title: The pharmacy of the Benedictine monks: the use of medicinal plants in Northeast Brazil during the nineteenth century (1823-1829).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The health of nineteenth century Brazilians is only alluded to in historical documents, and researchers still have much to discover.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to show the medicinal plants used in the 19th century in Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  To this end, information was obtained from the prescription book deposited in the archive of the Monastery of Saint Benedict in Olinda, Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil, about the daily use of medicinal plants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By analyzing the prescriptions, we ascertained the terms and/or species and diseases and/or symptoms that existed among the people who were treated at the Benedictine hospital between 1823 and 1829.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data presented here are relevant to other subject areas, especially modern pharmaceutical research. This study seeks to demonstrate the importance of plant resources in the nineteenth century and aims, through the detailed study of documentary sources, to provide a wealth of new information to modern science. Understanding the practices of the past provides insight into and may lead to improvements in modern pharmaceutical practice.
authors: The Department of Biology, Area of Botany, Laboratory of Applied Ethnobotany, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros s/n, 52171-900 Dois Irmãos, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. mariaftm@hotmail.com
authors: Maria Franco Trindade
authors: MF
authors: Medeiros
authors: Ulysses Paulino
authors: UP
authors: de Albuquerque
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002410:Catholicism / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000266:history*; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000266:history*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal