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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.
  • A society lunch with patrons playing dice, smoking and drinking. Lithograph by R. Leitner, mid-19th century, after D. Teniers.
  • Cartoon gay men sitting chatting on chairs with speech bubbles containing information on Schwulenberatung, an open discussion group and counseling service for gay men. Colour lithograph, 199-.
  • C19 Chinese ink drawing: Boils - scorpion boil in the throat
  • C19 Chinese ink drawing: Boils - ear tragus boil
  • C19 Chinese ink drawing: Boils - Snake-Coil boil
  • C19 Chinese ink drawing: Boils - boil between the eyebrows
  • A dotted square bearing the words "The presence of absence"; advertising an exhibition of the Canadian AIDS Memorial Quilt in Edmonton at the Citadel Theatre, June 26 to July 5, 1995. Colour lithograph by Quality Colour Press and Cheryl Anne Lieberman Typographics.
  • A surgeon-apothecary shouts back from an open window at a request for a night-visit to a patient, sending pot plants and a cat flying. Coloured aquatint by H. Pyall after M Egerton (Ego), 1827.
  • A pack of hounds attacking a wolf ferociously in a forest. Etching with engraving by F. Joullain after A. F. Desportes.
  • A question mark featuring black and white silhouette figures and a green figure in the dot; an advertisement for the Stop AIDS Kanagawa campaign as part of the 10th International Conference on AIDS and STD in 1994. Colour lithograph, 1994.
  • A question mark featuring black and white silhouette figures and a green figure in the dot; an advertisement for the Stop AIDS Kanagawa campaign as part of the 10th International Conference on AIDS and STD in 1994. Colour lithograph, 1994.
  • A half-naked youth offers food to a snake coiled round a tree trunk. Engraving by C.-C. Bervic after J.-F.-L. Mérimée, 1798.
  • Pero breast-feeding her father Cimon in prison. Line engraving by J.P. le Bas after N.N. Coypel.
  • A clothed man driving a two-wheeled, horse-drawn 'sulky'. Collotype after Eadweard Muybridge, 1887.
  • A naked man running. Collotype after Eadweard Muybridge, 1887.
  • A clothed man riding a saddled horse. Collotype after Eadweard Muybridge, 1887.
  • The healer.
  • The healer.
  • The healer.
  • The healer.
  • The healer.
  • The healer.
  • A horse cantering. Collotype after Eadweard Muybridge, 1887.
  • Théodore Tronchin. Line engraving by R. Gaillard, 1782, after J.E. Liotard.
  • A head containing over thirty images symbolising the phrenological faculties. Wood engraving, c. 1845, after O.S. Fowler (?).
  • A Quaker family are sitting at the dinner table and the father has his hands together as he gives thanks for the food. Mezzotint by Charles G. Lewis after Alexander Fraser.
  • Saint Paul preaches before a small group in a crowded forum in Athens. Etching by J.A. Bellanger, 1749, after himself.
  • Papaver somniferum seed