• François Chast.
• Chef du service de pharmacie, pharmacologie, toxicologie de l'Hôtel-Dieu, 1 place du Parvis Notre Dame, 75181 Paris cedex 04.
• Rev Hist Pharm (Paris). 2011 Feb 1; 58 (368): 493-510.

AbstractTheriaca, after the Greco-Roman antiquity, survived centuries with some continuity. The formula used during the 17th century, inherited from the tradition of Hippocrates and Galen is closed to what it was centuries earlier, despite the difficulties of supply of raw materials. It is considered a mainstay of therapy by the apothecaries of the 16th century as Houel or Bauderon and 17th as Charas or Lemery. In contrast, the 18th and the "Lumières" with Baumé, will contrive to challenge the validity of the preparation. In France, the last public preparation of the Theriaca was performed in 1798. Official pharmacopoeias of the 19th century (from 1818 to 1884) will all retain a formulation of Theriaca, where, according to tradition, dozens of ingredients are mixed in terms of unproven effectiveness that will lead to the withdrawal of the final preparation at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Theriaca passes controversial drug status to that of ancient and obsolete myth.

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