iatrochemistry

Iatrochemistry is a branch of early scientific medicine that focuses on using chemical substances for diagnosis and treatment. Emerging in the 16th and 17th centuries, it aimed to replace traditional herbal remedies with chemicals and minerals to treat illnesses. Practitioners believed that health depended on the balance of chemicals within the body, similar to how chemistry explains reactions and properties. Although it laid groundwork for modern pharmacology, iatrochemistry sometimes involved unproven or risky substances. Overall, it represents a historical effort to understand and manipulate body chemistry to promote healing.