Catching Some Z’s in Days of Yore

(NYTimes) - In one of the displays at the Folger Shakespeare Library a 17th-century manuscript interrupts its historical chronicle of bloodthirsty battles, hewn carcasses and sundered heads with a recipe for “a dormant drink”: a knockout potion. Perhaps the tale’s morbidity had been affecting the anonymous author, or maybe this potion, guaranteed to instill sleep for “2-daies,” just came to his mind as a perfect weapon against future enemies: you just slip ’em a Mickey. Continued

Photo: Library of Congress