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  • Papaver somniferum L. Papaveraceae Opium Poppy Distribution: Asia minor, but has been dated to 5000BC in Spanish caves. Now grows almost everywhere. The oldest medicine in continuous use, described in the Ebers' papyrus (1550 BC), called Meconium, Laudanum, Paregoric and syrup of poppies. Culpeper (1650) on Meconium '...the juyce of English Poppies boyled till it be thick' and 'I am of the opinion that Opium is nothing else but the juyce of poppies growing in hotter countries, for such Opium as Authors talk of comes from Utopia.[he means an imaginary land, I suspect]’]. He cautions 'Syrups of Poppies provoke sleep, but in that I desire they may be used with a great deal of caution and wariness...' and warns in particular about giving syrup of poppies to children to get them to sleep. The alkaloids in the sap include: Morphine 12% - affects ?-opioid receptors in the brain and causes happiness, sleepiness, pain relief, suppresses cough and causes constipation. Codeine 3% – mild opiate actions – converted to morphine in the body. Papaverine, relaxes smooth muscle spasm in arteries of heart and brain, and also for intestinal spasm, migraine and erectile dysfunction. Not analgesic. Thebaine mildly analgesic, stimulatory, is made into oxycodone and oxymorphone which are analgesics, and naloxone for treatment of opiate overdose – ?-opioid receptor competitive antagonist – it displaces morphine from ?-opioid receptors, and constipation caused by opiates. Protopine – analgesic, antihistamine so relieves pain of inflammation. Noscapine – anti-tussive (anti-cough). In 2006 the world production of opium was 6,610 metric tons, in 1906 it was over 30,000 tons when 25% of Chinese males were regular users. The Opium wars of the end of the 19th century were caused by Britain selling huge quantities of Opium to China to restore the balance of payments deficit. Laudanum: 10mg of morphine (as opium) per ml. Paregoric: camphorated opium tincture. 0.4mg morphine per ml. Gee’s Linctus: up to 60 mg in a bottle. J Collis Browne’s chlorodyne: cannabis, morphine, alcohol etc. Kaolin and Morph. - up to 60 mg in a bottle. Dover’s Powders – contained Ipecacuana and morphine. Heroin is made from morphine, but converted back into morphine in the body (Oakeley, 2012). One gram of poppy seeds contains 0.250mgm of morphine, and while one poppy seed bagel will make a urine test positive for morphine for a week, one would need 30-40 bagels to have any discernible effect. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Papaver somniferum L. Papaveraceae Opium Poppy Distribution: Asia minor, but has been dated to 5000BC in Spanish caves. Now grows almost everywhere. The oldest medicine in continuous use, described in the Ebers' papyrus (1550 BC), called Meconium, Laudanum, Paregoric and syrup of poppies. Culpeper (1650) on Meconium '...the juyce of English Poppies boyled till it be thick' and 'I am of the opinion that Opium is nothing else but the juyce of poppies growing in hotter countries, for such Opium as Authors talk of comes from Utopia [he means an imaginary land, I suspect]’. He cautions 'Syrups of Poppies provoke sleep, but in that I desire they may be used with a great deal of caution and wariness...' and warns in particular about giving syrup of poppies to children to get them to sleep. The alkaloids in the sap include: Morphine 12% - affects ?-opioid receptors in the brain and causes happiness, sleepiness, pain relief, suppresses cough and causes constipation. Codeine 3% – mild opiate actions – converted to morphine in the body. Papaverine, relaxes smooth muscle spasm in arteries of heart and brain, and also for intestinal spasm, migraine and erectile dysfunction. Not analgesic. Thebaine mildly analgesic, stimulatory, is made into oxycodone and oxymorphone which are analgesics, and naloxone for treatment of opiate overdose – ?-opioid receptor competitive antagonist – it displaces morphine from ?-opioid receptors, and reverses the constipation caused by opiates. Protopine – analgesic, antihistamine so relieves pain of inflammation. Noscapine – anti-tussive (anti-cough). In 2006 the world production of opium was 6,610 metric tons, in 1906 it was over 30,000 tons when 25% of Chinese males were regular users. The Opium wars of the end of the 19th century were caused by Britain selling huge quantities of Opium to China to restore the balance of payments deficit. Laudanum: 10mg of morphine (as opium) per ml. Paregoric: camphorated opium tincture. 0.4mg morphine per ml. Gee’s Linctus: up to 60 mg in a bottle. J Collis Browne’s chlorodyne: cannabis, morphine, alcohol etc. Kaolin and Morph. - up to 60 mg in a bottle. Dover’s Powders – contained Ipecacuana and morphine. Heroin is made from morphine, but converted back into morphine in the body (Oakeley, 2012). One gram of poppy seeds contains 0.250mgm of morphine, and while one poppy seed bagel will make a urine test positive for morphine for a week, one would need 30-40 bagels to have any discernible effect. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Five children play on a five-bar gate with a woodland in the background: one of the children is happy to be sitting hands-free on the top of the gate as it swings open. Process print after W. Collins.
  • A man with numerous children leaning on his shoulders compared to a happy family of four: family planning in Mauritius. Colour lithograph by Mauritius Family Planning Association, ca. 2000.
  • Childbirth, or the happie deliverie of women. Wherein is set downe the gouernment of women ... together with the diseases which happen to women. To which is added, a treatise of the diseases of infants, and young children: with the cure of them / Written in French by Iames Gvillimeav.
  • Childbirth, or the happie deliverie of women. Wherein is set downe the gouernment of women ... together with the diseases which happen to women. To which is added, a treatise of the diseases of infants, and young children: with the cure of them / Written in French by Iames Gvillimeav.
  • Childbirth, or the happie deliverie of women. Wherein is set downe the gouernment of women ... together with the diseases which happen to women. To which is added, a treatise of the diseases of infants, and young children: with the cure of them / Written in French by Iames Gvillimeav.
  • A happy baby, advertising Fenning's Children's Powder. Colour lithograph.
  • A happy baby, advertising Fenning's Children's Powder. Colour lithograph.
  • The domestic life of Martin Luther at Wittenberg: Luther plays the lute, his wife and children listen, along with Melanchthon. Engraving by J.D. Nargeot after P.A. Labouchère.
  • Papaver somniferum seed
  • Three toilets in the form of ducks in flight: appeal to improve sanitation in the slums of Kibera. Colour lithograph by AMREF, 2001.
  • Three toilets in the form of ducks in flight: appeal to improve sanitation in the slums of Kibera. Colour lithograph by AMREF, 2001.
  • Pears' soap : matchless for the complexion / Pears.
  • The Evelina Hospital, Southwark: a mother and daughter visiting a girl in hospital at Christmas. Coloured process print, 1882, after C. J. Staniland.
  • The Evelina Hospital, Southwark: a mother and daughter visiting a girl in hospital at Christmas. Coloured process print, 1882, after C. J. Staniland.
  • Damayanti deserted in the forest: part of the story of Damayanti and Nala. Chromolithograph by R. Varma.
  • Two young children hide as two adults come into the room where the children have been playing with their precious antiques. Engraving by T.A. Dean after J. Jenkins.
  • Two young children hide as two adults come into the room where the children have been playing with their precious antiques. Engraving by T.A. Dean after J. Jenkins.
  • A married woman attending a health resort as a cover for a love-affair does not drink the curative water but pours it back into the basin of a fountain. Colour lithograph, 1914.