The "China rhizome" in Galenic medicine and pharmacology

Abstract

Smilacaceous Chinese herbs with the commercial name of "the China rhizome" were first imported to Europe as an alternative drug for syphilis treatment at the beginning of the 16th century. Its primary properties in Galenic medicine and pharmacology were designated as hot and dry, its secondary properties were believed removing, cleansing and relieving for inducing urination and perspiration, healing ulcers, and relieving numbness. Its reason for syphilis treatment was believed to be the property of discharging obsolete body fluid by intense sweating. Its processing method was mainly decoction, which had been normally used among western physicians since the 1st century. The interventions with it were medication and dietary therapies, considering the Galenic humoralism with the six "non-naturals elements" and other elements, such as the duration of diseases. It was believed to be neither "a drug for specific effects" nor a "panacea" based on the suppositions in Galenic medicine and pharmacy in terms of a variety of its usages. It was not highly praised by conventional medicine, demonstrating the influence of the debate on exotic drugs during the Period of Renaissance in Europe. The thinking about its usages almost fully came from classic western medicine. This embodies the conflicts between pharmaceutical practice and medical theory.