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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">I'm reading at the moment Kate
Atkinson's novel <i>Emotionally Weird</i>, which is set in 1970s
Dundee (Scotland). It includes an account of a student boiling
down some "Dr Chloris Brown's Mixture" to get at the drug in it
(morphine I think). This patent medicine goes way back, I think to
the 19th century, and still exists, although I think that it no
longer contains anything exciting that can be accessed by boiling
down. I remember that it did work very well with stomach upsets.
And today there is a specific cough mixture that you can obtain
from chemists (drug stores) here in Norway that contains some
morphine. You have to show ID when you buy it and you are duly
recorded on the computer so that you can't buy multiple bottles
to get high.<br>
<br>
As for the purple staining stuff, it comes back to me that it was
daubed on the feet to treat athlete's foot. Dabbing anything on
the eyelids sounds rather dodgy.<br>
<br>
Jeremy H<br>
<br>
<br>
Den 13/05/2015 09:29, skrev Stuart N. Clarke:<br>
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<div>I’m off to London this morning (where I will have limited
internet access), so – you will be pleased to know – I don’t
have the time to slip into an anecdotal rant about patent
medicines and my childhood, but h<span>ere is the beginning
of A. E. Housman’s parody of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s
‘Excelsior’:</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt;
mso-pagination: none" align="justify"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; mso-pagination:
none" align="justify"><span><font face="Calibri">The shades
of night were falling fast,</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; mso-pagination:
none" align="justify"><span><font face="Calibri"><span
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>And
the rain was falling faster,</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; mso-pagination:
none" align="justify"><span><font face="Calibri">When
through an Alpine village passed</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; mso-pagination:
none" align="justify"><span><font face="Calibri"><span
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>An
Alpine village pastor:</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; mso-pagination:
none" align="justify"><span><font face="Calibri">A youth who
bore mid snow and ice</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; mso-pagination:
none" align="justify"><span><font face="Calibri"><span
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>A
bird that wouldn’t chirrup,</font></span></p>
<h2 style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: auto; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt;
TEXT-INDENT: 36pt" align="justify"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt"><font
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size="3"><em>And a banner
with a strange device—</em></font></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; mso-pagination:
none" align="justify"><span><font face="Calibri"><span
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>‘Mrs.
Winslow’s soothing syrup’.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt;
mso-pagination: none" align="justify"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none"
align="justify"><font face="Calibri">Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing
Syrup contained sulphate of morphia, sodium carbonate,
spirits of foeniculi, and aqua ammonia.<span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was specifically
recommended for babies.</font></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list"> </div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list">Stuart</div>
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