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  • Article

Drugs in Victorian Britain

Many common remedies were taken throughout the 19th century, with more people than ever using them. What was the social and cultural context of this development?

  • Article

Cocaine, the Victorian wonder drug

Today, cocaine has a very poor public image as one of the causes of crime and violence. But for the Victorians it was welcomed as the saviour of modern surgery.

  • Article

A quick guide to drugs, the brain and brain chemistry

Discover some of the major chemicals that govern activity in our brains, how they work, and why certain drugs have the effects they do.

  • Article

Tripping for spiritualism and science

Getting high in the name of religion or creativity has been practised for centuries. Now it seems hallucinogenics could help treat mental illnesses too.

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Images

  • Conference notice on medical ethics and practice in Ethiopia. Colour lithograph by the Ethiopian Medical Association, 2008.
  • A black woman wearing glasses and a head scarf holds up a condom packet; advertisment about the dangers of drugs, sex and AIDS by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Lithograph by Warwick May, 1991.
  • Try Dr. Seth Arnold's cough killer : it works like magic. Price 25 cents / Dr. Seth Arnold Medical Co.
  • Try Dr. Seth Arnold's cough killer : it works like magic. Price 25 cents / Dr. Seth Arnold Medical Co.
  • Earvin "Magic" Johnson, a retired American professional basketball, wearing the USA flag and a gold medal with the message: "What can you do to avoid AIDS"; with the same image on the front cover of a book also entitled "Magic Johnson L'amour sans risque" published by J'ai Lu; an advertisement by the book publishers, J'ai Lu [from the Flammarion group]. Colour lithograph.
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Catalogue

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