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  3. Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purificatio

Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purificatio

游客2025-01-28  37
问题 Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purification, medicine and religion were inextricably linked for centuries. This notion is apparent in the origin of our word "pharmacy," which comes from the Greek pharmakon, meaning "purification through purging."
    By 3500 B.C., the Sumerians in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley had developed virtually all of our modern methods of administering drugs. They used gargles, inhalations, pills, lotions, ointments, and plasters. The first drug catalog, or pharmacopoeia, was written at that time by an unknown Sumerian physician. Preserved in cuneiform script on a single clay tablet are the names of dozens of drugs to treat ailments that still afflict us today.
    The Egyptians added to the ancient medicine chest. The Ebers papyrus, a scroll dating from the 1900 B.C. and named after the German Egyptologist George Ebers, reveals the trial-and-error know-how acquired by early Egyptian physicians. To relieve indigestion, a chew of peppermint leaves and carbonates (known today as antacids) was prescribed, and to numb the pain of tooth extraction, Egyptian doctors temporarily stupefied a patient with ethyl alcohoL The scroll also provides a rare glimpse into the hierarchy of ancient drug preparation. The "chief of the preparers of drugs" was the equivalent of a head pharmacist, who supervised the "collectors of drugs", field workers who gathered essential minerals and herbs. The "preparers’ aides," (technicians) dried and pulverized ingredients, which were blended according to certain formulas by the "preparers." And the "conservator of drugs" oversaw the storehouse where local and imported mineral, herb and animal-organ ingredients were kept.
    By the 7th century BC, the Greeks had adopted a sophisticated mind-body view of medicine. They believed the physician must pursue the diagnosis and treatment of the physical (body) causes of disease within a scientific framework, as well as cure the supernatural (mind) components involved. Thus, the early Greek physician emphasized something of a holistic approach to health, even if the suspected "mental" causes of disease were not recognized as stress and depression, but interpreted as curses from displeased deities.
    The modern era of pharmacology began in the 16th century, ushered in by the first major discoveries in chemistry. The understanding of how chemicals interact to produce certain effects within the body would eventually remove much of the guesswork and magic from medicine. Drugs had been launched on a scientific course, but centuries would pass before superstition was displaced by scientific fact One major reason was that physicians, unaware of the existence of disease-causing pathogens, continued to dream up imaginary causative evils. And though new chemical compounds emerged, their effectiveness in treating disease was still based largely on trial and error. Many standard, common drugs in the medicine chest were developed in this trial-and-error environment Such is the complexity of disease and human biochemistry that even today, despite enormous strides in medical science, many of the latest sophisticated additions to our medicine chest shelves were accidental finds. [br] Which of the following can be the title of the passage?
选项 A、The Greek Medical History
B、The Egyptian Pharmacological History
C、The Origin of Medicine
D、Development of Modem Medication
答案 C
解析 前四段追溯了早期人类对疾病的认知，提到苏美尔人、埃及人和古希腊人的药物进步和医学成就，第五段介绍了现代医学的发展和不足，故本文主要介绍了医学发展史，故选C“医学起源”。A“希腊医药史”、B“埃及药理学史”和D“现代药物发展进程”都只侧重了文章某一方面，无法概括全文。
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