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  • A poor, old and wounded war veteran watched in sympathy by a young Russian family - a Russian war fund poster. Halftone after S. Vinogradoff, 1914.
  • Military Hospital V.R. 76, Ris-Orangis, France: wounded soldier - 10 inch gash from sword at Verdun in 1st world war. Photograph, 1916.
  • A notebook allegedly covered in human skin. The label reads 'The cover of this book is made of Tanned Skin from the Negro whose Execution caused the War of Independence'. c. 1770 - 1850
  • A notebook allegedly covered in human skin. The label reads 'The cover of this book is made of Tanned Skin from the Negro whose Execution caused the War of Independence'. c. 1770 - 1850
  • A notebook allegedly covered in human skin. The label reads 'The cover of this book is made of Tanned Skin from the Negro whose Execution caused the War of Independence'. c. 1770 - 1850
  • A notebook allegedly covered in human skin. The label reads 'The cover of this book is made of Tanned Skin from the Negro whose Execution caused the War of Independence'. c. 1770 - 1850
  • Hacquetia epipactis DC Apiaceae. Small herbaceous perennial. No common name except Hacquetia Distribution: Europe. Named for the Austrian physician, Balthasar (or Belsazar) Hacquet (1739/40-1815). He studied medicine in Vienna, was a surgeon in the brutal Seven Years War (1756-1763) – a world-wide war in which up to 1,400,000 people died. Later he was professor at the University of Lemberg (1788-1810). He wrote widely on many scientific disciplines including geology. Parkinson (1640) grouped it with Helleborus and Veratrum, calling it 'Epipactis Matthioli, Matthiolus, his bastard black hellebore' but does not give any uses. It has no medicinal properties. 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 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.
  • Serbo-Bulgarian War: an escorted convoy of ambulances carrying the sick and wounded. Wood engraving by J. Nash.
  • Serbo-Bulgarian War: a café scene in Nisch where soldiers and the wounded are at leisure. Wood engraving.
  • Crimean War: Florence Nightingale at Scutari Hospital. Coloured lithograph by E. Walker, 1856, after W. Simpson.
  • Crimean War: Florence Nightingale at Scutari Hospital. Coloured lithograph by E. Walker, 1856, after W. Simpson.
  • Potato recipes that will "hit the spot" / Martha Holmes.
  • A woman being bled by one man while another holds her arm, two dogs lap up her blood; representing France in the grip of Louis XIV and Cardinal Richelieu, while the financiers drain her resources. Engraving.
  • A woman being bled by one man while another holds her arm, two dogs lap up her blood; representing France in the grip of Louis XIV and Cardinal Richelieu, while the financiers drain her resources. Engraving.
  • The War in Egypt: bringing the wounded home on board H.M.S. "Euprates". Wood engraving.
  • Rabbit cookery / Stork Margarine Cookery Service.
  • Rabbit cookery / Stork Margarine Cookery Service.
  • Carlist War, Spain: Spanish sick and wounded being carried on board the "Somorrostro". Wood engraving by I. Nash.
  • World War I: a French underground hospital at Verdun. Oil painting by Ugo Matania, 1917.
  • World War I: a French underground hospital at Verdun. Oil painting by Ugo Matania, 1917.
  • Wounded patients lying on stretchers at a dressing station on board H.M.S. Erebus, Monitor, Russia. Glass negative, ca. 1919.
  • That you'll remember me : from one of the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
  • That you'll remember me : from one of the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
  • Caution against sexually transmitted disease. Colour lithograph after A. Games, 1941.
  • Henare Taratoa: a chief of the Ngai Te Rangi tribe, in the heroic act of getting water for the British wounded at the battle of Gate Pa, a Maori victory in the Waikato War, 28 April 1864. Watercolour by H.G. Robley, 1864.
  • Episodes in the Zulu wars, including a Zulu ceremony, the flogging of a deserter and a Zulu warrior giving himself up to English soldiers. Wood engraving.
  • The dance of death: Death, seen on top of a barricade, reveals his true identity to the people. Woodcut after Alfred Rethel, 1848.
  • Battle of Omdurman, Sudan: troops are massing and engaging in battle next to the River Nile.. Chromolithograph by A. Sutherland.