Laudanum was used for digestion problems, aches, insomnia, anxiety etc. but then, the whole 18th Century medication system was so horrible, that many people tried to avoid doctors alltogether. Bloodletting to cure fever killed a lot of people. (They also used mummy powder, for any health problem, which sounds really weird.)
Drug addiction became topic of public discussion somewhere during 19th Century and was considered to be a problem amongst neurotic, lonely, middle aged women. People also gave laudanum to babies to keep them quiet, which caused loss of appetite and made some people to be addicted most of their lives.
18th Century is famous for tea, coffee and hot chocolat, which were really trendy. Of course I'm biased here (I'm teetotaller) but I'd think, that they drank less alcohol than earlier generations. (17th Century diet would kill us all in few weeks)Compared to earlier centuries the prefered behaviour was calm and rational, and you cannot really stay that way if you drink only beer or wine the whole day.
Most of the people of course drank water more than anything else. In cities it was considered unclean (with good reason) but most of the people lived on countryside.
So the "safer than water" means city life and medical opinions of those days that banned also all vegetables as dangerous. If you lived in a hut near the woods, like 99% of people in any nation those days, there were clean streams and wells. People also washed themselves with water in countryside, but not in cities...
no subject
Drug addiction became topic of public discussion somewhere during 19th Century and was considered to be a problem amongst neurotic, lonely, middle aged women. People also gave laudanum to babies to keep them quiet, which caused loss of appetite and made some people to be addicted most of their lives.
18th Century is famous for tea, coffee and hot chocolat, which were really trendy. Of course I'm biased here (I'm teetotaller) but I'd think, that they drank less alcohol than earlier generations. (17th Century diet would kill us all in few weeks)Compared to earlier centuries the prefered behaviour was calm and rational, and you cannot really stay that way if you drink only beer or wine the whole day.
Most of the people of course drank water more than anything else. In cities it was considered unclean (with good reason) but most of the people lived on countryside.
So the "safer than water" means city life and medical opinions of those days that banned also all vegetables as dangerous. If you lived in a hut near the woods, like 99% of people in any nation those days, there were clean streams and wells. People also washed themselves with water in countryside, but not in cities...