[A historical review of the therapeutic use of wood creosote. Part II: Original plant source of crude drug wood creosote].

Wood creosote is a medicine that has been listed in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) since the first edition published in 1886. Medicines containing wood creosote and other natural ingredients have been very popular in Japan and Southeast Asian countries. In Japan, one such medicine, named Seirogan, has been used for more than 100 years. In this paper, we report the results of our examination on the historical aspects of wood creosote. One finding was that creosote, called "kereosote" at that time, was imported to Japan for the first time to Nagasaki by Johann Erdewin Niemann, who was the Director of the Dutch Mercantile House, and prescribed by Johannes Lijdius Catharinus Pompe van Meerdervoort and Anthonius Franciscus Bauduin. From our findings, we concluded that wood creosote was one of the essential medicines for the successful introduction and progression of Western medicine in Japan. Furthermore, we found that Dutch physicians introduced wood creosote to Japanese physicians, including Taizen Sato, Dokai Hayashi, and Jun Matsumoto, and that wood creosote was subsequently popularized by Rintaro (Ogai) Mori during the Russo-Japanese war. In addition, we examined the original plant for wood creosote, and consequently confirmed that the 15th edition of the JP, Supplement Two, clarifying the original plant for wood creosote, matches the pharmaceutical and historical facts. We also provide drug information relating to distinguishing between wood creosote and the creosote bush.