12. Pharmacist injected Morphine into his veins during a public experiment to silence his critics.
Often described as one of the most comforting drugs in history, morphine is mostly used when a person is in the advanced stages of illness and the drug takes away the unbearable pain. This opioid helps maintain the person’s comfort throughout the illness and up to the time of death. Of course, it can also be used as a plain drug that some people use for pleasure and relaxing purposes. German pharmacist, Friedrich Serturner, is “legally to blame” for its discovery.
A pioneer of Alkaloid chemistry, Serturner was the first to isolate morphine from opium in 1804 and called the isolated alkaloid “morphium” after the Greek god of sleep and dreams, Morpheus. He published a comprehensive paper on its isolation, crystallization, crystal structure, and pharmacological properties, which he studied first in stray dogs. However, there were many scientists who challenged his theories and studies on morphine. Serturner, who wanted to prove his theory right, conducted a public experiment on himself and became the first human to make use of morphine publicly.