Presentación del Libro: “Las Medicinas de la Historia Española en América/ “Medicines of Spanish History from America”

Enrique Raviña is Professor ad honorem of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry (Dpt. of Organic Chemistry) at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) where he was Dean (19891995). Professor Raviña is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Pharmacy, Galician Academy of Pharmacy and a founding member of the Spanish Society of Therapeutical Chemistry. He has 120 publications to his name in the field of drug’s chemistry, as well as the books Medicamentos. Un viaje a lo largo de la evolución histórica del descubrimiento de fármacos. 2 vols. University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 2008 and its English version The Evolution of Drug Discovery. From traditional medicines to modern drugs. Wiley-VCH, 2011

The discovery of America by the Spanish meant a new source of drugs. The great biodiversity of the New World territories provided many new medicinal plants and crude drugs, which were incorporated to the armamentarium and pharmacopoeias of those times. This book is devoted to medicine s discovered after the Spanish settlement of America. The book is beautifully illustrated containing about 200 pictures (139 color photographs), many of them of a great historical value. The legendary Spices Trade Routes. Spanish contribution to the study of preColumbian civilizations. Expeditions to the American Continent. Expeditions of the botanists Francisco Hernández (16th Century); Charles-Marie de la Condamine, Jorge Juan, Antonio de Ulloa; Hipólito Ruiz and José Pavón; Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland (18th Century); Richard and Robert Schomburgk brothers, Eduard Poeppig and others (19th Century). Discovery of medicinal plants from American origin. Study of Three Cs crude drugs: COCA, CINCHONA, CURARE. Ipeca and others drugs; their study and use in the Medicine of New World’s territories and its introduction in Europe. Isolation of the active components; chemical structure, structural variations and evolution to modern drugs (Local Anaesthetics. Antimalarial drugs analogous of quinine. Neuromuscular blocking agents: Natural curare and synthetic curare-like drugs in the Surgical Anaesthesia).