The Era of Science:
Test Your Vocabulary

The Beginnings | Isolation of Active Ingredients | Synthesis
Test Your Vocabulary | Medicine Hunters Home

The ancient Greeks identified and tested plants by organoleptic means. The word organoleptic means that they used:

a) sight
b) taste
c) odour
d) colour
e) touch
f) any combination of the above

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, pharmacists played a major role in first isolating active medicinal agents from plants. Another name for pharmacist is:

a) apothecary
b) chemist
c) druggist
d) pharmacien
e) all of the above

Morphine was one of the first chemical compounds isolated from a plant. It was described as producing "somniferous effects", which means:

a) narcotic
b) hallucinogenic
c) inducing sleep
d) all of the above

Frederick Sertürner, who first isolated morphine, is often called "the father of alkaloidal chemistry". Alkaloid means:

a) like alcohol
b) like an alkali
c) containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
d) containing nitrogen
e) all of the above

Quinine, the drug isolated from cinchona bark in the early 1800s, was described as "a specific against malaria". A drug called a specific is:

a) made from one specific plant
b) used to treat only one specific disease
c) toxic to bacteria
d) effective against certain diseases and conditions

When quinine was discovered, malaria was endemic in many parts of the world. An endemic disease:

a) is common to a whole geographic area
b) afflicts mainly poor people
c) is judged to be a small-scale epidemic
d) is almost always fatal

The "era of antibiotics" began with the discovery of penicillin in 1928. An antibiotic:

a) works like an antibody
b) works against disease-producing organisms such as bacteria
c) harms all life forms
d) all of the above

Chloramphenicol was the first broad-spectrum antibiotic to be synthesized and marketed. A broad-spectrum drug:

a) needs bright light to work
b) helps patients from all cultures
c) works against many disease-causing organisms
d) all of the above

The earliest effective psychoactive drug to be synthesized was chlorpromazine. A psychoactive drug:

a) has unwanted psychological side effects
b) produces disturbing nightmares
c) affects the mind
d) all of the above