The origins of Shakespeare’s sleeping potions
SIR – Shakespeare would have had no need to use the venom of a puffer fish as inspiration for the sleeping potion given to Juliet by Friar Lawrence in Act 4, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet, as a much likelier candidate is close at hand (“The Bard was dead wrong about Cleopatra snakebite”, report, June 11).
Both Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade) and Scopolia carniolica are in the botanical family Solanaceae, and have a variety of effects when ingested including producing a profound and long-lasting sleep, rightly described by Shakespeare as being “like death”.
They grow in Europe and evidence of their use is found in ancient texts including the Bible, for example in the story of the raising of Lazarus, and, more controversially, Christ’s resurrection.
Today, many will be familiar with the drugs’ other effects, as until recently the active principle, scopolamine, was marketed as Kwells and used to prevent motion sickness.
As a retired anaesthetist, I have often used scopolamine to calm the pre-operative nerves of both adults and children, and have long felt that Shakespeare’s description is so accurate that it must have been based on personal experience.
Dr AJ Carter
Stoke-on-trent, Staffordshire