Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A drug consisting of the concreted milky juice of several species of Lactuca. The species are L. virosa, L. Scariola, L. sagittata (altissima), and L. sativa, the garden-lettuce. It is regarded as possessing (in an inferior degree) the properties of opium, and can be safely used where the latter cannot; but it is uncertain in action. It is produced in some quantity in several European countries.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The inspissated juice of the common lettuce, sometimes used as a substitute for opium.
Etymologies
- Modern Latin, from Latin lactūca ("lettuce") (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Lettuce contains 'lactucarium' which makes you feel sleepy!”
“Samorini tested the phytochemicals present in the latex, or lactucarium, with a series of experiments, and discovered that lettuce has a double, opposite effect, depending on the dose.”
“Subsequently, sales fell, some suppliers of real lactucarium went out of business, and the fad all but disappeared.”
“Most of these newer brands were made from ordinary garden lettuce, which lacked the intoxicating lactucarium.”
“Although lactucarium is structurally unrelated to the opiates, it will still soothe irritating cough, ease minor pains, and help induce sleep, hence its more common name of 'lettuce opium.”
“A similar _lactucarium_, got from the dried milk of the cultivated garden Lettuce, is so mild a sedative as to be suitable for restless infants; and two grains thereof may be safely given to a young child for soothing it to sleep.”
“When the milky juice has been thickened (_lactucarium_), it is sometimes used as”
“Orfila found the extract equal in power and energy to that of lactucarium.”
“Among the narcotics, which include opium and its derivatives, there is lactucarium, the smokable extract derived from Lactuca Virosa. ”
“Consider the case of lactucarium, which never caught on as a modern opium substitute because either so mild or so inconsistent in quality that people thought it was a fake.”
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