Following the description of the structure and activity of scopolamine by Ladenburg, the search for synthetic analogues, and methods for total synthesis, of scopolamine and atropine in the 1930s and 1940s resulted in the discovery of diphenhydramine, an early antihistamine and the prototype of its chemical subclass of these drugs, and pethidine, the first fully synthetic opioid analgesic, known as Dolantin and Demerol amongst many other trade names.In 1899, a Dr. Schneiderlin recommended the use of scopolamine and morphine for surgical anaesthesia, and it started to be used sporadically for that purpose. The use of this combination in obstetric anesthesiology was first proposed by Richard von Steinbuchel in 1902 and was picked up and further developed by Carl Gauss in Freiburg, Germany, starting in 1903. The method came to be known as Dämmerschlaf ("twilight sleep") or the "Freiburg method". It spread rather slowly, and different clinics experimented with different dosages and ingredients; in 1915, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported, "the method [was] really still in a state of development". It remained widely used in the US until the 1960s, when growing chemophobia and a desire for more natural childbirth led to its abandonment. Society and culture
Names
Hyoscine hydrobromide is the international nonproprietary name, and scopolamine hydrobromide is the United States Adopted Name. Other names include levo-duboisine, devils breath, and burundanga.
Historically, the various plants that produce scopolamine have been used psychoactively for spiritual and magical purposes. When entheogenic preparations of these plants were used, scopolamine was considered to be the main psychoactive compound and was largely responsible for the hallucinogenic effects, particularly when the preparation was made into a topical ointment (most notably flying ointment). Scopolamine is reported to be the only active alkaloid within these plants that can effectively be absorbed through the skin to cause effects. Different recipes for these ointments were explored in European witchcraft at least as far back as the Early Modern period and included multiple ingredients to help with the transdermal absorption of scopolamine (such as animal fat), as well as other possible ingredients to counteract its noxious and dysphoric effects.In Christianity, although not explicitly designated for ritualistic or spiritual use; in the Bible there are multiple mentions of Mandrake which is a psychoactive and hallucinogenic plant root that contains scopolamine. It was associated with fertility power and (sexual) desire where it was yearned for by Rachel, who apparently was "barren" (infertile) but trying to conceive. Interrogation
The effects of scopolamine were studied for use as a truth serum in interrogations in the early 20th century, but because of the side effects, investigations were dropped. In 2009, the Czechoslovak state security secret police were proven to have used scopolamine at least three times to obtain confessions from alleged antistate dissidents.