Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T09:05:18.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Suicides by opium and its derivatives, in England and Wales, 1850—1950

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Michael J. Clarke
Michael J. Clarke*
Affiliation:
Faculty of History, University of Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Mr M. J. Clarke, Exeter College, Oxford OX1 3DP.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

In the mid-nineteenth century opium and its derivatives, such as laudanum and morphine, were the most common poisons in suicides in England and Wales. With legislative restrictions on these ‘dangerous drugs’ such a use declined. This study attempts to show this trend and indicates the large variety of these opium-related suicides.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , May 1985 , pp. 237 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benson, B. (1977). The nineteenth century: British mortality statistics: towards an assessment of their accuracy. Bulletin of the Society for the Social History of Medicine 21, 5–13.Google ScholarPubMed
Berridge, V. (1980). The making of the Rolleston report, 1908–1926. Journal of Drug Issues 10, 7–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berridge, V. & Edwards, G. (1981). Opium and the People. Allen Lane: London.Google Scholar
Berridge, V. & Rawson, N. (1979). Opiate use and legislative control. Social Science and Medicine 13A, 351–363.Google ScholarPubMed
Brackenbury, W. (1914). Recording the sale of laudanum. Pharmaceutical Journal 39, 831.Google Scholar
British Medical Journal (1892). Patent medicines containing poison: government prosecution; i, 995.Google Scholar
British Pharmacopoeia (1898). Spottiswoode and Co.: London.Google Scholar
British Pharmacopoeia (1914). Constable and Co.: London.Google Scholar
Christison, R. (1829). A Treatise on Poisons. Adam Black: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Journal of the American Medical Association (1952). Tolerance to morphine; 149, 214.Google Scholar
Hayter, A. (1968). Opium and the Romantic Imagination. Faber: London.Google Scholar
Leech, K. (1973). Drugs for Young People. Religious Education Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Parsinnen, T. (1983). Secret Passions, Secret Remedies. Manchester University Press: Manchester.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1857). Suicide by opium; 16, 485.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1861). Large doses of opium; 2, 386.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1870). Worship Street police court; 1, 356.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1874). Suicide by laudanum; 5, 179.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1876). Sale of poison; 7, 251.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1879). Poisoning by laudanum; 9, 892.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1886 a). Attempted suicide by taking laudanum; 17, 98.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1886 b). Poisoning by laudanum; 17, 443.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1896 a). Poisoning cases in Scotland; 3, 261.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1896 b). The supply of laudanum by chemists; 3, lxxiv.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1898). Annotations; 7, 61.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1902). Poisoning cases; 15, 120.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1904). Poisoning cases and inquests; 19, 719.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1907). Poisoning cases and inquests; 24, 816.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1908). Poisoning cases and inquests; 27, 499.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1909). The composition of chlorodyne; 28, 815.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1910). Poisoning cases and inquests; 31, 590.Google Scholar
Pharmaceutical Journal (1924). Poisoning cases and inquests; 58, 426.Google Scholar
Registrar General (1850–1949). Annual Reports for England and Wales. HMSO: London.Google Scholar