From one of the internet's tiny treasures, Delancey Place, June 8:
Today's selection -- from The Age of Intoxication by Benjamin Breen.
The chemical manipulation of opium:
"The German chemist Friedrich Sertürner, born in 1783, [announced] in 1805 that he had isolated a chemical from the 'salt of opium' that he dubbed 'Morphium' was a key moment in the history of medicine. The isolation of 'morphium,' better known as morphine, marked the beginning of the 'alkaloid era,' a period of pharmaceutical innovation that led to the isolation of a host of psychoactive substances collectively known to chemists as alkaloids, including strychnine (1817), atropine (1819), caffeine (1819), and nicotine (1828). At first, Sertürner was frightened by what he discovered. Morphium, he warned, had 'terrible effects.' A miniscule quantity, far smaller than any comparable dose of opium, was able to kill a dog. Later, he conducted an experiment in which Sertürner himself (along with three young test subjects) overdosed on the new substance. After noticing that 'the animal powers seemed to be raised' with a half grain of morphine, the amount was doubled and then tripled, leading to 'a sense of stunning in the head' swiftly followed by acute stomach pain, vomiting, fainting, and 'a kind of dozing reverie.' For Sertürner, this was a frightening experience:"'If we may judge from this rather disagreeable experiment,' he concluded, 'morphium, even in small doses, is a violent poison.' Sertürner's opinion later changed, however -- especially after 1827, when the Merck family purchased the rights to his drug and began mass-producing it. He settled in the city of Hamelin, famous for the Pied Piper myth, and operated a pharmacy, the Rathaus Apotheke, which sold his new invention....
....MUCH MORE
Previous stops in The Age of Intoxication:
There was one from The Renaissance Mathematicus, "The Swinging '60's (1660s)" ended with this outro that brings us back to Delancey Place:
One of my favorite stories along these lines was in January 4's "Britain, India, and Cannabis":
Today's selection -- from The Age of Intoxication by Benjamin Breen.That's right, the first thing he thinks isn't some quasi-mystical hoo-haw, it's "Damn, I bet I could sell this shit!"
In 1673, the days in which Britain is first starting to extend its influence to India, a young Brit named Thomas Bowrey encounters cannabis on the coast of India. His first thoughts are to commercialize the substance:...
