History of Pharmacy

Man observing animal kingdom

Observed that animals are

depending on nature for
everything
Asked food from nature
and nature gave food
Asked cloth from nature
and nature gave cloth
Asked energy from nature
and nature gave fire
Asked medicine from nature
and nature gave medicine
Pharmacy is as old as human civilisation
Pharmacy has a long history.
Fossils from plants with
medicinal properties
have been found with the
remains of Neanderthals,
indicating that early man
used these plants as drugs
around 50,000 BC.
The first prescription authenticated
is now available in the British
Museum, and dates back to
3700 BC.

The earliest historical

record for the preparation of
drugs comes from Babylonia,
circa 2600 BC.
Pharmacy is a recognized part of medical
practice dating as far back as Sumerian
times, around 2,000 to 1,500 BC
Among the best known early pharmacists came around 400 BC.
Diocles of Carystus was a Greek member of the “rhizotomoi,”
a specialized branch of medical experts on the uses of medicinal
plant. During this time, Pedanius Dioscorides wrote a five volume
work entitled, “De Materia Medica,” meaning Concerning Medicinal
Substances. It is the source for medieval pharmaceutical medicine in
Europe, as well as in the Islamic World.

“De Materia Medica,”

Diocles of Carystus
The ancient Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans:
To trace the history of pharmacy and pharmaceutical preparations from the time
of the Pharaohs of Egypt up to the present day, we have a series of Egyptian
documents. These include the Kahun Papyrus of 2000 B.C., which dealt with
veterinary medicines
The papyrus is medical
prescriptions written
in hieratic Egyptian writing,
concentrating on treatments for
problems dealing with
the urinary system, blood, hair,
etc.
The papyrus itself is in the form of a scroll 22 yards long, and
about 12 inches wide, and it actually corresponds to a
modern formula book or collection of recipes, in the
compounding of which, something like 700 drugs are
mentioned. Many of these are in use today, while others are
entirely unknown, or at least we have been unable to trace
the vague and in many cases fanciful names given to them.
Some of the drugs or preparations named are as follows:-
Wine, beer, yeast, vinegar, turpentine, figs, castor oil,

Figs

Castor oil
Scroll
Besides the vegetable products a fair number of mineral
compounds were in use, and included such things as iron. lead,
bitumen, magnesia, nitre, vermillion, copper sulphate, common
salt, etc. Finely powdered precious stones such emeralds and
sapphires were also used in the treatment of diseases.

Emeralds

Sapphires
• Rx symbol
This is one of the symbols that links pharmacy practice today to
ancient mythology, and which appears on every prescription. The
Rx can take many forms, but they all basically have the same
intent. The most popular interpretation is that it could have
derived from the ancient Egyptian eye symbol, the Eye of Horus
(symbol of protection, royal power and good health or Jupiter-
God of healing), the falcon god of lower Egypt.

• Left to right: the Eye of Horus, the symbol for Jupiter, and the
Rx symbol

It is also believed that Rx is an abbreviation for the Latin verb

“recipere”, which translated means “Take” (it or thou). Hence it
became the heading for the formula or prescription that followed.
The English word recipe is derived from it and is taken to mean a
list of ingredients and directions for making something,
especially a food/ pharmaceutical preparation.
Eye of Horus
Ancient Chinese Medicine
Pharmaceutical knowledge at this period was not restricted to the
Egyptians. The Chinese had their-Pun Tsao or Great Herbal,
which was an extremely interesting manuscript. It mentions 150
separate and particular healings. Some of the remedies described
in this book are toad’s eyelids for colds, and earthworms rolled in
honey for gastritis.
Chinese pharmacy, according to legend, originate from Shen Nung
(about 2700 B.C.), emperor who studied and investigated the
medicinal value of several hundred herbs. He reputed to have tested
many of them on himself, and to have written the first Pen T-Sao, or
Native Herbal, recording of 365 drugs.

These were subdivided as follows:

 120 emperor herbs, food grade quality which are non-toxic and can
be taken in large quantities to maintain health over a long period of
time.
 120 minister herbs, some mildly toxic and some not, having
stronger therapeutic action to heal diseases.
 Finally, 125 servant herbs that having specific action to treat
disease and eliminate stagnation. Most of those in the last group,
being toxic, are not intended to be used daily over a prolonged
period of weeks and months.
 Ancient Greece: In medicine the Greeks made two giant steps,
expressed in the writings of Hippocrates. Firstly they began to
look for natural causes and effects in producing disease, and
secondly they produced the first clearly recognisable descriptions
of diseases and epidemics.

Hippocrates
Theophrastus – Father of Botany

• His observations about the medicinal qualities of

herbs have proven uncannily accurate.
• Theophrastus covered most aspects of botany:
descriptions of plants, classification, plant distribution,
propagation, germination, and cultivation.
Hippocrates “The father of Medicine”

• He was a Philosopher, Physician and Pharmacist.

• He liberated medicine from the mythical “Bad Spirits”
• He also wrote the Oath of Hypocrites
•Proposed that disease came from natural, not
supernatural causes.
•Established the theory of humors
which needed to be in balanced for
good health:
• air- blood,
• water- phlegm,
• earth-black bile,
• fire- yellow bile.
Dioscorides – A Scientist Looks at Drugs
• He was a Greek physician and botanist.
• Wrote the first standard text/manual on drugs called
De Materia Medica.
• Also called PHARMACOPOEIA.
•Published 6 books that covered over 600 plants and
their healing properties.
• His book was used for 1500
years.
Galen – Experimenter in Drug Compounding
• Galen (A.D 130-200) was a prominent Roman (of
Greek ethnicity) physician, surgeon, and
philosopher.
• Developed principles of preparing and compounding
medicinal agents
• Sought to restore humeral balances within a patient
by the use of medicine of opposing qualities.
• e.g. inflammation would be treated with cucumber, a
cool drug.
Galenical pharmacy
• The first pharmacy .
• Described the process of creating
extracts of active medicinals from
plants.
Damian and Cosmas – Pharmacy’s Patron Saints

•What’ s more from the Roman era came the twin

brothers Damian and Cosmas. They were Christians of
Arabian Descent. Damian was the apothecary, and
Cosmas the Physician.
•They offered the solace of religion as well as the benefit
of their knowledge to the sick who visited them.

• After canonization, they

became the patron saints of
Pharmacy and Medicine,
and many miracles were
attributed to them.
 Indian Medicine:

Ayurveda, the "Science of Life" practiced by the ancient

Indians is based on Atharveda. It was one of the oldest
scriptures of the Hindus, about 3,000 years old. 1/5th of
the human race practices it even today.

Charaka and Suśruta were medical doctors as well as

pharmacists, so they studied more than 1000 herbs
thoroughly. The Ayurveda had been used by his devotees
for medical purposes. It eventually spread over Asia with
the advanced evolution of Buddhism

Caraka and Suśruta

 The Arabian Influence

Major advances in this era

•Formularies: The continuation of documentation of
drug information.
•They also had different drug forms which are now
used:
Syrups, Conserves, Confections and juleps.
 The First Apothecary Shops

The first Pharmacy shop in the world was in Baghdad

about 792 A.D.
They preserved much of the Greco-Roman wisdom, added
to it, developing with the aid of their natural resources
syrups, confections, conserves, distilled waters and
alcoholic liquids.
 Ibn Sina (Avicenna) – The “Persian Galen”

•Ibn Sina (980-1037 A.D)- Avicenna-intellectual giant,

he was a physician, poet, philosopher, diplomat.
• His Canon Medicinae brought together the best knowledge
of the Greeks and Arabs into a single medical text.
• His pharmaceutical teachings were accepted as
authority in the West until the 17th century; and still are
dominant influences in the Orient.
The Evolution of pharmacy and the apothecaries in England
The Apothecaries (a person who prepared and sold medicines
and drugs.) – Over the 16th and 17th centuries the art of the
apothecary was developing rapidly in Britain as well as on the
continent, and with this development there came a desire for
the apothecaries or dispensers to form a Guild of their own.
In 1617, King James 1st of England granted the Apothecaries a
royal charter which separated them from the Grocers (a person
who sells food and small household goods). Naturally the Grocers
tried to resist, but the King stood firm as he saw the grocers as
merchants having no professional skill, whilst the practice of the
apothecary was an art and a mystery. (Skill & Knowledge) These
very same words were in use in apprenticeship indentures less
than 100 years ago.

King James 1st of England Apothecaries a royal charter

The defining moment, after almost 200 years of argument, came with
the passing of the Apothecaries Act of 1815. Prior to this, many
apothecaries practised medicine, but they weren’t supposed to
charge for their advice, only for the drugs they supplied. The
physicians weren’t supposed to dispense drugs, but many did and
they even brought law suits against apothecaries who exceeded
their powers.
The outcome of the new Apothecaries Act was a clearer definition of
the two streams of practice involving, medicine and pharmacy.

Dispenser – doctors and pharmacists employed non-professionally

trained dispensers in institutions such as hospitals, workhouses,
and prisons. They were trained assistants who compounded
prescriptions under supervision. From 1815 onwards, the Society
of Apothecaries offered an assistants’ examination qualifying
candidates to compound and dispense drugs under the supervision
of an apothecary, pharmacist or doctor.
The Empiric era 1600-1940

• Pharmacopeias were used to protect public health.

•Roots, Bark, Herbs Flowers etc. were used and
controlled by the government.
•They questioned the toxicological affects on the human
body.
•Created interest in testing of drugs and how they
affected the body.
• In 1751 Benjamin Franklin introduced
the first hospital pharmacy practices.
 Empiric Era Cont…

• In Pennsylvania, PA. It was moved but still stands

today.
• The first hospital pharmacist to work in that hospital
was Jonathan Roberts.
• First as pharmacist, later as physician, he advocated
prescription writing and championed independent
practice of two professions.
The Father of American Pharmacy
• William Proctor
• “The father of American Pharmacy”
• Spent most of his life to the advancement of pharmacy.
•He owned an apothecary shop, teacher, editor and a
scientist.
•Dr. Albert B. Prescott launched the pharmacy
course at the University of Michigan in 1868.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

•Monitors drugs before a drug is marketed in the

United States and now in the world.
•Also monitors after the drug is approved for sale to the
public for any adverse effects – called Post Marketing
Surveillance.
•Recalls drugs if they have proven dangerous within
public safety.
 Common Terms Used in Pharmacy

Pharmacology -The study of drugs (from the Greek

pharmakon means drug).
Pharmacognosy - The study of physical, chemical,
biochemical and biological properties of drugs as well as
drugs from natural sources.
Pharmacopeia – An official listing of drugs and issues
related to their use.
Pharmaceutical – Of or about drugs; also, a drug
product.
Panacea – A cure-all (from the Greek panakeia).
Materia Medica – A dictionary of medicinal plants.
Thank You