ORIGIN OF PHARMACOGNOSY

1.2. ORIGIN OF PHARMACOGNOSY 

Views on the beginning of life on planet Earth have forever remained controversial and an unending subject of debate. Nevertheless, we can say with certainty that the vegetable kingdom was already there when man made his appearance on Earth. As man began to acquire closure acquaintance with his environment, he began to know more about plants, as these were the only curative agents he had. As he progressed and evolved, he was not only able to sort on as to which plant served for eating and which did not, but he went beyond and began to associate curative characteristics with certain plants, classifying them as painkillers, febrifuge, antiphlogistics, soporific and so on. This must have involved no doubt, a good deal of trial and error, and possibly some deaths in the beginning also, but as it happened antidotes against poisons were also discovered. As we shall see later, drug substitutes were also forthcoming. All these states of affairs indicate that the origin of pharmacognosy, i.e. the study of natural curative agents points towards the accent of human beings on mother earth, and its historical account makes it clear that pharmacognosy in its totality is not the work of just one or two continental areas but the overall outcome of the steadfast work of many of the bygone civilizations like the Chinese, Egyptian, Indian, Persian, Babylonian, Assyrian and many more. Many of today’s wonderful modern drugs find their roots in the medicines developed by the tribal traditions in the various parts of the world. 

Soure: Shah and Seth. Textbook of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 2010 Elsevier First Edition. A division of  Reed Elsevier India Private Limited