Examination of Officinal Medicines

W ithout a doubt, Medicine, when it was first born, was the knowledge of very few herbs, especially those which served as food for mankind. For in order that mortals might preserve their health as whole as possible, they learned above all else to distinguish the healthful from the unhealthful. And when they perceived that there was a medicinal power even in vegetables and fruits—and that among them some loosened the bowels, others obstructed the same, some cooled, and so forth—from this they began gradually to think about a dietary regimen in diseases, and afterwards also about the use of the remaining plants. For it was not difficult to argue from the lesser to the greater: when they saw that the body was manifestly altered by those things which they chose as the mildest for food, they rightly judged that the same could be done even more so by other things endowed with a more excellent smell and taste. Therefore, driven by necessity, they did not hesitate to try whatever was at hand; and thus, little by little, the multitude of the sick and the healers brought forth an abundance of remedies. For both the Greeks and the Arabs, and Barbarians In this context, "Barbarians" refers to non-Greek or non-Latin speaking peoples, often meaning those from Northern Europe or the East. of every kind, experienced the same fate; hence it is no wonder that the Materia Medica The body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing. today consists of so many exotic things, so many noble and ignoble, so many praiseworthy and unpraiseworthy, after the learned and the unlearned from the creation of the world until this very hour have heaped up whatever pleased them. O how happy are we, for whom the most well-equipped pharmacies stand open—filled, to be sure, with gold and gems, pearls and other precious things, but also burdened with dung and various scraps—so that each person may choose a medicine for himself as he pleases. I am at a loss as to whether there is not a greater ignorance among physicians—