AN INQUIRY INTO THE COMPARATIVE EFFECTS OF THE OPIUM OFFICINARUM, Extracted from the Papaver Somniferum or White Poppy of Linnaeus: And of That Procured from the Lactuca Sativa, or Common Cultivated Lettuce of the Same Author. [From the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Volume IV"]. by Coxe, John Redman (1773-1864). American medical doctor, professor of chemistry, materia medica & pharmacy - [1799].

[Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by Thomas Dobson], [1799]., [1799].. Very good. - Quarto, 11-3/4 inches high by 9-1/4 inches wide. Unbound signatures from the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society". 28 deckle-edged pages in all, with large uncut & untrimmed margins, consisting of pages 387 through 414. Very good.

First edition.

Unbound sheets from volume 4 of the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society".

John Redman Coxe's study on Opium, comparing that extracted from the white poppy with that extracted from lettuce. Lettuce had numerous uses as a medicinal herb in ancient and even recent times. American settlers claimed that smallpox could be prevented by ingesting lettuce and early Iranians suggested eating the seeds when afflicted with typhoid. Varieties of lettuce had a mild narcotic property and it was called "sleepwort" by the Anglo-Saxons. Although cultivated lettuce "lactuca sativa" has lower levels of the narcotic, it is still present in the two "sesquiterpene lactones" found in the white liquid latex in the stems. The substance is called lactucarium or lettuce opium.

The American physician, chemist, medical educator and writer John Redman Coxe (1773-1864) was born in New Jersey to Loyalist parents. His father returned to England following the Revolution and John Redman Coxe remained in Philadelphia for a time to be raised by his grandfather, the noted physician John Redman. He later joined his parents in England where he pursued the study of anatomy and chemistry. Returning to Philadelphia, he studied under Dr. Benjamin Rush and attained his M.D. following studies at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Coxe was an early promoter of vaccination and one of the first Philadelphia doctors to vaccinate patients. He authored one of his most significant works on the subject in 1802 "Practical Observations on Vaccination, or Inoculation for the Cow-pock". He was one of the founders of the Chemical Society of Philadelphia to which he was later elected as President. His medical practice included his ownership of a drugstore. Coxe was appointed chair of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and subsequently professor of materia medica and pharmacy. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1799.