There is evidence that the pills date back to 1500 BC. Most likely, they have appeared to be able to measure the amount of medication the patient should take. The first medicines for which data were available were liquid.
An ancient Assyrian inscription on a clay tablet instructs the user to chop different seeds, plant gums and leaves together and then to dissolve in alcohol. This may be the first script that mentions pills.
A famous Egyptian papyrus is dedicated to recipes for making medicines, including tablets, which are said to be made from dough, bread, honey or fat.
The curative plants have been dried, crushed and mixed with these substances. The tablets thus formed were formed from the mixture thus obtained. The first pills contained saffron, cinnamon, resins and many other plant products.
The first tablets had different shapes – round, round, flat and other irregular shapes. There are pills dating back 500 years before Christ with specific dents and signs on them. It is believed that they have noted a certain type of medicine.
Hippocrates knew about the healing properties of the willow crust. The ancient Greeks have made small balls of it, which have been called “catapothy”, which translates as “something that can swallow”. And the Roman scientist Pliny first introduced the term pila (tablet).
Some of the first discovered tablets dating back 500 years before Christ are preserved in museums. These first pills are known as Terra Sigillata . They are made of clay from a certain island, which is mixed with goat blood, after which tablets are formed.
These pills are supposed to be used to treat various diseases, including gonorrhea, dysentery, and ulcers.
In the Middle Ages people began to cover the tablets with greasy plant substances with a pleasant taste to help ease intake and reduce their bitterness.
And nowadays there is a huge variety of tablets – soluble, sucking, film-coated, with inscriptions, dividing lines, and so on.
