On a recent visit to Scotney Castle, I discovered a copy of
James Johnston's The Chemistry of Common
Life among the many books in the Library [1]. It is an interesting book
that gives descriptions of the physiology of organisms and has several sections
on narcotics and their use by humans. Johnston had written on this topic
earlier and his two articles published in August and November 1853 in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine were re-printed
in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs in
1985 and 1986 [2,3]. He gives us insights into the worldwide use of narcotics
up to the 1850s.
Johnson was a Scot who graduated in Philosophy from the University of
Glasgow and then pursued a school teaching career in Durham from
1825 to1830 [4]. Having made a successful marriage, he was able to leave
teaching and pursue his interest in Chemistry, including studying with
Berzelius in Sweden, and this resulted in his being appointed the foundation
Reader in Chemistry and Mineralogy at the University of Durham [4]. It was in
the field of Agricultural Chemistry that he was best known and his research
work was recognised by Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1837 [5]. In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,
Knight writes that:
Johnston became a successful
popular lecturer and writer.. ..His Chemistry of Common Life.. ..was a classic
popularization of up-to-date science.
Chapters in The
Chemistry of Common Life [6] on the fermentation of alcohol, and its subsequent
distillation, are followed by a section on "The Narcotics We Indulge
In" (based on the articles in Blackwood's
Edinburgh Magazine). Johnston provides a wide-ranging review of the
world-wide use of "narcotic indulgences", the most important of which
are mentioned in his concluding comments:
Siberia has its fungus [Amanita muscaria] – Turkey, India , and
China, their opium – Persia, India, and Turkey, with all Africa, from Morocco
to the Cape of Good Hope, and even the Indians of Brazil, have their hemp and
haschisch – India, China and the Eastern Archipelago their betel-nut and
betel-pepper – The Polynesia islands their daily ava [from the ground roots of Piper methysticum] – Peru and Bolivia
their long-used coca – New Granada and the Himalayas their red and common
thorn-apples [Datura sanguinea and D.
stramonium] – Asia and America, and all the world, we may say, their
tobacco – the Florida Indians their emetic holly [Ilex vomitoria] – Northern Europe and America their ledums and
sweet gale – the Englishman and German their hop, and the Frenchman his lettuce.
All these narcotics come from fungi or plants and most are
familiar to us, perhaps with the exception of the use of lettuce; the sap of
some types of lettuce being dried and powdered and used in a similar way, and
with similar properties, to opium. Johnston describes tobacco as being consumed
world-wide in the 1850s, either smoked or taken as snuff, and other narcotics
were widely available: laudanum, for example, consisted of 10% powdered opium
in 20 – 50% alcohol and was used as a painkiller and cough medicine,
some writers and artists also taking it for the effect on their powers of
creativity. The main psychoactive constituent of opium is morphine and
it was known to be addictive – Coleridge was a well-known addict whose
difficulties are described by Johnston.
"The Narcotics We Indulge In" concludes with a
summary that adopts a high moral tone, as befits someone from the Scottish Kirk
tradition:
..there exists a universal craving
in the whole human race for indulgences of a narcotic kind. This is founded in
the nature of man.. ..this craving assumes in every country a form which is
more or less special to that country. It is modified most by climate, less by
race, and least, though still very sensibly, by opportunity.. ..among every people
the form of craving special to the whole undergoes subsidiary modifications
among individuals. These are determined by individual constitution first, and
next by opportunity..
..I may remark that, with the
enticing descriptions before him, which the history of these narcotics
presents, we cannot wonder that man, whose constant search on earth is after
happiness, and who, too often disappointed here, hopes and longs, and strives
to fit himself for happiness hereafter – we cannot wonder that he should at
times be caught by the tinselly glare of this corporeal felicity, and should
yield himself to habits which, though exquisitely delightful at first, lead him
finally both to torture of body and to misery of mind; - that, debilitated by
the excesses to which it provokes, he should sink more and more under the
influence of a mere drug, and become at last a slave to its tempting
seductions. We are indeed feeble creatures, and small in bodily strength, when
a grain of haschisch can conquer, or a few drops of laudanum lay us prostrate;
but how much weaker in mind when,
knowing the evils they lead us to, we are unable to resist the fascinating
temptations of these insidious drugs!
Although Johnston admits that the use of tobacco and opiates
had become global in the 1850s, he would probably have been surprised at the
widespread use of drugs that is prevalent today and the various forms that
they take. Clearly one difference is the development of synthetic drugs
like LSD and amphetamines that are produced in chemical laboratories, rather
than directly from fungi or plants. One aspect that would not have surprised him is the
money involved in the production and selling of narcotics, as he remarks on
the world-wide size of this industry in The
Chemistry of Common Life.
The widespread use of "narcotic indulgences" for
religious purposes affects whole societies, but why do some of us become
addicted to narcotics, knowing that they can be destructive to physical and
mental health? It is hard not to adopt Johnston's position when addressing
this question, as we experiment with drugs, feel pressured by peers, want to
enhance our creativity, escape boredom, or indulge for many other reasons. Apart
from the change in the range of narcotics available, there are few differences
between the 1850s and the 21st Century in our need for what we now call
recreational drugs. Does that come as a surprise?
[2] James F. W. Johnston (1985) The narcotics we indulge in.
Part I. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
17: 191-199.
[3] James F. W. Johnston (1985) The narcotics
we indulge in. Part II. Journal of
Psychoactive Drugs 18: 131-150.
[4] Graeme Wynn
(1985) Johnston, James Finlay Weir. Dictionary
of Canadian Biography Volume 8. Toronto and Québec, University of Toronto
and Université Laval.
[5] David Knight
(2004) Johnston, James Finlay Weir (1796-1855). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, Oxford University
Press
[6] James F. W. Johnston (1854) The Chemistry of Common Life. New York, D. Appleton and Company.
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