Laudanum recipe

'In the 1660s, the English physician Thomas Sydenham, once hailed as "the Shakespeare of medecine," claimed to have found a wonder drug. His laudanum, he boasted, was an unrivaled "cordial." Made from a pint of sherry or Canary wine, its chief added ingredients were saffron, cinnamon, and cloves, beefed up with a two-ounce slug of opium. For a long time Sydenham's laudanum was immensely popular with his fellow physicians. The spiced opiate was regularly prescriped for restless children nervous orators, light sleepers, pregnant women, a string of prime ministers and their wives, poets and artists. It helped them sleep, brought relief from pain, and made them feel terrific.'

-- Jack Turner, Spice: The History of a Temptation, p. 306 (galleys)