title: Hector Berlioz and other famous artists with opium abuse.
abstract: The effect of opium on the creativity and productivity of a famous composer of classical music, an essayist, and poets including Hector Berlioz, Thomas De Quincy, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Jean Cocteau, is described. Opium is a narcotic drug prepared from the juice of the unripe seed capsules of the opium poppy. It contains alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine. Medically it is used to relieve pain and produce sleep. It is used as an intoxicant. Alcohol and opium were commonly relied on in the 19th century, especially by artists, to stimulate creativity and relieve stress. These artists described the effect of opium on their creativity and productivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Veterans Administration Health Science Medical Center, University of California at San Diego, Director of Autopsy, Hematology and Coagulation Laboratory, Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Diego, Calif., USA.
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005197:Famous Persons; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D009146:Music / Q000266:history*; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000266:history*