This book aims to provide the reader with a simple explanation of some of the fundamental principles of the sciences of pharmacology, therapeutics and toxicology. It sketches the history of drug treatment from traditional therapy with mainly herbal preparations to today's explosion of synthetic drugs. It outlines the roles of the academic research laboratories and the pharmaceutical industry in the development, synthesis, testing and marketing of new drugs. What happens to these drugs when introduced into the body, and how they produce their actions, the good, the bad and the fatal, are the...