Page 107 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

2
strong befuddlement’ (cited in Pawlina 2023,
172).
As per other fragments regarding this sub-
ject in the Serai Enderum, Wojciech Bobo-
wski only mentioned, before the passage above
(Pawlina 2023, 122): ‘Odabaşı checks their [pag-
es’] coffers. He opens them and looks for forbid-
den herbs, coffee, tobacco and love letters.’
However, we must mention that Wojciech
Bobowski also wrote pharmaceutical prescrip-
tions on the marginalia of the London copy
of Mecmua-i Saz ü Söz (MS BL–Sloane 3114)
which were studied by Burcu Şen Utsukarçi and 107
Gökçe Toprak (2018).
For instance, in Prescription 8, opium is
mentioned among more than eleven drugs, prob-
ably for rheumatic diseases (Şen-Utsukarçi and
Toprak 2018, 199), but in Prescription 12 mikdar
afyon (opium) was the only component and it
was recommended against haemorrhoids. Wo-
jciech Bobowski revealed, ‘In anal fissure bleed-
ing, some opium paste is applied in the anus
while the patient lies. Be patient with his pain.
This process is repeated three times in succes-
sion and the healing is soon observed’ (Şen-Ut-
sukarçi and Toprak 2018, 204). There is still re-
search needed to understand how this literary Figure 4: Front page of The Penny Magazine v. 9: 509,
evidence developed until the proliferation of 1840, covering opium smuggling in China and depicting Exploring Cannabis and Opium in Post-Medieval Portugal and Related Nations
Chinese opium pipes in the nineteenth century the city of Macao (University of Michigan, https://hdl
(Duco 1997). .handle.net/2027/mdp.39015013149631?urlappend
More recently, archaeotoxicological analy- =%3Bseq=101%3Bownerid=13510798897178390-113)
sis of brain and bone tissue from patients treat-
ed at Milan’s Ospedale Maggiore confirmed the The study of opium’s role in early modern
administration of opiates in the seventeenth Europe reveals a complex cultural and medical
century. Founded in 1456, the hospital became narrative. From Indian amfião and Paracelsus’s
a model for medical institutions across Italy and laudanum to the Ottoman court usage, opi-
Europe (Giordano et al. 2023), including the pre- um was deeply embedded in diverse practices
viously mentioned Portugal’s Royal Hospital de of healing, ritual, and pleasure. However, by the
Todos-os-Santos founded in 1492. However, as nineteenth century, particularly during the Opi-
for the practice of smoking opium, evidence re- um Wars, its status quo had manifestly shifted.
mains scarce in Europe. One notable exception is What was once a medical and mystical substance
a study of alleged opium-related pipes discovered became entangled in imperial trade conflicts and
in Eastern Europe, dated to the eighteenth and global politics (Delalande and Delalande 2011,
nineteenth centuries (Mitrevski 2015, 35–36). 46–59). The smuggling of opium through Ma-
2 This translation was kindly made available by Dr. Agata Pawlina who studied and translated the original version of A. Bobovio.
1665. Serai Enderum […]. (MS Harley 3409, Western Manuscripts Collection, British Library).