Louis Lewin

Louis Lewin (born at Tuchel, West Prussia, November 91850) was a German pharmacologist. In 1886, he published the first methodical analysis of the Peyote cactus.

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He received his education at the gymnasium and the University of Berlin (M.D. 1876). The two years following his graduation he spent at Munich, in the laboratories of Voit and Pettenkofer. Returning to Berlin, he in 1878 became assistant at the pharmacological institute of the university, which position he resigned in 1881. In the same year he was admitted to the medical faculty at the university as privat-docent, and in 1897 he was appointed professor.

Drug classification

One of Lewin's most enduring tasks was to create a system of classification of drugs and psychoactive plants based on their pharmacologic action. His original categories were:

• Inebriantia (Inebriants - Such as alcohol or ether)
• Exitantia (Stimulants - Such as Khat or Amphetamine)
• Euphorica (Euphoriants and Narcotics - Such as Heroin)
• Hypnotica (Tranquilizers - Such as Kava)
• Phantastica (Hallucinogens or Entheogens - Such as Peyote or Ayahuasca)

Works

Lewin was a prolific writer. Among his many essays may be mentioned:

"Ueber Morphium-Intoxication," in "Deutsche Zeitschrift für Praktische Medizin," 1874, No. 26; "Experimentelle Untersuchungen über die Wirkungen des Aconitin auf das Herz," in "Centralblatt für die Medizinische Wissenschaft," 1875, No. 25; "Ueber die Verwerthung des Alkohols in Fieberhaften Krankheiten," in "Deutsches Archiv für Klinische Medizin," 1876; "Ueber Maximale Dosen der Arzneimittel," in "Transactions of the International Medical Congress," ninth session, Washington, 1887; "Ueber Allgemeine Hautvergiftung Durch Petroleum," in Virchow's "Archiv," cxii., 1888; "Ueber Anhalonium Lewinii und Andere Cacteen," in "Archiv für Experimentelle Pathologie und Pharmakologie," 1894; "Die Behandlung der Lepra," in "Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift," 1898; "Die Untersuchungen von Blutflecken," ib. 1899; "Die Vergiftungen in Betrieben," ib. 1890 (also translated by Pannier in "Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique," 1902); "Ueber die Behandlung der Lepra," ib. 1900.

Lewin is also the author of: "Die Nebenwirkungen der Arzneimittellehre," Berlin, 1881, 2d ed. 1893 (translated into Russian); "Lehrbuch der Toxicologie," Vienna, 1885, 2d ed. 1897 (translated into French by Pouchet, Paris, 1902); "Ueber Piper Methysticum (Kawa Kawa)," Berlin, 1886; "Ueber Areca Catechu, Chavica Detle, und das Betelkauen," Stuttgart, 1889.

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.