Dmitri Mendeleev presented his periodic table of the elements based on increasing atomic weight on March 6, 1869, in a presentation to the Russian Chemical Society. While Mendeleev's table was the first to gain some acceptance in the scientific community, it was not the first table of its kind.
In the end, the British sale of opium was used as means for  obtaining more land and trading rights from the Chinese, leading to  the devastation of the Chinese government and economy which is why  The First Opium War will be remembered in history as the time when  China was ultimately betrayed by the British.
The results of the Opium Wars were fourfold: 1: China was forced to open up to greatly increased trade with the West. 2: China was shown to be incapable of resisting the more technologically advanced West, which would continue to encroach on Chinese trade and territory.