[[The Lactéol's laboratory of Dr Boucard (Laboratoire du Dr Boucard]. / Le laboratoire du Lactéol du Docteur Boucard.

Shortly before 1910, Dr Boucard creates his laboratory in Paris. It manufactures and sells a drug based on lactic ferments the " Lactéol du Dr Boucard" (Dr's Boucard Lactéol) that will make the fortune of the physician. The article explains Dr Boucard's life and his relationship with the arts (painting and photography), and tells the story of his laboratory until the 2000s, referring to the pharmacists who succeeded them, as well as the various buildings where were elaborated Lactéol's variants.

Cure for empire: the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the making of patriotic Japanese, 1904-45.

Seirogan, a popular anti-diarrhoeal pill, is arguably one of the most successful pharmaceutical products of modern Japan. What is less known is that the Japanese army initially developed Seirogan during the Russo-Japanese War as the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', which was later marketed to the public by private manufacturers. Previous scholars have emphasised the top­down governmental method of mobilising private sectors to manipulate public opinion for the cause of external imperialist expansion and domestic stability during wartime Japan. But the matrix that the Conquer-Russia-Pill allows us to glimpse is an inverted power relation among the state, commercial sectors, and imperial citizens. While the Japanese government remained indifferent if not hostile to jingoistic pharmaceutical manufacturers who could easily disrupt international relations, pharmaceutical companies quickly recognised and exploited the opportunities that the Conquer-Russia-Pill and its symbolism provided under the banner of the empire. In turn, Japanese consumers reacted to commercial sermons carefully anchored in patriotic and militaristic discourses and images by opening their wallets. In other words, the popularity of the Conquer-Russia-Pill was a culmination of the convergence of a governmental initiative to enhance military capabilities, the commercial ingenuity of pharmaceutical manufacturers, and a consumer response to patriotic exhortations.

Medicinal aspects of opium as described in Avicenna's Canon of Medicine.

Throughout history, opium has been used as a base for the opioid class of drugs used to suppress the central nervous system. Opium is a substance extracted from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.). Its consumption and medicinal application date back to antiquity. In the medieval period, Avicenna, a famous Persian scholar (980-1037 AD) described poppy under the entry Afion of his medical encyclopedia Canon of Medicine. Various effects of opium consumption, both wanted and unwanted are discussed in the encyclopedia. The text mentions the effects of opioids such as analgesic, hypnotic, antitussive, gastrointestinal, cognitive, respiratory depression, neuromuscular disturbance, and sexual dysfunction. It also refers to its potential as a poison. Avicenna describes several methods of delivery and recommendations for doses of the drug. Most of opioid effects described by Avicenna have subsequently been confirmed by modern research, and other references to opium use in medieval texts call for further investigation. This article highlights an important aspect of the medieval history of medicine.