In 1665, the Royal Society of London made a call for enquiries in its Philosophical Transactions, asking “whether the Turks do not only take Opium themselves for strength and courage, but also give it to their Horses, Camels and Dromedaries, for the same purpose, when they find them tired and faint in their travelling?” and, “What is the greatest Dose, any men are known to have taken of Opium? And how prepared?”. These enquiries reflect a specific trend in the pharmacological investigations of the time. The Royal Society was interested in broadening knowledge of the effects of opium, and especially in examining the effects of its administration to animals and measuring the maximum dosage the human body could tolerate. The reference to theTurks related to their undisputed reputation for opium addiction. In answering these queries, scholars and physicians performed a number of experiments involving opium taking. Known since antiquity, opium fitted the Hippocratic definition of pharmakon, as it could have either a curative or a toxic effect on the body, depending on its dosage.
...MoreBook Fabrizio Baldassarri (2023) Plants in 16th and 17th Century: Botany between Medicine and Science.
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