Pharmacology, << `fahr` muh KOL uh jee, >> is the scientific study of the effects chemicals have on living things. The scientists who study such chemical effects are known as pharmacologists. Pharmacologists consider all chemicals that affect living things to be drugs. Much of their study deals with how drugs modify tissue and organ functions. Pharmacology differs from pharmacy, which is a profession concerned mainly with the preparation and distribution of drugs for public use.
Pharmacology is divided into several fields. Pharmacodynamics studies the effects of drugs on living organisms. Pharmacokinetics deals with how the body takes up, distributes, and eliminates drugs. Toxicology deals with poisons and their effects, detection, and treatment. Clinical pharmacology examines the usefulness and poisonous qualities of drugs in the human body. Pharmacologists may work for universities, hospitals, government agencies, or pharmaceutical companies.
People have used plants and minerals to relieve or cure diseases since ancient times. Through the years, people have used such plants as the poppy, belladonna, and foxglove to treat certain conditions. The science of pharmacology began during the 1900’s with the rise of chemistry. For the first time, scientists could analyze crude plant and mineral materials that acted on living tissues. By separating and studying the part of the plant or mineral that caused a reaction, scientists could then use the materials to make drugs.
