Notes for this chapter
plz its imp
Answers
Answer:
Pharmacognosy is the study of plants or other natural sources as a possible source of drugs. The term "pharmacognosy" was used for the first time by the Austrian physician Schmidt in 1811 and 1815 by Crr. ... Crude drugs are the dried, unprepared material of plant, animal or mineral origin, used for medicine.
History and development of pharmacognosy:
The history of pharmacognosy is as old as human existence. To know the future one should know the past. The word ‘drug’ is derived from Latin term Droog means dried, when dried plants were commonly used as medicine. Broadly, history of pharmacognosy can be classified into three major stages. First stage before eighteenth century, very few documents and recorded evidences are available showing use of natural products by human. Second stage involves nineteenth century, which is the time when basic subject has evolved. In this century, the name pharmacognosy came into practice. Initially the subject was more likely to descriptive botany of medicinal plants. But as the time progress, it changes the course and encompasses extraction, isolation and other advances techniques. In twentieth century, which may be considered as third stage of development, series of discoveries resulted in complete metamorphosis of the subject. From last two decades, pharmacognosy is studied in more systematic manner. As herbal wave continue to sweep the world, importance of natural product is at the pinnacle. People are expecting natural products to fit in modern framework. As a result of this there are series of new herbal formulations in the market.
The ancient Egyptians documented their knowledge about medicine on paper made from Cyperus aquaticus commonly called acquatic sage or papyrus. Papyrus Ebers (around 1500 BC), Berlin Papyrus, Edwin Smith Paprus, Kahun Medicak Papyrus are some of the oldest handbooks which contain information of illness and treatments. In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia clay tablets were used to document knowledge of drugs which are dating back to 3000 BC. Ancient India, information about drugs was documented in several Ayurvedic texts which still exist. Apart from Atharvaveda there are several books like Charak Samhita, Sushrut Samhita, Astang Hridaya, Madhav Nidan and Bhava Prakash.
In eighteenth century, pharmacognosy was much closely related to botany. In old days, drugs from natural origin were used in crude form as powder or decoction. Later in nineteenth century, development in science has expanded arena of pharmacognosy. Now a day’s pharmacognosy has become a kind of multidisciplinary subject which embarrasses phytochemistry, analytical pharmacognosy, pharmacotherapy, medicinal plant biotechnology, herbal formulations and nutraceuticals. Zoopharmacognosy is branch of pharmacognosy which involves observation of animal behavior for discovery and development of new drugs. Now a day’s drug from natural origin are studied, formulated and regulated in the framework of modern medicine.