Medicine In The Elizabethan Era

Large numbers of plants are utilized in various systems of medicine practiced in India and local health traditions for the treatment of human diseases since immemorial time. The earliest mention of traditional medicine is found in Rigveda, the oldest repository of knowledge in this subcontinent. Later Ayurveda, developed from the Vedic concept of life, became the important source of all systems of medical sciences. In course of time it became a part of culture and heritage of the people of the Indian subcontinent [21].

Throughout history there have been documents found from cultures all over the world revealing that the ancient Chinese, Indians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Native Americans practiced the use of herbal medicine. The oldest known list of medicinal herbs is Shen Nung’s Pen Ts’ao or Shennong Ben Cao Jing dated back to 3000 B.C. (A Brief History of Herbalism. 2007)

Medicine has developed in many ways throughout time and is a necessity in our society. People would die of the common cold if there was no medicine in our world. Sure some natural remedies have helped people through the years but nothing has changed lives like medicine. Imagine having the common cold and realizing you might not make it. This is a simple cold that nowadays can be treated with a simple dosage of cough syrup. The 1800’s in particular is what made scientist decide to investigate more medicine. I will also explain how people lived and how society moved as a whole in the 1800’s till now.

Although they’re being used less and less as the country develops medicine. Modern medicine has replaced most of the traditional herbs and such, some people still prefer herbal remedies to modern pills. Although plants and herbalism are the basis for most modern medicines, there are quite a few ancient cures that seem more based in belief rather than actual cures. The author of Book of Shadows documents a few common illnesses and injuries with fanciful cures that were used long ago. One of these is a cure for a cough containing lemon and honey (Cunningham). Another remedy listed in the chapter containing cures is a love potion. This definitely is more close to fantasy than fact. It’s either hit or miss with most of these ancient

This is probably because many of the drugs used by pharmacists were simple and plant based such as tree sap, leaves, flowers, dirt and other natural

Eventually by the 19th century, European physicians, an Irish physician Dr. William B. O’Shaughnessy an Irish physician who spent time in India during British colonization, started documenting observations after using the plant for medicinal purposes. As Zuardi discusses, O’Shaughnessy continued to study and use the plant for conditions from rheumatism, convulsions and for muscular spasms of tetanus

Philip A. Rutledge, the head professor in the Department of Pharmacology, the Department of Therapeutics, and the Department of toxicology indicted in his article “ The European Herbal Medicines Directive: Could it Have Saved the Lives of Romeo and Juliet ”(2008),assets that regulation and good communication could have preserved the lives of Romeo and Juliet? Professor Rutledge Fortifies this assertion this good regulation could have preserved lives of Romeo and Juliet by explicating the bill drafted by the European Union in 2004 which “improves public health and promote free movement of traditional medicinal products in the EU.It requires each Member State to

The first guide for herbal medicines in China, Shen-Nong-Ben-Cao-Jing, was written after the fall of the Han dynasty, and incorporated around 365 different herbal preparations including plants, insect and animal parts, and minerals for medicines and therapeutic effects. The Chinese kept track of many aspects of the plants; whether the plants were poisonous or beneficial to health, the effects the herbs had on the body, where the plants naturally grew, and at what time could the herbs be harvested. The various indigenous species in China, such as different plants and animals thriving in different areas, led to different groups around the area to develop custom lifestyles, customs, cultures, and resistances to diseases. Many of these herbs were exported from China and put into the world market, with some remedies that were made from these materials having neuroprotective, cardioprotective, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Herbs were also used greatly in India, dating back to around 6,000 to 4,000 BCE during the Buddhist period, due to how the belief there that anything could be made into a drug was deeply rooted in their culture. The Ayurvedic literature in the area, such as the Sushruta Samhita, describes not only the use of herbal remedies but also documents surgeries and therapeutic actions that were performed at the time. Ancient Indians used various parts of the plant,

Industry Structure: While medicine itself dates to prehistoric times, it was usually homemade remedies mixed up with the hopes it would cure whatever ailment or illness someone was experiencing. No set formulas were documented and there was no way to produce or distribute the medicine in large volumes. The history of the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t actually begin until a small shop in Darmstadt, Germany began selling their products wholesale in the 1840’s. [10] In 1859, the world’s first factory for producing only medicine was opened by Beecham. [11]

By current standards, the historical use of herbal preparations was not too harmful. It became so only after mankind learned to increase the potency and effects of these substances.

The Greeks developed sophisticated medical treatments for all kinds of diseases. According to Anne Pearson again, Hippocrates and his students documented numerous illnesses in the hippocratic Corpus, and developed the Hippocratic oath for physicians, which is still in use today. The Hippocratic oath today is sacred by physicians and it states that the physician will treat the ill to the best of their ability, to preserve a patient's privacy, to teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation, and so on. The Ancient Greeks also prescribed diets and herbal remedies for certain treatments. Also, today we use herbal remedies used from plants or plants extract and diets to maintain and improve our health. Given their accomplishments in medicine,

It is believed that the first people to use drugs were the Sumerians, who used opium, a highly addictive narcotic drug. This fact was suggested by Professor Lindesmith of Indiana University who interpreted an ideogram that was found and it was translated as HUL, meaning “joy” or “rejoicing.” (“Timeline of Events in the History of Drugs,” 2012). It can be interpreted that the Sumerians used opium for their own pleasure and for fun. Medicine today is used to help suppress symptoms and help our bodies cure sicknesses. The history of painkillers go back to the sixteenth century where laudanum, opium prepared in an alcoholic solution, was used as a painkiller (“Painkillers: A Short History”). Opiates, have

Before the existence of modern medicine and its Constitution of synthetic drugs, and there were stations, ancient civilizations knew how to use them strategically to treat common diseases and even life-threatening diseases.

As the centuries unrolled and new civilizations appeared, cultural, artistic, and medical developments shifted toward the new centers of power. A reversal of the traditional search for botanical drugs occurred in Greece in the fourth century BC, when Hippocrates (estimated dates, 460-377 BC), the "Father of Medicine," became interested in inorganic salts as medications.

Pharmacy which is also known as an independent science was dated to go way back to the 19th century. In the pre-history of pharmacy, Paleopharmacological was the study used on medicinal plants. As far as the earliest medicine that was used to help people was commonly used as an alternative medicine, which was called Sushruta Samhita. It came from an Indian Ayurvedic treatise that was known as a system of traditional medicine that was native to India. This alternative medicine was dated to be used in the 6th century BC. For a long time India was considered to be the place of great medicine along with patient care. After India’s discovery of medicine is Egypt who’s earliest known of recorded medicine was found around 1875 by a man named George Ebers. The written medicine remedies were dated to have been there since 1500 B.C. and had over 800 remedies.