Name: Joan Klaire Libot Date Performed: Feb.

14 - 15, 2022
Group no.: Score:

Activity 2
History in Pharmacognosy

Instructions: Research the following significant people in the field of Pharmacognosy. Write their
important contribution in this field.
1. Papyrus Ebers (1500 BC) – an Egyptian compilation of medical texts that is one of the oldest
known medical works. It is a continuous scroll where more than 800 formulas or prescriptions
are written and more than 700 drugs are mentioned. These drugs are meant to cure afflictions
ranging from crocodile bite to toenail pain and to rid the house of pests such as flies, rats, and
scorpions.
2. Hippocrates (460-360 BC) – one of the foremost among early Greek physician and a great
teacher in medicine. He was the first who made a highly important division of diseases into
acute and chronic ones and to perform an elective non-emergency tracheotomy. He is known
as “Father of Medicine”.
3. Aristotle (384-322 BC) – a Greek philosopher and scientist, who laid scientific basis for
medicine. He made and recorded numerous observations on animal kingdom.
4. Theophrastus (370-287 BC) – a Greek philosopher and natural scientist, who systemically
classified plants based on their individual characteristics rather than their recommended use in
therapeutics. He has written many books, two of which are the most important
“Decausisplantarum” and “Dehistoriaplantarum” (a collection of ten books), which contain
description and morphology of plants. He is known as “Father of Botanics” or “Father of
Pharmacognosy”.
5. Dioscorides (78 AD) - an ancient Greek physician and botanist, who practiced during the time
of roman emperor Nero. He wrote the book, “Materia Medica”, or the science of healing
substances that focused upon the “preparation, properties and testing of drugs” which served
as a precursor of all modern pharmacopeias.
6. Galen (131-200 AD) – a Roman physician and philosopher of Greek origin. He described
methods and processes of preparing formulas containing plant and animal drug, which he
compiled this knowledge in 20 books called as “Galenical works”. He is then known as the
“Father of Pharmaceutical Compounding”.
7. Shen Nung (Pen Ts’ao) – an ancient Chinese Emperor believed to have lived 5,000 years ago.
He is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medicinal value and believed to be the
author of the earliest written compilation of drugs of Chinese herbal formularies Pen Tsao (a
book wherein over 365 medicinal substances including many vegetables, mineral preparations
and a few animal products are recorded.
8. Scheele (1784) – a German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist. He discovered various mineral
acids such as lactic acid, citric acid, oxalic acid, tartaric acid, and arsenic acid.
9. Serturner (1805) – a German pharmacist and a pioneer of alkaloid chemistry. He was the first
to isolate morphine from opium. He called the isolated alkaloid “morphium” after the Greek
god of dreams, Morpheus.
10. Pelletier & Caventou (1820) – Pelletier is a French chemist and pharmacist who did notable
research on vegetable alkaloids, and was the co-discoverer with Joseph Bienaimé Caventou of
quinine, caffeine, and strychnine. They isolated quinine and cinchonine from cinchona, and
strychnine and brusine from Nux vomica.