A Brief Cynical History of Pharmacology

1
A Brief Cynical History of Pharmacology

• PROBLEM
• "I have an earache"
• SOLUTION
• 2000 BC- Here, eat this root
• 1000 AD- That root is heathen, say this prayer
• 1850 AD- That prayer is superstition, drink this
  potion
• 1940 AD- That potion is snake oil, swallow this
  pill
• 1985 AD- That pill is ineffective, take this
  antibiotic
• 2000 AD- That antibiotic is artificial , here
  eat this root

2
Paracelsus

• Paracelsus (11 November or 17 December 1493 in
  Einsiedeln, Switzerland - 24 September 1541) was
  an alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general
  occultist. Born Phillip von Hohenheim, he later
  took up the name Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus
  Bombastus von Hohenheim, and still later took the
  title Paracelsus, meaning "equal to or greater
  than Celsus", a Roman physician from the first
  century BC.

3
Paracelsus Genius with bad press agent

• Attended Universities of Heidelberg, Freiburg,
  Ingolstadt, Cologne, Tübingen, Vienna, Erfurt and
  Ferrara, left without degree, drank to excess,
  and wandered over most of known world, took part
  in Peasants War (1525)
• Practiced medicine in Spain, Portugal, England,
  Denmark, Poland, Prussia, Hungary, Arabia, Egypt,
  Turkey, probably other places as well
• Pioneered use of chemicals, elements in medicine
  (Zn, Hg, Au)
• Introduced draining to replace amputation or
  cauterization
• Introduced dose-response concept
• Recognized first industrial disease

4
Paracelsus

• Alle Ding' sind Gift und nichts ohn' Gift
  allein die Dosis macht, dass ein Ding kein Gift
  ist. ("All things are poison and nothing is
  without poison, only the dose permits something
  not to be poisonous.)

5
Paracelsus a few weird facts

• Paracelsus (1943 film by Georg Wilhelm Pabst)
• Professor Bulwer in 1922 Murnau film 'Nosferatu'
  is a follower of Paracelsus
• Paracelsus (lengthy dramatic poem by Robert
  Browning)
• Paracelsus and The Rose (short story by Borges)
• Paracelsus is one of the people featured on a
  Chocolate Frog card in Harry Potter. A bust of
  Paracelsus is in the castle at Hogwarts, near
  Gryffindor, between the entrance to the
  Gryffindor common room and the Owlry, as
  mentioned in Order of the Phoenix
• In The Phantom comic strip, Paracelsus appeared
  in The Ring. According to this story,
  Paracelsus gave the first Phantom the Skull Ring

6
Some Pharmacologists in History

• William Withering, 1741-1799 (digitalis)
• Claude Bernard 1813-1878 (d-tubo curare)
• Friedrich Sertürner 1783--1841 (morphine)
• Rudolf Buchheim 1820-1879 (1st Pharmacology
  Laboratory, University of Dorpat (now Tartu,
  Estonia)
• Oswald Schmiedeberg 1838-1921 (Strassburg, now
  Strasbourg, trained many pharmacologists)
• John Langley 1852--1926 (Receptor concept)
• Paul Ehrlich 1854-1915 (Receptor concept)
• Otto Loewi, Henry Dale (Neurotransmission)