Pedanius Dioscorides
40?-90?
Greek Physician and Pharmacologist
Dioscorides, the compiler of one of the first important Western herbals, is regarded as the founder of Western pharmacology. Dioscorides exemplifies the generalization that Roman medicine was usually carried out by Greek physicians. Little is known about Dioscorides, except that he probably studied at Alexandria before he became a medicus attached to the Roman army in Asia under the emperor Nero. "Military physician" is probably too specialized a translation for this term, because it is unlikely that the Roman legions of this period were accompanied by an organized medical or surgical staff. Military service gave Dioscorides the opportunity to travel widely and to study many exotic plant and animal species.
In his major work, a treatise now known as De materia medica (The materials of medicine), Dioscorides refers to nearly 600 plant species, including cannabis, colchicum, and peppermint. Only about 130 of these medicinal plants had been known to Hippocrates (460?-377? B.C.). The discussion of each plant includes its appearance, growth characteristics, place of origin and habitat, medical uses, and the proper method for preparing remedies. Drugs derived from animals and minerals were also described. In total, Dioscorides refers to about 1,000 simple drugs.The text describes most of the drugs used in medical practice until relatively modern times.
Dioscorides, a keen observer and naturalist, was attempting to devise a more systematic treatment of botany and herbal medicine than his predecessors. Despite the presence of some bizarre ingredients, Dioscorides recorded recipes for many effective drugs, including purgatives, emetics, laxatives, analgesics, antiseptics, and so forth. Recent studies of De materia medica suggest that the arrangement adopted by Dioscorides reflects a subtle and sophisticated drug affinity system rather than traditional systems of organization, such as plant morphology or habitat. His classification scheme must have required close attention to the effects of drugs on a significant number of patients. According to Dioscorides, physicians needed information about all medically useful plants, their place of origin, habitat, growth characteristics, and proper uses. Physicians who failed to study the characteristics of medicinal materials were easily fooled by drug dealers who trafficked in worthless, cheap, and even dangerous substitutes. Unlike Theophrastus (372?-287? B.C.), his most important predecessor, who classified plants as trees, shrubs, and herbs, Dioscorides grouped plants under three headings: aromatic, culinary, and medicinal. According to Pliny the Elder (23-79), the Greek physician Crateuas (1st century B.C.) produced an herbal with colored illustrations, but this text has not survived. Thus the herbal of Dioscorides is generally considered the first systematic and illustrated treatise of medical botany.
Many of the herbs, spices, nuts, grains, and fermented beverages used as ingredients in remedies recommended by Dioscorides can be found in any modern grocery store. The medicinal properties assigned to them, however, would surprise modern cooks. Cinnamon and cassia, for example, were said to be useful in the treatment of internal inflammations, poisons, venomous bites, cough, diseases of the kidneys, menstrual disorders, and so forth. They were also said to induce abortion. Drinking a decoction of asparagus and wearing the stalk as an amulet supposedly induced sterility. Judging from the large number of remedies said to bring on menstruation and expel the fetus, menstrual disorders, contraception, and abortion must have been among the major concerns that patients brought to the physician.
Remedies were also made from minerals and animal parts and products, such as milk and honey. Chemical drugs included mercury, arsenic, lead acetate, and copper oxide. A remedyfor malaria included bed bugs mixed with meat and beans. A mixture of burnt river crabs, Gentian root, and wine was suggested as a treatment for the bite of a mad dog; eating the liver of the dog in question and wearing its tooth would prevent further complications. Stones found in a hippopotamus offered protection from the bites of serpents, but frogs could be used in an antidote if hippo stones were unavailable. For warming the joints and healing abrasions Dioscorides recommended grime from the gymnasium walls. He also described sleeping potions prepared from opium and mandragora and their use as surgical anesthetics.
Dioscorides. (Library of Congress. Reproduced with permission.)Dioscorides's De materia medica constitutes the most authoritative source of information about the materia medica of antiquity and the most significant classical source of modern botanical terminology. In various translations and editions, De materia medica remained the leading pharmacological text for some sixteen centuries.
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