Opioid selling Indian opium which was smuggled into China in defiance of Chinese government bans. This led to the First (1839–1842) and Second Opium Wars (1856–1860) between China and Britain. In the 19th century, two major scientific advances were made that had far-reaching effects. Around 1804, German pharmacist Friedrich Sertürner isolated morphine from opium. He described its crystallization, structure, and pharmacological properties in a well-received paper in 1817. Morphine was the first alkaloid to be isolated from any medicinal plant, the beginning of modern scientific drug discovery. The second advance, nearly fifty years later, was the refinement of the hypodermic needle
An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China in 1798 for George Nicol in two volumes. The American edition was published in two volumes in 1799 in Philadelphia by John Bioren for Robert Campbell. The English text was soon after its publication translated into various languages. The German version "Reise der englischen Gesandtschaft an den Kaiser von China in den Jahren 1792 und 1793" was published in two volumes in Zürich by Geßner 1798-1799, translated by Johann Christian Hüttner. The translation holds no illustrations due to its small size and is the only version that admits being freely translated. The Dutch translation "Reis van lord Macartneij, naar China"