Welcome to Star Trek Simulation Forum

Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to contribute to this site by submitting your own content or replying to existing content. You'll be able to customize your profile, receive reputation points as a reward for submitting content, while also communicating with other members via your own private inbox, plus much more! This message will be removed once you have signed in.

Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
Dumbass

Please stay off topic!

2,314 posts in this topic
Hmmm, I wonder how many people realize the actual Sherlock Holmes character was a cocaine addict.

Actually it was Laudinum, a 7% solution (which reminds me, go find the movie "Seven Percent Solution," a great Holmes-meets-Freud adventure!)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Actually it was Laudinum, a 7% solution (which reminds me, go find the movie "Seven Percent Solution," a great Holmes-meets-Freud adventure!)

 

Which is not a coca-derivative at all. Laudanum is an opiate.

 

Laudanum (pronounced /ˈlɔːd(ə)nəm/) (laudanum liquidum simplex), also known as opium tincture or thebaic tincture is an alcoholic herbal preparation of opium. It is made by combining ethanol with opium latex or powder. Laudanum contains almost all of the opium alkaloids, including morphine and codeine. A potent narcotic by virtue of its high morphine concentration, laudanum was historically used to treat a variety of ailments, but its principal use was as an analgesic and antitussive. Until the early 20th century, laudanum was sold without a prescription and was a constituent of many patent medicines. Today, the manufacture, distribution and use of laudanum are strictly regulated. Contrary to popular belief, laudanum is available by prescription in the United States and the United Kingdom, although the drug's medicinal uses are generally confined to controlling diarrhea, alleviating pain, and easing withdrawal symptoms in infants who were born to mothers addicted to heroin or other opioids. While the terms "laudanum" and "tincture of opium" are generally interchangeable, in contemporary medical practice, the latter is used almost exclusively.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Laudinum? Where'd you get that? I've read it as cocaine. But anyway, the point still stands.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

From who2.com:

 

The modern Holmes-as-addict meme can be traced back to the 1974 novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, in which Nicholas Meyer reimagined Holmes as a troubled cocaine addict who is cured by Sigmund Freud (!) before going on to do his usual mystery-solving thing.

 

(Not that it matters, but cocaine wasn't illegal in the London of Holmes's era. It wasn't always regarded even as a vice -- some doctors, Freud included, thought it might be a useful stimulant. It took awhile for its nastier properties to be recognized.)

 

Meyer got the title of his book from a moment in the second Sherlock Holmes story, The Sign of Four, published in 1890. This is the only story where Holmes actually touches cocaine, and indeed, he does more than touch it: he injects it (in "a seven-per-cent solution") as his sidekick Doctor Watson looks on. Furthermore, Watson says he has watched Holmes do it "three times a day for many months."

 

Watson has been holding his tongue on the topic but finally states his case:

"But consider!" I said, earnestly. "Count the cost! Your brain may, as you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid process, which involves increased tissue-change, and may at last leave a permanent weakness."

Holmes waves him off:

"My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation."

The moment is revisited on the book's very last page, with Watson again narrating after Holmes has (naturally) solved the crime:

"The division seems rather unfair," I remarked. "You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit; pray what remains for you?"

 

"For me," said Sherlock Holmes, "there still remains the cocaine-bottle." And he stretched his long, white hand up for it.

So that does it: Holmes is an addict, right?

 

Not quite.

 

For one thing, those are the only two times cocaine is mentioned in the entire book. Holmes doesn't get the jitters, doesn't rush around looking for a fix, doesn't mention the drug at all. Neither does anyone else. The cocaine has nothing to do with the actual tale.

 

Beyond that, the opening scene in The Sign of Four is the only time Holmes actually uses cocaine in the 60 stories and novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The drug is mentioned only five more times in all of those 60 stories.

 

On another note...the domain "http://www.rihannsu.com" is apparently not yet registered to anyone. There's still time!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Laudinum? Where'd you get that? I've read it as cocaine. But anyway, the point still stands.

 

Sounds like A9's getting his fictional characters mixed up (Old age led to a failing mental processes). It's Dr. Stephen Maturin, from Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin, novels that's addicted to laudinum.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sounds like A9's getting his fictional characters mixed up (Old age led to a failing mental processes). It's Dr. Stephen Maturin, from Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin, novels that's addicted to laudinum.

I could have sworn that I... now where did I leave my teeth? Maybe with my glasses and my hearing aid, EH???

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I could have sworn that I... now where did I leave my teeth? Maybe with my glasses and my hearing aid, EH???

::blinks:: Jami, are you sure this is the man you married all those years ago?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did you guys see the amazing backward, between-his-legs tennis shot by Roger Federer?? Unbelievable!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think I'd rather eat my own arm than watch tennis ! :)

 

Which reminds me that Hockey is starting soon! Woo! Go Habs Go!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I saw it....utterly remarkable...then he is beaten in the final in an upset...remarkable as well.

 

Our local Tennis Star Serena Williams got in a wee bit of trouble at the Open.

 

However, I must confess hockey season is getting close and I can't wait! Go Ducks!

 

-Precip

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think I'd rather eat my own arm than watch tennis ! B)

 

Which reminds me that Hockey is starting soon! Woo! Go Habs Go!!

 

 

Traitor! :) Nah.. just kidding. As much I hate to say it as a Leafs fan, the Habs are looking good this year. I'd *love* to see the Cup back in Canada.. getting to the point where I don't mind if it goes to them. (FYI: The Canadeins/Maple Leafs rivalry is just as intense and historical as the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
. As much I hate to say it as a Leafs fan, the Habs are looking good this year. I'd *love* to see the Cup back in Canada.. getting to the point where I don't mind if it goes to them.

 

::mumbles something about The leafs while trying not to laugh ::

Kidding! yea I'm at a point too where I don't care which team it goes to as long as it's up here ...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
::mumbles something about The leafs while trying not to laugh ::

Kidding! yea I'm at a point too where I don't care which team it goes to as long as it's up here ...

 

::would like to see it back in Jersey::

Let's go Devils!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The minor league hockey teams can be way better then the parent hockey teams, at times.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wifey and I bought a nice 2002 used Jetta today, drove off the lot at 1PM today. When we started the vehicle at 8PM today, it made a wierd noise and the "check engine" light popped on. It continued to make the sound and the light remains on.

 

We bought it "as is", but they said they inspected it. And it -is- less than 24 hours after purchase. Any ideas on what I should do or say? I'm already going in to the dealer tomorrow, but I don't know how I'm gonna approach it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wifey and I bought a nice 2002 used Jetta today, drove off the lot at 1PM today. When we started the vehicle at 8PM today, it made a wierd noise and the "check engine" light popped on. It continued to make the sound and the light remains on.

 

We bought it "as is", but they said they inspected it. And it -is- less than 24 hours after purchase. Any ideas on what I should do or say? I'm already going in to the dealer tomorrow, but I don't know how I'm gonna approach it.

Yeah. Sadly, I hear that's a common problem for most VAG products. I'm trying to avoid them as well in my own car shopping. I'd love to find an E46 (1998-2006) BMW 3 series for ~ $10,000 (1998-2003).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wifey and I bought a nice 2002 used Jetta today, drove off the lot at 1PM today. When we started the vehicle at 8PM today, it made a wierd noise and the "check engine" light popped on. It continued to make the sound and the light remains on.

 

We bought it "as is", but they said they inspected it. And it -is- less than 24 hours after purchase. Any ideas on what I should do or say? I'm already going in to the dealer tomorrow, but I don't know how I'm gonna approach it.

 

I seem to be notorious to buy cars that are falling apart so ... sorry Can't help !

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wifey and I bought a nice 2002 used Jetta today, drove off the lot at 1PM today. When we started the vehicle at 8PM today, it made a wierd noise and the "check engine" light popped on. It continued to make the sound and the light remains on.

 

We bought it "as is", but they said they inspected it. And it -is- less than 24 hours after purchase. Any ideas on what I should do or say? I'm already going in to the dealer tomorrow, but I don't know how I'm gonna approach it.

 

Most states have lemon laws, but I'm not sure if they apply in your situation. First, press the dealer, but make sure you hold on to paperwork. In fact, document everything. You may be able to file a claim against the dealer, depending on the wording of your agreement AND state law (law usually trumps agreements) if they are uncooperative.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

::blinks:: Jami, are you sure this is the man you married all those years ago?

 

::turns up her hearing aid::

 

Well, add in the exoskeleton, and yeah, that's the one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sept 19th... 1/2 of frost on my car windshield this morning.....

 

 

:: packs her suitcase and moves to the Bahamas::

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

is quite happy with his new Pelican laptop case, although the warranty doesn't cover Shark bite, bear attack or Children Under 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
is quite happy with his new Pelican laptop case, although the warranty doesn't cover Shark bite, bear attack or Children Under 5

 

 

Shark bites aren't covered?!?!? pfffff What kind of warranty is that ! I think you should really complain to the company ... What if you wanna go take a swim with your laptop in shark infested water?!

 

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Good heavens! Next you're going to tell me you didn't sign up for the suplemental Rabid Badger Coverage.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Good heavens! Next you're going to tell me you didn't sign up for the suplemental Rabid Badger Coverage.

 

I can always use the case to fight off the rabid badgers.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0