Starrick's Soothing Syrup

"It's all he drinks, your syrup is liquefying him. It's turning him simple-headed!"

―A London citizen on the effects of Starrick's Soothing Syrup, 1868.

Starrick's Soothing Syrup logo

Starrick's Soothing Syrup was a drug concoction that the Starrick Brewing Company marketed as a panacea. In truth, the mix was a toxic blend that ravaged British citizens in London during the Victorian era, and only the British Assassins' intervention stopped its spread.

History

Formulated by the British Templars' Grand Master and businessman Crawford Starrick, the syrup was made by the Starrick Brewing Company in 1868 by order of Doctor John Elliotson, who prescribed initial dosages of 1 tsp in water every 4 hours for 3 days, then taking that same volume thrice daily until a bottle was emptied. Local peddlers and chemists sold the syrup for £1, loudly proclaiming its selling point as a cure-all for such conditions as "neuralgia, sprains, sore chest, the boils, scrofula, and scurvy," with print advertisements further touting that the drug could fix a multitude of afflictions, including:

"nervous system stimulation, insomnia, tremor, mydriasis, anxiety, agitation, hallucinations, seizures, palpitations, choleras, diarrhea, morbus, dysentery, tachycardia, liver, loss of appetite, hypertension, bradycardia, dysrhythmias, hypertensive crisis, intracerebral hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, psychoses, asthma, winter cough, toothache, [and] wheezing"

The syrup's low market price and its alleged wide-ranging healing properties facilitated its rise in popularity as the go-to "remedy" among the city's poor, and although they noticed and complained about its undeclared side-effects of user addiction and mental lethargy, syrup production continued. However, behind the mass-marketing, the reality was more disturbing. The mixture was primarily made from distilled opium and the hallucinogen datura stramonium. Its other ingredients were "Indian camphor, mint, [...] basil, ginger, leeches, chemical, garlic, thyme, fatty oil, red pepper [and] turpentine". Ads collectively and erroneously misclassified this ensemble as "special herbs", despite the fact that over half of them were not herbaceous plants. With the sole exception of thyme, whose oil contained the antiseptic compound thymol, the herbs had no medicinal properties though they all featured in the non-scientific alternative medicine practice of herbalism.

A bottle of Starrick's Soothing Syrup

Of particular concern was the addition of camphor and turpentine. Both non-timber forest products were also used in folk medicine—camphor was a decongestant while turpentine was for treating wounds, respectively—yet are toxic and potentially lethal when ingested: camphor can cause muscle spasms, vomiting, and seizures, while turpentine can actually cause tachycardia, will damage the renal system, and may lead to respiratory failure and chemical pneumonia. Despite these risks, no medical professionals questioned either compounds' inclusion in the syrup.

In 1868, the Assassin Jacob Frye took it upon himself to investigate the syrup's source. Tracking down its distributors, Jacob was led to a distillation factory in the Southwark borough, where, along with the concerned scientist Charles Darwin, he discovered some of the drug's ingredients. The pair decided to sabotage the distillery's tank by tampering with its pressure valves, causing the building to be filled with toxic gas. The subsequent explosion dealt a heavy blow to the syrup's mass production, with Jacob's assassination of Elliotson at Lambeth Asylum ending it permanently.

Gallery

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  A drugged victim of the syrup
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  A large-print ad for the syrup

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate