David Israel Macht (February 14, 1882 – October 14, 1961) was apharmacologist and Doctor ofHebrew Literature, responsible for many contributions to pharmacology during the first half of the 20th century.

Born inMoscow in 1882, Macht moved toBaltimore in 1892, age 10. He was awarded a bachelor's and a medical degree byJohns Hopkins University in 1905, and took postgraduate courses inBerlin,Munich andVienna. He returned to America in 1909 to join the teaching staff at Johns Hopkins. He rose to the position of assistant professor, lecturing inpharmacology from 1912 to 1932. His grandson, Kenneth Lasson, would later report that at that time Johns Hopkins had a faculty quota limiting the number of Jewish staff that could proceed to full faculty.^[1]

In 1928 Macht received the first degree of advanced research awarded atYeshiva College, New York, being made Doctor ofHebrew Literature. From 1933 to 1941 he served as visiting professor of generalphysiology at Yeshiva College.

From 1944 Macht was a consultant in pharmacology atSinai Hospital in Baltimore until he had a stroke in 1957. He died four years later at the same hospital. Currently, Johns Hopkins honors Dr. Macht via the David I. Macht award.

Macht published over 900 scientific studies, and three books. He introduced a number of new methods of treatment of diseases. His contributions include:

• Discovered the use ofephedrine as a substitute forcocaine.
• Distinguished the sedative effect ofmorphine andcodeine on the respiratory system from the stimulant effect of othernarcotic drugs.
• ProvedX-rays of varyingwavelengths produced different biological effects.
• Developed a cure forpemphigus using "deep" X-Rays.
• Studies of the thromboplastic (blood clotting) effects of various agents, includingantibodies.
• Extensiveresearch into the pharmacology of blood and spinal fluid of psychotic patients.
• Research into the pharmacological applications ofcobravenom.^[2]

The term "psychopharmacology" (the branch of science concerned with the way drugs affect the mind and behaviour) was coined by Macht in 1920.

Macht was known for his pioneering use of a technique he termedphytopharmacology which involved measuring the effects of drugs on plants. Macht's specific technique was to measure the growth rate ofLupinus albus seedlings when dosed with a test substance, and compare this against acontrol group of undosed seeds. The relative length ofroot growth would determine what he called thephytotoxic index, and provide a measure of thetoxicity of the substance to the plants.^[3]

Macht applied his technique of phytopharmacology to a variety of substances, including theblood of people with medical conditions. In 1930, he reported it could be used to demonstrate the presence ofsnakevenom andmenotoxin (a toxin incorrectly thought to be present in the blood of menstruating women). He felt the technique could aid in thedifferential diagnosis ofpernicious anemia,leprosy,pemphigus and other conditions. At the time of his death it was reported that his technique could serve as an indicator of mental illness, since "the blood of persons suffering from certain types of mental illness acts as a poison on species of the European bean".^[4]

The use of phytopharmacology as a predictor of toxicity to humans was mainly restricted to the work of Macht and Macht's work was published in the journalScience. Currently, toxicity testing is mostly performed on animal subjects (both live animals and animal tissues), and the detection of individual toxins is performed withmass spectrometry.

While Macht used the term phytopharmacology to refer to the effects of drugs on plants, the term is now only used to refer to the pharmacological usages of plants as medicine.

Macht was anOrthodox Jew and a Doctor of Hebrew Literature, and he frequently advocated the position that there was a harmonious relationship between religion and science. He studied medical and other descriptions in theBible and theTalmud, and published many papers that claimed to show that these were accurate descriptions of diseases or treatments.^[5] Such papers include:

• "A Pharmacological Appreciation of References to Alcohol in the Hebrew Bible", (1929). In which he compared the effects ofalcohol mentioned in the Bible with current medical understanding and concluded "the Book of Books is in complete accord with the most modern and advanced experimental data on the subject".^[6]
• "An Experimental Pharmacological Appreciation of Leviticus XI and Deuteronomy XIV" (1953). In which Macht used his phytopharmacology technique on samples of both Levitically clean and unclean animals, and showed a markedly higher phytotoxic index for the unclean meats and the correlation was 100%.^[7]
• "A pharmacological appreciation of a biblical reference to mass poisoning, II Kings IV".

• The Holy Incense. A Botanical, Pharmacological, Psychological, and Archaeological Appreciation of the Bible, 1928, Waverly Press, Inc., Baltimore, MD
• Bones and Verdure. An Appreciation of Science in Biblical Expressions, 1943, H.G. Roebuck and Son, Baltimore, MD.
• The Heart and Blood in the Bible, 1951, Boone Press, Baltimore, MD

1. ^JewishTimes.com Kenneth Lasson's account of discrimination at Johns Hopkins.
2. ^ Macht, D.I,Experimental and Clinical Study of Cobra Venom as an Analgesic Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1936 January; 22(1): 61–71
3. ^ Macht, D.I,Phytopharmacological reactions of normal, toxic and atoxic sera Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1936 June; 22(6) 384–389:
4. ^ New York Times; Oct 16th, 1961, pg. 29.
5. ^ Cecil Roth,Macht, David, Encyclopaedia Judaica, pg. 674
6. ^ Macht, D.I.,A Pharmacological Appreciation of References to Alcohol in the Hebrew Bible, The Scientific Monthly, 1929, pg 163-176
7. ^ Macht, D.I., (1953)."An Experimental Pharmacological Appreciation of Leviticus XI and Deuteronomy XIV," Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 27. 444-450

• 1882 births
• 1961 deaths
• American Orthodox Jews
• American people of Russian-Jewish descent
• American pharmacologists
• Scientists from Baltimore
• Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
• 20th-century American chemists