logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code
In the Arms of Morpheus: The Tragic History of Morphine, Laudanum and Patent Medicines - Barbara Hodgson
In the Arms of Morpheus: The Tragic History of Morphine, Laudanum and Patent Medicines
by: (author)
3.50 10
The follow-up to the widely praised Opium, In The Arms of Morpheus is the shocking story of how a simple but bewitching substance, touted as a miracle drug, enslaved unwitting generations of 19th century writers, artists and ordinary citizens. Extracted from opium, the sap of the poppy, this... show more
The follow-up to the widely praised Opium, In The Arms of Morpheus is the shocking story of how a simple but bewitching substance, touted as a miracle drug, enslaved unwitting generations of 19th century writers, artists and ordinary citizens. Extracted from opium, the sap of the poppy, this popular drug was welcomed into the homes of rich and poor alike, in the guise of medicinal uses in the form of laudanum and opium elixirs, and as pure, undisguised morphine. Laudanum contained opium, saffron, cinnamon and alcohol. In the spirit of 19th century progress, other opium concoctions were created and a whole industry in quackery erupted. In both Britain and North America, opium was mixed with everything imaginable: mercury, hashish, cayenne pepper, ether, chloroform, belladonna and whisky, sherry, wine and brandy. In the Arms of Morpheus examines how the drinking of laudanum for medical reasons developed and how it became an everyday safeguard against pain, poverty, and boredom. Opium eating was catapulted into fame by the confessions of Thomas De Quincy and insinuated itself into the lives and works of writers such as Louisa May Alcott, Lord Byron, Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Keats, the Brontës, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and many others. Thoroughly researched and copiously illustrated with photographs, engravings, advertisements, movie stills, pulp magazine and dime novel covers and paraphernalia, In the Arms of Morpheus continues the history of opium's emergence as an omnipresent and sometimes devastating influence.
show less
Format: paperback
ISBN: 9781552975404 (1552975401)
ASIN: 1552975401
Publisher: Firefly Books
Pages no: 160
Edition language: English
Bookstores:
On shelves
Share this Book
Need help?