History of Pharmacy and Philippine Pharmacy

Vocabulary flashcards covering key figures, historical developments, symbols, and milestones in global and Philippine pharmacy history.

Pen Ts'ao ching

The earliest extant Chinese pharmacopoeia, attributed to Emperor Shen Nung, recording 365 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals.

Ebers Papyrus

An ancient Egyptian pharmaceutical record dating to 1500 B.C., named by George Ebers, containing 800 prescriptions using 700 drugs along with dosage forms and quantities.

Terra sigillata

A clay-like soil from the Greek island of Lemnos prepared into dried cakes; meaning 'sealed earth', it was one of the first therapeutic agents to bear a trademark.

Bowl of Hygeia

A symbol of pharmacy featuring a bowl with the serpent of Epidaurus coiled around it, named after Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health.

Mortar and Pestle

Traditional compounding tools of pharmacy used as an easily recognizable visual motif for the profession.

Recipe (Rx Symbol)

A symbol appearing at the beginning of prescriptions from the Latin 'recipe' ('take thou'), also linked to the astronomical sign of Jupiter and a chemical symbol meaning 'to compound'.

Green Cross

A visual symbol first introduced in continental Europe indicating the presence of an open pharmacy providing services.

Carboy

Glassware introduced around 1600 used to distinguish chemists from apothecaries.

Secundum Artem

A Latin phrase meaning 'according to art' that embodies the pharmacist's skill, knowledge, and judgment in preparing medications tailored to a patient's needs.

Thoth

The ancient Egyptian god of healing.

Anepu

The apothecary of the gods in ancient Egyptian belief.

Aesculapius

The Greek god of medicine whose staff with a coiled serpent serves as the traditional symbol of medicine.

Theophrastus of Eresus

The Father of Botany whose extensive observations covered plant descriptions, classification, distribution, propagation, germination, and cultivation.

Hippocrates

The Father of Medicine who liberated medical practice from mythical beliefs and established the theory of four humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile).

Pedanius Dioscorides

A Greek physician and Father of Pharmacognosy who wrote De Materia Medica, a standard text in 6 books covering over 600 plants.

Claudius Galen

A Roman physician who created principles for compounding natural medicinal agents ('galenicals') and originated cold cream.

Mithridates VI

King of Pontus who developed immunity by regularly consuming sub-lethal poison doses and formulated the antidotal mixture 'Mithridatum'.

Pharmacotritae

The Roman title designated for drug grinders.

Unguentarii

The Roman title designated for makers of ointments.

Pigmentarii

The Roman title designated for makers of cosmetics.

Pharmacopolae

The Roman title designated for sellers of drugs.

Aromatarii

The Roman title designated for dealers of spices.

Avicenna (Ibn Sina)

An intellectual giant known as the 'Persian Galen' who authored Canon Medicinae, combining Greek and Arab medical knowledge.

Damian and Cosmas

Arabian Christian brothers who became the patron saints of Pharmacy (Damian, the apothecary) and Medicine (Cosmas, the physician).

Magna Carta of pharmacy

An edict issued by Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen that separated pharmacy from medicine, ordered official supervision, and required pharmacists to take an oath.

Paracelsus

A Swiss-born physician and Father of Toxicology who advocated for chemical treatments and famously claimed 'All things are poison, and nothing is without poison.'

Ricettario Fiorentino

Published in 1498 in Florence, it was the first official public pharmacopeia in Europe, created jointly by the Guild of Apothecaries and the Medical Society.

Dispensatorium of Valerius Cordus

Published in 1546, it was the first pharmacopeia adopted by a municipal government (Nuremberg, Germany).

Christopher Marshall

An Irish immigrant who established an apothecary shop in Philadelphia in 1729, which grew into a manufacturing center and practical pharmacy training school.

Jonathan Roberts

The first hospital pharmacist at the Pennsylvania Hospital, appointed following its founding in 1751.

Dr. Albert B. Prescott

A pharmacy educator at the University of Michigan who launched a revolutionary course in 1868 that eliminated pre-graduation apprenticeship requirements.

Carl Wilhelm Scheele

A Swedish pharmacist who discovered oxygen, chlorine, prussic acid, tartaric acid, tungsten, molybdenum, glycerin, and nitroglycerin.

Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner

A German pharmacist who isolated crude opium and demonstrated the clinical importance of alkaloids.

Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and Joseph-Bienaime Caventou

French pharmacists who isolated emetine from ipecacuanha, strychnine and brucine from nux vomica, and quinine and cinchonine from cinchona bark.

Paul Ehrlich

The scientist who developed Salvarsan (arsphenamine) in 1910 to treat syphilis, marking one of the earliest synthetic chemotherapeutic agents.

William Procter

An American pharmacist recognized as the Father of American Pharmacy for his lifelong contributions to the field.

United States Pharmacopeia (USP)

An organization established by physicians in 1820 to publish uniform standards and guidelines for drug quality and practice.

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy

Founded in 1821 as America's first pharmacy organization and first school of pharmacy.

Eugene White

A practitioner who pioneered the Patient Care Era by introducing detailed family prescription records and expanded patient clinical counseling.

C.D. Hepler

The scholar who formally established the concept of pharmaceutical care around 1988.

Herbolarios

Native healers in pre-Spanish Philippines who possessed specialized knowledge of medicinal herbs.

Fr. Fernando Santa Maria

A Dominican priest who wrote 'Medicinas Caseras' (1st ed. 1786), detailing remedies using native barks and medicinal herbs.

Fr. Manuel Blanco

An Augustinian priest (OSA) who authored 'Flora de Filipinas', the first comprehensive scientific catalog of Philippine plants.

Practicantes de Medicina y Farmacia

A formal program established in December 1879 by the Superior Gobierno to train skilled medical and pharmaceutical assistants in the Philippines.

Botica Boie

The first modern apothecary shop in the Philippines, founded in Escolta, Manila in 1830 by Don Lorenzo Negrao.

Botica de Santa Cruz

A historic Manila pharmacy established in 1861 at Plaza de Goiti under the original name Farmacia y Drogueria de Santa Cruz.

Don Leon Maria Guerrero

The first licensed Filipino pharmacist, remembered as the Father of Philippine Pharmacy.

Philippine Pharmacists Association

The PRC-accredited integrated national professional organization of licensed Filipino pharmacists, founded on August 29, 1920.