Laudanum
Laudanum, also called wine of opium or tincture of opium, was a mixture of alcohol, sugar and opium. Laudanum was introduced into Western medicine by Paracelsus as an analgesic.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 lack of any genuine treatments meant that opium derivatives were one of the few substances that had any effect, and so laudanum was prescibed for ailments from colds to meningitis to cardiac diseases in both adults and children.
The Victorian era was marked by the widespread use and abuse of laudanum in England, Europe and the United States. Initially a working class drug (it was cheaper than a bottle of gin or wine (how?)), it gained wider popularity, including among literary figures (de Quincey, Byron, Shelley, Coleridge, and Dickens) and politicians (Wilberforce).
See also: paregoric.
Laudanum is also the name of a Roman fortress in the Asterix comic books.
Das Pufterohr tief in den Kopf!
Drum schieß mit deinem Püftericht
Zu zweit in einer Wanne sitzen.
die.html">die.html">Die alte Lene geht;--und gleich
Am Ende doch mur Spielerei.--
Jetzt will der Fritz beim Untertauchen
Dem Franz kommt dieses lustig vor.
Das ärgert aber Bruder Fritzen,
Tut Fritzen an der Nase wehe;
Dafür taucht Fritz den Kopf ihm nieder,
Der zappelt sehr und kann nicht schrein.
In Mund und Auge, zornentbrannt,
Für dieses Kampfgedränge.
Perdatsch!!--die alte, brave Lene
"Die Reinlichkeit ist nicht zum Scherz!!"
Und die Moral von der Geschicht':
von Wilhelm Busch.
.
On
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