Materia medica

Materia medica ("healing substance") is the historical name for collections of texts about the effects of substances that are used for healing purposes. The substances whose effects were described in Materiae medicae came from the three kingdoms of nature (plants, animals, minerals) and were classified accordingly. The name is derived from the Latin translation of the title of a work by the Greek doctor Pedanios Dioscurides : De materia medica , original Greek Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς Perí hýles iatrikés .

The term "materia medica" was used internationally until the 20th century and gradually replaced by pharmacology or, in German, by "medicament theory". In homeopathy , “materia medica” continues to be used to denote homeopathic medicine .

literature

• Thomas Richter: Materia medica . In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. (2005) Volume 2: H-N. De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, pp. 895-896.

See also

• Pharmacopoeia
• Herbal Book
• Simplicia and Composita

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Richter: Materia medica . In: Werner E. Gerabek, Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil, Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. (2005) Volume 2: H-N. De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, pp. 895-896.
2. ^ Martin Levey : Some aspects of the nomenclature of Arabic materia medica. In: Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Volume 37, 1963, pp. 130-138.