Materia medica is a Latin term for any material or substance used in the composition of curative agents in medicine. From the earliest days of organized pharmaceutical and medical knowledge, all of the information pertaining to drugs and their usage was designated "materia medica" (meaning medical matter). The most famous commentary on drugs, written by Greek pharmaco-botanist Dioscorides in the first century A.D., is titled de materia medica libri cinque (concerning medical matter in five volumes), and covered about 600 plant drugs plus a number of animal and mineral products. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Medicine on the Web NLM (National Library of Medicine, contains resources for patients and healthcare professionals) Virtual Hospital (digital health sciences library by the University of Iowa) Online Medical Information- medical news, links and resources Collection of links to free medical resources Category: ... Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. ...

History and Materia Medica of herbs

The use of materia medica was however historically based upon the idea that medicines possess magical curative powers — the original mechanism of action for all materia medica was magic. The ancient symbol of the pentagram is often used as a symbol for magic. ...

Folk healers among the peasantry believed that law of signatures identify which herbs would be effective against which diseases. By a process of trial and error, folk healers learned which herbs worked and which herbs did not work. Materia medica eventually developed into the science of pharmacology. A traditional healer in Côte dIvoire Folk medicine refers collectively to procedures traditionally used for treatment of illness and injury, aid to childbirth, and maintenance of wellness. ... In a detail of Brueghels Land of Cockaigne (1567) a soft-boiled egg has little feet to rush to the luxuriating peasant who catches drops of honey on his tongue, while roast pigs roam wild: the 16th century was a good time for European peasants A peasant, from 15th... A herb (pronounced hurb in Commonwealth English and urb in American English) is a plant grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual value. ... For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ... Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon (φάρμακον) meaning drug, and logos (λόγος) meaning science) is the study of how chemical substances interact with living systems. ...

Homeopathy

The term materia medica is still used in homeopathy. Minute dosages of materia medica are used in its lower potency medicines, and in herbal therapy. Homeopathy still considers there to be an inverse relationship between the presence of physical substance and the strength or action of the remedy. The higher potencies are those which have been potentised beyond the last molecule and are believed to act and effect a cure on a metaphysical level. For more information see Homeopathic Materia Medica The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed. ... The term Herbalism refers to folk and traditional medicinal practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. ... The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed. ... A molecule is the smallest particle of a pure chemical substance that still retains its chemical composition and properties. ... Metaphysics (Greek words meta = after/beyond and physics = nature) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of first principles and being (ontology). ... Homeopathic Materia Medica is main resourse of information for homeopathic remedies and tool, which is used in the process of discovering the case remedy needed to do a prescibtion. ...