The 42nd International Congress for the History of Pharmacy 8-11 Sep. 2015 ISTANBUL

P-21 Central and South American plants in the pharmacognostic collection of Bern Sarah Vanessa Schneider Institut für Geschichte der Pharmazie, Philipps-Universität Marburg Fachbereich 16

For a long time pharmacognostic collections served as important instruments for educational as well as tuitional and explorative reasons. The Bernese University is one of the institutions that owns a still preserved pharmacognostic collection. In 1996, after the closure of the Pharmaceutical Institute in Bern, the collection got incorporated into the medical-historical collection of the medicine faculty. Although some samples got lost or damaged over time, the collection still contains myriads of drug samples. Particularly the drug samples from foreign continents, like America, Asia or Africa, are those of special interest for pharmaceutical-historical studies. In the course of a dissertation, which still is in progress, the Bernese pharmacognostic collection gets examined in respect of it’s Central American and South American drug samples. Five examples of Central and South American plants in the Bernese collection are presented to outline some of the first results. The plants in question are the following: guarana (Paullinia cupana), cassava (Manihot esculenta), guaiacum (Guajacum officinalis), jaborandi (Pilocarpus jaborandi) and aloe (Aloe barbadensis). Every one of this plants acts as an example of what different effects the discovery of a continent can have, in this case in view of the pharmacognosy. For instance it can lead to the development of a new active agent like the pilocarpin from jaborandi, as well as to false promises of salvation by a drug, which happened in the case of guaiacum. Against all allegation made in the Early Modern Age this drug wasn’t able to cure syphilis. On the other hand the example of the aloe is a great proof that transfer of knowledge wasn’t one-dimensional. Not only did it take place from the New World to Europe but also in the opposite direction. Above presented results shouldn’t be considered as final, since this dissertation still is in progress.

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