Gesnerus
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Historical Article
[Witch ointments and aphrodisiacs. A contribution to the cultural history of nightshade plants].
The nightshades (solanaceae) were used as intoxicants since the ancient civilisations and are still in use today. Their alkaloids, atropine and scopolamine, were the major active substances of the ointments of witches, of medieval "anaesthetics", and of modern poisons for murder. In a medium dose-range the predominant symptoms are hallucinations and illusions. ⋯ Scopolamine enjoyed a particular popularity as a poison for murder. In the 19th century the nightshade alkaloids were also in clinical use. This article focusses on the medical history of the psychosis due to intoxication with solanaceae.
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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.
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Biography Historical Article
[E. Merck and cocaine. On Sigmund Freud's cocaine studies and their relation to the Darmstadt industry].
Documents from the archives of the pharmaceutical company, E. Merck, Darmstadt, shed light on research, production, and marketing of cocaine and other coca alkaloids. When cocaine proved to be a local anaesthetic in 1884 the market expanded enormously. ⋯ Merck is compared with that of other companies in Germany and abroad. Freud, who published on cocaine from 1884 to 1887, was in contact with E. Merck and performed clinical studies for them as well as for an American company.
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Historical Article
[Basic concepts of pathology in Germany 1858 until today and progress in medicine].
The rise of scientific medicine in the 19th century had its origins mainly in Rudolf Virchows localistic cellular pathology. As a consequence the organism as a complex system was kept in the background. ⋯ Deficits appeared even in 19th century, when treatment of patients was mainly focussed on practicability of cure, ignoring the social background. Therefore, it is not possible to speak about progress of pathology in general, for diagnostics depends also on individual mentality, the subject, and the situation of the time.
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After an enormous spread in the United States of America during the 19th century homeopathy had almost completely vanished from the scene by the beginning of the 20th century. For the past two decades, however, it seems once again to experience a kind of renaissance. Major aspects of this development-in terms of medical and cultural history, sociology, politics, and economics-are illustrated on the basis of a general history of homeopathy in the United States. Using original sources, a first attempt is made to reconstruct the history of homeopathy in San Francisco which has some institutional peculiarities that make it unique within the whole country.