and Brucine- Nux Vomica
state in 1498. Guild of Apothecaries and Medical  Quinine and Cinchonine- Chinchona barks
Society.

The 18th Century

 Johann Adam Schmidt

 Carolus Linnaeus

19th Century

 The chemical structures of many of the isolated

compounds were determined. The progress achieved
during the 19th century in the field of botanical
sciences had a direct influence in pharmacognosy.

British Pharmacognosy

 Jonathan Pereira- first British pharmacognosist;

gave the pharmacognosy its pharmaceutical basis
and application; founder of British Pharmacognosy.

Ronquillo, M.F.