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Zipser B, Scott AC, Allkin R, Gan P, Lardos A, Lazarou R, Lev E, Nesbitt M, Patmore K. Pharmaceutical Terminology in Ancient and Medieval Time - andrachne, chrysocolla and Others. Stud Ceranea 2023; 13:715-736. [PMID: 38524312 PMCID: PMC7615763 DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.49] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Ancient and medieval pharmacological and medical texts contain a substantial amount of plant and mineral names. In some cases, the identification is straightforward. But for the majority of the data, we are unable to identify these ingredients with high certainty. In this paper, we discuss a selection of plant and mineral names both from a humanities and sciences point of view. In one case, the scientists were even able to examine a plant in situ. The conclusion of our paper is that a close collaboration between sciences and humanities is essential to avoid mistakes in the identification of materia medica.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Zipser
- Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew C. Scott
- Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
| | - Robert Allkin
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Kew, Richmond, London TW9 3AE, Great Britain
| | - Peretz Gan
- Al Alim Medicinal Herb Center, Moshav Zippori 49 Hamovil 1791000, Israel
| | - Andreas Lardos
- Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Gertrudstrasse 15, 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland
| | - Rebecca Lazarou
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Kew, Richmond, London TW9 3AE, Great Britain
| | - Efraim Lev
- University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave. Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
| | - Mark Nesbitt
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Kew, Richmond, London TW9 3AE, Great Britain
| | - Kristina Patmore
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Kew, Richmond, London TW9 3AE, Great Britain
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Yang YZ, Li B, Wang JL, Zeng ZL, Zhang W, Zhang HM. [Discussion on discipline of herbalism]. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 2023; 48:6519-6525. [PMID: 38212009 DOI: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20230927.101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Since the emergence of the term "materia medica", scholars have proposed different opinions on its concept. This term has been used to refer to traditional Chinese medicines, or medical books, or traditional pharmacology. Due to the differences in the concept of materia medica, scholars also have controversies about the concept of herbalism. Herbalism is usually understood as traditional Chinese pharmacology. After years of evolution, the term "herbalism" has now possessed the characteristics of an independent discipline, which can be defined as an applied basic discipline that comprehensively utilizes traditional and modern technological methods to study the formation, development, and changes of traditional pharmacology and reveal the basic theories and application laws of traditional medicine. At present, the research content of herbalism mainly includes three aspects: materia medica history, materia medica literature, and traditional pharmacology. This study explores the disciplinary concepts and main research content of herbalism based on a systematic review of the literature about the concepts of materia medica and herbalism, with the aim of attracting more attention to promote the establishment and development of the discipline of herbalism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying-Zhan Yang
- Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100700, China
| | - Bing Li
- Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100700, China
| | - Jia-Lun Wang
- Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100700, China
| | - Zi-Ling Zeng
- Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100700, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100700, China
| | - Hua-Min Zhang
- Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100700, China
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Chen Q, Springer L, Gohlke BO, Goede A, Dunkel M, Abel R, Gallo K, Preissner S, Eckert A, Seshadri L, Preissner R. SuperTCM: A biocultural database combining biological pathways and historical linguistic data of Chinese Materia Medica for drug development. Biomed Pharmacother 2021; 144:112315. [PMID: 34656056 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.112315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Revised: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
AIM OF THE STUDY Botanicals used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are a rich source for drug discovery and provide models for multi-component drug development. To facilitate the studies of the actions of TCM drugs and expand their applications, a comprehensive database is urgently required. METHODS One online resource connects all the relevant data from multiple scientific sources and languages. Drug information from published TCM databases and the official Chinese Pharmacopoeia as well as specialized meta-websites such as Kew's Medicinal Plant Names Service was integrated on a higher level. RESULTS Our database, SuperTCM, covers the aspects of TCM derived from medicinal plants, encompassing pharmacological recipes up to chemical compounds. It provides the information for 6516 TCM drugs (or "herbs") with 5372 botanical species, 55,772 active ingredients against 543 targets in 254 KEGG pathways associated with 8634 diseases. SuperTCM is freely available at http://tcm.charite.de/supertcm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiaofeng Chen
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany; China Scholarship Council (CSC), Beijing 100044, China
| | - Lena Springer
- King's College London, University College London, UK; Sichuan University, Key Institute for Chinese Folk Culture, China
| | - Björn Oliver Gohlke
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany; Science-IT, Germany
| | - Andrean Goede
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Mathias Dunkel
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany; Science-IT, Germany
| | - Renata Abel
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Kathleen Gallo
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Saskia Preissner
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Andreas Eckert
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany; Science-IT, Germany
| | | | - Robert Preissner
- Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany; Science-IT, Germany.
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An H, Li XY, Zhuang AW, Sun SW, Wang NN, Jiang LZ. [The changes of processing method and theoretical pharmacodynamic analysis of largehead atractylodes rhizome]. Zhonghua Yi Shi Za Zhi 2020; 50:3-10. [PMID: 32564530 DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0255-7053.2020.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Largehead atractylodes rhizome, known as "the first essential medicine for invigorating qi and strengthening spleen" , is one of the most commonly used Chinese materia medica. According to the different clinical treatment requirements, largehead atractylodes rhizome can be processed into a variety types of products, such as raw, fried with earth, stir-frying with bran, and deep-fried largehead atractylodes rhizome. The processing quality is of great significance to ensure the efficacy, drug safety and improve the preparation process. Through the detailed research on the processing methods of largehead atractylodes rhizome in ancient books, modern documents and norms, this study clarifies the history and evolution of the processing technology of largehead atractylodes rhizome in ancient and modern times, and summarizes the internal laws and external factors of the processing technology changes by combining the processing technology differences, materials addition and theoretical analysis of pharmacodynamics. It not only saves the tedious and repeated steps, but also improves and optimizes the efficacy and quality of the preparation, and gets standardization and unification in the follow-up practice, which provides a reference for the research and development of the processing technology of largehead atractylodes rhizome and other Chinese materia medica.
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Qu CC, Zhang B, Lin ZJ, Zhang XM, Zou LN. [Pharmacovigilance in materia medica works of Qing Dynasty]. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 2019; 44:4751-4755. [PMID: 31872674 DOI: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20190812.502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Taking the Zeyao Materia Medica,Benjing Fengyuan,De Pei Materia Medica,Shiyi Materia Medica,Harmful Benefits of Materia Medica as representative works in Qing Dynasty,this paper extracts text information from four aspects: drug identification,drug use,drug prevention and detoxification,constructs a drug pharmacovigilance information table of Qing Dynasty herbal works,and summarizes the drug pharmacovigilance of Qing Dynasty. Thought,in the Qing Dynasty,there were many recordings of drug pharmacovigilance. In the aspect of drug awareness,the main representative was Shi Yi Materia Medica which added many new drugs and introduced more new uses of drugs. In addition,in the aspect of drug use and prevention,the main representatives were Zeyao Materia Medica,Benjing Fengyuan,De Pei Materia Medica,and Harmful Benefits of Materia Medica. In the aspect of taboo of disease and syndrome,attention should be paid to the integration of medicine so as to make drugs closely related to clinical use. Although there is no special introduction on detoxification,it has been introduced in various medicines in the De Pei Materia Medica,Shiyi Materia Medica,which has a relatively systematic and complete drug warning ideology system of " drug identification-use-drug prevention-detoxification".This study found that the traditional pharmacovigilance thought of Qing Dynasty had the characteristics of attaching importance to the clinical application of toxic traditional Chinese medicine and the combination of medicine,which had certain guiding significance for modern clinical medication. This paper aims to explore the traditional drug pharmacovigilance knowledge in representative works of the Qing Dynasty,analyze the characteristics of the drug pharmacovigilance thought in the Qing Dynasty,and lay a foundation for clarifying the traditional drug pharmacovigilance system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cong-Cong Qu
- School of Chinese Materia Medica,Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Beijing 100029,China
| | - Bing Zhang
- School of Chinese Materia Medica,Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Beijing 100029,China
| | - Zhi-Jian Lin
- School of Chinese Materia Medica,Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Beijing 100029,China
| | - Xiao-Meng Zhang
- School of Chinese Materia Medica,Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Beijing 100029,China
| | - Li-Na Zou
- School of Chinese Materia Medica,Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Beijing 100029,China
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Cui HR, Bai ZF, Song HB, Jia TZ, Wang JB, Xiao XH. [Investigation of potential toxic factors for fleece-flower root: from perspective of processing methods evolution]. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 2016; 41:333-9. [PMID: 28861982 DOI: 10.4268/cjcmm20160227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In recent years, the rapid growth of reports on fleece-flower root-caused liver damages has drawn wide attention of both at home and abroad, however, there were rare literature on toxicology of fleece-flower root in ancient Chinese medicine. But why there are so many reports on toxicology of fleece-flower root now compared with the ancient literature? As a typical tonic medicine, the clinical utility of fleece-flower root was largely limited by its standardization and reliability of processing methods in ancient Chinese medicine. The ancient processing methods of fleece-flower root emphasized nine times of steaming and nine times of drying, while the modern processes have been simplified into one time of steaming. Whether the differences between ancient and modern processing methods are the potential cause of the increased events of fleece-flower root-caused liver damages. We will make deep analysis and provide new clues and perspectives for the research on its toxicity. This article, therefore, would discuss the affecting factors and key problems in toxicity attenuation of fleece-flower root on the basis of sorting out the processing methods of fleece-flower root in ancient medical books and modern standards, in order to provide the reference for establishing specification for toxicity attenuation of fleece-flower root.
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Pugliano V. Pharmacy, Testing, and the Language of Truth in Renaissance Italy. Bull Hist Med 2017; 91:233-273. [PMID: 28757496 PMCID: PMC5663472 DOI: 10.1353/bhm.2017.0026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
This article examines the role of testing and innovation in sixteenthcentury Italian pharmacy. I argue that apothecaries were less concerned with testing drugs for efficacy or creating novel products than with reactivating an older Mediterranean pharmacological tradition and studying the materials on which it relied. Their practice was not driven by radical experimentation but by a "culture of tweaking"-of minute operational changes to existing recipes and accommodation of their textual variants-which was rooted in the guild economy fostering incremental over radical innovation and in a humanist reevaluation of past autorities. Workshop practice was also increasingly driven by a new ideal of staying true to nature fostered by the period's botanical renaissance. This led to an emphasis on ingredients over processes in the shop, and found clearest expression in the elaboration of a taxonomic "language of truth" that helped apothecaries discern between authentic and inauthentic materia medica and harness their sincerity in lieu of testing effectiveness.
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Edwards HGM, Elkin D, Maier MS. Raman spectroscopic analysis of archaeological specimens from the wreck of HMS Swift, 1770. Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci 2016; 374:rsta.2016.0053. [PMID: 27799436 PMCID: PMC5095530 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2016.0053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/06/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Specimens from underwater archaeological excavations have rarely been analysed by Raman spectroscopy probably due to the problems associated with the presence of water and the use of alternative techniques. The discovery of the remains of the Royal Navy warship HMS Swift off the coast of Patagonia, South America, which was wrecked in 1770 while undertaking a survey from its base in the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, has afforded the opportunity for a first-pass Raman spectroscopic study of the contents of several glass jars from a wooden chest, some of which had suffered deterioration of their contents owing to leakage through their stoppers. From the Raman spectroscopic data, it was possible to identify organic compounds such as anthraquinone and copal resin, which were empirically used as materia medica in the eighteenth century to treat shipboard diseases; it seems very likely, therefore, that the wooden chest belonged to the barber-surgeon on the ship. Spectra were obtained from the wet and desiccated samples, but several samples from containers that had leaked were found to contain only minerals, such as aragonite and sediment.This article is part of the themed issue 'Raman spectroscopy in art and archaeology'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Howell G M Edwards
- Division of Chemical and Forensic Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, West Yorkshire, UK
| | - Dolores Elkin
- CONICET, Programa de Arqueologia Subacuatica, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia y Pensamiento Latinoamericano, 3 de Febrero 1378 (1426), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Marta S Maier
- Universidad de Buenos Aires. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Microanálisis y Métodos Físicos Aplicados a la Química Orgánica (UMYMFOR). Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Orgánica. Pabellón 2, Ciudad Universitaria, (C1428EGA), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Springer L. Collectors, Producers, and Circulators of Tibetan and Chinese Medicines in Sichuan Province. Asian Med (Leiden) 2015; 10:177-220. [PMID: 28239310 PMCID: PMC5321519 DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The act of prescribing pharmaceutical drugs to patients is normally the site of judgements about the drug's efficacy and safety. The success of treatments and the licences for commodities depend on the biochemical identity of the drugs and of their path and transformations inside the body. However, the 'supply chain' outside the body is eschewed by such discourse, and its importance for both pharmaceutical brands and physician-centred historiographies is ignored. As this ethnographic fieldwork on Tibetan and Chinese medicines in Sichuan shows, overlooked social actors ensure reliable knowledge about medicinal things and materials long before patients take their medicine. This paper takes a step back from the final products-clearly defined as 'Tibetan' or 'Chinese'-and introduces those who produce and distribute them. Via observations of particular regimes of circulation and processing, the actions of collecting, manufacturing, transporting, and educating appear as the first and foremost acts of efficacy and safety.
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Yuan QJ, Zhang B, Jiang D, Zhang WJ, Lin TY, Wang NH, Chiou SJ, Huang LQ. Identification of species and materia medica within Angelica L. (Umbelliferae) based on phylogeny inferred from DNA barcodes. Mol Ecol Resour 2014; 15:358-71. [PMID: 24961287 PMCID: PMC4344822 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2013] [Revised: 06/05/2014] [Accepted: 06/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
DNA barcodes have been increasingly used in authentication of medicinal plants, while their wide application in materia medica is limited in their accuracy due to incomplete sampling of species and absence of identification for materia medica. In this study, 95 leaf accessions of 23 species (including one variety) and materia medica of three Pharmacopoeia-recorded species of Angelica in China were collected to evaluate the effectiveness of four DNA barcodes (rbcL, matK, trnH-psbA and ITS). Our results showed that ITS provided the best discriminatory power by resolving 17 species as monophyletic lineages without shared alleles and exhibited the largest barcoding gap among the four single barcodes. The phylogenetic analysis of ITS showed that Levisticum officinale and Angelica sinensis were sister taxa, which indicates that L. officinale should be considered as a species of Angelica. The combination of ITS + rbcL + matK + trnH-psbA performed slight better discriminatory power than ITS, recovering 23 species without shared alleles and 19 species as monophyletic clades in ML tree. Authentication of materia medica using ITS revealed that the decoction pieces of A. sinensis and A. biserrata were partially adulterated with those of L. officinale, and the temperature around 80 °C processing A. dahurica decoction pieces obviously reduced the efficiency of PCR and sequencing. The examination of two cultivated varieties of A. dahurica from different localities indicated that the four DNA barcodes are inefficient for discriminating geographical authenticity of conspecific materia medica. This study provides an empirical paradigm in identification of medicinal plants and their materia medica using DNA barcodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing-Jun Yuan
- State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Dao-di Herbs, National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China
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De Vos P. European materia medica in historical texts: longevity of a tradition and implications for future use. J Ethnopharmacol 2010; 132:28-47. [PMID: 20561577 PMCID: PMC2956839 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2010.05.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2010] [Revised: 05/17/2010] [Accepted: 05/19/2010] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
AIM OF THE STUDY This study uses historical texts in order to obtain information on the natural products used in traditional medicines in European/Mediterranean therapeutics over the last two millennia. The information obtained may lead to new directions in the area of drug discovery, as recent research has demonstrated the continued promise of looking to natural products for bioactive compounds. Researchers have increasingly turned to traditional medicines to provide clues as to which natural products to investigate, but the oral traditions on which much of this medical knowledge rests are often unstable. Thus researchers have been prompted to use historical medical texts, as this study does, to find potential sources of new drugs. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study uses twelve Mediterranean/European medical texts from the 5th century BC to the 19th century AD to compile a list of the most commonly used "simples"--or single action drugs substances--used in therapeutics in traditional European medicine. This list was then compared to present-day herbal pharmacopoeia as represented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). RESULTS This study finds that traditional European materia medica was based on a Dioscoridean tradition that lasted through the 19th century with remarkably little variation, but is significantly different from the present-day herbal pharmacopoeia according to the NIH. CONCLUSIONS The most prominent simples in the European/Mediterranean medical tradition can provide clues to further bioactive compounds that have not as of yet been fully exploited for their potential, but were clearly of great use in the past.
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MESH Headings
- Europe
- History, 15th Century
- History, 16th Century
- History, 17th Century
- History, 18th Century
- History, 19th Century
- History, Ancient
- History, Medieval
- Manuscripts, Medical as Topic/history
- Materia Medica/history
- Materia Medica/therapeutic use
- Medicine, Traditional/history
- Medicine, Traditional/trends
- Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history
- Plant Preparations/history
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula De Vos
- History Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-6050, USA.
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