How Long to Read Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine

How Long Does it Take to Read Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine?

It takes the average reader 5 hours and 40 minutes to read Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine by John M. Riddle

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

For 1,600 years Dioscorides (ca. AD 40–80) was regarded as the foremost authority on drugs. He knew mild laxatives and strong purgatives, analgesics for headaches, antiseptics for wounds, emetics to rid one of ingested poisons, chemotherapy agents for cancer treatments, and even oral contraceptives. Why, then, have his works remained obscure in recent centuries? Because of one small oversight (Dioscorides himself thought it was self-evident): he failed to describe his method for organizing drugs by their affinities. This omission led medical authorities to use his materials as a guide to pharmacy while overlooking Dioscorides' most valuable contribution—his empirically derived method for observing and classifying drugs by clinical testing. Dioscorides' De materia medica, a five-volume work, was written in the first century. Here revealed for the first time is the thesis that Dioscorides wrote more than a lengthy guide book. He wrote a great work of science. He had said that he discovered the natural order and would demonstrate it by his arrangement of drugs from plants, minerals, and animals. Until John M. Riddle's pathfinding study, no one saw the genius of his system. Botanists from the eighteenth century often attempted to find his unexplained method by identifying the sequences of his plants according to the Linnean system but, while there are certain patterns, there remained inexplicable incoherencies. However, Dioscorides' natural order as set down in De materia medica was determined by drug affinities as detected by his acute, clinical ability to observe drug reactions in and on the body. So remarkable was his ability to see relationships that, in some cases, he saw what we know to be common chemicals shared by plants of the same and related species and other natural product drugs from animal and mineral sources. Western European and Islamic medicine considered Dioscorides the foremost authority on drugs, just as Hippocrates is regarded as the Father of Medicine. They saw him point the way but only described the end of his finger, despite the fact that in the sixteenth century alone there were over one hundred books published on him. If he had explained what he thought to be self-evident, then science, especially chemistry and medicine, would almost certainly have developed differently. In this culmination of over twenty years of research, Riddle employs modern science and anthropological studies innovatively and cautiously to demonstrate the substance to Dioscorides' authority in medicine.

How long is Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine?

Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine by John M. Riddle is 329 pages long, and a total of 85,211 words.

This makes it 111% the length of the average book. It also has 104% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 7 hours and 45 minutes to read Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine aloud.

What Reading Level is Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine?

Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine?

Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine by John M. Riddle is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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