Laudanum secretions ... to support the system ... [and] as a soporific". The limited pharmacopoeia of the day meant that opium derivatives were among the most effective of available treatments, so laudanum was widely prescribed for ailments from colds to meningitis to cardiac diseases, in both adults and children. Laudanum was used during the yellow fever epidemic. Innumerable Victorian women were prescribed the drug for relief of menstrual cramps and vague aches. Nurses also spoon-fed laudanum to infants. The Romantic and Victorian eras were marked by the widespread use of laudanum in Europe and the United States. Mary Todd Lincoln, for
Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay Botany Bay." The game is mentioned in Keble Howard's 1908 book "Miss Charity: A Tale From My Heart" The poet Mary Finnin has written a ballad entitled "Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay". Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay, commonly known as Here Comes an Old Soldier or just Old Soldier, is a nursery rhyme and children's game found in Australia, the United States, and the British Isles. The game and rhyme date to at least the late nineteenth century. <poem>Here comes an old soldier from Botany Bay,