DidJaKnow? Why Our Grandparents Were Happy

Why Our Great-Grandparents Were Happier

Bayer Made Heroin

Heroin, or diacetylmorphine (INN), also known as diamorphine (BAN), is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine (hence diacetylmorphine). The white crystalline form is commonly the hydrochloride salt diacetylmorphine hydrochloride, however heroin freebase may also appear as a white powder.As with other opioids, heroin is used as both a pain-killer and a recreational drug and has high potential for abuse. Frequent and regular administration is associated with tolerance, moderate physical dependence, and severe psychological dependence which often develops into addiction. Heroin has been proven to act as an extraordinary fever reducer

A bottle of  Bayer's heroin.

Between 1890 and 1910 heroin was  sold as a non-addictive substitute for morphine.  It was also used to treat children with strong cough.

Metcalf's Coca Wine

"To some persons nothing is more fascinating than indulgence in cocaine. It relieves the sense of exhaustion, dispels mental depression and produces a delicious sense of exhilaration and well-being. The after effects are, at first, slight, almost imperceptible, but continual indulgence finally creates a craving which must be satisfied; the individual then becomes nervous, tremulous, sleepless, without appetite, and is at least reduced to a condition of pitiable neurasthenia."Medical Record, editorial, 28 November 1885.

Coca Wine,  anyone?

Metcalf Coca  Wine was one of a huge variety of wines with  cocaine on the market. Everybody used to say  that it would make you happy and it would also work as a medicinal  treatment.

Mariani Wine Was Made Famous Because Of Coca

According to the Sears, Roebuck and Co. Consumers' Guide (1900), their extraordinary Peruvian Wine of Coca...

"...sustains and refreshes both the body and brain....It may be taken at any time with perfect safety...it has been effectually proven that in the same space of time more than double the amount of work could be undergone when Peruvian Wine of Coca was used, and positively no fatigue experienced....."

Some 99% of contemporary Western users mix cocaine and ethyl alcohol. Cocaine and alcohol combine to form another hugely reinforcing compound, cocaethlyene. Coca-use only really took off in the West when it was blended with an alcoholic beverage.

The real soaraway success in Europe was Vin Mariani. Launched in 1863, it was an extremely palatable coca wine developed by the Corsican entrepreneur, Angelo Mariani (1838-1914). Mariani first tried his new tonic on a depressed actress. The results were spectacular. She soon told all her friends. Mariani himself wrote a book eulogising coca; and he gathered artefacts of, and material on, the coca-loving Incas. At home, he collected coke-taking paraphernalia. He also took up amateur horticulture and cultivated the coca plant in his garden.

Coca wine made Mariani famous. Vin Mariani rapidly became the world's most popular prescription. Writers loved it. Anatole France, Henrik Ibsen, mile Zola, Jules Verne, Alexander Dumas, Robert Louis Stephenson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and other literary luminaries all indulged freely. Composers such as Massenet, Gounod and Faur gratefully honoured the Corsican druggist in their music. Vin Mariani was celebrated by royalty as well: by Queen Victoria; King George 1 of Greece; King Alphonse XIII of Spain; the Shah of Persia; and by William McKinley, President of the United States.

Mariani wine Mariani wine  (1875) was the most famous Coca wine of its  time. Pope Leo XIII used to carry one bottle  with him all the time. He awarded Angelo Mariani  (the producer) with a Vatican gold  medal.

Maltine Produced by  Maltine Manufacturing Company of New York . It  was suggested that you should take a full glass  with or  after every meal... Children should take half a  glass.

A paper weight: A paper  weight promoting C.F. Boehringer & Soehne (Mannheim, Germany). They  were proud of being the biggest producers in the  world of products containing Quinine and  Cocaine.

Cocaine tablets  (1900)

All stage  actors, singers teachers and preachers had to  have them for a maximum performance. Great to "smooth" the  voice.

Opium for  Asthma

This would cure it!

Cocaine drops for  toothache Very  popular for children in 1885. Not only did they  relieve the pain, they made the children  happy!

Opium for new-borns

I'm sure this would make them sleep well (not only the Opium, but 46% alcohol!)

Ahh, The  Good Old Days!  You may not  live as long but with this medication, nobody  cared.