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Morphine oil - Antique glass medicine jar - 19th century

€120.00

Morphine oil

Antique glass medicine jar with spout under a bell

19th century

Description

Morphine oil

Antique glass medicine jar with pouring spout under a bell - 19th century

The jar and bell are made of blown glass, with traces of the cane pontil under the bottle and on the top of the bell.

Stencilled label

Morphine was discovered in 1804, and is mainly present in the latex of several poppy species.

It was first injected subcutaneously at the end of the 19th century, thanks in particular to Pravaz syringes, but it was not until the 20th century that intravenous injections were introduced.

An excellent analgesic, morphine was rapidly and massively used in medicine, until it was discovered that it was highly addictive, particularly after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, when it was widely distributed on the battlefields.

At the end of the 19th century, morphine addiction also spread to the wealthy upper classes and to the literary world, where many writers succumbed to it.

Height with bell: 27cm - Bottle diameter: 9cm

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