A History of the Medicines We Take
A History of the Medicines We Take gives a lively account of the development of medicines from traces of herbs found with the remains of Neanderthal man, to prescriptions written on clay tablets in Mesopotamia, to pure drugs extracted from plants in the nineteenth century, to the latest biotechnology antibody products.
The first ten chapters of the book in part one gives an account of the development of active drugs from herbs used in early medicine to the synthetic chemical drugs and modern biotechnology products.
The remaining eight chapters in part two tell the story of the developments in the preparations that patients take, and their inventors, such as Christopher Wren, who gave the first intravenous injection in 1656, and William Brockedon who invented the tablet in 1843.
The book traces the changes in patterns of prescribing from simple dosage forms, such as liquid mixtures, pills, ointments, poultices, eye drops and enemas, to the complex tablets, injections and inhalers in current use.
Paperback £18.99