A systematic methodology to assess the identity of plants in historical texts: A case study based on the Byzantine pharmacy text John the Physician's Therapeutics

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

In recent decades, the study of historical texts has attracted research interest, particularly in ethnopharmacology. All studies of the materia medica cited in ancient and medieval texts share a concern, however, as to the reliability of modern identifications of these substances. Previous studies of European or Mediterranean texts relied mostly on authoritative dictionaries or glossaries providing botanical identities for the historical plant names in question. Several identities they suggest, however, are questionable and real possibility of error exists.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This study aims to develop and document a novel and interdisciplinary methodology providing more objective assessment of the identity of the plants (and minerals) described in these resources.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We developed an iterative experimental approach, using the 13th century Byzantine recipe text John the Physician's Therapeutics in its Commentary version (JC) as a case study. The methodology has six stages and relies on comparative analyses including statistical evaluation of botanical descriptions and information about medicinal uses drawn from both historical and modern sources. Stages 1-4 create the dataset, stage 5 derives the primary outcomes to be reviewed by experts in stage 6.

RESULTS

Using Disocorides' De Materia Medica (DMM) (1st century CE) as the culturally related reference text for the botanical descriptions of the plants cited in JC, allowed us to link the 194 plants used medicinally in JC with 252 plants cited in DMM. Our test sample for subsequent analyses consisted of the 50 JC plant names (corresponding to 61 DMM plants) for which DMM holds rich morphological information, and the 130 candidate species which have been suggested in the literature as potential botanical identities of those 50 JC plant names. Statistical evaluation of the comparative analyses revealed that in the majority of the cases, our method detected the candidate species having a higher likelihood of being the correct attribution from among the pool of suggested candidates. Final assessment and revision provided a list of the challenges associated with applying our methodology more widely and recommendations on how to address these issues.

CONCLUSIONS

We offer this multidisciplinary approach to more evidence-based assessment of the identity of plants in historical texts providing a measure of confidence for each suggested identity. Despite the experimental nature of our methodology and its limitations, its application allowed us to draw conclusions about the validity of suggested candidate plants as well as to distinguish between alternative candidates of the same historical plant name. Fully documenting the methodology facilitates its application to historical texts of any kind of cultural or linguistic background.

Pharmaceutical Terminology in Ancient and Medieval Time - andrachne, chrysocolla and Others

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.

Computational Literature-based Discovery for Natural Products Research: Current State and Future Prospects

Literature-based discovery (LBD) mines existing literature in order to generate new hypotheses by finding links between previously disconnected pieces of knowledge. Although automated LBD systems are becoming widespread and indispensable in a wide variety of knowledge domains, little has been done to introduce LBD to the field of natural products research. Despite growing knowledge in the natural product domain, most of the accumulated information is found in detached data pools. LBD can facilitate better contextualization and exploitation of this wealth of data, for example by formulating new hypotheses for natural product research, especially in the context of drug discovery and development. Moreover, automated LBD systems promise to accelerate the currently tedious and expensive process of lead identification, optimization, and development. Focusing on natural product research, we briefly reflect the development of automated LBD and summarize its methods and principal data sources. In a thorough review of published use cases of LBD in the biomedical domain, we highlight the immense potential of this data mining approach for natural product research, especially in context with drug discovery or repurposing, mode of action, as well as drug or substance interactions. Most of the 91 natural product-related discoveries in our sample of reported use cases of LBD were addressed at a computer science audience. Therefore, it is the wider goal of this review to introduce automated LBD to researchers who work with natural products and to facilitate the dialogue between this community and the developers of automated LBD systems.

Best practice in research: Consensus Statement on Ethnopharmacological Field Studies - ConSEFS

BACKGROUND

Ethnopharmacological research aims at gathering information on local and traditional uses of plants and other natural substances. However, the approaches used and the methods employed vary, and while such a variability is desirable in terms of scientific diversity, research must adhere to well defined quality standards and reproducible methods OBJECTIVES: With ConSEFS (the Consensus Statement on Ethnopharmacological Field Studies) we want to define best-practice in developing, conducting and reporting field studies focusing on local and traditional uses of medicinal and food plants, including studies using a historical approach.

METHODS

After first developing an initial draft the core group invited community-wide feedback from researchers both through a web-based consultation and a series of workshops at conferences during 2017.

OUTCOMES

The consultation resulted in a large number of responses. Feedback was received via a weblink on the Journal of Ethnopharmacology's website (ca. 100 responses), other oral and written responses (ca. 50) and discussions with stakeholders at four conferences. The main outcome is a checklist, covering best practice for designing, implementing and recording ethnopharmacological field studies and historical studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Prior to starting ethnopharmacological field research, it is essential that the authors are fully aware of the best practice in the field. For the first time in the field of ethnopharmacology a community-wide document defines guidelines for best practice on how to conduct and report such studies. It will need to be updated and further developed. While the feedback has been based on responses by many experienced researchers, there is a need to test it in practice by using it both in implementing and reporting field studies (or historical studies), and peer-review.

Continuity and change in medicinal plant use: the example of monasteries on Cyprus and historical iatrosophia texts

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

How medicinal plant knowledge changes over time is a question of central importance in modern ethnopharmacological research. However, only few studies are available which undertook a comprehensive exploration of the evolution of plant use in human cultures.

AIMS

In order to understand this dynamic process, we conduct a systematic diachronic investigation to explore continuity and change in two knowledge systems which are closely related but separated in time-historical iatrosophia texts and today's Greek Orthodox monasteries on Cyprus.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An ethnobotanical study was conducted in 21 of the island's monasteries involving various types of interview as well as a written questionnaire survey. Data about medicinal plant use collected in the monasteries was analysed and quantitatively compared to historical iatrosophia texts using data from our pre-existing dataset.

RESULTS

We found a core group of plant taxa for which a high consensus exists among the monasteries regarding their medicinal usefulness. Various means and routes of knowledge transmission appear to be involved in the development of this knowledge. The systematic comparison between the monasteries and the iatrosophia shows similarities and differences on various levels. While the plants used by the nuns and monks have by the majority a relationship to the iatrosophia and show a remarkable historical consistency in terms of their use for defined groups of ailments, the importance of many of these plants and the use of herbal medicines in general have changed.

CONCLUSIONS

This is one of the first studies from the Mediterranean region which is based on a systematic ethnopharmacological analysis involving comprehensive datasets of historical and modern ethnographic data. The example illustrates continuity and change in 'traditional' knowledge as well as the adoption of new knowledge and provides the opportunity to look beyond the dichotomy between traditional and modern concepts of plant usage. Overall, the study suggests that a systematic diachronic approach can facilitate a better understanding of the complex and dynamic processes involved in the development of medicinal plant knowledge.

Resins and Gums in Historical Iatrosophia Texts from Cyprus - A Botanical and Medico-pharmacological Approach

This study explores historical iatrosophia texts from Cyprus from a botanical and medico-pharmacological point of view focusing on remedies containing resins and gums. The iatrosophia are a genre of Greek medical literature of Byzantine origin and can be described as medicine handbooks which serve as therapeutic repositories containing recipes or advice. To extract and analyze information on plant usage in such sources – which are largely unedited texts and so far have not been translated – we investigate (i) the relationship of the iatrosophia to Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica as well as historic pharmaceutical books or standard texts on modern phytotherapy and (ii) the validity of the remedies by comparing them to modern scientific data on reported biological activities. In the six texts investigated 27 substances incorporating plant exudates are mentioned. They are obtained from over 43 taxa of higher plants and in particular are used to treat dermatological, gastrointestinal, and respiratory tract conditions. The comparison to historic pharmaceutical books and phytotherapy texts reflects the gradual decline of the use of plant exudates in Western medicine. While remarkable parallels to Dioscorides’ text exist, the non-Dioscoridean influence suggests a complex pattern of knowledge exchange. Overall, this resulted in an integration of knowledge from so far poorly understood sources. The comparison with bioscientific data reveals a fragmentary picture and highlights the potential of these unexplored substances and their uses. Where relevant bioscientific data are available, we generally found a confirmation. This points to a largely rational use of the associated remedies. Taken together, the iatrosophia are a valuable resource for ethnopharmacological and natural product research. Most importantly they contribute to the understanding of the development of herbal medicines in the (Eastern) Mediterranean and Europe.

Ethnopharmacy of Turkish-speaking Cypriots in Greater London

For centuries, in the Eastern Mediterranean region, medicinal plant use has been widely accepted as a treatment method for both minor and major diseases. Although some knowledge exists on the use of such medicinal plants within the Greek Cypriot culture and considerable information is available on various regions in Turkey, no detailed ethnopharmaceutical or ethnobotanical studies exist on Turkish-speaking Cypriots (TSC) both in Cyprus and within one of the largest TSC migrant communities in London, UK. Semi-structured interviews with members of the TSC community in London were conducted by using a questionnaire consisting both of open and closed questions. Open questions were aimed at identifying herbs, spices, medicinal plants and their uses. Also, graded questions were used to define informants' opinions as a quantitative parameter, constructing a statistical basis. A wide range of therapeutic claims were recorded, including 13 chronic illnesses within 85 different plant species, of which 18 were cited more than 10 times. The most frequently mentioned species were Mentha spicata, Salvia fruticosa and Pimpinella anisum. The plants recorded are frequently based on knowledge derived from Turkish-Cypriot traditions, but many examples of medicinal plants with a use based on UK or general western herbal medical traditions were also recorded. Informants highlighted the risk of knowledge loss in younger generations and thus this study serves as a repository of knowledge for use in the future. Due to a lack of knowledge about such usages in the healthcare professions, our study also highlights the need to develop information sources for use by healthcare practitioners in order to raise awareness about benefits and risks of such medical and health food products.

The botanical materia medica of the Iatrosophikon--a collection of prescriptions from a monastery in Cyprus

This article analyses the botanical material that is contained in the Iatrosophikon, a collection of prescriptions from a monastery in Cyprus written down during the island's Ottoman period (1571-1878). A total of 494 herbal prescriptions were detected in the record and 231 plants belonging to 70 different botanical families, as well as 21 various substances of botanical or mixed origin were identified. The distribution of the plants, the plant part used, the use of the material, and the mode of application are discussed. Parallels with other medical writings of the Greek-speaking Ottoman world suggest a local popular as well as a classical Greek and Byzantine influence. The latter is particularly supported by the relationship of the majority of the plants described to plants mentioned by Dioscorides. Additionally the question of what other sources might have contributed to this herbal knowledge is discussed. The results also show that most of the plants described originated from the island itself, only a minority of the botanical material presumably had to be imported. All the mentioned plants of local origin are also cited in modern ethnopharmacological studies on Cyprus, the Iatrosophikon demonstrates their use at a time from which no other written source of comparable detail exists.