Overview

Collected in this volume are the author’s historical and bibliographical studies of what may be described as the British and American literature of pharmacotherapeutics. The practitioner of medicine in the period covered was intimately concerned with the selection, compounding, dispensing and operation of the materia medica. Medical theories, etiology and nosology were left to the academics, although the academics often played a dominant role in what went into the pharmacopoeia. The very first business of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh recorded in 1682 concerned the issuance of a pharmacopoeia. Indeed, with a few exceptions the pharmacopoeia was the province, not of the pharmacist, but of the physician, well into the 19th century. The Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, particularly, was revised almost decennially from 1699 to 1841 and provides a detailed history of the changes taking place in pharmacotherapy and the impact of developments in science upon it. Major portions of the volume are devoted to the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia and the Edinburgh Dispensatories, but the spread abroad of the whole gamut of British literature in the genre - to the continent, to India, to Madagascar and to the United States - is covered in detail. The studies of the American literature describe the imports to the colonies, the reprinting of European originals, and the American publications prior to the appearance of the first United States Pharmacopoeia in 1820. Included also is the literature of the German population of the colonies and early united States in which the professional encountered the folk medicine of the pow-pow doctor. The studies include checklists of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, the Edinburgh Dispensatories, the foreign publication of the British literature in the genre, and the American publications in German of the relevant literature.

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9780860788423

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Reviews

'... a wealth of detail...' Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada '... detailed and interesting... it is striking how many of the questions raised by these articles remain unresolved. Moreover, in the issues of readership, reception, and interpretation that they implicitly present, these articles offer a further substantial challenge which historians of medicine need to face.' Social History of Medicine '... Cowen has done excellent work... an invaluable resource for the history of pharmacy.' Metascience '... an informative collection... a thirty-page bibliography, twelve title-page reproductions and seven distribution maps. Additionally, there is a fourteen-page table that charts the publication of British pharmacopoeial literature (1677-1871) in the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Portugal, North America, Spain, Austria, India and Madagascar. These lists and illustrations alone make he book an excellent reference work...' British Journal for the History of Science '... David Cowen has done much to enrich and [...] legitimize the history of pharmacy...' Pharmacy in History '... for the historiography of an often neglected field, the vast and painstaking account of sources that form a major component of this book is invaluable.' Medical History

Author Information

David L. Cowen, Rutgers University, USA

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