1528 SCRIBONIUS LARGUS (1 – 50)
De compositionibus medicamentorum liber unus
Written in 47 CE, this is an important compilation of drugs and prescriptions. Among the 271 remedies are the first use of electrotherapy (for headaches) using the shock of the torpedo fish. and it records the drinkin…
GMN 1785 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8816
1578 ACOSTA, Cristóbal [Cristóvão da Costa; Christophorus Acosta Africanus] (1540 – 1599)
Tractado de las drogas, y medicinas de las Indias Orientales, con sus plantas debuxadas al bivo.
This is mainly a translation of Garcia d’Orta’s Coloquios (No. 1815) with the addition of some illustrations. Acosta, a Portuguese Jesuit physician and surgeon, travelled to India where he met Garcia d’Orta. Acosta pi…
GMN 1819 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2084
1700 JONES, John [English] (1645 – 1709)
The mysteries of opium revealed.
Includes the earliest English description of drug addiction, and withdrawal. Jones attempted to use wine as a partial substitute until withdrawal was complete.
GMN 2070.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2498
1793 CRUMPE, Samuel (1766 – 1796)
An inquiry into the nature and properties of opium: Wherein its component principles, mode of operation, and use or abuse in particular diseases, are experimentally investigated, and the opinions of former authors on these points impartially examined.
Crumpe undertook extensive experiments to understand the effects of opium. His book provided the first detailed description of the effects of narcotic withdrawal. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.
GMN 10590 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12783
1802 DEROSNE, Charles Louis (1780 – 1846)
Sur l’opium.
Isolation of alkaloids from opium.
GMN 1838.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2252
1805 SERTÜRNER, Friedrich Wilhelm Adam (1783 – 1841)
Darstellung der reinen Mohnsäure (Opiumsäure); nebst einer chemischen Untersuchung des Opiums, mit vorzüglicher Hinsicht auf einen darin neu entdeckten Stoff.
Isolation of morphine from opium. This was the first isolation of an active ingredient from a plant.
GMN 1839 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2269
1822 DE QUINCEY, Thomas Penson (1785 – 1859)
Confessions of an opium eater.
First published anonymously in September and October 1821 in the London Magazine, 4, No. xxi, 293-312, and No. xxii, 353-79, the Confessions was released in book form in 1822, and, after various reprints, again in 185…
GMN 8904 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11082
1832 ROBIQUET, Pierre Jean (1780 – 1840)
Nouvelles observations sur les principaux produits de l’opium.
Isolation of codeine.
GMN 1853 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2357
1848 MERCK, Georg Franz (1825 – 1873)
Vorläufige Notiz über eine neue organische Base im Opium.
Isolation of papaverine.
GMN 1861 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2395
1874 WRIGHT, Charles Romley Alder (1844 – 1894)
On the action of organic acids and their anydrides on the natural alkaloïds. Part I.
In quest of a non-addictive alternative to morphine, Wright experimented with combining morphine with various acids. He boiled anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride over a stove for several hours and produ…
GMN 11087 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13283
1882 KANE, Harry Hubbell (1854 – )
Opium-smoking in America and China: A study of its prevalence, and effects, immediate and remote, on the individual and the nation.
The author claims (p. 1) that "the first white man who smoked opium in America is said to have been a sporting character named Clendenyn. The second—induced to try it by the first—smoked in 1871." Digital facsimile fr…
GMN 9506 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11691
1884 GORDON, Sir Charles Alexander (1821 – 1899)
An epitome of the reports of the medical officers to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Office from 1871 to 1882. With chapters on the history of medicine in China: Materia medica: Epidemics: Famine: Ethnology: And chronology in relation to medicine and public health.
Apart from studies of common diseases, public health issues, and epizootics, this work contains a chapter on opium smoking and a chapter on the castration of Chinese eunuchs, of which there were around a thousand work…
GMN 9422 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11605
1889 EDKINS, Joseph (1823 – 1905)
Opium: Historical note, or, the poppy in China. Published by order of The Inspector General of Customs.
Though relatively brief (50pp.) this may be the first historical study of opium in English. Text in English and Chinese. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Turst at this link. Reprinted without the Chinese text, Shangha…
GMN 11869 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14073
1926 GOTTLIEB, Rudolf (1864 – 1924)
Vergleichende Messungen über die Gewöhnung des Atemzentrums an Morphin, Dicodid und Dilaudid.
Introduction of dilaudid (Hydromorphone)
GMN 1913 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2678
1939 EISLER, O; SCHAUMANN, O
Dolantin, ein neuartiges Spasmolytikum und Analgetikum. (Chemisches und pharmakologisches.)
Synthesis of pethidine (dolantin) (Demoral).
GMN 1927 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2723
1984 PARSSINEN, Terry M.
Secret passions, secret remedies: Narcotic drugs in British Society, 1820-1930.
"....The major orientation is to opium, with two chapters on its alkaloid, morphine, occasional references to cocaine, and a mention of heroin. There is an enlightening discussion of reasons for the initial acceptance…
GMN 10243 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12433
2002 MUSTO, David Franklin (1936 – 2010); KORSMEYER, Pamela (1945 – ); MAULUCCI, Thomas W. Jr.
One hundred years of heroin. Edited by David F. Musto with the assistance of Pamela Korsmeyer and Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr.
GMN 12416 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14646
2006 TIBI, Selma
The medicinal use of opium in ninth-century Baghdad. (Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series, vol. 5).
GMN 12523 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14758
2010 SWIDERSKI, Richard M.
Poison eaters: Snakes, opium, arsenic, and the lethal show.
"This book is the first to explore the tradition of deliberate poison eating, its practitioners, and the substances that might nourish or kill them" (publisher).
GMN 9884 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12072
2013 AGNEW, Jeremy
Alcohol and opium in the Old West: Use, abuse and influence.
GMN 12102 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14311
