History of Pharmacy

BEFORE THE DAWN OF HISTORY

From beginnings as remote and simple as these came the proud profession of Pharmacy. Its development parallels that of man. Ancient man learned from instinct, from observation of birds and beasts. Cool water, a leaf, dirt, or mud was his first soothing application. By trial, he learned which served him best. Eventually, he applied his knowledge for the benefit of others. Though the cavemen's methods were crude, many of today's medicines spring from sources as simple and elementary as those which were within reach of early man.

PHARMACY IN ANCIENT BABYLONIA

Babylon, jewel of ancient Mesopotamia, often called the cradle of civilization, provides the earliest known record of practice of the art of the apothecary. Practitioners of healing of this era (about 2600 B.C.) were priest, pharmacist and physician, all in one. Medical texts on clay tablets record first the symptoms of illness, the prescription and directions for compounding, then an invocation to the gods. Ancient Babylonian methods find counterpart in today's modern pharmaceutical, medical, and spiritual care of the sick.

PHARMACY IN ANCIENT CHINA

Chinese Pharmacy, according to legend, stems from Shen Nung (about 2000 B.C.), emperor who sought out and investigated the medicinal value of several hundred herbs. He reputed to have tested many of them on himself, and to have written the first Pen T-Sao, or native herbal, recording 365 drugs. Still worshiped by native Chinese drug guilds as their patron god, Shen Nung conceivably examined many herbs, barks, and roots brought in from the fields, swamps, and woods that are still recognized in Pharmacy today. In the background is the "Pa Kua," a mathematical design symbolizing creation and life. Medicinal plants include podophyllum, rhubarb, ginseng, stramonium, cinnamon bark, and, in the boy's hand, ma huang, or Ephedra.

DIOSCORIDES - A SCIENTIST LOOKS AT DRUGS

In the evolution of all successful and enduring systems of knowledge there comes a time when the observations of many men, or the intensive studies of one, transcend from the level of trade or vocation to that of a science. Pedanios Dioscorides (first century A.D.), contributed mightily to such a transition in Pharmacy. In order to study materia medica, Dioscorides accompanied the Roman armies throughout the known world. He recorded what he observed, promulgated excellent rules for collection of drugs, their storage and use. His texts were considered basic science as late as the sixteenth century.

Today the whole scenario has changed.. there is significant and unbelievable change in pharmaceutical sciences and with the help of Genetics and Bio technology Pharmaceutical sciences Doing wonders !! hats off to this noble sercice

In modern time The most importantpharmaceutical aspect of a drug or medicine is evaluated or expressed interms of

1. Pharmacokinetics
Its nothing but what the body does to the drug after entering into the body.
The four major steps are Absorption , Distribution,Metabolism,Excretion ( ADME)

2.Pharmacodynamics

It is the action of drug on the body. what the drug does to our body.
It may bind to receptors activate or deactivate them .
Initiate or stop some bio chemical process in body.
Alter physiological activity. etc