Knowra History of pharmacy History of pharmacy The history of pharmacy traces how medicines were discovered, prepared, regulated, and dispensed, and how the role of the pharmacist changed over time.
Ebers Papyrus : An ancient Egyptian medical papyrus containing remedies, prescriptions, and practical medical instructions. Its recipes document early written traditions of preparing medicinal substances.
Compounding : The preparation of a medicine by combining or altering ingredients for a particular prescription or need. It connects historical pharmacy directly to the hands-on making of remedies.
Hippocrates : An ancient Greek physician traditionally associated with a medical school that emphasized observation and clinical ethics. Hippocratic medicine helped shape the medical tradition from which pharmacy later differentiated.
Pharmaceutical chemistry : The study and application of chemical principles to the discovery, design, preparation, and analysis of medicines. Chemical methods enabled increasingly standardized and targeted drug substances.
Traditional Chinese medicine : A medical tradition developed in China that includes distinctive theories, diagnostic practices, and herbal therapies. Its continuing practice contrasts with the shift toward pharmaceutical standardization in many modern systems.
Shennong Bencao Jing : An early Chinese materia medica cataloguing medicinal substances and their properties. It shows how Chinese traditions classified drugs and transmitted knowledge of their use.
Materia medica : The body of knowledge about medicinal substances, including their sources, properties, and uses. Pharmacy depended on identifying and organizing substances before preparing them.
Avicenna : A Persian polymath and physician whose Canon of Medicine became a major medical reference in Asia and Europe. His synthesis preserved and organized knowledge relevant to medicines and their use.
Pharmacy education : Formal instruction and training that prepare people for professional practice in pharmacy. Dedicated schools and curricula helped turn pharmacy into a credentialed profession.
Ayurveda : A South Asian medical tradition using theories of health, diagnosis, diet, and therapeutic substances. Ayurvedic drug preparation offers a distinct lineage alongside pharmacy's institutional history.
Show all 28