The Horrific Truth Behind the Georgian Gin and Opium Craze

Comments · 884

• ST

  @stringofpearls4551 · 6 months ago

  I've never forgotten this, from Charles Dickens in 1835: " Gin-drinking is a great vice in England, but wretchedness and dirt are a greater; and until you improve the homes of the poor, or persuade a half-famished wretch not to seek relief in the temporary oblivion of his own misery, with the pittance which, divided among his family, would furnish a morsel of bread for each, gin-shops will increase in number and splendour. If Temperance Societies would suggest an antidote against hunger, filth, and foul air, or could establish dispensaries for the gratuitous distribution of bottles of Lethe- water, gin-palaces would be numbered among the things that were "(Sketches by Boz, p. 182-187).

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• SC

  @scarybaldguy · 6 months ago

  "In the interest of history" is Kate's version of FOR SCIENCE.

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• JY

  @Jynxxxycat · 6 months ago

  To this day, when you see a once booming high street lined with pawn, fast cash, and betting shops, you know it's going down the tubes.

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• MS

  @MsSteelphoenix · 6 months ago

  You can''t deny that the iron-rich (and other minerals) water at Bath probably did help people feel better, considering the amount of deficiency diseases that existed in that day and age.

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• NE

  @neko-chan6145 · 6 months ago

  Dr. Lister is so enjoyable. She is a great presenter

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• DA

  @Darkness-6655 · 6 months ago

  We need more episodes with Dr lister and Eleanor together!

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• JE

  @jeno264 · 6 months ago

  'chewy water' 😂😂 I might pass..

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• ST

  @steve20118 · 6 months ago

  Anyone who says life was simpler in the old days, has forgotten about the life changing discovery of Penicillin.

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• LO

  @LostInSpace175 · 6 months ago

  "for history!!!" lmao i love Dr. Lister 🤣

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• BR

  @brl6002 · 6 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMPyQ25XQ4E&amp;t=1698">28:18</a> I wonder if the waters became known as a &quot;cure-all&quot; because of their effect on iron deficit anemia.

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• SO

  @soanedewinter1474 · 6 months ago

  Gin historian? Well I’ve just found out what I want to be when I grow up!

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• TH

  @therealjerseydevil · 6 months ago (edited)

  Imagine an entire wedge of society chronically wreaked on Gin and Laudenum.Imagin gin being cheaper than beer and the effects that it had on London&apos;s lower classes.Oh my my my my. Then, the wealthier folks were all juiced up on Laudinum...oh my goodness, imagine that LOL . I have always been fond of &nbsp;Hogarth&apos;s paintings tho ....omg. He nailed the issues of society in a way that words may well have missed. Interesting artist.

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