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  • Chinese opium smokers in a saloon experiencing various effects of the drug. Engraving by G. Paterson, 1843, after T. Allom.
  • Chinese opium smokers in a saloon experiencing various effects of the drug. Engraving by G. Paterson, 1843, after T. Allom.
  • Two Malay men and a woman sit and recline on the floor smoking opium. Wood-engraving, late 19th century.
  • Two Malay men and a woman sit and recline on the floor smoking opium. Wood-engraving, late 19th century.
  • Two Chinese opium smokers in a booth watched by a woman who fans herself. Wood-engraving, late 19th century.
  • An opium den in San Francisco, early 20th century, with two Chinese men smoking. Process print after a photograph.
  • The boiling and testing of opium by Chinese men watched by a European man. Wood-engraving by F. Dadd, c. 1880.
  • Two Chinese opium smokers reclining in a booth watched by a woman with bound feet. Wood-engraving, late 19th century.
  • A man selling opium; nearby a woman breast feeds her baby. Engraving by F. W. Topham, c. 1840, after W. Muller.
  • A monkey rejects the old style clyster for his new 'clyso-pompe', which he fills with opium and marshmallow. Coloured lithograph.
  • Indian workmen mixing and balling opium in a courtyard in Calcutta. Process print after a photograph by Bourne & Shepherd, c. 1900.
  • Indian workmen mixing and balling opium in a courtyard in Calcutta. Process print after a photograph by Bourne & Shepherd, c. 1900.
  • Four poisonous plants: hemlock (Conium maculatum), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), opium lettuce (Lactuca virosa) and autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale). Coloured engraving by J. Johnstone.
  • The implements used by Mr. Young in his experiments to collect opium in Scotland. Engraving by A. W. Warren, c. 1819, after W. Newton.
  • An opium den in London's East End with men lying on wooden bunks as a smoker enters. Wood-engraving, c. 1880, after J. C. Dollman.
  • An opium den in London's East End with smokers lying on wooden bunks and slouching by the fire. Wood-engraving by W. B. Murray, c. 1880.
  • An opium den in London's East End with a reclining smoker being watched by a group of men. Wood engraving by A. Doms, 1872, after G. Doré.
  • Two Chinese men stand by a shop window while opium smokers sit on the terrace above. Pencil drawing with sepia wash by W. J. Bellairs, 19th century.
  • 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.
  • Medical reports, on the effects of water, cold and warm, as a remedy in fever, and febrile diseases whether applied to the surface of the body or used as a drink, with observations on the nature of fever; and on the effects of opium, alcohol, and inanition / [James Currie].
  • Opiologia. Or, a treatise concerning the nature, properties, true preparation and safe use and administration of opium. For the comfort ... of all such persons as are inwardly afflicted with any extreame griefe, or languishing paine, especially such as deprive the body of all naturall rest, and can be cured by no other meanes ... / Done into English, and something inlarged by Thomas Bretnor.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.
  • Illustrations of China and its people : a series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.