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  • Physician taking the pulse of a hypochondriac, 19th Century.
  • A physician examining a urine flask brought by a young woman. Oil painting, 19th century, after Hendrik Heerschop.
  • A physician examining a urine flask brought by a young woman. Oil painting, 19th century, after Hendrik Heerschop.
  • 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.
  • Portrait of Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842).
  • Portrait of Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842)
  • The Doctor, Leon Salles (after Fildes)
  • Two doctors aloof from one another in disagreement. Wood engraving after J. Leech.
  • A pompous physician trying to impress the two ladies he is visiting. Etching, 1804.
  • A group of young, fashionable doctors. Coloured lithograph by F-S. Delpech after L. Boilly, 1823.
  • A Japanese physician in full costume. Halftone.
  • A farmer duping a doctor. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1823.
  • A doctor trying to sell youthfulness potions to an elderly lawyer. Lithograph.
  • A large country doctor conversing with a slim well-groomed city doctor. Etching.
  • A wealthy and well-dressed doctor; suggesting he has a large number of patients. Wood engraving by J. Orrin Smith after J.K. Meadows, 1840.
  • A doctor taking the pulse of a patient. Coloured etching.
  • A wealthy and well-dressed doctor; suggesting he has a large number of patients. Wood engraving by J. Orrin Smith after J.K. Meadows, 1840.
  • Two men with a physician, discussing the chameleon on the table before them. Coloured lithograph after HH.
  • A group of fashionable physicians gathered around a sick patient listen to one of their number proclaiming the virtue of leeches. Coloured lithograph after E.J. Pigal.
  • A woman weeps at her paramour's bed; the doctor puts away his lancet. Coloured lithograph by Joséphine-Clémence Formentin after C. Philipon, ca 1829.
  • A phrenologist at work on a girl, surrounded by members of her family. Engraving by C. Rolls after E. Sharpe, c. 1830.
  • A physician administers leeches to a patient; advertising Knoll diuretic medicine. Colour process print, 19--, after L. Boilly, 1827.
  • A physician administers leeches to a patient; advertising Knoll diuretic medicine. Colour process print, 19--, after L. Boilly, 1827.
  • A gouty patient in his room full of unproductive doctors. Coloured etching by T. Rowlandson, 1808.
  • A man holding a pack of 'Jubol' medicine tells clyster-wielding physicians that they are now obsolete. Wood engraving by Henriot, c. 1885.
  • A Japanese physician reading a book. Lithograph by Hanhart after C. Wirgman.
  • Anybody ill? : (I'm Doctor Quack) : the popular humorous song / music by Alfred Lee ; sung by Alf. Walker.
  • Anybody ill? : (I'm Doctor Quack) : the popular humorous song / music by Alfred Lee ; sung by Alf. Walker.
  • A doctor waiting for his patient to vomit after administering an emetic. Coloured aquatint by G.M. Woodward, 1800.