Daniel I was so glad to see another chapter but very sad that Hermann and Henrietta have reached new depths of suffering and despair. Certainly opiate addiction was not an uncommon addiction at the time. I noticed that you chose morphine as the drug that Hermann was offered by the pharmacist. It was available in that timeframe and the syringe was recently invented. Just wondering if you considered using laudanum which was even more common and more easily administered? Obviously not a critical detail but something that crossed my mind. Clearly the horrible dreams and hallucinations could be entirely attributed to the opioid consumption, but one wonders considering the reports of sightings of Henrietta and the wolf figure at the window. Or could this be an invention by the landlady as an excuse to remove them because of pressure from the local community? Anyway, eagerly awaiting the next installment with some hope for a ray of sunshine even though briefly!
So grateful as always for the comment. I did think of using laudanum (Big fan of De Quincy’s “Confessions of an Opium Eater”), but I wanted to tie it all in with Hermann’s sedation after the tragedy. I did a bit of digging into the history of the production of morphine in the late 1860s, and I get the impression that, at this time, morphine was becoming readily available in Germany due to the establishment of Merck pharmaceuticals in Darmstadt. When I tried to do a deep-dive into the subject, however, I found myself getting paywalled or blocked out of university library systems. Apparently, it was used quite a bit during the American Civil War and led to addiction problems in later years. Everyone just regarded addiction as a “habit” and because of the popularity of the drug at the time, especially in the UK, there was little interest in casting a spotlight onto the problem.
I certainly see the logic and it was just a bit of speculation on my part. But you certainly have the two of them in a hellish fix and as you mention very little sympathy from society at large.
Daniel I was so glad to see another chapter but very sad that Hermann and Henrietta have reached new depths of suffering and despair. Certainly opiate addiction was not an uncommon addiction at the time. I noticed that you chose morphine as the drug that Hermann was offered by the pharmacist. It was available in that timeframe and the syringe was recently invented. Just wondering if you considered using laudanum which was even more common and more easily administered? Obviously not a critical detail but something that crossed my mind. Clearly the horrible dreams and hallucinations could be entirely attributed to the opioid consumption, but one wonders considering the reports of sightings of Henrietta and the wolf figure at the window. Or could this be an invention by the landlady as an excuse to remove them because of pressure from the local community? Anyway, eagerly awaiting the next installment with some hope for a ray of sunshine even though briefly!
So grateful as always for the comment. I did think of using laudanum (Big fan of De Quincy’s “Confessions of an Opium Eater”), but I wanted to tie it all in with Hermann’s sedation after the tragedy. I did a bit of digging into the history of the production of morphine in the late 1860s, and I get the impression that, at this time, morphine was becoming readily available in Germany due to the establishment of Merck pharmaceuticals in Darmstadt. When I tried to do a deep-dive into the subject, however, I found myself getting paywalled or blocked out of university library systems. Apparently, it was used quite a bit during the American Civil War and led to addiction problems in later years. Everyone just regarded addiction as a “habit” and because of the popularity of the drug at the time, especially in the UK, there was little interest in casting a spotlight onto the problem.
I certainly see the logic and it was just a bit of speculation on my part. But you certainly have the two of them in a hellish fix and as you mention very little sympathy from society at large.
The saga continues!!! What a book this is going to make. 😀
Thank you, Jim!!!!