imbecile and moron were archaic diagnoses (actual formal diagnoses) I forget which was the more severe, cretin also was, although cretinism is specifically the developmental delay caused by lack of iodine in the diet during childhood, which affects brain development, in adulthood, this instead leads to massive hypertrophy of the thyroid as it tries to compensate in order to synthesize sufficient thyroid hormone, resulting in goitre.)
These were current diagnoses in the 1700s and earlier, 'cretin' 'moron' and 'imbecile' being, at that time, medical diagnoses, they are actually in some antique medical books, titled 'the household physician' dating from that period. Part of my collection. Not sure what the books are worth (I have both editions, vols. I and II, including some handwitten notes on slips of paper inserted between the pages, such as recipes for cough syrups presumably penned by one of their former owners, a couple of hundred years prior to my coming into ownership of the books)
Not so sure as I'd ever sell them, but I'd love to know how much they were worth. If they turned out to be worth a fortune, then I would do, in order to outfit the lab with more equipment and buy more supplies, but they would have to be worth a pretty penny for me to part with them. Both of them are big, heavy leather-bound tomes with the first, un-written on page marble-printed in colored inks, and the edges of the paper likewise, so the latter can only be seen when the books are closed. Wouldn't surprise me at all if they are worth a bit, but I've never found out how much. Have asked antique stores to value them but none had any idea.
The things they used back then are pretty shocking, such as using HNO3 as a wash for piles, and recommendation to treat teething babies with 'grey mass', which is, essentially, metallic mercury finely divided by means of pounding it with chalk. Its full of quite fascinating history. Back in those days, they were using mercury in many forms, all manner of arsenicals, lead-based 'remedies', and more useful things such as recipes for laudanum and various other opium-based remedies, to make the laudanum taste better (it tastes like absolutely awful) and a few intriguing sedative-hypnotics that nearly zero research is available on to be found in the scientific literature, save for hand-me-down ancient accounts. In particular, sulfonal, trional and tetronal, alkylsulfone derivatives, that whilst seemingly quite effective, never to be used for prolonged periods, for they cause some manner of chemically induced porphyria-like blood disorder.
I'd give them a shot, although minding the above, in isolated dosages. And actually, the books themselves have at least one been helpful, as it put me right off trying the brominated homolog of chloral hydrate, which is listed in there, but with a warning that it is irritating to the stomach, and has absolutely, whilst active as a sedative-hypnotic, has absolutely bollocks all reason for its use ever to be justified. I paraphrase, mind you, since they didn't actually use the term 'bollocks all'
And when they give dosages for the administration of mercury, lead, antimony, arsenic derivatives and white phosphorus, 'no justification for its ever being used' is, to say the least, quite enough to have put me off ever making any bromal hydrate, unless for some reason in the future I should ever need it as a reactant in a synthesis/experiment. I'm sure as hell not taking any by mouth or any other route. And this considering back then they still enthusiastically used paraldehyde (its the trimer of acetaldehyde, conveniently thought of as half way between a nasty smelling toxic metabolite of alcohol, acetaldehyde in monomeric form, that is to say) in a fairly large part responsible for many of the nasty effects of a stinking bastard of a hangover, and the poison used in slug pellets (metaldehyde, which is a tetramer of acetaldehyde, and AFAIK kills slugs and snails by its being metabolized to acetaldehyde)
And they gave the stuff via injection too, although warning that a glass syringe had to be used, because paraldehyde melts plastic. One try (no I didn't shoot the stuff) is about ten tries more than it would take to put you off ever doing it again for the rest of your days. Quite honestly, the mercury, arsenicals or being stabbed in the eye with a red hot forked stick is a good deal more tempting.
Does give a few receipes for palatable oral preparations of diethyl ether though (which can be used for some pretty good drinks. I cam up with my own signature cocktail based on it, a lime soda, lime-juice and vodka-based take on a jagerbomb, only with ether floated in a little medicine cup, like one gets with many cough syrup bottles on the top, trapped between three split lime wedges, and with a generous layer of Bell's or Care+ brand codeine linctus, the one preserved/flavoured with chloroform on the bottom, to serve as a pleasant, aromatic-sweet tasting chaser on the bottom, with the lime soda (tesco own brand, with a bit of britvic lime cordial to strengthen the flavour and vodka/fresh lime juice mixture carefully floated atop the dense codeine syrup to avoid mixing them until time comes to serve. I christened it the 'manhattan project', a pun on the manhattan cocktail and the US nuclear program, since it has...quite a kick to it, shall we say
. Sugar free orange codeine syrup just doesn't work, the sweet, aromatic flavour of the small amount of chloroform in it as flavour or/and preservative gives the finished cocktail just the right, perfect balance of sweetness to suit the lime juice and vodka and balance out the ether.
(another neat little appetizer to go with it, is Gee's linctus, gently simmered down to the consistency of a chewy toffee and made into candies
)
As for me right now-just found 110mg IR oxy, and plugged 80-90 of that plus a bit of morphine and some scraps of dibutrylmorphine. Currently feeling a nice warm glow, itching a fair bit and have a huge craving for a rollup, before I go back to playing fallout II.
There is one problem with eschewing street dealers though and that is I have no connects for weed of any kind, and I miss a good blaze. Especially hash. But either bud or hash..the only bud I can now get hold of is the kind that comes in bottles and is a carbonated beverage with a slight alcohol content
