By FRANCIS THACKERAY
Saturday 08 August 2015
State-of-the-art forensic technology from South
Africa has been used to try and unravel the mystery
of what was smoked in tobacco pipes found in the
Stratford-upon-Avon garden of William
Shakespeare.
Residue from clay tobacco pipes more than 400
years old from the playwright’s garden were
analysed in Pretoria using a sophisticated technique
called gas chromatography mass spectrometry.
Chemicals from pipe bowls and stems which had
been excavated from Shakespeare' garden and
adjacent areas were identified and quantified
during the forensic study. The artefacts for the
study were on loan from the Shakespeare
Birthplace Trust.
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The gas technique is very sensitive to residues that
can be preserved in pipes even if they had been
smoked 400 years ago.
What were they smoking?
There were several kinds of tobacco in the 17th
century, including the North American Nicotiana
(from which we get nicotine), and cocaine
(Erythroxylum), which is obtained from Peruvian
coca leaves.
It has been claimed that Sir Francis Drake may
have brought coca leaves to England after his visit
to Peru, just as Sir Walter Raleigh had brought
“tobacco leaves” (Nicotiana) from Virginia in North
America.
In a recent issue of a Country Life magazine, Mark
Griffiths has stimulated great interest in John
Gerard’s Herbal, published in 1597 as a botanical
book which includes engraved images of several
people in the frontispiece . One of them (cited as
“The Fourth Man”) is identified by Griffiths as
William Shakespeare, but this identification is
questionable.
'The Fourth Man' in John Gerard's 'Herbal'
Possibly, the engraving represents Sir Francis
Drake, who knew Gerard.
Gerard’s Herbal refers to various kinds of “tobacco”
introduced to Europe by Drake and Raleigh in the
days of Shakespeare in Elizabethan England.
There certainly is a link between Drake and plants
from the New World, notably corn, the potato and
“tobacco”. Furthermore, one can associate Raleigh
with the introduction of “tobacco” to Europe from
North America (notably in the context of the tobacco
plant called Nicotiana, from Virginia and
elsewhere).
What we found
There was unquestionable evidence for the smoking
of coca leaves in early 17th century England, based
on chemical evidence from two pipes in the
Stratford-upon-Avon area.
Neither of the pipes with cocaine came from
Shakepeare’s garden. But four of the pipes with
cannabis did.
Results of this study (including 24 pipe fragments)
indicated cannabis in eight samples, nicotine in at
least one sample, and in two samples definite
evidence for Peruvian cocaine from coca leaves.
Shakespeare may have been aware of the
deleterious effects of cocaine as a strange
compound. Possibly, he preferred cannabis as a
weed with mind-stimulating properties.
These suggestions are based on the following
literary indications. In Sonnet 76, Shakespeare
writes about “invention in a noted weed”. This can
be interpreted to mean that Shakespeare was
willing to use “weed” (cannabis as a kind of
tobacco) for creative writing ("nvention".
In the same sonnet it appears that he would prefer
not to be associated with “compounds strange”,
which can be interpreted, at least potentially, to
mean “strange drugs” (possibly cocaine).
Sonnet 76 may relate to complex wordplay relating
in part to drugs (compounds and “weed”), and in
part to a style of writing, associated with clothing
("weeds" and literary compounds (words combined
to form one, as in the case of the word “Philsides”
from Philip Sidney).
Was Shakespeare high?
Chemical analyses of residues in early 17th-century
clay “tobacco pipes” have confirmed that a diversity
of plants was smoked in Europe. Literary analyses
and chemical science can be mutually beneficial,
bringing the arts and the sciences together in an
effort to better understand Shakespeare and his
contemporaries.
This has also begged the question whether the plays
of Shakespeare were performed in Elizabethan
England in a smoke-filled haze?
One can well imagine the scenario in which
Shakespeare performed his plays in the court of
Queen Elizabeth, in the company of Drake, Raleigh
and others who smoked clay pipes filled with
“tobacco”.
**
This piece is based on an article published in the South
African Journal of Science in July 2015.
Francis Thackeray is Phillip Tobias Chair in
Palaeoanthropology, Evolutionary Studies Institute
at University of the Witwatersrand .
SOURCE: www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/william-shakespeare-high-cannabis-marijuana-stoned-plays-hamlet-macbeth-romeo-juliet-stratford-10446510.html

Lol.. These people are looking for more ways to make igbo more acceptable.

ajf:
Lol.. These people are looking for more ways to make igbo more acceptable.

Nothing wrong with smoking pot . The goal here is to dispel the myth that marijuana users are ‘losers’ who lack motivation, and highlight the fact that they are typically productive and oftentimes quite successful.