WMJ 03 2010 - World Medical Association

Medical Ethics, Humam Rights, Socio-medical affairs and Environmental Policy
http://www.africamasterweb.com & http://
www.nigeriamasterweb.com
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Emejulu, Jude-Kennedy C, MBBS, FWACS
Neurosurgery Unit, Department of Surgery
& Accident and Emergency Unit
E-mail: judekenny2003@yahoo.com
Igwegbe, Anthony O, MBBS, FWACS, FICS
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Eleje, George U, MBBS
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Ofiaeli, Robinson O, MBBS,
FMCS, FICS, FWACS
Orthopaedic Surgery Unit,
Department of Surgery
Nwofor, Alexander M E, MBBS,
FMCS, FICS, FWACS
Urology Unit, Department of Surgery
Anumonye, Charles O, BSc, FHR
Department of Health Records and Statistics
The History of the Placebo 1
The term “placebo” has not been part of
medical usage for very long, but the phenomenon
we refer to as the “placebo effect”
has been known in medical as well as lay
circles for a long time. The French philosopher
and writer Michel de Montaigne
(1533–1592) described the powerful effect
of imagination on the human by using the
example of a patient who received regular
non-medical enemas given by his doctor
and experienced the same effect from them
as from enema that actually contained medicinal
substances rather than just warm water
[38]. It was not until the second third of
the 18 th century that the phenomenon, or at
least a partial aspect of it, was first referred
to as “placebo”. It was the Scottish physician
and pharmacologist William Cullen (1710–
1790) who coined the expression. In 1772
he demonstrably used the term for the first
Robert Jütte
Etymology
1. This historical study is part of a larger project on
the placebo effect undertaken by a group of experts
on behalf of the Wissenschaftlicher Beirat
der Bundesärztekammer (Scientific Board of the
German Medical Association)
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