Turhan Baytop (1920-2002): A pioneer historian of pharmacy from Turkey

Turhan Baytop, a Turkish professor of pharmacognosy (the scientific study of crude drugs of animal, vegetable, and mineral origin), received international acclaim not only for his contributions in collecting and identifying the Anatolian plants, but also for his extensive research shedding light on the history of Turkish pharmacy. As a devoted researcher, collector, and lecturer, T Baytop was a genuine pioneer of the history of pharmacy as a discipline in Turkey.

From Pharmacognosia to DNA-Based Medicinal Plant Authentication - Pharmacognosy through the Centuries

For centuries, pharmacognosy was essential for the identification, quality, purity, and, until the end of the 18th century, even for the efficacy of medicinal plants. Since the 19th century, it concentrated on authenticity, purity, quality and the analysis of active substances, and was established as an academic branch discipline within pharmacy and continuously developed into a modern, highly sophisticated science. Even though the paradigm in pharmacy changed in the 19th century with the discovery of morphine and concentrated on single substances that could be synthesized fast by the upcoming industry, medicinal plants always remained an important element of the Materia medica, and during the last decades, medicinal plants continue to be a source of remedies, and natural products are an inspiration for new medicine. In this research, pharmacognostic skills remain an essential element, both with regards to identity, quality assurance of botanicals (both herbal medicines and supplements), and the discovery and development of new medicines. Over the years, the specific pharmacognostical tools have changed dramatically, and most recently, DNA-based techniques have become another element of our spectrum of scientific methods.

[Laboratory of Pharmacognosy of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra (Portugal): teaching and et research (1902-1980)]

In this article the authors present a brief history of the Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Portugal (1902-1980). The authors refer the importance of pharmacognosy in the study plans, the scientific research and the scientific collection of pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra. This heritage consists of collection of drugs prepared in the laboratory of pharmacognosy, a collection Drogen-Lehrsammlung purchased to E. Merck and a collection of botanic-didactic models of the XIXth century of the famous German manufacturer R. Brendel. The authors study the relationship between research and teaching, highlighting the importance of the collections of drugs.

[The complex travel of cinchona barks between Peru and Québec Hôtel-Dieu, in the middle of the eighteenth century]

Duplessis sisters, who were religious nuns in Hôtel-Dieu (Quebec hospital), were exchanging letters with a French apothecary from Dieppe in Normandy, named Jacques-Tranquilain Féret. They asked him to send them in Quebec the drugs and medicines their apothecary needed. Amongst these drugs were cinchona barks that came from Callao in Peru by boat, passed Cape Horn and then sailed to Cadiz, the great Spanish port. Then they embarked to Rouen, which was the French port for goods coming from overseas. The goods from Peru had then to be transported on little fishing boats to Dieppe, where Féret received the barks. The apothecary sent these drugs to Quebec by boats sailing either from Rouen or from La Rochelle. So these Peruvian drugs had to cross two times the Ocean before accessing to North America.

[The Arabic influence in the "Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India" of Garcia da Orta]

The "Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais de Índia" (Conversations on the simples, drugs and medicinal substances of India) (1563) of Garcia da Orta is a botanical and pharmacognosy book. The author is a Portuguese physician who studied in the Spanish universities and practiced medicine mainly in India. He studies in short chapters presented in the form of dialogues about sixty simples. Sources to which he refers are indicative of a "classical" training, but also the mark of a curious and open mind to different cultures. The Arabic sources are numerous and mainly concern the identification of substances by abundant synonyms of their names in foreign languages and different medicinal uses that may have been done by the ancient physicians. However, Da Orta is critical with respect to these sources, seeking contradictions and differences of opinion among authors. He confronts them with the oral information collected thanks to a wide network of contacts.

[The Codex of the Laboratory of Pharmacognosy of the University of Athens, Part. I]

This work concerns the first part of a manuscript written in the 18th century and stored in the Laboratory of Pharmacognosy of the University of Athens. This part includes an introduction based on the theories of Hippocrates and Galen concerning the four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile, which should be in balance. During the seasons and depending of the age, these humors are converted to each other. Blood increases in the spring and in children, phlegm is growing in winter and in old man, yellow bile in adulthood and black bile in the fall and the third age. The disease is due to the increase or decrease in these fluids. Many formulas with purgative and cholagogue effects are described for each humor. The chapter ends with advice on the necessary diet, hygiene and lifestyle to keep health care.

[Prolegomenon of the Czech pharmacognosy: 21st century]

The paper analyzes the basic features of the development of pharmacognosy as the oldest profile subject of pharmacy primarily in Europe during the 20th century. Historical consequences of its development are declared, which should create the basis for its embedment, new content and tasks in Czech pharmacy of the 21st century, especially in education at Czech universities.

The first independent pharmacognosy institute in the world and its founder Julije Domac (1853-1928)

The aim of this article is to describe the foundation and development of the first distinct Institute of Pharmacognosy in the world and to provide a biography of its founder Julije Domac. The Institute was founded in 1896 as a separate institution at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. In other European university centers, pharmacognosy institutes were founded together with pharmacology, botany, pharmaceutical or general chemistry. Julije Domac (1853-1928) graduated pharmacy from the University of Vienna (1874) and received his Ph.D. from the University of Graz (1880) with a paper elucidating the structure of hexene and mannitol obtained from manna. He lectured pharmacognosy at the University of Zagreb (1887-1924), wrote chemistry and pharmacognosy textbooks, and co-wrote the Croatian-Slavonian Pharmacopoeia.

[Institutionalization without gaining reputation. The incomplete establishment of pharmaceutical science in the universities of the German Reich and the Federal Republic of Germany until the 1970s]

This article analyzes the highly problematic institutionalization of pharmacy as an independent discipline at universities. Focussing on contemporary documents, collected from 'gateways' of reputational allocation such as appointment procedures, the nominations of examination boards, and the granting of certificates, it can be shown that institutionalization was not identical with reputational allocation, distributed by the scientific community. This means that the cycle of credibility developed by Latour and Woolgar could not be completed. Furthermore the pharmaceutical sub disciplines are assessed differently by the scientific community. The main reason can be seen in specific mechanism of reputational allocation within those scientific fields from which pharmacy adopted its methods and instruments. For this end the article uses the comparative analysis of scientific fields from Richard Whitley.

[Textual research and surveying on officinal varieties of rhizoma arisaematis]

Through textual research and surveying on officinal varieties of Rhizoma Arisaematis, we considered the following results. The name of Rhizoma Arisaematis is in ceaseless change and its original is in confusion in the development of bencaology history. The original plants as Rhizoma Arisaematis are from many species and have wide distribution. This review can provide important reference for exploitation and utilization of resources and further development of Rhizoma Arisaematis through the discussion of the state of its original plant, distribution and mainstream varieties in the current market.

[Neurological aspects described in The treasure of medicines for all illnesses by Gregorio López]

INTRODUCTION

Latin American medicine in the 16th century produced the first collections of herbs with native plants from the New World. Treatises on popular therapies appeared, which included gallenic remedies as well as incorporating autochthonous plants. We review the main neurological diseases and their treatments described in The Treasure of Medicines for All Illnesses by Gregorio Lopez (1542-1596).

DEVELOPMENT

Some critics claim that his work was an enumeration of empirical prescriptions, sometimes with a magico-religious influence, which was extended in successive reprints. Yet, this manuscript is probably the first treatise on therapeutics written by a European in the New World to describe the native remedies employed in the treatment of diseases. In the section entitled Remedies in alphabetical order the following neurological ailments and appropriate remedies to treat them are described: abscess, apoplexy, brain, chilling, cramp, gota coral or epilepsy, headache, melancholy, memory, migraine, nerves, palsy, paralysis, sciatica, stupor and vertigo. The list of diseases is very complete and includes syndromes ranging from fevers, colics and bruises to phthisis, scabs or burns. The copy of the manuscript in the Vatican contains a final section on Indian medicines, which includes a list of medicinal plants used at that time, with the names given in Nahuatl language.

CONCLUSIONS

Headaches, epilepsy and conditions affecting the peripheral nerves were the neurological pathologies that were described at greatest length in The Treasure of Medicines for All Illnesses, and for which a greater number of natural prescriptions were compiled.

[Textual research on history of introduction [corrected] and herbal medicine of Pogostemon cablin]

OBJECTIVE

To study the history of introduction and herbal medicine of Pogostemon cablin by textual researches and clarify the confusion in literatures.

METHOD

Textual research on historical literatures, practical applications and field investigation were adopted.

RESULT

The varieties of P. cablin for therapeutic uses were not chaotic, however there has existed confusion between P. cablin and Agastache rugosus in descriptions of appellation, habitat and characteristic of the original plants.

CONCLUSION

It was proved that the term "Huoxiang" in Chinese medicinal works before Ming Dynasty was pointed to P. cablin. The cultivation history of P. cablin in China was traced to Liang Dynasty or before.

[A new textual research on origin of monascus rice]

OBJECTIVE

To explore the origin of Monascus Rice.

METHODS

The relative literature were investigated and classified.

RESULTS

It was verifiable that the record of Monascus Rice in Chu Xue Ji ([Chinese characters: see text]), a subject-based reference book compiled by Xu Jian in the Tang Dynasty, was excerpted from the metrical verse Qi Shi ([Chinese characters: see text]) written by Wang Can in the Dong Han Dynasty. It is no doubt the name of Monascus Rice was originally used in this peried.

CONCLUSION

The use of Monascus Rice can be traced at least to the Han Dynasty.

Chasing molecules that were never there: misassigned natural products and the role of chemical synthesis in modern structure elucidation

Over the course of the past half century, the structural elucidation of unknown natural products has undergone a tremendous revolution. Before World War II, a chemist would have relied almost exclusively on the art of chemical synthesis, primarily in the form of degradation and derivatization reactions, to develop and test structural hypotheses in a process that often took years to complete when grams of material were available. Today, a battery of advanced spectroscopic methods, such as multidimensional NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry, not to mention X-ray crystallography, exist for the expeditious assignment of structures to highly complex molecules isolated from nature in milligram or sub-milligram quantities. In fact, it could be argued that the characterization of natural products has become a routine task, one which no longer even requires a reaction flask! This Review makes the case that imaginative detective work and chemical synthesis still have important roles to play in the process of solving nature's most intriguing molecular puzzles.

Healing with animals in the Levant from the 10th to the 18th century

Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. The article reviews the history of healing with animals in the Levant (The Land of Israel and parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, defined by the Muslims in the Middle Ages as Bilad al-Sham) in the medieval and early Ottoman periods. Intensive research into the phenomenon of zootherapy in the medieval and early Ottoman Levant has yielded forty-eight substances of animal origin that were used medicinally. The vast majority of these substances were local and relatively easy to obtain. Most of the substances were domestic (honey, wax, silkworm, etc.), others were part of the local wildlife (adder, cuttle fish, flycatcher, firefly, frog, triton, scorpion, etc.), part of the usual medieval household (milk, egg, cheese, lamb, etc.), or parasites (louse, mouse, stinkbug, etc.). Fewer substances were not local but exotic, and therefore rare and expensive (beaver testicles, musk oil, coral, ambergris, etc.). The range of symptoms that the substances of animal origin were used to treat was extensive and included most of the known diseases and maladies of that era: mainly hemorrhoids, burns, impotence, wounds, and skin, eye, and stomach diseases. Changes in the moral outlook of modern societies caused the use of several substances of animal origin to cease in the course of history. These include mummy, silkworm, stinkbug, scarabees, snail, scorpion, and triton.

[Study on resource and varieties of Guoshangye]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the varieties, resoures and identification authentication of Guoshangye used in Tuja and Miao's folk.

METHOD

Through field investigations and comparing the collected specimens and literatures, the classification and identification of the species were studied.

RESULT AND CONCLUSION

Origin of Guoshangye plant was from Pholidota yunnanensis, Bulbophyllum andersonii, B. odoratissimum, B. kamgtimgemse, ect. their morphological characters were identified. Due to limited resource of Guoshangye, the development and protection should be paid more attention.

[Herbalogical textual study on "guanzhong"]

Herbalogical textual study indicated "Guanzhong" recorded in Bencaojing at Han Dynasty had pteridophyte characters. In the period of Wei and Jin Dynasties, the name of "Guanzhong" was really belonged to spermatophyte. Since Southern and Northern Dynasties, fern has been the main source of "Guanzhong" in which Woowardia japonica was used longer than others.

[Herbalogical textual research on huci]

According to textual research, the "Huci" was first recorded in ancient document, Zhenglei Bencao, not "Funiu Hua" recorded in Kaibao Bencao. Therefore, in Li Shizhen's works, Compendium of Materia Medica, incorporating "Huci" into an item of "Funiu Hua" is incorrect. The original plan of "Huci" is Damnacanthus indicus Gaertn. f. from Rubiaceae.

[Textual research of wuguteng]

OBJECTIVE

To make clear the origin of the traditional Chinese medicine, Wuguteng.

METHODS

The correlation literature was consulted and arranged.

RESULTS

There are a few plants using as Wuguteng, such as Fissistigma glaucescens (Hance) Merr. and Marsdenia tenacissima (Roxb.) Wight et Arn. in the records of principle literature. Wuguteng used as a drug was first recorded in "Dian Nan Ben Cao". The views of various persons in past dynasties on the efficacy of Wuguteng are unanimous.

CONCLUSION

The paper has proved that Wuguteng comes from Marsdenia tenacissima of Asclepiadaceae.

[Herbalogical study on tianxiong]

According to textual study of herbal drugs and modern scientific research on Tianxiong, the long biennial root tuber losing reproductive capacity of Aconitum carmichaeli Debx. is regarded as the orthodox medicinal herbs through the ages.

[A herbalogical study on traditional Mongolian medicine "zhanba"]

By herbalogical study and investigation, "Zhanba" used by Mongolia doctors mainly contains 7 species from 3 genera of 1 family, but "Zhanba" in Inner Mongolia Standard of Medicinal Materials only contains 3 species which are Althaea rosea, Malva sylvestris L. var. mauritiana and M. verticillata.

[A review on the study of hubeibeimu]

Hubeibeimu has been used with a long history. Now as one of the major sources of Beimu, it contains 10 steroid alkaloids, 2 diterpenes and 3 diterpenoid dimers. Has bronchial smooth muscles relaxation, antitussive, expectoant and antiasthmatic activities, with very low toxicity. Modern research is in accordance with the traditional experiences of TCM, and Hubeibeimu has been recorded in the latest Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2000 ed.), which is worthy of further development.

[Pharmacognostical identification of "guijiu ([symbol: see text])" in Shosoin of Japan]

OBJECTIVE

To identify the botanical origin of the Guijiu in Shosoin of Japan from Tang Dynasty, and trace its medicinal history.

METHOD

Anatomical characteristics of the underground parts of Guijiu in Shosoin were compared with those of Hosta plantaginea and H. ventricosa, and research on the medicinal history of Guijiu was made based on its original identification results and describes in herbals.

RESULT AND CONCLUSION

Guijiu in Shosoin of Japan was derived from the underground parts of H. plantaginea and is one of Guijiu used in Tang Dynasty and earlier on.

[Herbalogical study on Plantago asiatica L]

According to textual study of herbal drugs and modern scientific research of chemical constituents and pharmacological actions of Plantago asiatica L., the record in the ancient literatures was found to be basically identical to that obtained by modern scientific research. Plantago asiatica from Plantaginaceae family is regarded as the orthodox medicinal herbs through the ages.