Rational Pharmaceutics, Part 1

-pirics, handed down and taken up everywhere by all sorts of charlatans charlatans original: "Agyrtis"; Willis refers to itinerant quacks or street performers who sold unlicensed medicines. and old women, it has nevertheless remained unexplained, like a religious mystery into whose reasons it was forbidden to inquire. Therefore the unlearned, and even sometimes the learned, now prescribe medicines blindly and almost by chance. They are like slingers shooting arrows into the air. They are unsure where they are aiming, or what limits and effects the drugs will have. Hence, not only some of the literate Cynics Cynics original: "Cynicis"; Willis uses this to describe philosophers or critics who mock and find fault with the medical profession., but even the lowest dregs of the common people, bark at the art of medicine art of medicine original: "Jatricen"; a term derived from the Greek word for a physician. and hurl insults at it from every side. And indeed, I do not know how medicine can be entirely excused from being called deceptive, vain, or fraudulent, as long as the principles of Pharmacy Pharmacy original: "Pharmaceuticae", on which human life and health so greatly depend (and are often no less endangered by), still lie hidden in obscurity. In truth, this doctrine of medicinal operations medicinal operations original: "Operationum medicinalium doctrina"; the study of how medicines actually function within the body., whether neglected or ignored, opens a great gap original: "Chasma". It alone, or at least primarily, has prevented medicine from finally appearing as a properly joined and complete system, perfect in all its parts. For although the materia medica materia medica original: "materies medica"; the body of knowledge describing the substances used in healing. has been sought from the individual families of plants, minerals, and even animals, and is sufficiently organized and