Together, morphine and opium belong to a larger family of drugs named the opiates, which are known for producing a wide range of effects, from sedation to constipation. It is most abundant opiate found in the dried sap of the poppy, about 8 top 14 percent of the dry weight of opium.
The Sumerians used the word hul, meaning ‘joy’ and gil, meaning ‘plant;’ when referring to the poppy plant.
Opium was used sparingly in Europe during the Middle East, but its popularity increased during the Renaissance. Until Freidrich Wilhelm Serturner isolated the active ingredients (morphine) from raw opium (he published paper on the topic in 1817), the observed physiological and pharmaceutical properties of opium resulted only from the combination of effects from the raw opium’s multiple alkaloids.
In the early 1850s, Alexander Wood, a Scottish physician, reasoned that the best way to relieve painful extremity injuries would be to inject morphine directly into the nerves that supplied the painful area.
Both the Crimean War (1851-56) and the American Civil War (1861-65) contributed towards the development of opiate abuse. The troops had free access to morphine and opium which they carried so that they could give some relief to their wounded colleagues during the fighting.
In desperation, wartime, physicians regularly used morphine to cope with war-inflicted wounds and limb amputations, gruesome products of the massive quantities of lead bullets an cannon balls fired by each sides with deadly intention in the directions of their adversaries.
Morphine as painkiller
