DiotimosReading Desk

Body disease and historical medicine

Anodyna

A class of medicines grouped by their intended sleep-producing effect.

From the book

A Chymical Dictionary

Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordA class of medicines grouped by their intended sleep-producing effect.
  • A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 4; facsimile PDF page 332.

Historical definition

Anodyna are medicines that induce sleep.

Meaning

This is an effect-based category rather than the name of a single ingredient. The plural matters: different preparations may be gathered under the same intended action. The dictionary records how the historical medicines were classified, without identifying their constituents or establishing their effectiveness.

Compare Narcotica and Sedativa when an author distinguishes sleep, stupor or calming. The existence of neighbouring effect terms is a reason to follow the particular author’s description rather than assume that all such medicines are equivalent. A modern therapeutic recommendation cannot be inferred from this historical gloss.

Places to read

  1. AnodynaRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
  2. NarcoticaMedicines classified through a sleep-producing effect.
  3. SedativaRemedies classified by relief of pain.

Source note

Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 4; facsimile PDF page 332 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Anodyna ; compare Narcotica, Sedativa