[Elfsea] Shakespeare on drugs??

Tessa Nieto eleanor_cleavely at yahoo.com
Mon Mar 10 16:44:29 PST 2003


You know, I was thinking that myself. Reason being,
the Elizabethans would have had readier access to
Opium (made from poppy seeds which could be gotten
from the trade routes to the Middle East) than
cocaine, in my opinion.

But, they never ask us, now do they? *wink*

Miss ya chica!
Eleanor
--- Terri Head <Terri at pandora.org> wrote:
> I bet they mean opium instead of cocaine.  From my
> understanding (via my dad being a former policeman)
> cocaine is made from coca leaves, gasoline and
> formaldahyde (among other things). Ofcourse, I've
> never made it myself, so I may be sorely mistaken!
> lol!
>
> Violet
>
>
> ---------- Original Message
> ----------------------------------
> From: Tessa Nieto <eleanor_cleavely at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: elfsea at ansteorra.org
> Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2003 10:57:19 -0800 (PST)
>
> >Hi Everyone!
> >
> >I found this on CNN.com and was completely stunned!
> >
> >"Drugs Clue to Shakespare's Genius?"
> >
> >STRATFORD, England -- William Shakespeare may have
> >relied on more than his genius to write his plays
> and
> >sonnets, scientists say.
> >
> >Researchers have unearthed fragments of clay pipes
> >dating back to the 17th century near the garden of
> >England's greatest playwright which have shown
> traces
> >of cocaine and hallucinogenic drugs.
> >
> >The bard would join other illustrious English
> literary
> >figures if the link was proven such as Coleridge
> and
> >Byron who took their inspiration from drugs.
> >
> >While there is no proof Shakespeare himself took
> >drugs, evidence suggests he and his contemporaries
> >might have had access to narcotics.
> >
> >Cannabis sativa, the plant from which marijuana is
> >derived was available in Elizabethan England to be
> >used for paper, rope, garments and sails.
> >
> >But it had not been realised that cocaine had been
> >around at the same time -- records have only shown
> it
> >existing up to 200 years ago.
> >
> >The cocaine was discovered by South African
> scientists
> >in two of 24 pipe fragments examined.
> >
> >Dr Francis Thackeray, a paleontologist at the
> >Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, who co-wrote the
> article
> >which appeared in the latest edition of the South
> >African Journal of Science, said the discovery was
> >"really quite remarkable."
> >
> >"The Spanish had access to it at that time in the
> >Americas, but the fact that it was smoked in
> England
> >at that time is a first. It is quite a find."
> >
> >The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in
> >Stratford-Upon-Avon permitted researchers to
> perform
> >chemical tests on its 24 pipe fragments from its
> >museum collection.
> >
> >They included samples from Shakespeare's house at
> New
> >Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, and a number of other
> >nearby sites.
> >
> >The two pipe stems which bore unexpected traces of
> >cocaine came from the Stratford home of the mother
> of
> >John Harvard, the South African scientists say. The
> >other was thought to be from Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
> >
> >Other fragments showed signs of myristic acid, a
> >hallucinogen derived from plants such as nutmeg,
> and
> >cannabis, as well as tobacco and camphor.
> >
> >Thackeray added: "We do not claim that any of the
> >pipes belonged to Shakespeare himself.
> >
> >"However, we do know that some of the pipes come
> from
> >the area in which he lived, and they date to the
> 17th
> >century."
> >
> >The scientists say their findings may lend weight
> to
> >the hypothesis that "at least some of Shakespeare's
> >texts were associated with the use or at least
> >knowledge of the effect of certain hallucinogenic
> >substances".
> >
> >Sonnet 76, for instance, refers to a "noted weed"
> and
> >"compounds strange", while in Sonnet 27,
> Shakespeare
> >talks of "a journey in his head".
> >
> >However literary critics have interpreted "noted
> weed"
> >as meaning a well known garment or style of dress,
> and
> >"compounds strange" to mean an unusual word
> >construction or medicinal mixture.
> >
> >But Ann Donnelly, curator of the Shakespeare
> >Birthplace Trust museum, remains sceptical -- and
> >refuses to believe the Bard may have been inspired
> by
> >drugs.
> >
> >She said: "People love to come up with reasons for
> >saying Shakespeare was not a genius. I don't think
> >there's any proof that he was helped in any way by
> >taking narcotic substances."
> >
> >Reuters contributed to this report.
> >
> >
> >=====
> >The human language is like a cracked kettle on
> which we beat out a tune for a dancing bear, when we
> hope with our music to move the stars.
> >- - - Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary
> >
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>
> --
>  "Stop telling God how big your storm is.
> Instead,  tell your storm how big your GOD is."
>
> ~ Unknown
>
>
> --
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=====
The human language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out a tune for a dancing bear, when we hope with our music to move the stars.
- - - Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

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