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  • Franco-Prussian War: Society for the Relief of the Sick and Wounded, London office Wood engraving.
  • Serbo-Bulgarian War: an escorted convoy of ambulances carrying the sick and wounded. Wood engraving by J. Nash.
  • Boer War: arrival of the sick and wounded at Grand Central Freight Depot for transportation. Pen and ink drawing by A. Weil.
  • An abstract of certain instructions given the Commissioners for taking care of the sick and wounded men, for the relief of widows, children and impotent parents of such as shall be slain in His Majesties service at sea.
  • 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.
  • Carlist War, Spain: Spanish sick and wounded being carried on board the "Somorrostro". Wood engraving by I. Nash.
  • An American soldier lying wounded; analogous to the sufferings of a plague victim. Drawing by A.L. Tarter, 194-.
  • Burma: a wounded political officer being carried on a stretcher. Wood engraving by P. Naumann, 1889, after W.B. Wollen.
  • A Swiss hospital train, World War I: interior view of a converted goods train, used to transport severely wounded prisoners of war. Photograph, 1914/1918.
  • Tending the sick and wounded after a battle. Tinted mezzotint by J.C. Rugendas after G.P. Rugendas, 1698.
  • Army medical officers in the field constructing stretchers with logs and straw which are then pulled by a horse. Watercolour.
  • Wounded soldiers being taken to hospital by ambulance. Wood engraving by J. Gaildrau, 1854.
  • A Swiss hospital train, World War I: interior view of a converted goods train, used to transport severely wounded prisoners of war. Photograph, 1914/1918.
  • 8th Xhosa War: British soldiers bearing a wounded man on a stretcher and supplies through jungle. Lithograph, ca. 1852.
  • A Red Crescent nurse is sitting at the bedside of a wounded soldier with a bandage over his eyes; she is reading him a letter. Colour process print.
  • Boer War: Red Cross ambulance cars at Pretoria station for the wounded Boers. Reproduction after a sketch by G. Soper after Leoff.
  • Russo-Japanese War: a street scene in Tokyo with wounded Japanese sitting in a cart. Pen and ink drawing by D. MacPherson, 1904.
  • Franco-Prussian War: war relief packages to wounded German soldiers from the Prussian Embasssy. Wood engraving.
  • Boer War: British soldiers tending the wounded Boers after a battle. Watercolour by H.M. Paget, 1900.
  • Soldiers being offered medical help behind the battlefield. Lithograph.
  • Wounded patients lying on stretchers at a dressing station on board H.M.S. Erebus, Monitor, Russia. Glass negative, ca. 1919.
  • Boer War: searching for the wounded from the battlefield at night. Watercolour sketch by F. Craig, 1899.
  • First World War: two soldiers, one badly wounded, being comforted on the battlefield by a vision of Christ. Colour halftone after G. Hillyard Swinstead, 1915.
  • World War One: a young soldier lies dying in a woman's arms on a deserted battlefield. Colour halftone, c. 1915, after D. Tennant.
  • Boer War: wounded soldiers being tended at Klip's Drift. Process print after R. Thiele.
  • Boer War: wounded soldiers being tended at Klip's Drift. Process print after R. Thiele.
  • An ambulance corps at work in the field. Halftone.
  • Boer War: removing the wounded after battle. Brush and wash drawing by H.M.Paget, 1900.
  • Boer War: treating and looking for the wounded at the battlefield. Process print after F. Craig.