Jonathan Pereira (medical doctor)

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Jonathan Pereira ( 22. May 1804 in Shoreditch , London - 20th January 1853 ) was a Portuguese-born , British pharmacologist. He was one of the most important pharmacologists of his time.

Live and act

The pharmacologist Jonathan Pereira was born on May 22, 1804 in Shoreditch, a suburb of London. In 1819, at the age of 15, he began his apprenticeship with a ship surgeon, two years later he began pharmaceutical practice at the Aldersgate General Dispensary in London, while studying surgery at the Bartholomäus Hospital. After two years of training, he graduated from Apothecaries Hall and was awarded the qualification as a pharmacist's assistant. Pereira quickly became a member of the Aldersgate Laboratory , soon assisted with teaching and finally gave courses in preparation for the pharmaceutical exams.

In 1824 he wrote a translation of the London Pharmacopoeia and published it as a handbook for the use of students under the title "Selecta e praescriptis". Pereira had meanwhile received further training in surgery at the Bartholomew Hospital in London and was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1825 . There he soon took over from Henry Clutterbuck as a lecturer in chemistry . His lectures on materia medica were well attended. During this time he collected a lot of material for his handbook of pharmacology, which he began in 1827. In 1832 he finished his position at the Aldersgate Laboratory. At the same time, he accepted an appointment as a teacher of chemistry at the London Hospital , which he held until 1843.

In 1840 the medical faculty in Erlangen awarded him his doctorate. In 1843 he became professor for pharmaceutical science at the school of the "English Pharmaceutical Society". As a result, the collections there were also open to him for his studies. Over the next few years, working at this school became his most important life, for which he gave up all other teaching duties. He gave up lectures on chemistry at the London Hospital completely by 1846, and lectures at the School of the Pharmaceutical Society by 1851.

On January 20, 1853, Pereira died at the age of 49 from the effects of a ruptured blood vessel in the chest. His most important student Daniel Hanbury continued his work.

Merits to pharmacognosy

Pereira used the collection at the Aldersgate Laboratory as a basis for his studies. His reputation as a drug connoisseur quickly spread across England to the continent. For his services he was honored in 1845 with admission to the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society ; he became curator of the museum and committee member of the college for the processing of a new parmacopoeia, in 1951 the Medico-Chirurgical Society honored him with the appointment of vice-president and he became physician of the London Hospital. His individual writings on certain drugs also became famous. By 1851 these " Selecta e praescriptis " had eleven editions. This plant is named Myroxylon balsamum var. Pereirae in honor of one of his individual writings on the parent plant of the Peru balsam . A bust of him was also placed in the London Hospital. The Pharmaceutical Society in London honored Pereira's services to the materia medica, especially to pharmacognosy , by donating the " Pereira Medal ".

Publications

Pereira published several papers on medicines, their composition and uses. These books have also been translated into German, among other things. He completed the handbook of drug theory in 1834, and the first part went to print in 1835. From 1835 to 1837 he published his lectures at the Aldersgate School in the London Medical Gazette. The plethora of pharmacognostic and medicinal-chemical facts attracted general attention outside of England as well. In 1838/1839 FJ Behrend translated these lectures into German and published them under the title “ Lectures on Materia Medica or on the origin, quality, composition and effectiveness of medicinal substances. " out.

From 1839 to 1840 he wrote his most important work " The Elements of materia medica and therapeutics ". It was the first work on this subject in Great Britain and had no comparable counterpart in other European countries either. In 1846/1848 it was translated into German for the first time by Rudolf Buchheim . It represents the beginning of scientific pharmacognosy . Pereira also took part in the revision of the British Pharmacopoeia . Other well-known works are "A general table of atomic numbers with an introduction to the atomic theory".

He published his lectures on the elementary composition of food as an extended book under the title " A treatise of food and diet. With observations on the dietetical regime suited for disordered states of the digestive organs, and an account of the dietetics of the principal metropolitan and other establishments for paupers, lunatics, criminals etc. "This work was also published in German in a shortened form in 1845.

Pereira left three new editions of " The Elements of materia medica and therapeutics " almost completed, along with 50 different essays that were published in the Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions. Most of them describe exotic drugs. Among them the famous treatise on the stem plant of the Peru balsam and four noteworthy treatises on microscopic plants which form in pharmaceutical liquids.

Web links

literature

  • Shellard, EJ (1980) A History of British Pharmacognosy (1980-1982). The Pharmaceutical Journal, Editions: 226-228: 108, 189, 406, 201, 631, 774, 78, 371, 536.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Theodor Husemann : Jonathan Pereira . In: Biographical lexicon of the outstanding doctors of all times and peoples. Volume IV. Urban and Schwarzenberg, Vienna and Leipzig 1886. pp. 532-533. Digitized version of the University Library in Düsseldorf.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f " Jonathan Pereira: Important drug connoisseur " in "Our Pharmacy" Volume 07/97, ​​p. 36
personal data
SURNAME Pereira, Jonathan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British pharmacologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH Shoreditch near London
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1853