marc coene Posted 10 October , 2013 Share Posted 10 October , 2013 Hello, Manor Farm (most of the time behind the 14-18 front line) was occupied by Britisch troops for about the whole time of WWI. Understandable that there was a dressing station at Manor Farm (and also at the nearby Railway Farm). Manor Farm is situated nearby Zillebeke lake and nearby the city of Ypres. By big coïncidence I found a ampoule of Morphine. Unfortunately it is a bit damaged at the glass. As far as I know morphine has and had to be injected. See photo, the ampoule is about around good 4 cm long and 0.6 cm in diameter. Some questions about this object: Can somebody say if this is of war time origin? I strongly believe. Was it beginning of the war, middle or end or was this type used over the whole WWI war? Is it clearly a British product (as some months nearby end of war Manor Farm also has been occupied by the German troops)? i think it is, but have no experience at all in this. I think the marked 'Morphine' on the ampoule is clearly the British description of this product. What is extremely strange for me is that it seems that this name is under the glass of the ampoule. So it just seems a print inside the glass and certainly not at the outside of the ampoule. How could they do this? Did they insert something into the ampoule. Now it is too fragile and old to search that out on this ampoule. there is also marked N°90. What could that mean? And there under there is even marked 3/4 in very small letters. What could this have meant? Thanks if somebody knows the answer on one or some of my questions. I find it in each case unbelievable to find this still nearly 100 years after the war started! Kind regards, Marc Manor Farm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 10 October , 2013 Share Posted 10 October , 2013 The Morphine was a powder that had to be diluted, so it would have had a paper insert inside the ampoule - I don't think printing on the outside of glass ampoules was possible at that time. The three-quarters probably referred to the contents, i.e. three-quarters of a grain. I think an average dose was between one quarter and three-quarters, so this could have been divided as necessary. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc coene Posted 11 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2013 The Morphine was a powder that had to be diluted, so it would have had a paper insert inside the ampoule - I don't think printing on the outside of glass ampoules was possible at that time. The three-quarters probably referred to the contents, i.e. three-quarters of a grain. I think an average dose was between one quarter and three-quarters, so this could have been divided as necessary. Sue Hi Sue, thanks for your info. Just like the correct info of a doctor. Very clear. Kind regards, Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 11 October , 2013 Share Posted 11 October , 2013 Am I right in thinking that these ampoules were sealed with a rubber bung? Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc coene Posted 13 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 13 October , 2013 Am I right in thinking that these ampoules were sealed with a rubber bung? Sue Hi Sue, in each I could not remark any rubber anymore. Kind regards, Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfishmo Posted 5 November , 2015 Share Posted 5 November , 2015 Was all morphine in WW1 given by powder or tablets or was there an injectable form in hospitals? When I scouted around for an answer, it seems that in WWII they had an injectable form, but I can't verify it for WW1. ~Ginger WW2: "...What Squibb introduced was called a morphine syrette, which was like a miniature toothpaste tube that contained the morphine. Instead of unscrewing a top like you do on a toothpaste tube, it had a blind end that was sealed. A needle attached to the syrette was used by the medic to puncture the seal. The medic would come along, break the seal and inject the wounded soldier with the morphine syrette." http://www.museumofdrugs.com/morphine.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 5 November , 2015 Share Posted 5 November , 2015 My father told me that following the injection (in the field) they would mark a large M on the patients forehead. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfishmo Posted 5 November , 2015 Share Posted 5 November , 2015 They did in WW1 as well--an M with a blue crayon, and I believe the dosage administered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 5 November , 2015 Share Posted 5 November , 2015 A grain is the very old fashioned unit of weight, and was already quite obsolete in British pharmacology by the 1970s. However many older doctors at the time would still refer to dosages of Morphine in grains, or fractions thereof. A grain was approximately of the order of 60mg. 60 mg of Morphine was a big dose, usual dosage in peacetime would be 15mg as an injection. As a rough rule of thumb: 60mg Morphine orally is equivalent to 30mg given by subcutaneous injection is equivalent to 20mg Diamorphine (heroin) s/c injection. Diamorphine is far more soluble in water for injection than morphine and is much better if very large doses are needed. The oral diamorphine substitute Methadone was first synthesized in Nazi Germany, in the 1930s, possibly research was aided by the thought that when war inevitably came, Germany would be deprived of its middle eastern sources of Opium, and consequently set out to create a new series of potent oral analgesics that could be manufactured from scratch. However, I don't think the drug was actually used in wartime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damianb Posted 8 November , 2015 Share Posted 8 November , 2015 Years ago when cleaning out a retired doctors house after he'd passed away I found some glass tubes just like this. They were labeled in a similar way & had 10 very small greyish tablets to a tube with small corks at either end. Quinine tablets were in similar tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 8 November , 2015 Share Posted 8 November , 2015 k However, I don't think the drug was actually used in wartime. I'm fairly sure I've come across references to morphine ampoules in the materia medica - will check during the week. sJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 8 November , 2015 Share Posted 8 November , 2015 Certainly the use of Morphine tablets is described in Patrick McGill's book, the Great Push. He was a stretcher bearer with the 18th Londons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 8 November , 2015 Share Posted 8 November , 2015 I'm fairly sure I've come across references to morphine ampoules in the materia medica - will check during the week. sJ Sorry, I wasn't explicit enough, I was writing about methadone at that point: Perhaps it should have read: "However, I don't think the drug (i.e.Methadone.) was actually used in wartime." Morphine has a long documented history in battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 8 November , 2015 Share Posted 8 November , 2015 Ah, thanks Dai. I may not have been reading hard enough - the screen on my phone is a bit tiny ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfishmo Posted 16 December , 2015 Share Posted 16 December , 2015 Does anyone know definitively if morphine was injectable during WW1? I sort of thought not, but then heard an excerpt from what I thought was a WW1 letter that mentioned a morphine injection. ~Ginger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 16 December , 2015 Share Posted 16 December , 2015 "Instead he was treated by injection of morphia" "Morph. hydrochlor. gr.1/4 with atropine sulph. gr. 1/120 was given hypodermically before all operations. Injections of morphia were used to abate shock, and a solution was kept for use." Rodd, Fleet Surgeon M.L.B., Report on the transport and treatment of wounded in the Hospital Ship "Plassy." Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service, vol. 1 (1915), pp. 42-48. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfishmo Posted 16 December , 2015 Share Posted 16 December , 2015 Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 17 December , 2015 Admin Share Posted 17 December , 2015 I read somewhere that Lady Diana Manners and Katharine Asquith injected themselves with morphine during WW1. I will try to find the source Edit the Great Silence 1918-1920 Living In The Shadow Of The Great War by Juliet Nicholson Pages 134-136 discuss Diana Manners morphine habit and page 135 quotes a letter to Raymond Asquith where she describes how she and Katharine lay "in ecstatic stillness" after she injected them both Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 17 December , 2015 Share Posted 17 December , 2015 I read somewhere that Lady Diana Manners and Katharine Asquith injected themselves with morphine during WW1. I will try to find the source Michelle I can help. Alfred Duff Cooper's Diary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 17 December , 2015 Admin Share Posted 17 December , 2015 Thanks SD, I found the information in another book, I don't have Duff Coopers diaries. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 17 December , 2015 Share Posted 17 December , 2015 Thanks SD, I found the information in another book, I don't have Duff Coopers diaries. Michelle He married Diana Manners in 1919, so presumably knew whereof he wrote. The Manners were, and are, the Duke of Rutland's brood. Yuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingrove Posted 9 January , 2016 Share Posted 9 January , 2016 I would really like to read the document Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service, vol. 1 (1915), pp. 42-48. as I am researching the hospital ship Plassy. Any chance if your have a copy I could see it? regards Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 10 January , 2016 Share Posted 10 January , 2016 Andrew, have replied to your pm. sJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfishmo Posted 26 April , 2016 Share Posted 26 April , 2016 Was all morphine in WW1 given by powder or tablets or was there an injectable form in hospitals? When I scouted around for an answer, it seems that in WWII they had an injectable form, but I can't verify it for WW1. ~Ginger I found the answer: Yes, they did have injectable morphine in WW1. This is from The WWI Military Memoirs of Captain Dark, MC. Australian Doctor, Great War http://www.vlib.us/medical/dark/dark.htm "...At some time after the original attack I was standing in front of the dressing station, which faced a road on the other side of which some soldiers were walking; a few shells were falling, and one of them got a direct hit on a soldier, cutting off both his legs just above the knees; he fell onto the stumps of his thighs and, incredibly, took two or three stumbling steps before collapsing. In seconds we had tourniquets on his thighs, and in another minute or so a big injection of morphia into him, dressings on his stumps, and he was on his way to the Casualty Clearing Station. He may have lived, for he lost very little blood, and the morphia would minimise shock." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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