In Victorian Britain, an era where great scientific discoveries and inventions were changing society dramatically, discoveries in medicine and “cures” for common ailments were also impacting the public health at all levels of society. Many of the emerging medicinal compounds, drugs and herbal substances that were popular and readily available to the Victorians are now known to be harmful, addictive, prone to overdose, have horrible side effects and in some cases were absolutely lethal.
Headline in The Leeds Mercury, July 1856
Just a quick glance through the major newspapers around Victorian Britain highlights the regularity with which people were either deliberately poisoning themselves or others with intent to kill. Or they were accidentally poisoning themselves or others through carelessness, mislabelling, mishandling or by accident.
Arsenic – an extremely toxic metallic element, found both naturally and occurring as a by product of metal work. Up until the 1830’s arsenic poisoning was virtually undetectable. Even after the technology caught up to reveal its presence it was hard to prove the substance had been either purchased by the accused or deliberately given. It was cheap and easy to obtain, used for a variety of household and agricultural purposes i.e food colouring, wallpaper hanging, sheep dipping, control of vermin etc. and became the go-to substance for your well organise poisoner.
Cyanide is present in the pits of apricots, seeds of apples and in almonds, lima beans and cassava. It is used in chemicals to clean or electroplate metals, develop photos, manufacture of plastics and for dissolving gold from ore as well as the usual vermin killer. In the human body it acts to prevent cells being able to use oxygen causing convulsions, cramps and eventually death.
Strychnine – made from the seeds of the nux vomica tree native to the Philippines is extremely poisonous in the smallest of doses. It acts as a nerve agent affecting the muscles and the spinal chord, causing agitation, stiffness and eventually preventing the lungs and heart from functioning. It is hard to imagine why a doctor would have such a compound in his surgery except for finishing off those pesky rats. It seems to have also been used experimentally in asylums on patients with mental health issues.
Laudanum is basically powdered opium suspended in a tincture (alchohol base) and was used by people from every level of society, high and low, to treat whatever ailment you thought you had. It was used for pain, insomnia, relief for crying babies, coughs, vertigo, headaches, bad eyesight, sadness, anxiety – you name it, laudanum was the answer. Highly addictive as most opiates can be, it was sold unregulated, available everywhere and lent itself to over-medication, overdose and death. Similar to the opiate crisis of this day and age, people would go to great lengths to take the stuff because the withdrawal was even worse than the ailment they started taking it for.
The sale of opiates over the counter to the public was legal until 1920 in Britain.