Seisyu Hanaoka developed the world's first anesthetic
Humans are sick. With the birth of mankind, the fight against disease has begun. And the history of civilization is not necessarily the history of medicine.
How did people start using drugs? Since history, humans have long used natural products such as minerals, animals and plants (herbs) as "medicines." He would have found a natural "medicine" while testing its efficacy, such as putting it in his mouth or hitting the affected area.
An ancient Mesopotamian clay plate dating to around 3000 BC records the world's oldest medicine.
The prescription of drugs using mineral (salt, saltpeter, clay) animal (milk, reptile skin) plants (cassia, myrtle, fir, thyme, figs, dates, etc.) was described.
However, in terms of "medicines" that are still valid today, the East is one step ahead of the West. In China, "KOUTEIDAIKEI", the oldest medical book in China existing around 200 BC, was put together. Based on that basic principle, in the later Han era (25-220), a treatment method called "SYOUKANZATUBYOURON" was compiled. Here, so-called crude drug prescriptions such as "KAKONTOU" appear. The first drugs brought to Japan were these crude drugs.