Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

dignity, as I have insisted before, is that it possesses in itself
complete verifications as to conclusions of other sciences.’
(Withington 1924).
1284 The Al-Mansuri hospital was built in Cairo with 8,000 beds and it
served everybody without cost including free medicines (Miller,
2006).
1250–1326 Guglielmo da Brescia, who was a physician and professor in Padua
and Bologna, singled out opiates in his long list of cures as having
dangerous side effects. Vigilance was the watchword when it was
used for, ‘Sed cave a succo papaveris et mandragore propter fortem
stupefactiones [sic] utriusque. Si non cogat vigiliarum instantia vuti
utrisque’. [but beware the sap of the poppy and of mandragora on
account of the strong stupfying effect of either. If not it may cause
pressing moments of sleeplessness]. He was also concerned about
the use of purgatives. Noting that purgatives were both dangerous
and prematurely aging, he argued that there were less potentially
deadly means of expelling surfeit 45 humours, including regimen,
massage, gentler medicines, and phlebotomy 46 .
1316 The ordinances of the Guild of Pepperers of Soper Lane, London,
wrote the first code of quality control (Penn, 1979).
1322 College of Medicine of Paris determined that the apothecaries of
Paris had to have a copy of ‘L’Antidotaire Nicoli’ by Nicholas le
Myrepsos of Alexandria, written in Greek about 1300. This formulary
was one of the first printed books ( Salernitana, 1471), which
prepared the way for the independent development of pharmacy.
c1330 The Venetian Republic founded the first national health service in
Europe, and obliged licensed practitioners to attend an annual
course in anatomy (ref. Norwich, Venice, p.298). In 1368 they were
required to attend monthly meetings to exchange notes on new
cases and treatments (http://www.fphm.org.uk) accessed 15 th
November 2009.
1339 The ‘Dynameron’ by Nicholas Myrepsus and other medical texts
copied by Kosmas Kame consisting of more than 2500 Greek,
Roman, Arab, Jewish and Christian remedies.
1347 The Bubonic plague reached England via Italy from China and was
called ‘The Black Death’. It killed 25 million people. The English
45 Surfeit = excess
46 Phlebotomy = taking blood from a vein