The Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia was a medical guide consisting of recipes and methods for making medicine. It was first published by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1699 as the Pharmacopoea Collegii Regii Medicorum Edimburgensium. [2] The Edinburgh Pharmacopeia merged with the London and Dublin Pharmacopoeia's in 1864 creating the British Pharmacopoeia. [2]
The precedence for creating a pharmacopoeia went back to 1618 when the College of Physicians of London created their own London Pharmacopoeia to regulate the manufacture of medicine. [3] The first edition of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia was created in a period of tension between physicians and surgeons and the College of Physicians in Edinburgh sought to regulate the practice of medicine by providing standardized recipes. The first item in the College of Physician's minutes in 1682 note the need for a committee for creating a pharmacopoeia. [2]
The committee for the creation of the pharmacopoeia struggled for the next seventeen years, finally agreeing upon a text and publishing the first edition of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia in 1699. The first edition was rife with dispute amongst the College of Physicians. Robert Sibbald was a main figure in its eventual publication, however the College divided into two camps; the 'new science' and Sibbald's dated faction. [3] Members of the College not only disagreed on content of the pharmacopoeia, but style and structure as well.
Unlike the London Pharmacopoeia, the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia went through many editions and revisions. In the 142 years from initial publication to the merging into the British Pharmacopoeia, the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia had twelve acknowledged editions, the last two in English. [2] Opposition to revision argued that it made the pharmacopoeia appear unstable but proponents argued it kept the pharmacopoeia relevant with scientific and medical developments. The last two editions were published in English under the title The Pharmacopoeia of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. [2] From 1864, the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia combined with the London and Dublin editions to create the British Pharmacopoeia, which is still in circulation today.
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea, in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by the authority of a government or a medical or pharmaceutical society.
Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake was an English physician, teacher, and feminist. She led the campaign to secure women access to a university education, when six other women and she, collectively known as the Edinburgh Seven, began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1869. She was the first practising female doctor in Scotland, and one of the first in the wider United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; a leading campaigner for medical education for women, she was involved in founding two medical schools for women, in London and Edinburgh, at a time when no other medical schools were training women.
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter in 1681. The college has over 14,000 fellows and members worldwide.
Sir Robert Sibbald was a Scottish physician and antiquary.
The British Pharmacopoeia (BP) is the national pharmacopoeia of the United Kingdom. It is an annually published collection of quality standards for medicinal substances in the UK, which is used by individuals and organisations involved in pharmaceutical research, development, manufacture and testing.
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Andrew Duncan, the younger was a British physician and professor at the University of Edinburgh.
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Sir John Sibbald FRSE FBSE was a 19th-century Scottish physician and amateur botanist. In 1855/56, aged 22, he served as president of the Royal Medical Society.