Talk:Laudanum

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I was just wondering what the exact recipe would be for the original late 1700's and 1800's version of Laudanum would be. Does anyone know the weights and measures of this concoction? If mixed with whiskey until liquified will it remain evenly distributed in the mixture or will it settle out? Do you have to cook the opium in order for it to disolve? Would you use water in a pan to disolve the opium and then add it to a liquor of your choosing? I really want to know because I want to try to make some authentic Laudanum.

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[edit] alcoholic tincture?

Doesn't this sound absurd to you. I mean, are there any other kinds of tinctures? --MikaelRo 22:56, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

Alcohol is the only type of solvent used in a "tincture" according to [this reference]. On the other hand, most readers won't be familiar with this, so I suppose it does no harm to be specific that this is an alcohol tincture. Richard W.M. Jones 20:31, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

usually it's ~48% alcohol for paregoric, or has been the case last couple of years. but i have no references except the bottle i have in hand and what I have studied. not sure exactly about laudanum, which i believe is usually made by compound pharmacies, but i have never seen an opiate tincture made without the use of alcohol. sorry if i formatted this incorrectly.. to me it's a difficult and unusual interface. regards-- Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade 07:22, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trying to dab Wilberforce

Quoth the article:

There were also political figures (Wilberforce, [..]) who used the drug.

According to Dumas Malone, Italic textThe Sage, vol. 6 (1981), p. 470, Thomas Jefferson used Laudanum at the end of his life. Wilberforce links to a dab article. Is this the famous anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce? There is no reference in that article about him being addicted to opium/laudanum however. Richard W.M. Jones 20:25, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

In Barbara Hodgson's In The Arms Of Morpheus, p. 52..."...When Wilberforce fell ill in 1788, stricken with diarrhoea, fever and loss of appetite, he was given opium as a matter of course by his physicians...Wilberforce, in turn, counselled Foreign Secretary Lord Harrowby...to take laudanum. By 1821, after thirty years of regular, well-controlled opium eating, Wilberforce was in poor shape, with...apparent morphine poisoning. It appears that even his eye drops contained morphine." This paragraph cites as references John Pollock's Wilberforce, St. Martin's Press, 1977, which I don't have to check. But there are the references if anyone wants to update this article, and/or the Wilberforce article. (This is definitely William_Wilberforce.) BankyEdwards 18:17, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Questions re: citations

I have a decent stack of books here on laudanum, opium and morphine, and I can probably find any needed references in them. Regarding the "citation needed" in the list of users under History - does the article need citations for each name? If I get ambitious, I might expand that section. BankyEdwards 18:34, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

I have a question. I've never read anything about Shelley using laudanum. Can this be backed up? Also, I wasn't aware Keats ever used it. I'd like these two in particular to have citations, if true.64.194.27.58 06:59, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

One last question for any interested parties...Would it make sense to break out the list of famous laudanum users in the same manner as the "Featurings in fiction" list? BankyEdwards 18:43, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Absinthe?

This article states that in Anne Rice's book (and the subsequent movie) "Interview with a Vampire" Claudia uses a mixture of Laudanum and Absinthe on the two boys. However, the movie states that it is Brandywine, not Absinthe. This should be corrected. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.251.154.24 (talk) 02:49, 24 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Notes from Clio

(I cut n paste this from Reference desk, in hope it might be useful Wetman 04:34, 21 May 2007 (UTC))

Laudanum was used for a huge variety of ailments, from colds to heart conditions, for both children and adults. Women used it to relieve period pains, and for attaining the pale complexion so prized at the time. It was spoon fed to infants to keep them pacified, many dying of overdoses. Karl Marx makes note of this practice in volume one of Capital I found this quote from an English doctor, writing in 1873:

Anyone who visits such a town as Louth or Wisbeach, and strolls about the streets on a Saturday evening, watching the country people as they do their marketing, may soon satisfy himself that the crowds in the chemists' shops come for opium; and they have a peculiar way of getting it. They go in, lay down their money, and receive the opium pills in exchange without saying a word...In these districts it is taken by people of all classes, but especially by the poor and miserable, and by those who in other districts would seek comfort from gin and beer.

If you want to investigate the subject in more detail have a look at Secret Passions, Secret Remedies: Narcotic Drugs in British Society, 1820-1930 by Terry Parssinien, and Opium and the People: Opiate use in Nineteenth Century England by Virginia Berridge and Griffith Edwards. Clio the Muse 23:25, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lewis Carroll

While I agree that Lewis Carroll may have taken opium, I think the present entry is phrased awkwardly. *Mr. Carroll* had the inspiration, not the laudanum. Who was it who made that quote about opium? that if a mutton-dealer took it, he would only dream of mutton. Pittsburgh Poet (talk) 22:21, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] simplified laudanum

see http://forum.poppies.org/index.php?showtopic=10790 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.64.172.100 (talk) 15:22, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Article rewrite + move wine of opim

Following rewrite was done (modify and reupload here if the text is not satisfactory):

Laudanum is an alcoholic herbal preparation of opium. It is thus made by combining ethanol with opium. The term "Laudanum" however should be applied only to a specific tincture of opium containing approximately 10 milligrams of morphine per milliliter. There are several versions of laudanum including Paracelsus' laudanum, Sydenhams Laudanum (also known as tinctura opii crocata), camphorated tincture of opium (tinctura opii camphorata), benzoic laudanum (tinctura opii benzoica) [1], deodorized tincture of opium (discussed below), ... In addition, besides well-known versions, some people have begun making their own version of laudanum and naming it [2] Depending on the version, additional amounts of the substances and additional active ingredients (eg saffron, sugar, eugenol, ...) are added, modifying its effects (eg amount of sedation, ...)

[edit] Preparation and maximum dosage

Regular opium tincture (or tinctura opii) is made by combining ethanol (of 70%) with opium so that a liquid containing 10 milligrams of morphine per milliliter is created. [3] The maximum dosage is 1,5 to 5 grams.

Sydenham's laudanum is made by combining[4]:

  • 50 parts of opiumextract
  • 150 parts of saffron tincture
  • 1 part of cinnamon oil
  • 1 part eugenol
  • 798 parts ethanol (of 60% purity)

The maximum dosage is 1,5 to 5 grams.

Benzoic laudanum is made by combining [5]:

  • 50 parts of opium tincture
  • 5 parts of benzoic acid
  • 5 parts of campher
  • 2 parts of anise oil
  • 940 parts of ethanol (70° pure)

The maximum dosage is 30 to 100 grams.

In addition wine of opium was moved to the opium-article as this is not laudanum, but an other extract of opium.

KVDP (talk) 07:29, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation help

I am in contact with a professional voice actor who is trying to record a spoken version of George Washington and he wants to hear someone pronounce "Laudanum". If anyone would be willing to call him up or even leave a voice mail with the proper pronunciation, please email me and I will send you his contact info. Thanks. howcheng {chat} 18:10, 30 May 2008 (UTC)