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

Starrick's Soothing Syrup was a drug concoction made by the Starrick Brewing Company from distilled opium and the hallucinogen datura stramonium that ravaged London's citizens during the 19th century. Other ingredients included "special herbs" like Indian camphor, mint, basil, ginger, morphine, leeches, chemical, ^{[citation needed]} garlic, thyme, fatty oil, red pepper, and turpentine.

History

Formulated by the Grand Master of the British Templars and businessman Crawford Starrick and produced at the Starrick Brewing Company by order of Dr. John Elliotson in 1868, Starrick's Soothing Syrup 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.

Advertisements for the drug stated it could cure all diseases, 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

Sometime in 1868, the British Assassin Jacob Frye took it upon himself to investigate the source of the syrup. Tracking down its distributors, Jacob was led to a distillation factory, where, along with the concerned scientist Charles Darwin, he discovered some of the drug's components and ingredients.

The pair decided to sabotage the distillery tank by tampering with the 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

• 
  A drugged victim of the syrup

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate