In an opinion piece appearing in the Montreal Gazette, McGill’s Joe Schwarcz delves into one of Sir William Osler’s famous quotes, “The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals,” and its follow-up sentence “Why this appetite should have developed, how it could have grown to its present dimensions, what it will ultimately reach, are interesting problems in psychology.”
Schwarcz explores the history of humans and medication from a tempestuous time when most medication did not work to current pharmacological research.