Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

mandragora, mentha, myrrh, opium, pine turpentine, styrax 15 , and
thyme.
585 BC During the Siege of Kirrha (Greece), hellebore was reportedly used
by the Greek besiegers to poison the city’s water supply. The
defenders were subsequently so weakened by diarrhoea that they
were unable to defend the city from assault.
430 BC Empedocles (490–440 BC) from Agrigentum in Sicily wrote of the
four ‘roots or elements’, which were water (cold and wet), air (hot and
wet), fire (hot and dry) and earth (cold and dry). When combined in
different ways, these succeed in producing all the varieties of
vegetable and animal species on earth (Stathakou et al., 2007).
These four elements became linked with the four humours. One of
his comments was ‘Refrain entirely from laurel leaves’.
429–347 BC During the time of Plato the physicians of Greece were prohibited
under penalty of death, from prescribing mercury.
410 BC Euripides The Bacchae
For a most cruel insanity
Has warped your mind
While drugs may well have
Caused it, they can bring no cure.
400 BC– Papyrus was used in Egypt from late fourth century BC until the
700 AD middle of the seventh century.
4 th Century BC An inscription at the Acropolis dating from the 4 th century BC
commemorated that Evanor, the physician, had been chosen as
inspector of drugs (Goldberg, 1986). (Uncorroborated).
400 BC Hellebore root extracts were used to induce vomiting without Greek
physicians realizing that the root contains substances so irritating
and poisonous that the patient quickly got rid of any ingested,
although many died from the treatment. Mention was found on
Sumerian clay tablets.
384 BC Aristotle (384–322 BC) Experimentation and observation were the
cornerstones of Aristotle’s science. He affirmed the precedence of
facts over theory by declaring that if newly discovered facts
contradicted a previously held theory, the theory had to be modified
or discarded to accommodate them. In Aristotle, we can see the
origins of modern science and the scientific method
15 Styrax = genus of many species of large shrubs and small trees (Styracus)