Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events
130 results
  • Henry Addington as a medical practitioner bleeding the exhausted John Bull, assisted by other politicians; representing Britain's strength being sapped by nepotism in politics and by war with Napoleon. Coloured etching by J. Gillray, 1803.
  • Il vero disegno degl'interiori del corpo umano : con instruttione, e regola, per sapere bene tagliare le vene in tutte le parti del detto corpo humano, secondo l'opinione de' medici antichi, & moderni più famosi / Di nuovo raccolte, & date in luce da Antonio Moneta.
  • Il vero disegno degl'interiori del corpo umano : con instruttione, e regola, per sapere bene tagliare le vene in tutte le parti del detto corpo humano, secondo l'opinione de' medici antichi, & moderni più famosi / Di nuovo raccolte, & date in luce da Antonio Moneta.
  • 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.
  • Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot, Pucoon or Indian paint)
  • Blood cells (of a goose or guillemot?): four figures. Ink and crayon, possibly by D. Gascoigne Lillie, ca 1906.
  • A regal Mary (or Wisdom?), as the Church of the Last Judgement, flanked by angels. Line engraving by T. de Leu.
  • Ficus carica (Common fig)
  • The dance of death: the parish priest. Woodcut by Hans Holbein the younger.
  • C. Linati, Costumes... du Mexique
  • Cashew nut or acajou (Anacardium occidentale L.): flowering and fruiting branch with separate sectioned flowers and fruit. Chromolithograph by P. Depannemaeker, c. 1885, after B. Hoola van Nooten.
  • People reaching for alcoholic drink falling from a pile of barrels of liquor likened to the upas-tree; skeletons litter the ground. Coloured etching by G. Cruikshank, c. 1842.
  • Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii
  • Vine spinach (Basella rubra L.): entire fruiting plant. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1774.
  • A spreading banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis L.) growing on a palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer L.) and sheltering 2 people. Engraving by J. Greig, after J. Forbes, 1774.
  • The biblical books of Wisdom, Sirach and Ecclesiastes: King Solomon sitting in the palace and other scenes. Etching by J. and J. Klauber.
  • Acer palmatum 'Villa Taranto'
  • Nandina domestica and hoverfly
  • Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood'
  • Acacia karoo
  • Greenfly eye, SEM.
  • Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot, Pucoon or Indian paint)
  • Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot, Pucoon or Indian paint)
  • Tulipa hybrid
  • Olea europaea L. Oleaceae Olive Distribution: Europe, Middle East. Dioscorides (Beck, 2005) regarded the olive as a panacea, curing all manner of cutaneous afflictions from shingles to sores
  • Helleborus x hybridus Hort. Ex Vilmorin Ranunculaceae. A range of hybrids from Helleborus orientalis the Oriental hellebore. Distribution: Europe through to the Caucasus. All very poisonous. Culpeper (1650) says: “The roots (boiled in vinegar) ... be an admirable remedy against inveterate scabs, itch and leprosy, the same helps the toothache, being held in the mouth: dropped into the ears, helpeth deafness coming of melancholy and noises in the ears
  • Helleborus x hybridus Hort. Ex Vilmorin Ranunculaceae. A range of hybrids from Helleborus orientalis the Oriental hellebore. Distribution: Europe through to the Caucasus. All very poisonous. Culpeper (1650) says: “The roots (boiled in vinegar) ... be an admirable remedy against inveterate scabs, itch and leprosy, the same helps the toothache, being held in the mouth
  • Parasitoid wasp Wallaceaphytis kikiae, LM.
  • Hylotelephium telephium syn. Sedum telephium 'Matrona'