Materia medica
Materia medica is organized knowledge about medicinal substances, including their properties, preparation, and therapeutic uses.
Pharmacognosy: The study of medicines derived from natural sources, including their identification, composition, and properties. It investigates the natural substances that have formed a major part of materia medica.
De materia medica: A first-century Greek work by Dioscorides describing medicinal substances and their uses. Its extensive entries became a foundational reference for materia medica across many centuries.
Pharmacopoeia: An official publication specifying standards for medicines, including their identity, strength, and preparation. Pharmacopoeias turn knowledge of medicinal substances into enforceable preparation standards.
Evidence-based medicine: The conscientious use of current best evidence alongside clinical expertise and patient values in medical decisions. It evaluates therapeutic claims through explicit evidence standards rather than inherited authority alone.
Pharmacology: The study of how drugs interact with living organisms and how those interactions produce effects. It supplies experimental methods for examining the effects attributed to medicinal substances.
Dioscorides: A Greek physician and pharmacologist of the first century CE, best known for De materia medica. His descriptions helped establish the classical tradition of cataloguing remedies.
Formulary: A selected list of medicines and preparations, often with guidance for their use. Formularies translate a broad body of substance knowledge into practical selections.
Traditional Chinese medicine: A Chinese medical tradition using methods such as herbal remedies, acupuncture, and pattern-based diagnosis. Its materia medica is organized within concepts and diagnostic practices distinct from modern biomedicine.
Herbal medicine: The use of plants or plant preparations to prevent or treat illness. Plant remedies make up a large and historically persistent part of materia medica.
Galen: A Greek physician of the Roman Empire whose medical writings shaped European and Middle Eastern medicine. His theories of qualities and compound remedies influenced how substances were understood.