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BIOCHEMICAL ASPECTS 

 OF PHARMACOLOGY 



ARNOLD D. WELCH, professor of pharmacology, school of 



MEDICINE, WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY 



ERNEST BUEDING, assistant professor of pharmacology, school 

 of medicine, western reserve university 



f, TARL Y MAN, in his almost continuous search for food, 

 J-^ encountered a great variety of substances capable of 

 affecting the normal functions of the body. Some of these materials 

 produced effects which ultimately were correlated with their ingestion, 

 a circumstance which led to their use in attempts to alleviate suffer- 

 ing or to combat disease. Undoubtedly the experiences and ob- 

 servations of primitive medicine men added many other substances to 

 the early materia medica. Throughout the centuries, testing of the hit- 

 and-miss type has continued, and indeed few substances now exist 

 which have not at some time been used in an attempt to change the 

 course of bodily disorders. Of these, only a small number has proved 

 to have lasting value, although a much larger number of agents of 

 little merit remains to distend the dispensatories of the present day. 

 From the loss of most of these the world would suffer very little. 



The search for new drugs continues, although they are usually 

 derived from a different source than formerly, for the synthetic activity 

 of nature has been replaced almost entirely by that of man. Also, in 

 the primary trials of new agents, human beings have now largely been 

 replaced by animals and microorganisms; yet the basic philosophy of 

 trial and error continues essentially unchanged. 



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