DELAROCHE (L. N.). Dissertation on the medical and surgical properties of opium. Presented and defended at the Medical School of Paris, on the second supplementary day of the year XI. Paris : [Demonville et Sœurs printing house], An XI-1803. - In-8, 193 x 124 : 24 pp, (1 f.). Dark green bradel paper boards, smooth spine (modern boards). First edition of this rare thesis on the medical uses of opium, dedicated to Prince Nicolas Estherazy de Galantha. The author develops, with examples, the virtues of opium as an internal medicine before revealing its benefits on surgical treatments and more specifically on wounds: "Of the various opiate preparations, the gummy extract stripped of its resin, dissolved at the dose of one large in a pound of river water, must be the only one used. A plumasseau of lint soaked in this dissolution, applied to a recent wound, helped by the situation, graduated compresses, smooth bandages, the whole determined by the direction, the depth and the nature of the wound, heals it without pain, and with all the more facility that no loss of substance occurs during the course of the treatment" (pp. 20-21). A very well preserved copy despite a perforation on the title page.