materia medica
/məˌtɪərɪə ˈmɛdɪkə
/noun [mass noun]
1The body of remedial substances used in the practice of medicine: his confidence in materia medica tends to waver...
- For the next 7 years, he continued his practice of medicine and lectured on materia medica in Cambridge, until his return to London, where he had a rich and productive professional career.
- Even though, as far as I know, snail shell is not a substance used in the Chinese materia medica, it resembles in shape and quality other substances which are.
- It is the milder substances that make up the vast bulk of the Chinese materia medica.
1.1The study of the origin and properties of substances used in the practice of medicine: to one Professor is assigned Human Anatomy and Materia Medica...
- The early licensure exams consisted of six sections: medical nursing, surgical nursing, dietetics and home sanitation, obstetrical nursing, anatomy and physiology and materia medica.
- Herbal preparations from the traditional Ayur-Vedic materia medica were utilized according to clinical indications.
- He was so convinced of the importance of Arabic medicine that he began to learn the language himself, and wrote commentaries praising the therapeutics and materia medica of al-Razi.
Origin
Late 17th century: modern Latin, translation of Greek hulē iatrikē 'healing material' (the title of a work by Dioscorides).