Phrmacognosy
Introduction to Pharmacognosy
Through the concept of Pharmacognosy, we recognize the real value - the hidden treasure or the hidden path - towards the best understanding of existence in all its assemble.
Pharmacognosy is derived from the Greek terms - φάρμακον pharmakon (drug), and γνῶσις gnosis (knowledge).
Historical accounts give different interpretations, which are nonetheless true. Still, we want to emphasize a remarkable statement of Paracelsian origin, which says that Signatures signify the knowledge of the inherent essence based on the external arrangement.
"Thou shalt know all
internal characteristics by looking at the outside."
Astronomica Magna: "By the signs, whether it is a plant, a tree, a living entity, or an inanimate object, the specialist will learn how to perceive the essence of all objects."
He refers to nature as God intended, and He left us with signs to discover the values He concealed in all creation.
"God does not want things to stay hidden, which He created for humanity's benefit and which He gave a man as his property into his hand. . . and even though He hid it, so did He mark upon it outward, visible signs, that are distinctive marks."
The Ancients thought that everything was linked to nature and to the universe and comprised of the four elements (fire, earth, air, water) and dual-energy (male, female, yin, and yang).
It was also thought that a particular planet could exert its influence over a specific thing that in their secret relationship, it corresponds to its aspects, and hence, it affected all its attributes.
The human body was seen as a miniature reproduction of our solar system with a symbolic representation of a sign and planet for each body part arrangement.
Through observing what condition a plant was usefully intended, planetary and elemental correspondences were established, detailing it as an aspect of herbal medicine within "Doctrine of Signatures" or "Signatura Rerum" paragraphs.
The Theory of Signatures is a theory taught by herbalists from the time of Dioscurides (c. 40-90 AD) which suggests that each plant has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological feature and that these patterns serve as a warning or as a sign of the plant's benefit.
Many European intellectuals in the 16th century were drawn to the Signature Doctrine The most well-known among them was perhaps Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim (1493-1541), colloquially known as Paracelsus.
The definition was developed and written by Paracelsus in his writings.
Paracelsus
Paracelsus
Paracelsus
Paracelsus (1493/4 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim
Paracelsus
Paracelsus
The "law of similes" applied to herbology by Paracelsus means that the specific characteristic of the plant will cure a similar thing in the consciousness or body.
This is yet another way of talking about the parallel found in the Doctrine of Signatures.
Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme's writings (1575–1624) introduced the Doctrine of Signatures
Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme
Böhme claimed that God marked things throughout their function with a specific symbol, or "signature."
A plant bearing components that resembled human body parts, humans, or other things are considered to be relevant to those parts, species, or things/entities.
The botanist William Coles (1626–1662) supposed that God has made "Herbs for the use of men and has given them particular Signatures, whereby a man may read the use of them."
"Coles '" Art of Simpling "and" Adam in Eden "believed that walnuts are excellent at curing head/brain disorders because, in his view," they have the ideal Signatures that resemble the human brain.
A philosophical reason for this was that "God would have wanted to show people what plants would be useful for." Hypericum wrote, "The little holes of which the leaves of Saint John's wort are full emulate all the pores of the skin and therefore it is beneficial for all the hurts and wounds that may occur thereunto."
"In The Order of Things, Michel Foucault says:" ... Of course, there must be a sign that will make us aware of these things: otherwise the secret will remain dormant virtually forever.
Tippo and Stern were of the opinion that "In many instances, a firm belief in the goodness of God who put everything on earth to his people gave rise to the Signature Theory, which held that the secret to man's use of plants was concealed in the shape of the plant itself; one had only to look closely at it."
Some modern scholars claim the theory came from Egypt, while others argue that it originated in China and Europe during the Middle Ages.
William Balee suggested that the Signature Doctrine is: ' Universal since similar patterns of ' resemblance ' were observed in ancient Asia, Classical Greece, medieval Europe, and pre-Columbian America. ' Walter Pagel, who studied Paracelsus ' writing, described the Signature Doctrine as ' A form of medicine that directs it to the appropriate place of action without further guidance.
For nature has sculpted this shape from formless ' primary matter ' through its ' alchemy, ' turning it into ' ultimate ' matter with a particular ' form '
The Doctrine of Signatures in Modern Herbalism
Ben Charles Harris, a pharmacist in Wooster, Massachusetts, who passed away several decades ago, was one of the few late-twentieth-century authors who used signature doctrine. He provides a label for every use of each crop in The Compleat Herbal (1972).
Some are magic, but some are feasible. Even though he was a scientist — a pharmacist — Harris was a forest man from New England who understood what the crops looked like, where they originated, and the overall legitimacy of the signature doctrine.
Again and again we do find countless examples of medicinal herbs on which are "stamped" an indication of their healing properties. The inquisitive novice herbalist need only apply his powers of observation to evaluate clues to the herbs' therapeutic powers, the remedial qualities, or the diseases for which these qualities are indicated.
If at times the examples of correspondences throughout this work appear far-fetched, let me offer as warrants of the doctrine's usefulness some fifty-five years of living with and experiencing the healing herbs, as well as close to four decades of professional pharmacy and teaching of herbalism (Harris, 1972).
Harris (1972) also stresses that the doctrine of signatures is a good memory device.
Instead of tedious memorization of a plant's multiple uses, the signature doctrine provides a secure method of linking the herb with its therapeutic use through the symbolic connection in many (although not all) instances.
In traditional herbalism, particularly before the advent of writing, the use of signatures often passed on herbal knowledge to help the student understand the plant's logic and remember its use.
Michel Foucault described it in his The Order of Things:
".. .there must, of course, be some mark that will make us aware of these things: otherwise, the secret would remain indefinitely dormant".
Tippo and Stern stated:
that "In many cases, a firm belief in the goodness of God who put everything on earth for his people gave rise to the Doctrine of Signatures which held that the key to man's use of plants was hidden in the form of the plant itself; one had only to look closely".
William Balee suggested that the Doctrine of Signatures is: "universal since similar patterns of 'resemblance' have been observed in ancient Asia, Classical Greece, medieval Europe, and pre-Columbian America."
Tamsyn Barton asserted that: "The idea of 'sympathy'... together with its corollary 'antipathy' was implicit in a wide variety of ancient writer, particularly in the field of medicine. It is related to the idea of correspondence, which designated animals, plants, and stones as sympathetic or antipathetic to particular conditions, which might or might not be seen to be caused by the heavenly bodies."
- Kidney Beans heal and help maintain kidney function—and they look exactly like human kidneys:
- Walnuts look like little brains, left, and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums, and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex.
- The cross-section of a Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris, and radiating lines look just like the human eye. Carrots greatly enhance blood flow to the eyes and aid in the general function of the eyes:
- Celery looks just like bones. Celery specifically targets bone strength. Bones are 23 percent sodium, and these foods are 23 percent sodium. Foods like celery replenish the skeletal needs of the body:
- Avocadoes target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female—they look just like these organs. Avocadoes help women balance hormones, shed unwanted birth weight, and deter cervical cancers. It takes exactly nine months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit:
- Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of spermatozoides as well to overcome male sterility.
- Slice a Mushroom in half, and it resembles a human ear. Mushrooms have been found to improve hearing, as mushrooms are one of the few foods that contain vitamin D. This particular vitamin is important for healthy bones, even the tiny ones in the ear that transmit sound to the brain:
- Ginger, commonly sold in supermarkets, often looks just like the stomach. So its interesting that one of its most significant benefits is aiding digestion. The Chinese have been using it for over 2,000 years to calm the stomach and cure nausea, while it is also a popular remedy for motion sickness:
- Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Introduction
The history of herbal medicine is as recent as human civilization. Herbal medicines as a significant remedy in the ancient systems of medicine are employed in medical practices since antiquity [3]. The documents, many of which are of great antiquity, unconcealed that plants were used medicinally in China, India, Egypt, and Greece long before the beginning of the common era. One amongst the foremost notable living remnants is papyrus Ebers, sixty feet long and a foot wide that might be a sixteenth xerophile BC [4-8]. - (from Greek xēros, meaning ' dry ' and philos, meaning ' loving ') is an extremophilic organism capable of growing and reproducing under conditions with low water accessibility, also known as
water activity.)
Pharmacognosy will be outlined because of the science of biogenic or naturally derived medication, prescription drugs, and poisons, and it incorporates varied fashionable analytical techniques to evidence and internal control of crude medicine besides as pure active extracts, fractions, and elements, and even healthful foods [9-13]. Drug use from nutritious plants has advanced from the formulation of crude medication to the isolation, identification, and assessment of bioactivity of active compounds in drug discovery [14,15]. Pharmacognosy involves the broad study of
natural products from varied sources together with plants, bacteria, fungi, and marine organisms. Asian nation flavoring medicines are the bases of treatment and cure for diverse diseases in ancient strategies like Ayurveda, Unani, and Sidha [16-21].
In Asian countries, particularly for the agricultural population, flavoring medication acquires the first selection for treatment [22]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that eighty percent of the population of some Asian and African countries presently uses flavoring medicines for a few sides of primary health care [23-30]
Pharmacognosy, which accurately means that finding out medications of natural sources, has been a district of healing arts and sciences since humankind initiate to treat sicknesses [31-33]. To induce a correct perspective concerning this science that deals with plant-animal, mineral, and different natural medications, it's advantageous to research the historical aspects of this science and to acknowledge the pioneers of this field [34-40].
FACTS
During the past 50 years, there is advancement in the chemical and biological techniques of analysis that have transformed research in pharmacognosy. Natural medicines are accustomed to enhance human and veterinary health since past times, and also the success of modern life science mostly depends on medication initially obtained from natural resources [41-50].
The conventional medical practices adopted for identification and authentication of natural remedies eventually framed the Botanico-chemical approach to Pharmacognosy throughout the 19th century. However, the last 200 years witnessed a considerable metamorphosis within the principles and practices of Pharmacognosy, and it's become a vital domain of recent pharmaceutical science as a multidisciplinary high-tech science of natural medicines. In a very modern context, the systematic study of natural drugs in terms of purity, potency, consistency, and safety became
the first problems in Pharmacognosy [51-56]. Moreover, most of the current day's drug discoveries are progressively adopting ancient medication based mostly approaches to extend results and to handle safety issues. Thus, Clinical Pharmacognosy, Analytical Pharmacognosy, and Industrial Pharmacognosy are established as a specialized and skilled offshoots of Pharmacognosy to fulfill the modern advancements within the field of Pharmacognosy [57-65].
SCOPE
Plant species could also be taken into account as a synthesis and for the chemical compounds example proteins, carbohydrates, and fats that square measure used as food by the animals and humans, however additionally for an enormous range of compounds as well as alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, etc. that exert definite physiological effects. These chemical compounds square measure principally answerable for the required useful properties [66-70].
PC has additionally seen plenty of ups and downs driven by the expansion of pharmaceutical business, dynamical client habits and wishes, and up to date client movement toward the employment of natural materials. Pharmacognosy has played a crucial role within the discovery and development of the latest medication and therapies and has been continued to try and do thus even these days. It additionally shaped the idea of the event of the topic "Pharmacy” [71-76].
The herbal medication have gained importance in recent years because of their effectuality and cost-effectiveness. The systematic study of flavorer remedies offers pharmacognosy teams a lovely new space of analysis, starting from work the biologically active principles of phytomedicines and their mode of action and potential drug interactions, to internal control, and involvement in clinical trials. Fashionable assemblage still contains a minimum of the twenty-fifth medication derived from plants and lots of others that are artificial analogs engineered on paradigm compounds isolated from plants [77-81].
Prevalence is unceasingly increasing in each developing and developed countries as a result of their natural origin and lesser facet effects. Currently a day’s drug discovery from medicative plants involves a multiple approach of biology, phytochemical, biological, and molecular techniques. Drug discovery from medicative plants gives new and necessary leads against numerous medicine targets together with cancer, HIV or AIDS, Alzheimer's, malaria, and pain. Much natural product medications of plant origin have either recently been introduced are presently concerned in
late-phase clinical trials [82-87].
References
e-ISSN: 2321-6182
p-ISSN: 2347-2332
Research and Reviews: Journal of Pharmacognosy and
Phytochemistry
PHARMACOGNOSY: FACTS AND FUTURE
A.Divya*
Department of Pharmaceutics, Ratnam Institute of Pharmacy, Nellore
Received: 16/05/2015
Accepted: 23/05/2015
Published: 30/05/2015
*For Correspondence
Department of Pharmaceutics, Ratnam Institute of Pharmacy, Nellore.
E-mail: Divyapharma15@gmail.com.
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