Laudanum

Laudanum is an opium tincture, sometimes sweetened with sugar and also called wine of opium.

Contents

1 History
2 Featurings in fiction
3 Today's status
4 See also

History

In the 16th century, Paracelsus experimented with the medical value of opium. He decided that its medical (analgesic) value was of such magnitude that he called it Laudanum, from the Latin laudare, to praise, or from labdanum, the term for a plant extract. He did not know of its addictive properties.

In the 19th century, laudanum was used in many patent medicines to "relieve pain... to produce sleep... to allay irritation... to check excessive secretions... to support the system... [and] as a sudorific". The limited pharmacopoeia of the day meant that opium derivatives were among the most efficacious of available treatments, and so laudanum was widely prescribed for ailments from colds to meningitis to cardiac diseases, in both adults and children.

The Romantic and Victorian eras were marked by the widespread use of laudanum in England, Europe, and the United States. Initially a working class drug, laudanum was cheaper than a bottle of gin or wine, because it was treated as a medication for legal purposes and not taxed as an alcoholic beverage. Notable addicted literary figures include: Edgar Allan Poe; Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who miserably battled his addiction for much of his adult life; Thomas de Quincey, who turned his addiction into literary success with the publication of Confessions of an English Opium Eater; Lord Byron; Percy Bysshe Shelley, who suffered raging laudanum-induced hallucinations; Iolo Morgannwg, the notorious Welsh forger; Charles Dickens; and Charles Baudelaire^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. There were also political figures, such as William Wilberforce and Meriwether Lewis, who used the drug.

Innumerable Victorian women were prescribed the drug for relief of menstrual cramps and vague aches and used it to achieve the pallid complexion associated with tuberculosis (frailty and paleness were particularly prized in females at the time). Nurses spoon-fed laudanum to infants, many of whom died from overdoses.

Featurings in fiction

The character of Oscar Hopkins in Peter Carey's novel Oscar and Lucinda (1988) uses laudanum, initially under duress, to dull his hydrophobia during his expedition from Sydney. Additionally, Mary Shelley's character Victor Frankenstein (1818/1831) uses laudanum to help him sleep after the death of his friend, Henry Clerval.

Laudanum also features in historical fiction. In the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels (which starts with Master and Commander), the ship's surgeon, Stephen Maturin, both uses the drug professionally and battles his own addiction to it. In Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Allan Quatermain, opium-addicted, uses his bottle of laudanum to paralyze Edward Hyde. In the 2001 movie From Hell Laudanum plays an important role: Jack the Ripper is using it to numb his victims and Inspector Frederick Abberline (played by Johnny Depp) is addicted to it. Alma Garrett (played by Molly Parker) was addicted to laudanum for the first few episodes of Season One in Deadwood (TV series) and has fallen back to the habit as of Ep. 3.04.

Today's status

Laudanum is still available by prescription in the United States. It is classified as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Its most common formulation is known as 'deodorized tincture of opium,' and is manufactured in the United States by [Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals]. The only medically-approved uses for laudanum in the United States are for treating diarrhea and pain. Laudanum, as deodorized opium tincture, contains the equivalent of 10 milligrams of morphine per milliliter. By contrast, laudanum's weaker cousin, paregoric, is 1/25th the strength of laudanum, containing only 0.4 milligrams of morphine per milliliter.

Laudanum

History

Featurings in fiction

Today's status

See also