Pharmacopoeias, Drug Regulation, and Empires: Making Medicines Official in Britain’s Imperial World, 1618–1968 (Volume 10) (Intoxicating Histories) (Original PDF from Publisher)

Pharmacopoeias Drug Regulation and Empires

Although the term “pharmacopoeia” has taken on many different meanings, it is generally understood to refer to a book that lists approved medication compositions and standards. At a time when England, Scotland, and Ireland had their own official pharmacopoeias, the Royal College of Physicians of London examined a proposal in 1813 to create an imperial British pharmacopoeia. In 1864, a single British pharmacopoeia was released, and by 1914, it was deemed appropriate for the entire Empire.The 350-year evolution of officially recognized pharmacopoeias throughout the British Empire is traced in Pharmacopoeias, Drug Regulation, and Empires. Local pharmacopoeias gave way to national pharmacopoeias, which in turn led to a standardized pharmacopoeia that would be used throughout Britain’s imperial realm. A change from Galenic principles to germ theory and from plant-based to chemical medications were among the advancements in the professionalization of medicine and the formation of British pharmacopoeias. Britain conferred with practitioners throughout its Empire, in contrast to other European colonial rulers that typically enforced urban pharmacopoeias throughout their colonies. Agreeing on drug standards got more difficult and delicate as the pharmacopoeia’s scope expanded. Numerous difficulties were brought to light, ranging from adulteration and calls to replace pharmacopoeial medications with locally accessible ones to bioprospecting and the inclusion of indigenous remedies in pharmacopoeias. The formation of an imperial pharmacopoeia in Britain serves as a means of examining the hegemonic authority of European colonial powers in the medical sector as well as the definition of pharmacopoeia in general in Pharmacopoeias, Drug Regulation, and Empires.