Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Origin and Action of Drugs

Nature volume 153, pages 300–304 (1944)Cite this article

Abstract

DETAILED study of the action of drugs constitutes pharmacology, but it is doubtful whether study of their origin has reached the level of a scientific subject, though it is described by materia medica or pharmacognosy, and incidentally by biology and chemistry. It is the object of the present survey of therapeutically active substances to show that both their actions and, of naturally occurring drugs, their origins, have additional significance when considered together as aspects of comparative biochemistry.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Arber, A., "Herbals" (Cambridge University Press, 1938).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Rose, H., "The Elements of Botany . . . being a translation of the Philosophia Botanica and other treatises of the celebrated Linnaeus" (London: Cadell and Hingeston, 1775).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Whitlaw, C., "The Medical, Botanical System of Linnaeus" (London, 1829).

    Google Scholar 

  4. De Candolle, A. P., "Essai sur les propriétés médicales des plantes, comparées avec leurs formes extérieures et leur classification naturelle" (Paris: Crochard, 1816).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Baldwin, E., "An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry" (Cambridge University Press, 1937).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. The view has been expressed by Waksman, S. A., J. Bact., 46, 299 (1943).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. McIlwain, H., Lancet, i, 412 (1942).

  8. McIlwain, H., NATURE, 151, 270 (1943).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Fixsen, M. A. B., and Roscoe, M. H., Nutr. Abstr., 9, 795 (1939–40); Booher, L. E., Hartzler, E. R., and Hewston, E. M., "A Compilation of Vitamin Values of Foods in Relation to Processing and other Variants" (Washington: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1942).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Williams, R. J., and others, "Studies on the Vitamin Content of Tissues" Univ. Texas Publication No. 4237 (1942).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Burkholder, P. R., Arch. Biochem., 3, 121 (1943).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Green, D. E., "Mechanisms of Biological Oxidation" (Cambridge University Press, 1941).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Harrow, B., and Sherwin, C. P., "Textbook of Biochemistry", p. 366 (Philadelphia: Saunders, 1935).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Haldane, J. B. S., "Enzymes" (London: Longmans, Green, 1930).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Dorfman, A., Koser, S. A., Reames, H. R., Swingle, K. F., and Saunders, F., J. Inf. Dis., 65, 163 (1939).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Hirsch, J., "Studien uber die mikrobiologischen Grundlagen der Sulfanilamid-Therapie" (Istanbul: Kenan Basimevi, 1942). Johnson, P. H., J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 19, 151 (1942).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Gladstone, G. P., Brit. J. Exp. Path., 20, 189 (1939). Bonner, D., Tatum, E. L., and Beadle, G. W., Arch. Biochem., 8, 71 (1943).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Pelezar, M. J., and Porter, J. R., Arch. Biochem., 2, 323 (1943).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Martin, G. J., and Hueper, W. C., Arch. Biochem., 1, 435 (1942).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Rodahl, K., and Moore, T., Biochem. J., 37, 166 (1943).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Braunstein, A. E., Enzymologia, 7, 25 (1939).

    Google Scholar 

  22. McIlwain, H., Biochem. J., 38, 417 (1942).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Woolley, D. W., and White, A. G. C., J. Biol. Chem., 149, 285 (1943).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. McIlwain, H., Trans. Faraday Soc., 39, 332 (1943).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Thimann, K. V., Arch. Biochem., 2, 87 (1943).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Coulthard, C. A., Michaelis, R., Short, W. F., Sykes, G., Skrimshire, G. E. H., Standfast, A. F. B., Birkinshaw, J. H., and Raistrick, H., NATURE, 150, 643 (1942).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Green, D. E., and Pauli, R., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol., N.Y., 54, 148 (1943).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Oxford, A. E., Biochem. J., 38, 438 (1942). McIlwain, H. (unpublished).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. McIlwain, H., Trans. Faraday Soc., 39, 359 (1943).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Black, S., Overman, R. S., Elvehjem, C. A., and Link, K. P., J. Biol. Chem., 145, 137 (1942).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Williams, R. J., Biol. Rev., 16, 49 (1940).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Plentl, A. A., and Page, I. H., J. Biol. Chem., 147, 135 (1943).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. McIlwain, H., and Hawking, F., Lancet, i, 449 (1943).

  34. Loewi, O., and Navratil, E., Pflüg. Arch., 214, 678 (1926).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Cf. Tripod, J., J. Physiol., 97, 289 (1940). Philpot, F. J., J. Physiol., 97, 301 (1940).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. McIlwain, H. Biochem. J., 35, 1311 (1941).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Johnson, F. H., Brown, D. E. S., and Marsland, D. A., J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 20, 269 (1942).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Smyth, D. H., Biochem. J., 34, 1598 (1940).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. v. Jancsó, N., and v. Jancsó, H., Z. Immun. Forsch., 88, 275 (1936).

    Google Scholar 

  40. McIlwain, H., Brit, J. Exp. Path., 24, 212 (1943).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Wiggert, W. P., and Werkman, C. H., Biochem. J., 33, 1061 (1939).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Jaffé, W. G., J. Biol. Chem., 149, 1 (1943).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Woolley, D. W., J. Biol. Chem., 141, 997 (1941).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Macfarlane, M. G., and Knight, B. C. J. G., Biochem. J., 35, 884 (1941).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Eakin, R. E., Snell, E. E., and Williams, R. J., J. Biol. Chem., 140, 535 (1941).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Cori, G. T., and Cori, C. F., J. Biol. Chem., 135, 733 (1940).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. du Vigneaud, V., Chandler, J. P., Cohn, M., and Brown, G. B., J. Biol., Chem., 134, 787 (1940).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Price, N. L., Lancet, i, 831 (1938).

  49. Nelson, F. E., J. Bact., 45, 395 (1943).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Tatum, E. L., and Beadle, G. W., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 28, 234 (1942).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leverhulme Research Fellow, Department of Bacterial Chemistry (Medical Research Council), The University, Sheffield,

    HENRY MCILWAIN

Authors
  1. HENRY MCILWAIN
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

MCILWAIN, H. Origin and Action of Drugs . Nature 153, 300–304 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153300a0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153300a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing