Construction of the curriculum and lectures for the subject, "History of pharmacy" in Matsuyama University School of Pharmacy.

Matsuyama University School of Clinical Pharmacy started in the academic year of 2006. After an obligatory subject, "The Outline of Pharmacy" in the spring semester, the elective course on pharmaceutical history is held with a 90-minute lecture a week for 15 weeks in the autumn semester of the first year for the students. The course consists of 4 parts as follows. The 15 consecutive lectures are carried out in the order of (1), (2), (3) and (4) and they are; (1) Pharmaceutical History in Japan, (2) Pharmaceutical History in the World, (3) The Specific Lectures:Infectious diseases and their treatment from the viewpoint of history, and (4) Introducing English Articles: "Highlights from the History of Medicine". However, in the present authors' opinion, pharmaceutical history from the beginning through the present days might fall roughly into 3 phases, namely the ages of superstition, experience and science with the occasional humanitarianism activities. We have been looking for a possible similar idea published elsewhere.