Prescription to reduce heart palpitations, a mid-18th century prescription in the New Kingdom of Granada.

Abstract

The human being, throughout history, has used plants to prevent and cure diseases. It is important to know that for a long time, the mechanism through which those plants worked was unknown, making herbal medicine a purely empirical science. Medical prescriptions in the 19th century in the Kingdom of Nueva Granada were considered a significant medical advance as a result of knowledge and medical practices in the old continent. Medical literature of the time achieved, despite the lack of studies, the development of new schemes with exact dosages and new therapeutic possibilities. The medical prescription presented in this article was used in the management of heart palpitations, a frequent symptom nowadays, described as thoracic and/or neck beating, underlying various cardiac and non-cardiac diseases. The recipe for the palpitations of the historical archive "Cipriano Rodríguez Santa María" is a mixture of herbal agents that, as reviewed in the medical literature, showed to have anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic, and antioxidant effects, among others, allowing a beneficial effect on cardiac palpitations. Due to the lack of information on the posology, safety in its use, contraindications, and possible adverse effects, its potential use should have been underestimated at that time for the control of palpitations or as phytochemical agents directed to treat diseases causing this symptom.