Gesnerus
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Historical Article
[Significance of cognitive processes in drug research in the 19th century--exemplified by nitroglycerin].
The history of the discovery and development of drugs is replete with examples where chance and "serendipity" have resulted in important advances of knowledge. In the case of nitroglycerin it can be shown that what appears to have been a chance discovery was actually the result of a sequence of selective perceptions by, and cognitive processes in individual researchers. ⋯ Homeopathic medicine contributed significantly to this process. Thus, the history of nitroglycerin is an example of an exchange of knowledge between otherwise separate realms of sectarian and orthodox medicine in the second half of the 19th century.