《药物史话：历史与现在》试译

这个是我翻译的，修改了好几遍，头大

Early Medicines: From Prehistory to Mesopotamian and Egyptian Medicine

从史前文明到美索不达米亚和埃及时期的早期药物

The earliest written recorded accounts of the use of medicines in man are on the Mesopotamian clay tablets which are about 5,000 years old and then in Egyptian papyri from about 2000 bce.However, earlier prehistorical use of medicines by Neanderthals and man can be inferred from the behaviour of animals voluntarily consuming medicinal plants for a variety of reasons, then being copied by the local indigenous population. There is also archaeological evidence from Neolithic and ancient human sites of the use of herbal medicines to treat illness and the use of what are now called ‘herbal highs’ – psychoactive drugs for recreational purposes or used as part of religious rituals.

关于人类用药，最早的书面记载见于约5000年前的美索不达米亚泥板，随后的就是公元前 2000 年左右的古埃及纸莎草记载。然而，动物会因各种原因主动食用药用植物，而当地原住民也会加以模仿，因此可以推断，早在史前时期，尼安德特人和早期人类就已开始使用药物。此外，新石器时代和古人类遗址的考古证据也表明，当时的人们不仅已使用草药治病，还会在宗教仪式中或是出于娱乐目的，使用如今被称为“草药致幻剂”的精神类药物。

Animals and psychoactive plants

动物与精神活性植物

The perennial plant Nepeta cataria, catmint or catnip, is known to many for its attractive properties to cats, who delight to roll in the plant, bruising the stem and leaves to release nepetalactone, which causes an intoxicating effect. Other species of animals also seek out psychoactive drugs.1 Siberian reindeer feed on a variety of fungi during the summer, but they prefer the hallucinogenic fungus Amanita muscaria, fly agaric, with its distinctive bright red cap with white spots. This fungus contains muscimol and ibotenic acid which are hallucinogenic compounds.Canadian caribou during their migrations will also seek out this fungus, leaving individual animals drugged and vulnerable to prey.

许多人都知道，猫薄荷（学名荆芥，多年生草本科植物）能吸引猫咪，表现为猫咪喜欢在猫薄荷丛中打滚，压碎茎叶，从而释放出具有迷幻效果的荆芥内酯。 除了猫咪，其他动物也会寻找具有精神活性的药物。¹例如，西伯利亚驯鹿在夏季会食用多种真菌，但它们更偏爱含致幻化合物鹅膏蕈氨酸和蝇蕈醇的毒蝇伞——一种独特的真菌，其鲜红色的菌盖上点缀着白色斑点。同样，加拿大驯鹿在迁徙途中也会寻找毒蝇伞，部分驯鹿食用该真菌后会陷入迷幻状态，从而成为易被捕食的猎物。

In North America, horses and cows can become addicted to various species of wild grasses such as Astralagus lambertii in Nebraska, and Astralagus mollissimus in Mexico, Montana and Arizona. The animals will desert their normal pasture in favour of these grasses, known as locoweed, then eat them until they become intoxicated. The toxic chemical in the weed is the alkaloid swainsonine.

在北美，马和牛常表现出对多种野草的嗜食成瘾，比如扁序黄芪（分布于美国内布拉斯加州）以及柔毛黄芪（分布于墨西哥、美国蒙大拿州和亚利桑那州），这些草被称为“疯草”。动物会放弃正常牧草，优先觅食这些“疯草”直至中毒，导致中毒的是一种名为苦马豆素的生物碱。

4 A History of the Medicines We Take

4 我们的服药史

In the Canadian Rocky Mountains, wild bighorn sheep scramble over rocky ledges and into deep ravines in search of the vividly coloured yellow and green lichen, which has narcotic properties.

在加拿大落基山脉，野生大角羊会穿越陡峭的岩壁和深邃的峡谷，只为寻找一种鲜艳的黄绿色地衣，该地衣具有麻醉功效。

In Africa and Asia, various animals seek out fallen fruit which has begun to ferment to use as a source of alcohol so that they can become drunk. African elephants find marula, mgongo and palmyra fruits, while Asian elephants in Bengal and Indonesia are attracted to the fruits of the durian, Durio zibethinus, as are many other animals – monkeys, orangutans, squirrels and flying foxes..

在非洲和亚洲，有些动物会寻觅已开始发酵的落果，来摄入酒精，以此一醉。例如，在非洲，非洲象会寻找马鲁拉果、非洲杧果和扇叶棕榈的果实，而在亚洲的孟加拉国和印度尼西亚，亚洲象以及许多其他动物（猴子、猩猩、松鼠和狐蝠等）则会寻觅榴梿。

The Tabernanthe iboga shrub grows in Gabon and the Congo.2 Boars have been seen to dig up and eat the roots of the plant and then go into a wild frenzy. Porcupines and gorillas occasionally do something similar.The roots contain a number of alkaloids with ibogaine the most abundant.Ibogaine is a central nervous stimulant and can cause hallucinations.

在非洲的加蓬和刚果，生长着一种名为依博加树的灌木。²人们曾（多次）观察到野猪挖掘并食用该灌木根部，随后异常兴奋，豪猪和大猩猩偶尔也会如此。这是因为依博加树根部含多种生物碱，其中最为丰富的伊博格碱是一种能引发幻觉的中枢兴奋剂。

Gorillas are known to eat many species of cola plants, particularly for their seeds. The seeds of Cola pachycarpa contain caffeine and theobromine, which are stimulants.

过去，人们就知道大猩猩会食用多种可乐树植物，尤其爱食用其种子，而其中厚荚可乐树种子中含有的咖啡因和可可碱也是一种兴奋剂。

Animals and medicinal plants

动物与有益心理健康的植物

Animals have the ability to exploit ingredients in plants, or use physical characteristics of plants. Many species are known to self-select items as part of their diet that can cure ailments such as parasitic infections, or to minimise the symptoms of disease.3 The study of how animals selfmedicate with medicinal compounds from plants and other materials is called ‘zoopharmacognosy’ – from the Greek words ‘zoo’ meaning animal, ‘pharmaco’ remedy and ‘gnosy’ knowing. Plants contain secondary ingredients, which can reduce palatability or be toxic to the predator, to protect themselves against the effects of animals which eat them. However, these same plant-defence compounds can also be useful to some animals as part of their diet. Parasites play a key role in the lives of wild animals since their welfare and survival is linked to their ability to deal with parasites and pathogenic organisms. If a species can defend itself against a life-threatening or debilitating infection, this enables it to thrive and is an adaptive advantage.

动物展现出惊人的智慧：有些动物能利用植物中的化学成分，而另一些则能利用植物的物理特性。为治疗疾病（如寄生虫感染）或缓解症状，已知许多动物会主动食用某些具有疗效的植物成分。研究动物如何利用植物及其他物质中的药用成分自我治疗的学科，称为“动物药理学（zoopharmacognosy）”（ 该术语源于希腊语，“zoo”意为动物，“pharmaco”意为药物，“gnosy”意为认知）。为防止被食草动物啃食，植物生成的次生代谢产物会降低自身口感，甚至对食草动物有毒。然而，对某些动物而言，相同的植物防御性化合物，反而是有益的食材。另外，寄生虫也严重威胁野生动物的生存，所以野生动物的健康和生存，也与它们抵御寄生虫和病原微生物的能力息息相关。如果一个物种具有抵御致弱甚至致命感染的能力，那么它将获得生存繁衍的适应性优势。