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.[src]
Starrick's Soothing Syrup was a concoction containing distilled opium and datura stramonium - Devil's snare - a powerful hallucinogen and deliriant,[1] that ravaged London's citizens during the 19th century.
History
Formulated by the Grand Master of the British Templars and businessman Crawford Starrick and produced by Dr. John Elliotson,[2] the Starrick's Soothing Syrup drug was exported internationally and locally by peddlers and merchants. Though the drug had multiple side-effects which caused the locals to complain, its production did not waver.[3]
Sometime in 1868, the Assassin Jacob Frye took it upon himself to investigate the source of the syrup.[3] Tracking down its distributors, Jacob was led to a distillation factory, where, along with the concerned scientist Charles Darwin, he discovered the drug's components and ingredients.[4]
The pair decided to sabotage the distillery tank by tampering with the pressure valves, causing the building to be filled with toxic gas.[4] The subsequent explosion dealt a heavy blow to the production of the syrup,[2] with Jacob's assassination of Elliotson at Lambeth Asylum ending it permanently.[5]
Gallery
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A drugged victim of the syrup
