432 ANNUAL REPOIiT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19S7 



the manufnctiirer being charged with the adulteration of his i)roducts. 

 This is all in the background of the production of modern medicines. 



But you may be asking how tliis has developed. How were these 

 medicines selected? Wlio discovered that some drugs are cathartics, 

 that others cause a profuse perspiration, that another slows and 

 strengthens the heart, while still others stimulate respiration or raise 

 the blood pressure or perhaps relieve pain? We are particularly inter- 

 ested in Imowing who determines the identity and quality of the 

 medicines needed by modem physicians. What happened in past 

 centuries is vaguely indicated by the records of tlic past. 



In recent years this information about the value of new medicines 

 has come through scientific researches in a modem laboratory, but the 

 foundations were only slowly built up, tlirough the centuries, by indi- 

 viduals who often worked alone, making crude observations and deduc- 

 tions and having few opportunities, and often no desire, to record the 

 results for the benefit of otheis. But fortunately there are remarkable 

 exceptions and to these pioneers the worM today aclmowledges a debt 

 of gratitude which is inestimable. 



Back of all of this modern program is an interesting record. It is 

 not ncccssaiy to review this in detail to icmind you that the elaborate 

 organization of today had its roots well grounded, first in tradition 

 and tlicn in proven history. 



EARLY PHYSICIANS 



The initial incentive of the pioneer healer is credited to an ennobling 

 desire to relieve suffering. True, in eveiy age the charlatan has ex- 

 ploited the sick for pecuniary reward, yet the initial force, through all 

 of historj'^, seems to spring from those pioneers who tnily labored to 

 heal the sick and were a part of the religious orders of the time, 

 theirs usually being a priestly service. With the effort to help those 

 who were ill, came some knowledge of the nature and causes of 

 disease and with this there slowly evolved methods of treatment with 

 all manner of strange medicines. 



The early physician made slow progress; his knowledge was hmited, 

 the medicines were crude, he could not enforce treatments, and he had 

 poor opportunities to stud}- effects. Yet it is surprising how many 

 valuable substances had been discovered even when the oldest loiown 

 records were revealed. Of necessity there often entered into the treat- 

 ment that which was associated with the mysterious or the occult, 

 often with incantations and prayers — how natural that the influence 

 of the deity should be invoked when the priest treated the sick. 



EARLY MEDICINES 



What medicines were used in the period of 4000 B. C, of Baby- 

 lonian history, is not loiown, but tradition tells of the labors of the 



