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A partial ad showing prices per dose for Laudanum and information for another medication, Paregoric.
Newspaper ad for Laudanum. (Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr)

Laudanum increasingly becomes part of the physician's toolkit as a pain reliever.

1800s

MED
Newspaper ad for Laudanum. (Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr)

Early pain management brings physicians into the home. Prior to this, it was considered "poor taste" for a physician to profit from death and pain. With the invention of laudanum–an affordable and accessible form of pain management–the scope of medical care begins to shift. Physicians begin to see ending pain as a part of their responsibility.