ABSTRACT
Bunsen’s burner was not the only legacy of the great chemist. He could also be called the grandfather of heroin. It was his pupil Augustus Matthiessen who established the programme that led to its discovery. Both men had participated fully in the flowering of synthetic chemistry that took place in Germany, particularly in the second half of the nineteenth century. Throughout the century German scientists were unchallenged leaders in this field of science, starting with Serturner’s original isolation of morphine from opium. Matthiessen brought this knowledge to England when he came to work as a lecturer at St Mary’s Hospital, London. His chief English assistant was C.R. Alder Wright. Together they undertook a comprehensive exploration of codeine and morphine, synthesising hundreds of new compounds based on these molecules. Wright continued when Matthiessen retired. Their excitement still shines through the dry prose of the learned articles, as day by day they made substances that had never been previously created.
