Emergence of Traditional Eastern and Western Medicine

Far Eastern cultures relied mainly on the healing properties of plans and herbs. Traditional Eastern medicine involved the use of botanicals. Hippocrates (ca. 460-370 BCE), a famous Greek physician, believed that illness had a rational and physical explanation. The four humors must be in correct balance to maintain health. His hypothesis formed the origins of traditional Western medicine practiced today. Hippocrates is known as the “Father of Modern Medicine.” Pharmacy comes from the ancient Greek word pharmakon, meaning “drug or remedy.” Dioscorides, Greek physician, is credited with writing one of the world’s greatest pharmaceutical texts: De Materia Medica (On Medical Matters). De Materia Medica has served as the standard reference text for drugs and is considered the forerunner of modern-day references such as the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR). Galen (129-216 CE), notable Greek physician, theorized that the human body had two circulatory systems; disproved by William Harvey 1616. Galen studied the effects of herbal medicine on the human body, leading to the term galenical pharmacy, or the process of creating extracts of active medicinals from plants.