Alkaloid use of Ephedra and opium poppies. Also, coca leaves have been used by South American Indians since ancient times. Extracts from plants containing toxic alkaloids, such as aconitine and tubocurarine, were used since antiquity for poisoning arrows. Studies of alkaloids began in the 19th century. In 1804, the German chemist Friedrich Sertürner isolated from opium a "soporific principle" (), which he called "morphium" in honor of Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams; in German and some other Central-European languages, this is still the name of the drug. The term "morphine", used in English and French, was given by the French
Name of Greece "Graecia" (Greek: ), literally meaning 'the land of the Greeks', which was used by Ancient Romans to denote the area of modern-day Greece. Similarly, the Latin name of the nation was "Graeci", which is the origin of the English name "Greeks". Those names, in turn, trace their origin from "Graecus", the Latin adaptation of the Greek name Γραικός (pl. ), which means 'Greek', but its etymology remains uncertain. It is unclear why the Romans called the country "Graecia" and its people "Graeci", but the Greeks called their land "Hellas" and themselves "Hellenes". Several speculations have been made. William Smith notes