Someone said:
> >As regards Holmes, didn't one of the stories end
with the line: "And
I have
> >my cocaine."?
Marianne replied:
> In 19th century Britain, what are nowadays hard and
illegal drugs were
> acceptable medicines. They were NOT illegal. Queen
Victoria was
> prescribed laudanum, which contains cocaine. Cocaine
is a
pain-killer;
> when Holmes took refuge in cocaine, it was against
his pain, probably
> psychological rather than physical, though I'm not
entirely sure about
> this point.
Laudanum was a mixture of alcohol and opium. The opiates
(incl. morphine, heroin, codeine and methodone) are pain
killers. Cocaine is a stimulant which can also be used as a
local anaesthetic and was used in this manner particularly by
dentists until cocaine was replaced by novocaine. I suspect
that Holmes would have used coke for the same reason Freud
did - he believed that it literally made him smarter,
temporarily. Holmes strikes me as being the sort of bloke who
would be very interested in an "intelligence drug". At least,
that would have been the initial interest. No doubt, like
Freud, he found coke to be counterproductive in the long term
& a damn hard habit to break. I havn't read the Holmes
stories but I was under the impression that, like Freud,
Holmes had to take the "cure". Was this actually the
case?
Rene (PS - though use of drugs such as laudunum & cocaine
for recreational use was socially frowned on the drugs were
completely legal
& would not have been cause for ostracism, probably more
just gossip, etc, like someone with a gambling or drinking
problem today).
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