Murder, magic, and medicine
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Bibliographic Information
Murder, magic, and medicine
Oxford University Press, 1994, c1992
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Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-225) and indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
People have always been curious about the plants and animals with which they coexist. Primitive cultures identified edible and poisonous plants by a process of trial and error, and then began to exploit the toxic materials for hunting, euthanasia, executions, and murder. Other plants were found to have stimulatory or hallucinogenic effects: these not only formed the basis of magico-religious rites, they also encouraged experimentation which led to the identification of plants with useful medicinal properties. This absorbing account of the evolution of modern medicine from its roots in folk medicine will entertain and inform both scientist and general reader alike. It explains the chemical basis of modern pharmacology, and provides a fascinating description of how the use and abuse of natural products in various societies throughout the ages has led to the development of many of the drugs we now take for granted. Many plants and animal species remain undiscovered, and much native folk medicine has yet to be investigated. This book is intended for scientists and general readers with an interest in medicine, ethnology, history, folk medicine, pharmacology, literature.
Table of Contents
1: Introduction. MURDER. 2: Arrow poisons. 3: Classical poisons I: the tropane alkaloids. 4: Trials by ordeal. 5: Marine toxins. 6: Reptilian toxins. 7: Microbial toxins. 8: Classical poisons II: aconite, arsenic, and hemlock. MAGIC. 9: Introduction. 10: Stimulants. 11: Psychotomimetics. 12: Inebriants. MEDICINE. 13: Introduction: a history of pharmacy. 14: Antibacterial substances. 15: Anti-inflammatory agents. 16: Drugs affecting the reproductive system. 17: The heart and circulation. 18: Drugs affecting the central nervous system. 19: Anti-asthma drugs. 20: Drugs affecting the gastrointestinal tract. 21: Antiparasitic agents. 22: Anticancer agents. 23: The future. Bibliography. Index of plant names. General index.
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