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1869
- The first synthetic drug, chloral hydrate, was discovered in 1869 and introduced as a sedative-hypnotic; it is still available today in some countries.
analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.301Early drug discovery and the rise of pharmaceutical chemistry
In 1853 Alexander Wood was the first physician that used hypodermic needle to dispense drugs via Injections. In 1858 Dr. M. Sales Giron invented the first pressurized inhaler.
- Laudanum
- Did You Know?
- Coffee
- Atropa Belladonna
- Datura
- Hyoscamus Niger
- Amanita Muscaria
- Mandragora officinarum
- Opium
- Erythroxylon Coca
photo source: Wikimedia Commons While the other drugs on this list are natural, Laudanumis one of the earliest man-made drugs. Laudanum, known as tincture of Opium today, contains almost all of the opium alkaloids, including morphine and codeine. Like all opiates, Laudanum was historically used as a pain medication and cough suppressant. Laudanum w...
Several famous poets, writers, and artists such as Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron of the 19thcentury used Laudanum recreationally to fuel their creativity.
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Coffeeis the world’s favorite legal drug and is the second-most traded commodity in the world, behind oil. Despite humanity’s deep love for coffee, its origins are unknown. There is a popular Ethiopian story floating around wherein coffee is discovered by a goat herder named Kaldi, who found his goats frolicking and ...
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Along with some of the other poisonous plants mentioned here, Belladonna was used as an anesthetic and also treated sleeplessness. Today, some prescription drugs contain Belladonna alkaloids such as atropine.
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Daturais genus of nine species of poisonous flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family. The sweet-scented and trumpet-shaped flowers are known across the world for their potential as a poison, medicine, and entheogen (ingested for religious or spiritual purposes). Datura are commonly known as thornapples or ...
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Black Henbane (Hyoscamus niger) is another poisonous plant that has been used for centuries because of its psychoactive properties. Like a few of the other poisonous plants on this list, Black Henbane is commonly associated with witchcraft. Historically, Black Henbane was mixed with other similar plants to create ane...
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Whether or not Fly Amanita was used to make Soma, the plant is used to today as an entheogen by the indigenous peoples of Siberia and by the Sámi. Fly Amanita is also used in food when prepared properly. It has also been suggested that Fly Amanita is used as an intoxicant in other places such as the Middle East, Eura...
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Mandragora officinarum, the best-known species of mandrake has a long and storied history. It has been used for thousands of years as a poison, in witches’ potions, and also as medicinal herb. The root of a the mandrake has hallucinogenic and narcotic properties. Mandrake was also used as an aphrodisiac. Many fantast...
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Opiatesare some of the most widely available painkillers, especially in the U.S., and while they are very effective, they are also highly addictive. While the opiate addiction crisis is a modern phenomenon, the use of Opium goes back thousands of years. The earliest reference to Opium cultivation and use dates back t...
photo source: Wikimedia Commons Erythroxylon coca aka Cocais another ancient drug still used by many people today. Coca originates from western South America (Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, and Argentine Northwest) and is a sacred plant to the area’s indigenous peoples. Archaeological evidence has revealed that Peruvians have been chewing Coca l...
Ancient Times. The earliest evidence of drug use dates back to prehistoric times. Archaeological evidence suggests that early humans were using psychoactive plants as far back as 10,000 years ago. One of the most well-known examples of this is the use of peyote by Native American tribes.
The first medicinal drugs came from natural sources and existed in the form of herbs, plants, roots, vines and fungi. Until the mid-nineteenth century nature's pharmaceuticals were all that were available to relieve man's pain and suffering.
- Alan Wayne Jones
- 2011
History of Drugs Timeline. Ancient Times: 4th millennium BCE: Opium cultivation and use in ancient Mesopotamia. 3rd millennium BCE: Cannabis used for medicinal and religious purposes in ancient China and India. 2nd millennium BCE: Alcohol production and consumption in ancient civilizations.
Drug discovery and development started to follow scientifi c techniques in the late 1800s. From then on, more and more drugs were discovered, tested, and synthesized in large - scale manufacturing plants, as opposed to the extraction of drug products from natural sources in relatively small batch quantities.
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In the fields of medicine, biotechnology, and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered. [1] Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by serendipitous discovery, as with penicillin.
