BOTANIST, PHARMACOLOGIST, PHYSICIAN

Life
A native of Anazarbus, in Cilicia, Dioscorides was the founder of pharmaceutical science and the father of pharmacology. He studied in Tarsus (the capital of Cilicia) before moving to the Rome of Nero and Vespasian. His travels as a physician with the Roman armies in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Dacia, Judaea and the lands of the Celts gave him the opportunity to study the medicinal properties of many plants and minerals, from which he prepared pharmaceutical and chemical substances for experiment and as remedies.


Work
His principal works are:

"On venomous animals"

"Pharmacognosy"

"De materia medica" (77-78 AD): 5 books. A complete pharmacology, this was considered the finest work on the subject until the 16th century.

Book 1: "On plant materials" (... roots, seeds and extracts). Includes salves and their preparation, unguents, oils, ointments, trees and their secretions, balms, resins and fruits. Lists 517 drugs.

Book 2: "On all manner of animals" (... and their products). Treats of animals and remedies derived from animal products, including honey, milk, fats, vegetables and forest plants. Lists 142 animal-based preparations.

Book 3: "On all manner of oils" (... perfumes and essences). Includes roots, extracts, herbs and seeds.

Book 4: "On materials derived from trees". Continuation of Book 3. Discusses 69 trees.

Book 5: "On wines and minerals and other similar substances": (... acids, mineral waters). Describes vines, wines, water, minerals and various inorganic medicines. Lists 200 drugs.

Dioscorides describes a total of some 600 herbal remedies, which are discussed both as botanicals and in relation to all their therapeutic effects. Rather than following an alphabetical order, his work classes drugs by form (pills, potions, salves, etc.). He made use of the writings of Diocles, Carystius and Crateuas.

"On simples": 2 books. Describes diseases of the body and the drugs used to treat them.

"On the beneficial or harmful properties of medicines"