First known description of the medicinal plants of Central America. Oviedo first described chigoe (“jiggers”?) in this book. "The book is divided into 86 chapters, focused mostly on American flora and fauna. It begins with a preface dedicated to Carlos V , in which he mentions what issues are discussed in his book. The first chapter is devoted to navigation, and subsequent chapters deal with different geographical and social aspects of the Spanish island , Cuba and Terra Firma . The chapters of the terrestrial fauna begin in the XI with the tiger, and from the XXVII they focus on the birds. From XLIX to LXI, they talk about the smaller animals, like some insects, snakes, lizards and toads. Chapter LXII begins the descriptions of the flora and their respective fruits, which conclude with the LXXX. The last six sections refer to different curiosities, such as mining or fishing, ending with a final dedication to the emperor of Spain" (Wikipedia).  A 3-volume edition was published at Madrid in 1851-53.

The “Grant herbier” or Arbolayre, the only medieval herbal printed in French, was probably derived from Platearius (No. 1790). Its authorship remains unknown. The “Grete Herball” (No. 1802) is a translation of it. It contains a large part of the text of Mattheus Platearius (12th century), physician of the medical school of Salerno and teacher of botanic medicine in the tradition of Dioscorides. Few copies of this edition are known, several imperfect. ISTC ia00944000.

The first illustrated English herbal. It was mainly a translation of the French “Grant Herbier”.

Brunfels published the first two volumes of Herbarum vivae eicones ad nature imitationem, sum[m]a cum diligentia et artificio effigiatae. . .. in 1530 and 1532; the third volume was edited by Michael Heer and published in 1536, two years after Brunfels's death. Unlike earlier herbals, which were lllustrated with conventional stylized figures, copied and recopied over the centuries from one manuscript to another, Brunfels's Herbarum was illustrated with detailed, accurate renderings of plants taken directly from nature, most of them showing all portions of the plant (root, stem, leaves, flowers and fruit), and some even going so far as to depict wilted leaves and insect damage. The artist responsible for the illustrations was Hans Weiditz; his contributions were credited in a poem appearing on leaf A4r, making him the first botanical illustrator to be recognized for his work. Comparison of Weiditz's woodcuts with the woodcuts in Leonhard Fuchs's De historia stirpium (1542) show that the artists who worked with Fuchs were strongly influenced by Weiditz's work. In contrast to its revolutionary images, the text of the Herbarum was an uncritical compendium of quotations from older authorities, primarily concerned with the therapeutic virtues of each plant. Brunfels made no attempt to classify the plants he discussed, but related species often appear in close proximity to one another. He restricted himself to plants indigenous to Strassburg and described over forty new species. At the end of the second volume is a collection of twelve tracts edited by Brunfels, entitled De vera herbarum cognitione appendix. This includes the first published writings of both Hieronymus Bock and Leonhard Fuchs.  

Digital facsimile of a hand-colored copy of the 1530 volume from Google Books at this link; of the 1532 volume from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Brasavola introduced some new drugs into the formulary. The book is written in the form of a dialogue. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

An alphabetical catalogue of plants and medicines made from them. Turner, the “Father of English Botany”, treated plants as simples, and did not attempt to show their relationships. He was a much travelled man and a friend of Conrad Gessner. He introduced Lucerne or alfalfa (Medicago sativa) into England. Reproduced in facsimile, London, 1877, and London, Ray Society, 1965. See Nos.1810.2 & 1811.

Bock was the first to describe the local flora of Germany, discovering many new species. His work gave a fresh impetus to plant description, With Brunfels and Fuchs he was one of the three “German fathers of botany”. See B. Hoppe, Das Kräuterbuch des Hieronymus Bock, Stuttgart, A. Hiersemann, 1969.

A pocket dictionary of plants. Gesner, the “German Pliny”, produced the most encyclopedic bibliographies of his time. He attempted a Historia plantarum, which was unfinished at his death. See No. 1809.1. Digital facsimile of the 1541 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Illustrated with full-page woodcut illustrations drawn by Albrecht Meyer, copied onto the blocks by Heinrich Füllmaurer and cut by Veit Rudolf Speckle; the artists' self-portraits appear on the final leaf. Describing and illustrating circa 400 native German and 100 foreign plants-- wild and domestic—in alphabetical order, with a discussion of their medical uses, De historia stirpium was probably inspired by the pioneering effort of Otto Brunfels, whose Herbarum vivae imagines had appeared twelve years earlier. "These two works have rightly been ascribed importance in the history of botany, and for two reasons. In the first place they established the requisites of botanical illustration—verisimilitude in form and habit, and accuracy of significant detail.... Secondly they provided a corpus of plant species which were identifiable with a considerable degree of certainty by any reasonably careful observer, no matter by what classical or vernacular names they were called...." (Morton, History of Botanical Science [1981] 124).

Fuchs's herbal contained the first glossary of botanical terms, and provided the first depictions of a number of American plants, including pumpkins and maize. The book is especially remarkable for its generous tribute to the artists Meyer, Füllmaurer and Speckle, whose self-portraits appear on the last leaf. This tribute to the artists may be unique among sixteenth century scientific works, many of which were illustrated by unidentified artists, or artists identified by name only. It is especially unusual for the name of the artist who transferred the drawings onto the woodblocks to be recorded, let alone for that artist to be portrayed.

Translated into French by Eloy de Maignan as Commentaires tres excellens de l'hystoire des plantes , composez premièrement en latin par Leonarth Fousch , medecin tres renommé . et depuis nouvellement traduictz en langue Françoise , par un homme scavant & bien expert en la matière. Paris: Chez Iacques Gazeau , en la rue Sainct Iehan de Latran devant le college de Cambrai, 1549.

Facsimile edition with commentary volume: The Great Herbal of Leonhart Fuchs, edited by F. G. Meyer, E. M. Trueblood and J. L. Heller, 2 vols., Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999. This includes English translations of selected portions of the herbal. For further information see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

An index of purgatives.

Stricken with the plague at the age of 49, Gesner was unable to complete his Historia plantarum (See No. 1807.) His collection of botanical watercolors changed hands several times until they were acquired by the physician-scholar, Cristoph Jakob Trew who arranged to have them published as woodcuts and engravings in 1754-59. A second edition appeared in 1771. The watercolors then disappeared from view until they were “rediscovered” at the University of Erlangen in 1929. More recently 187 of the 700 watercolors were published in color facsimile with extensive commentary, and transcription of the manuscript notes as: Conradi Gesneri historia plantarum. Faksimileausgabe, hg. von H. Zoller, M. Steimann & K. Schmid. 8 vols., Dietikon-Zürich, Urs Graf, 1972-80. The same publishers also issued the complete series of 700 watercolors in facsimile as Historia plantarum: Gesamtausgabe herausgegeben von Heinrich Zoller und Martin Steinmann. 2 vols., 1987-1991. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first "real" pharmacopeia to be published. It was recognized as the official pharmacopeia of Nuremberg. Facsimile edition, 1934. Digital facsimile of the 1546 edition from Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main at this link.

In this work on the discovery and therapeutic use of the china root (Smilax china) in the treatment of syphilis, Vesalius described the first attempt to formulate methods of identification of an exotic drug. He also offered physicians means of detecting adulteration of the china root, which was coming into common use.

Vesalius devoted most of the China-Root Epistle to a defense of his anatomical methods and doctrines as described in the Fabrica (1543). The work also contains important autobiographical data, including Vesalius's remarks about his teaching experiences at Pisa, his destruction of some of his early manuscripts (a disgusted reaction to the Fabrica's reception), and information concerning his medical forebears.

Cushing, Bio-bibliography of Vesalius (1943) vii.-1. 1. O'Malley, Andreas Vesalius of Brussels (1965) 187-224. 

A much-expanded English translation of Turner’s Libellus (No. 1805). That and the above work mark the beginning of scientific botany in England. They contain the first records of the occurrence of some 238 species of flowering plants, a few of them precisely localized. Reprinted with introduction and bibliography, London, Ray Society, 1965.

The first original scientific herbal written by an Englishman, and the first scientific herbal published in the English language. The illustrations were taken from the blocks cut for the 8vo edition of Fuchs (1546). Turner was a strongly unorthodox thinker whose stubborn Protestant convictions forced him into exile on the Continent during the Catholic reaction at the end of the reign of Henry VIII, and again during the reign of Mary. He had a varied and turbulent career as naturalist, theologian and physician. Parts 2 and 3 were produced in English in Cologne, 1562 and 1568, while Turner was an exile in Germany. Part 3 was issued only with a reprint of Parts 1 and 2.

The earliest complete Mexican medical text and the only medical text known to be the work of native Aztecs. Written by an Aztec physician named by the Spanish Martin de la Cruz, and translated into Latin by another native, Juan Badiano, around the time of the Spanish Conquest, the work is the earliest extant medical treatise written by a native American, and the earliest herbal written in the Americas. Fine color reproductions.

Dodoens was the first Belgian botanist of international repute. Drawing on the illustrations of Fuchs, but preparing his own text, Dodoens improved on the alphabetical Fuchs organization scheme by grouping plants according to their properties and reciprocal affinities. With this work he provided a national herbarium of species indigenous to the Flemish provinces. English translation, London, 1578. Facsimile reprint Nieuwendijk, Forel, [1978].

Anguillara was one of the best of many commentators on Dioscorides. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This work not only updated the species listed by Dioscorides, but also listed about 500 new species of plants. Published posthumously, the work was carefully edited by Conrad Gesner.  

Cordus was the inventor of phytography and the discoverer of ethyl (sulphuric) ether. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

The first account of Indian materia medica and the first textbook on tropical medicine written by a European. It includes a classic account of Asiatic cholera, the first account of this disease by a European. This is the second book known to have been printed in India, of which copies survive. Garcia de Orta sailed for India in 1534 as Chief Physician aboard the armada of the Viceroy Martim Afonso de Sousa. He worked and carried out his research at Goa, where he died in 1568. His book was first printed by João de Endem at his press in St. John's College, Goa, and completed on April 10, 1563. For an account of its author, see L. H. Roddis, Ann. med. Hist., 1929, 1, 198-207. Digital facsimile of the 1563 edition from Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal at this link. 

One of the earliest pharmacopeias, and one which exerted a great influence on later pharmacopeias. Several new editions followed the first, and that of 1613 was adopted as the official pharmacopeia of Augsburg, the famous Pharmacopoeia Augustana. Occo, the third of a famous medical family, was town physician of Augsburg. The book was reprinted in facsimile, with notes, edited by T. Husemann, by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, (1927). Digital facsimile of the 1564 edition from Google Books at this link.

The first treatise on Central and South American medicinal plants, and for many years the most important work on the medicinal plants of the New World. Working from Seville, Spanish doctor Nicolás Monardes managed to compile an impressive catalogue of New World medicinal plants. He bought specimens from merchants and sailors, grew some of them at his own garden, performed therapeutic experiments on his patients, and interviewed many travelers to obtain information about the uses of the plants among American natives. 

A second part to the book appeared in 1569: Dos libros, el uno que trata de todas las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales, que sirven al uso de la medicina, y el otro que trata de la piedra bezaar, y de la yerva escuerçonera. (Seville: Hernando Diaz).

In 1574 a third part together with the first two, was issued: Primera y segunda y tercera partes de la historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales, que sirven en medicina; Tratado de la piedra bezaar, y dela yerva escuerçonera; Dialogo de las grandezas del hierro, y de sus virtudes medicinales; Tratado de la nieve, y del beuer frio. (Seville: Alonso Escrivano).

English translation by John Frampton from the 1565 edition: Joyfull newes out of the newe found world, wherein is declared the rare and singular vertues of diuerse and sundrie hearbes, trees, oyles, plantes, and stones, with their applications, as well for phisicke as chirurgerie (London, 1577). A revised edition of Frampton's translation appeared in 1580, incorporating material from Monardes's 1574 edition. This translation was reprinted in 1925, edited by Stephen Gaselee. 

Digital facsimile of the 1565 edition from the Internet Archive at this link;  of the 1569 edition at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1580 English translation from Google Books at this link.

Paracelsus has been called by some “the pioneer of modern chemists” and by others “uncouth, boorish, vain, ignorant and pretentious”. His De gradibus contains most of his innovations in Chemical therapeutics. A definitive edition of the Works of Paracelsus was published by Karl Sudhoff. See No. 57.

This is mainly a translation of Garcia d’Orta’s Coloquios (No. 1815) with the addition of some illustrations. Acosta, a Portuguese Jesuit physician and surgeon, travelled to India where he met Garcia d’Orta. Acosta pioneered the pharmacological study of plants of the East Indies. Asian plants that he described include ginger, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, opium and cardamom. The American plants include pineapple, sugar cane, rubber, and the “Indian fig” of Peru. After an account of opium, the work ends with an illustrated treatise on the Indian elephant.

Includes some of the first studies of  the plants and botanic remedies of the New World. Second edition, Tractado breve de medicina (1592). This is an abridgement of manuscripts left in Mexico by Francisco Hernández. See Nos. 1820.1 & 1821.1. Digital facsimile of the 1592 edition from BibliotecaVirtualAndalucía at this link.

Gerard is perhaps the best remembered of ail the English herbalists. The most important edition of his book is the second, published by T. Johnson in 1633 (reprinted in facsimile, New York, Dover, 1975). Johnson greatly enlarged the book, correcting many mistakes and bringing the number of plants included to a total of 2850. Gerard plagiarized much of his work from Dodoens (No. 1812). See B. Henrey, British botanical and horticultural literature before 1800, Vol. 1, pp. 35-54, 1975.

Physician to Philip II of Spain, Hernández travelled to Mexico by order of the king, and studied the natural history of the region from 1570-77. His Works, which filled six folio volumes of text and 10 volumes of paintings of animals and plants, were deposited in the library of the Escorial, and in Mexico City, but never published in Hernández’s lifetime. Many of them were lost. A manuscript of this summary in Latin, edited for the king by N. A. de Recchi, found its way to Mexico where it was revised, augmented, translated into Spanish-Aztec, and published by Francisco Ximénez, a friar and nurse at the Convent of San Domingo de Mexico. It was the second printed work on the natural history, plants, and botanic medicines of Mexico issued in the New World. See Nos. 1819.1 & 1821.1. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. Selections from Hernández's works were published as The Mexican Treasury. The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández. Edited by Simon Varey. Translated by Rafael Chabran, Cynthia L. Chamberlin and Simon Varey (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000).

The first London pharmacopeia, issued by the (Royal) College of Physicians. The first edition was published on May 7, but contained many typographical errors; a corrected edition appeared on December 7, 1618. In the first issue the name of the publisher was printed “Marriot”. Facsimile reprint of both versions, with introduction by G. Urdang, Madison, 1944.

This summary of Hemández’s very extensive manuscript account of the natural history of Mexico (see No. 1820.1) was edited by N.A. de Recchi, and published at the expense of Prince Federico Cesi (1585-1630), with notes by Giovanni Terrentio (1575-1630), Johannes Faber (1574-1629) Fabio Colonna (1567-1650) and Cesi. Publication of the work was discontinued with the death of Cesi in 1628. It is usually seen in the reissue of 450 copies in 1648/49 or 1651, for which Francesco Stelluti was responsible. The remainder of Hemandez’s extant manuscripts were finally published in the Obras completas, 4 vols., Mexico City, 1959-66. See Nos. 1819-1 & 1820.1. Digital facsimile of the 1651 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

The title is a pun on the author’s name (park-in-sun). Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Parkinson, the last of the old English herbalists, was Apothecary to James I. His massive herbal of 1,755 pages described nearly 3,800 plants, nearly double the number described in the first edition of Gerard. Parkinson was more original than either Gerard or Johnson. Rohde called the Theatrum botanicum the “largest herbal in the English language”. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

First Paris pharmacopoeia.

SEE J. Bergounioux, "Les éditions du Codex Medicamentarius de l'ancienne Faculté de Médecine de Paris," Rev. d'Hist. Pharm, 54 (1927) 376-389

This is an extensively revised and enlarged second edition of Piso’s Historia naturalis Brasiliae (1648). In this edition Piso reprinted Bontius's De medicina Indorum (1642) with two additional books on Asian flora and fauna. Piso introduced ipecacuanha into Europe. Reproduced in part, with translation, in Opuscula Selecta Neerlandicorum de Arte Medica, 1937, No. 14. See Nos. 2263.1 & 5303. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A defence of the virtues of Jesuit's bark or Peruvian bark (cinchona, chinchona), the most celebrated specific remedy for malaria. It was obtained from the bark of several species of the genus Cinchona, of the Rubiaceae family, indigenous to the Western Andes mountains. Other terms referring to this preparation and its source were "Jesuit's Tree", "Jesuit's Powder" and "Pulvis Patrum". Bado includes evidence to show that “fever bark” was introduced into Spain in 1632. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

The first detailed account of the natural history and botany of North America, including the first extensive study of native North American medicine.

Pomet became chief druggist to Louis XIV.  His work was considered the most complete materia medica of the time. It also covered non-botanical drugs. Digital facsimile from bibdigital.rjb.csic.es at this link. English translation, London, 1712 and later editions and revisions.

A list of officially recognized drugs, with a classification of useless and undesirable ones. Rivinus also noted incompatibles. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This reprint of Culpeper’s popular work on herbal remedies was the first medical book (94pp.) printed in North America.

The first herbal printed in North America, and the first full-length medical book published in North America. From the 1653 London edition.

Linnaeus’s botanical classification, the starting-point of modern systematic botany. The book is dedicated to Boerhaave. English translation by Erasmus Darwin, Lichfield, 1787.

A treatise on prescriptions. Gaub was professor of chemistry at Leiden.

Heberden’s first printed work. His criticism of current superstitions conceming these two concoctions resulted ultimately in their removal from the pharmacopoeia. No publisher's name appears on the title page. Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Bartram founded one of the first botanical gardens in America (at Kingsessing). Linnaeus referred to him as the “greatest natural botanist in the world”.

A few copies of this 7-page work printed by Benjamin Franklin were issued separately. It is most often found as an appendix to a larger work also printed by Franklin:

Thomas Short's Medicina Britannica, or A treatise on such physical plants, as are generally to be found in the fields or gardens in Great-Britain .... The THIRD EDITION. With a PREFACE by Mr. John Bartram, Botanist of Pennsylvania, and his NOTES throughout the work, shewing the places where many of the described plants are to be found in these parts of America, their differences in name, appearance and virtue, from of the same kind in Europe; and an APPENDIX, containing a description of a number of plants pecular to America, their uses, virtues, &c. London printed: Philadelphia, re-printed, and sold by B[enjamin] Franklin and D. Hall, at the Post-Office, in Market-Street., 1751.

Digital facsimile of Medicina Britannica from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link. Bartram's appendix appears on the final 7 pages.

This was the first of the several bibliographies compiled by Haller, one of the greatest figures in the history of medicine. The work contains the most exhaustive and thorough information of the writings in the field of botany then extant. Choulant considered that the bibliographies on botany and anatomy were the best of Haller’s works.

The first flora of Great Britain using Linnean binomial nomenclature, and the first complete scientific classification and description of British plants in the English language. Withering included much information on natural places of growth, time of flowering, economic uses as foods and drugs, and poisonous properties.

Withering's explanatory title page was notably verbose. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first original pharmacopeia published in the USA. Reproduced in facsimile, with translation, in The Badger Pharmacist, 1938. No. 22-25.

First record of the clinical use of cod liver oil in England.

Before  publication of Withering's book digitalis was a widely used folk remedy, occasionally mentioned in the literature. Withering established the correct dosages, and the action of digitalis in edema and on the heart became generally recognized. Withering did not know of the distinction between renal and cardiac edema. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link The copy reproduced does not appear to contain the engraving of the purple foxglove.

Like his cousin, John Bartram (No. 1832), Marshall maintained a private botanical garden. According to W. Darlington the above work is “the first truly indigenous botanical essay published in the Western Hemisphere”. It contains some information about medicines.

Schoepff came to America in 1777 as a surgeon with the Hessian troops employed by the British Forces. He returned to Germany in 1784 and compiled the first full American materia medica, describing about 400 plants, including a few references to native American remedies. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

An expansion of Cullen’s “Lectures on materia medica”, 1773.

Issued in numbers from 1790-1795, this is the first edition in book form. This work, which underwent several later editions, remained the standard work on the plants of the British pharmacopoeia until the 1880s. Digital facsimile of the first edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Later editions frequently contained beautiful hand-colored plates.

The first herbal both produced and printed in the United States, as opposed to those which were reprints of European works. Includes information on native American remedies. Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Isolation of alkaloids from opium.

Isolation of morphine from opium. This was the first isolation of an active ingredient from a plant. 

Gomes obtained a substance, which he named cinchonino, from cinchona bark. That it contained the active principle of cinchona was later proved by Pelletier and Caventou. For an English translation of the paper, see Edinb. med. surg. J., 1811, 7, 420-31.

Barton served as a naval surgeon and, in 1815, became Professor of Botany at Philadelphia. Along with Bigelow (No. 1842) Barton’s work is one of the first two botanical works with colored plates issued in the United States.

Bigelow was professor of materia medica and botany at Harvard. This work included native American remedies. It was the first book printed in the United States to include color plates printed in color. See R.J. Wolfe, Jacob Bigelow's American medical botany, 1817-1821 …Boston: Boston Medical Library, 1979. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Isolation of emetine. It was not until a century later that Vedder demonstrated its value in the treatment of amoebiasis. Also during 1817 Magendie and Pelletier published "Recherches chimiques et physiologiques sur l’ipécacuanha," Ann. Chim. Phys. (Paris), 4, 172-85. 

Isolation of strychnine.

The first official US pharmacopoeia. Spalding began campaigning for a national pharmacopeia in 1815. His efforts finally bore fruit in a national convention that met in 1820 and adopted a pharmacopeia based mainly on the Pharmacopoeia of the Massachusetts Medical Society (1808). Spalding chaired the Committee of Publication for the  national pharmacopoeia. The title page of the first edition bore the date "Dec. 1820" Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. 

Magendie was the pioneer of experimental physiology in France. His Formulaire introduced into medical practice several of the newly discovered alkaloids, notably morphine, veratrine, brucine, piperine, emetine, as well as quinine and strychnine. Digital facsimile of the 1821 edition from BnF Gallica at this link. Translated into English from the third French edition with an introduction and notes by Robley Dunglison, Philadelphia, 1824. Digital facsimile of the 1824 edition from the U. S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

Schenk’s account of his experience with cod liver oil led to its general use on the continent of Europe. Author’s name incorrectly given as Scherer in original.

Iodoform discovered. See also Sérrulas' Notes sur l'Hydriodate de potasse et l'Acide hydriodique. – Hydriodure de carbone; moyen d'obtenir, à l'instant, ce composé triple (1822), of which a digital facsimile is available from BnF Gallica at this link.

Isolation of bromine.

Rafinesque was a great botanist, conchologist, archaeologist, and economist. Born in a suburb of Istanbul, he was also a world citizen and a prolific writer with 939 works to his credit. He died in extreme poverty in Philadelphia and, but for the intervention of a few friends, his body would have been sold for dissection purposes. This work describes a number of native American remedies.  Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Lugol’s solution. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Guthrie in America, Liebig in Germany, and Soubeiran in France discovered chloroform independently of one another. Guthrie discovered the modern method of making chloroform by distilling alcohol with chlorinated lime. The second paper has the title: On pure chloric ether.

Soubeiran, like Liebig and Guthrie, discovered chloroform; it is difficult to determine who was first, as each may have allowed an interval of time to elapse between discovery and publication.

Discovery, in 1831, of chloroform and chloral. Independently chloroform was discovered by Souberian and by Guthrie.

Isolation of codeine.

Mein isolated atropine in pure form in 1831. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Carbolic acid first prepared from coal-tar.

The first great English work on the subject, widely published and used in England and America. Pereira was Professor of Materia Medica at the School of Pharmacy set up by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.  Digital facsimile of the first edition from  the Hathi Trust at this link.

Pereira revised and expanded this work through four editions, the last of which appeared the year after his death. By its fourth edition the work was expanded to two volumes in three and the title was also expanded, somewhat grandiosely, to read "Fourth edition, enlarged and improved, including notices of most of the medicinal substances in use in the civilized world, and forming an encyclopedia of materia medica."  Digital facsimile of the fourth edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Piria made salicylic acid from salicin.

Bennett visited Paris and Germany, and learned there of the beneficial effects of cod liver oil. His book drew the attention of English medical men to the value of the oil.

Discovery of amyl nitrite.

Isolation of an active principle in digitalis, amorphous digitalin, more potent than the plant itself.

Isolation of papaverine.

Synthesis of salicylic acid.

Separate edition: New York: Baker, Godwin & Co, 1854. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Buchheim created the first pharmacological institute in the world at the University of Dorpat.

Bernard included a summary of his experiments with curare in the Leçons to establish his priority in researching its effects. He demonstrated in these experiments the susceptibility of the nerve-muscle preparation to a chemical (pharmacological) effect.

Lemaire was first to point out the antiseptic properties of carbolic acid. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Isolation of cocaine, 1859, from the coca leaf, brought from Peru by Scherzer.

The first extensive treatise on the botany of the Southern States of the US and the only Confederate manual of materia medica. This is also a manual of “survival information”, teaching how live off the land and how to make medicines from indigenous plants, because the Union blockade of Confederate ports prevented the importation of medicines from Europe. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

First official British pharmacopoeia.

Isolation of eserine (physostigmine).

Brown and Fraser were the first to investigate the relationship between the chemical constitution of substances and their action upon the body.

"Although Crum Brown apparently never contemplated the practice of medicine, his training as a medical student gave him an interest in physiology and pharmacology which led him to collaborate during 1867–8 with T. R. Fraser, a distinguished medical graduate a few years younger than himself, in a pioneering investigation of fundamental importance on the connection between chemical constitution and physiological action. Their method "consists in performing upon a substance a chemical operation which shall introduce a known change into its constitution, and then examining and comparing the physiological action of the substance before and after the change." The change considered was the addition of ethyl iodide to various alkaloids and comparison of the iodides (and the corresponding sulfates) thus obtained with the hydrochlorides of the original alkaloids. Striking regularities were observed, amongst others "that when a nitrile [tertiary] base possesses a strychnialike action, the salts of the corresponding ammonium [quaternary] bases have an action identical with curare [poison]."^[6] (Wikipedia article on Alexander Crum Brown, accessed 4-2020).

The author, formerly a surgeon in the Peruvian army, issued the first study of the pharmacological action of cocaine, containing the earliest suggestion of its use as a local anesthetic. Leclerc issued the commercial edition of this thesis for the doctorate in medicine at the Faculté de Médecine in Paris. The thesis edition of this work, with a different title page, and perhaps other printing differences, was published by A. Parent, Imprimeur de la Faculté de Médecine, also in 1868.

"Obviously, the nationality and the culture of Moreno y Maïz led him to consider coca as a topic of study. His laboratory experiments, in continuation of physiologic experimentation in animals previously defined by Claude Bernard (1813–1878), may be considered a model of basic research in physiology. They were performed in a variety of animals, including rats, guinea pigs, and frogs. In the first experiments, he described the systemic effects of local anesthetics, including seizures and mydriasis related to the injection of high doses of cocaine. In addition, he observed that the spinal cord remained intact when systemic effects could alter sensibility. In an experiment performed in guinea pigs, he observed paralysis on the side where cocaine was injected subcutaneously. In other studies, he noted the local effect of cocaine in frogs. To separate systemic and local effects, he applied the model used by Claude Bernard to study muscle relaxants, in which one leg was protected by vascular ligature. He demonstrated that the anesthetic effect of cocaine on peripheral nerve was independent of the systemic effects. Then, he injected cocaine into the left lower limb of a frog with isolated heart and isolated right lower limb to suppress the systemic diffusion and observed complete paralysis of the left limb 35 min after the injection. The frog did not remove this limb in response to painful stimulation applied locally or on the contralateral limb. Consequently, Moreno y Maïz wondered on page 77 of his medical thesis, “Could one utilize it [cocaine] as local anesthetic? We cannot state with so few experiments; the future must decide.” More surprising is that these results and considerations remained futile, although the author was already a surgeon in Peru and members of the jury of his thesis were also academic surgeons in Paris...." (Emmanuel Marret , Marc Gentili, Francis Bonnet, "Moreno y Maïz: A Missed Rendezvous with Local Anesthesia," Anesthesiology, 100 (2004) 1321-1322) .

Demonstration of the value of chloral hydrate as a hypnotic. See also his monograph Das Chloralhydrat, Berlin, 1869.

Schmiedeberg isolated digitoxin from digitalis.

Buss introduced the clinical use of salicylic acid as an antipyretic.

Anrep studied the action of cocaine and, like Moréno y Maïz, suggested that it might be used as a local anesthetic.

Isolation of hysocine (scopolamine), an anti-nausea drug.

29th edition, 1989.

Schmiedeberg, leading German pharmacologist, was professor at Dorpat and Strasburg. Among his many valuable investigations may be mentioned his study of the effect of drugs on the circulation.

Introduction of paraldehyde into therapeutics as a narcotic.

Introduction of antipyrine.

Unna introduced specially coated pills for local absorption in the intestine.

Includes his test for quinine in urine. English translation of second edition, 1895-97. Binz was Professor of Pharmacology at Bonn. His most important work was perhaps the demonstration that quinine in low concentrations kills numerous micro-organisms.

Freud described his observations (with himself as subject) on the effects of cocaine, including its abolition of hunger and fatigue, the “exhilaration and lasting euphoria”. He also described its supposed non-addictiveness, calling it “absolutely harmless in long use”. He later bitterly regretted this misconception, as he himself nearly became addicted, and misuse of the drug contributed to the death of one of his dearest friends. Freud’s suggestion that cocaine might act by abolishing the effect of agencies that depress bodily feeling has since been confirmed, and his recognition of the drug’s anesthetizing qualities may have given Koller the idea to revolutionize eye surgery by using cocaine as the first local anesthetic. See No. 5678. English translation in St. Louis med. & surg. J., 1884, 47, 502-05. Revised second edition by Freud, Vienna, 1885. Also translated in Freud, The Cocaine Papers, Vienna/Zurich, 1963 and Freud, Cocaine Papers, R. Byck (ed.), New York, 1974.

Brunton was physician to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and an eminent pharmacologist. He is notable for his introduction of amyl nitrite in the treatment of angina pectoris and for a vast amount of other work concerning the action of drugs on the cardiovascular system.

Preparation of sulphonal.

Unna introduced ichthyol and resorcinol into medicine. Supplement to Mh. prakt. Derm., No. 1.

Lange was the first to use a mixture of drugs containing lithium carbonate for the preventive treatment of periodic depression. This work contains the “first unequivocal account of prophylactic drug treatment for an exclusively psychiatric–as distinct from physical–condition” (Johnson).

Isolation of ephedrine from Ephedra distachya.

Introduction of acetanilide (antifebrin).

Introduction of phenacetin.

Introduction of sulphonal, previously discovered by Baumann.

Introduction of Strophanthus hispidus.

Emetine first obtained in pure form.

Filehne was responsible for the introduction of amindopyrine (pyramidon).

Krönig and Paul described a new method for the quantitative study of disinfection and laid the foundation of modern knowledge of disinfectants.

Isolation of mescaline, the active agent in peyote. One of the first scientific investigations of a psychedelic drug.

Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) introduced into medicine.

Synthesis of barbitone (Barbitol), the first available barbiturate.

Rideal–Walker method for testing disinfectants.

Introduction of digalen.

Langley introduced the concept of a receptor substance present in the biological object with which a drug has to interact in order to exert its biological effect. Digital facsimile from PubMedCentral at this link.

A study of the anesthetic and other effects of magnesium salts.

Isolation of ergotoxine. With F. H. Carr.

Synthesis of histamine.

This work led to the universal clinical use of phenolsulphonephthalein in renal function tests and of phenoltetrachlorphthalein in hepatic function tests.

Discovery of histamine in an ergot extract.

Study of the effect of histamine.