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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 patient asking her doctor his political leanings, he retorts that it varies - depending on who he is treating. Wood engraving after A.T. Smith.
  • A puzzled physician taking the pulse of a young female patient, a boy in the backgroung is pointing to arrows, suggesting that the malady is lovesickness. Engraving by S. Freeman after J. Opie.
  • A fashionably dressed lady meets her doctor in the park and informs him that she feels much better since he went away. Wood engraving after G. Du Maurier.
  • A gagging man surrounded by confused consultants and medical students. Coloured etching, 1800.
  • A physician arguing with his wealthy patient who is bed, a visitor appears at the door. Aquatint after H. Dawe, 184-.
  • A doctor reassuring a patient that he can cure him. Wood engraving by B. Partridge, 1898.
  • A man very ill in bed, his doctor recommends sending for his wife; the patient sees this as extreme action. Wood engraving, 1873.
  • An inexperienced student doctor taking the pulse of a patient in his bed. Coloured etching by A.M. Mills, 1806.
  • A doctor trying to convince an obese lady that her over-eating problems are psychologically based. Wood engraving by EH, 1894.
  • A physician taking the hand of a sick female patient, her mother is standing near them. Watercolour by A. Jerôme.
  • A physician taking the hand of a sick female patient, her mother is standing near them. Watercolour by A. Jerôme.
  • A bewildered doctor checking the pulse of lovesick young woman, her concerned mother comforts her, in the background Cupid is grinning and pointing to one of his arrows. Coloured mezzotint by W. Ward, 1802, after J. Opie.
  • A gouty man talking to his doctor who is totally unsympathetic after discovering that his patient had finished off a bottle of port the previous evening. Wood engraving by B. Partridge, 1896.
  • A young lady, love-struck after a military ball, visited by her doctor at her mother's request. Wood engraving by John Leech, 1863.
  • A young lady, love-struck after a military ball, visited by her doctor at her mother's request. Wood engraving by John Leech, 1863.
  • A German physician recommending to a gouty English patient that he take the waters at various spa resorts in Germany and Bohemia. Wood engraving after R. Cleaver.
  • A physician by his patient's death-bed; represented with a skeletal death figure at the window and an undertaker's assistant arriving with a coffin. Coloured etching by T. Rowlandson, 1813?, after R. Newton.
  • A physician by his patient's death-bed; represented with a skeletal death figure at the window and an undertaker's assistant arriving with a coffin. Coloured etching by T. Rowlandson, 1813?, after R. Newton.
  • A physician and his female patient talking at cross purposes. Wood engraving by C. Keene, 1880.
  • A doctor visiting a patient and advising him against drinking alcohol, the patient responds by inviting him to dinner and some port, in order to avoid jury service. Wood engraving by C. Keane, 1865.
  • A doctor presenting a patient with a large pill; representing Addington's concession to the City of London by withdrawing income tax. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1802.
  • A working class patient misunderstanding his doctor's diagnosis of acne as the illness being caused by his having been to Hackney. Wood engraving by G. Du Maurier, 1875.
  • A hunchbacked physician talking to a patient who has a deformed hip. Engraving.
  • A group of children playing at being doctors and pharmacists, mother and grandmother approach through a door. Photogravure after F. Hardy.
  • A group of children playing at being doctors and pharmacists, mother and grandmother approach through a door. Photogravure after F.D. Hardy.
  • A physician in his surgery examining a little boy's tongue, his sister waits for him holding a large umbrella. Wood engraving after H.B. Roberts.
  • A bedridden sick young woman being examined by a doctor, accompanied by her anxious parents. Engraving by F. Engleheart, 1838, after Sir D. Wilkie.
  • A snobbish mother resistant to her daughter's doctor using a vaccine from their neighbour's child. Wood engraving by G. Du Maurier, 1872.