SERTUERNER, Friedrich. “Ueber eins der fürshterlichen Gifte der Pfalnzenwelt, als ein Nachtrag zu seiner Abhandlung über die Mekonsäure und das Morphium; mit bmerkungen, den aciden Extractivstoff des Opiums und seine Verbindungen betreffend” In Annalen der Physik, I/57, 1817; pp 183-202. Offered in the full volume of 440pp. Four full numbers (#s 9-12), each with their original front and rear wrapper, thus making this version quite scare. This is the important supplemental paper on morphine to the first paper just months earlier in of January 1817 in the same journal (vol I/55). $450
On the discovery of morphine:
“Rational drug discovery from plants started at the beginning of the 19th century, when the German apothecary assistant Friedrich Sertürner succeeded in isolating the analgesic and sleep-inducing agent from opium which he named morphium (morphine) after the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus. He published a comprehensive paper on its isolation, crystallization, crystal structure, and pharmacological properties, which he studied first in stray dogs and then in self-experiments...This triggered the examination of other medicinal herbs, and during the following decades of the 19th century, many bioactive natural products, primarily alkaloids (e.g., quinine, caffeine, nicotine, codeine, atropine, colchicine, cocaine, capsaicin) could be isolated from their natural sources”--Atanas G.Atanasova, et alia, “Discovery and resupply of pharmacologically active plant-derived natural products: A review”, Biotechnology Advances, Volume 33, Issue 8, December 2015, Pages 1582-1614.
"(Serturner's) determination now of the alkaline nature of morphine marks an important step in the beginnings of alkaloid chemistry. Its isolation is the first isolation of an alkali with a vegetable origin"--Claire Parkinson, Breakthroughs, p. 264.
Ex-libris Deutsche Akademie der Luftfahrtforschung, then Wright Patterson Field Library (USAF), then Library of Congress. Library markings: small gilt-stamped "Akademie der Luftfahrtforschung", page edges stamped "Wright Field LIbrary/Dayton, Ohio" on top and bottom.
Also in this volume:
- CHLADNI, Ernst Florens Friedrich . "Ueber Unabhängigkeit der meteorsteinfälle und der Feuerkugeln von Jahres-Tagesseiten, von den Himmelsgegenden, von der geographischen Lage, vom Wetter und bestimmten Perioden" ("...German physicist and musician. His most important work, for which he is sometimes labeled the father of acoustics, included research on vibrating plates and the calculation of the speed of sound for different gases"--Wiki)
- VOLTA, Alessandro. "Ueber periodische Wiederkehr von gewittern, und über den sehr kalten und ausserordentlich trockenen Wind, den man nach Hagelschauern mehrere Stunden lang bemerkt", and many others.
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