Quid pro quo

All too often ancient herbal and other remedies have been dismissed as 'simply' folklore, of no relevance to medical science. John Riddle's approach, however, has been to explore the history of drugs with the hypothesis that ancient and medieval medicines were effective - a methodology that he expounds in the final essay (hitherto unpublished). Indeed, he shows, both from detailed case-studies and from the comparison of the listings given by classical and medieval authorities with those in modern pharmacopoeias, that our ancestors had discovered and made effective use of many of the drugs used in medicine today, from antiseptics and analgesics to oral contraceptives, even chemotherapy for cancer. There is the suggestion, therefore, that more careful examination and identification of the drugs used in the past may reveal chemicals that can be exploited anew. Central to these studies is the investigation of how a drug was used and how knowledge about it was transmitted - and perhaps also distorted in the process - from the Classical world through the Middle Ages. Les anciens remedes, phytotherapie et autres, ont trop souvent ete mis aux rangs du folklore et consideres comme n'ayant aucun rapport avec la science medicale. L'approche de John Riddle, cependant, a ete d'explorer l'histoire des drogues, en prenant pour hypothese l'efficacite de la medecine ancienne et medievale - une methodologie qu'il expose dans son dernier essai (jusqu'A present jamais publie). En effet, il demontre A partir de cas d'etudes detailles et de la comparaison etablie entre les listages fournis par les autorites antiques et medievales et ceux des pharmacopees modernes, que nos ancA?tres avaient decouvert et mis A bon escient l'utilisation de nombreux remedes dont se sert la medecine A l'heure actuelle: des antiseptiques et analgesiques, aux contraceptifs oraux et mA?me jusqu'A la chimiotherapie pour le cancer. Sugge