[Pierre Pomet (1658-1699) and his Histoire des drogues (History of drugs) (1694 & 1735)]

Pierre Pomet is a Parisian, but as all great botanists, he liked travelling and bringing back sample of drugs that he was ultimately showing during his course at the Jardin des Plantes (Royal Herbs garden in Paris). Member of druggists and groceries storekeepers’ Community, he was not allowed to establish himself as an apothecary in Paris. It is as drug expert that he wrote and published in 1694 his “General History of Drugs, concerning herbs, animals and minerals, book enriched with more than 400 copper-plate engravings designed from nature : with explanations of their various names, their countries of origin, the way to differentiate them from falsified ones, and their properties, where one can see the errors coming from Ancients and modern writers ; the whole being very useful for the public”. This book was translated into English in 1712 and German in 1717. It is part of the reference books of the 17th century for pharmacy. In his introduction, Pierre Pomet explains that his goal is to avoid for drugs errors and falsifications that very frequent at that time. The book is then dedicated not only to physicians, apothecaries or students, etc., but also to all that used drugs.