History of Medicine: Introduction to Pharmacy Origins

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, natural remedies, and milestone events in the origins of pharmacy and medicine.

Pharmacist

A trained and licensed person who prepares and gives out medicines.

Pharmacy technician

A person who helps with pharmacy work under the direction of a licensed pharmacist.

Synthetic

Made by combining chemicals or creating a substance in a laboratory instead of getting it directly from nature.

Pharmacology

The study of medicines, what they do, and how they work.

Pharmacognosy

The study of medicines that come from plants, animals, or minerals in their natural form.

Pharmacopoeia

An official book or list that gives standards and information about medicines.

Pharmaceutical

A medicine or chemical used to treat a health condition.

Panacea

A supposed cure for every disease.

Materia medica

A collection or study of medicines used to treat illnesses.

Antibiotic

A medicine that kills bacteria or stops them from growing.

Hormones

Chemical messengers made by the body that help control body functions.

Human genome

All the genetic information found in human cells.

Hippocrates

A Greek doctor who around $400\text{ B.C.}$ helped develop a scientific approach to patient care by observing physical conditions and seeking natural causes of illness.

Shen Nung

A Chinese emperor who lived around $3000\text{ B.C.}$ and tested plants and natural materials, recording $365$ medicinal herbs to lay foundations for traditional Chinese medicine.

Quinine

An important malaria medicine derived from the bark of the cinchona tree native to Peru, formerly known as Jesuit's powder.

Jesuit's powder

An early historical name for cinchona bark, named because Spanish priests brought it to Europe from Peru.

Carl Koller

The doctor who in $1884$ identified cocaine as an effective local anaesthetic that numbs a specific part of the body for surgery and dentistry.

Procaine (Novocain)

A safer synthetic local anaesthetic developed by scientists as an alternative to cocaine to avoid dependence and severe harm.

Salicylic acid

A pain- and fever-reducing compound isolated in the $1800\text{s}$ from white willow bark that could irritate the stomach.

Aspirin (Acetylsalicylic acid)

A medicine created by chemically modifying salicylic acid so that it relieves fever and pain without irritating the stomach.

Theophrastus

A Greek philosopher and natural scientist around $300\text{ B.C.}$ known as the Father of Botany who studied and wrote about plant features and medicinal uses.

Galen

A Roman doctor and teacher ($\text{A.D. } 130\text{ to } 200$) whose drug-preparation methods influenced Western medicine for about $1{,}500$ years and who created an early cold cream recipe.

Galenicals

Medicines prepared using physical methods such as mixing or processing ingredients, named after Galen.

Apothecary

A person who prepared and supplied medicines, whose work began separating from doctors in Baghdad during the late $700\text{s}$.

Nuovo Receptario

The first official pharmacopoeia, written in Italian and published in Florence, Italy, in $1498$ through collaboration between apothecaries and the medical society.

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy

The first pharmacy educational institution in the United States, established by $68$ pharmacists in $1821$ to maintain professional standards.

American Pharmaceutical Association

A professional group founded in Philadelphia in $1852$ to improve standards for education, apprenticeships, ethics, and imported medicines.

Daniel B. Smith

An early leader who served as the first President of the American Pharmaceutical Association upon its founding in $1852$.

William Procter Jr.

An early leader who served as the Secretary of the American Pharmaceutical Association upon its founding in $1852$.