Works of Fitz Hugh Ludlow

• The Apocalypse of Hasheesh

  This essay, published anonymously in Putnam's Monthly Magazine in December, 1856, is Ludlow's first published work that references cannabis. "In returning from the world of hasheesh," he writes, "I bring with me many and diverse memories. The echoes of a sublime rapture which thrilled and vibrated on the very edge of pain; of Promethean agonies which wrapt the soul like a mantle of fire; of voluptuous delirium which suffused the body with a blush of exquisite languor - all are mine."

• The Hasheesh Eater

  A full-length book of some thirty chapters, published in 1857, describing Ludlow's introduction to, captivation by, and escape from "hasheesh," and the visions and insights that compelled his attention, alternatingly delighting and terrifying him.

• Excerpts from "John Heathburn's Title"

  This story, published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in February, 1864, is the story of a man who becomes addicted to alcohol and opiates, falls into miserable degeneracy, but is cured through substitution therapy with cannabis. Chapter three and excerpts from chapter four are included here in hypertext form. You can also read the complete story from the "Making of America" image archive:

  • part one (chapters 1-3)
  • part two (chapters 4-8)

• What Shall They Do to Be Saved?

  This essay, published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in August, 1867, is Ludlow's vivid description of the post-Civil War epidemic of opiate addiction. The addict, says Ludlow, "is a proper subject, not for reproof, but for medical treatment."

• Outlines of the Opium Cure

  "What Shall They Do To Be Saved?" was included in the book The Opium Habit (1868) by Horace Day, and that author asked Ludlow to expand on his original thoughts. Ludlow responded with this essay in which he painted a picture in words of an ideal, perhaps utopian, medical facility for treating opiate addicts.

• Letter to the Easy Chair

  A letter to the editor of Harper's New Monthly Magazine published at the end of Ludlow's life, and announcing that a cure for opiate addiction may have been found.

• Selected poems of Fitz Hugh Ludlow

  Ludlow's poems have never before been collected. This collection is extensively footnoted with reference to alternate versions and to the handwritten versions from his sister's notebook.

• "E Pluribus Unum"

  This essay, published in The Galaxy in November, 1866, summarizes the state of pre-relativistic physics and makes some guesses as to where things are going. "[B]ecause our only cognitions of matter are cognitions of force, matter in the scientific sense is force."

• "If Massa put Guns into our Han's"

  Published in The Atlantic Monthly in April, 1865, this is Ludlow's only published commentary on slavery. In this article he tells the stories of slaves he has met, and ridicules the Confederacy's threat to arm their slaves and send them into combat against the Union.

• "Our Queer Papa: A Case of Organic Affection"

  A story from the November 1858 edition of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.

• "The Loan of a Lyre"

  A story from the December 1858 edition of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.

• "Ransom of a Heritage"

  A story from the January 1859 edition of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.

• "The Phial of Dread: By An Analytic Chemist"

  This story, published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, November, 1859, concerns a woman who kills herself in the lab of a chemist, who uses the tools at his disposal to destroy the body in fear that otherwise he will be accused of murder. The distilled essence of the body continues to haunt him, however, to the very end.

• "Regular Habits"

  A story from the December 1859 edition of Harper's new monthly magazine.

• "Little Brother"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine

  • part one, February 1860
  • part two, March 1860
  • part three, April 1860

• "The Century Plant"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, June 1860.

• "Cruise of the Two Deacons"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine

  • part one, July 1860
  • part two, August 1860
  • part three, September 1860

• "My Velvet Shoes"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, November 1860.

• "The Taxidermist"

  This story, published in The Knickerbocker Magazine in January, 1861, deals with love, ambition, and a woman who is reincarnated as a marmoset.

• "The Primpenny Family"

  A story in several chapters from Vanity Fair in 1861:

  • Chapter I
  • Chapter II
  • Chapter III
  • Chapter IV
  • Chapter V
  • Chapter VI
  • Chapter VII
  • Chapter VIII
  • Chapter IX
  • Chapter X
  • Chapter XI
  • Chapter XII
  • Chapter XIII
  • Chapter XIV

• "Thrown Together"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, July 1861.

• "The Music-Essence"

  This story, from The New York Commerical Advertiser, December, 1861, concerns a deaf woman determined to experience the beauty of music, and her husband, who invents ways of converting the musical scale into the visible spectrum in order to make this possible.

• "Drawn Game"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, March 1862.

• "The Battle and Triumph of Dr. Susan"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine

  • part one, August 1863
  • part two, August 1863

• "Among the Mormons"

  A travel article from The Atlantic Monthly, April 1864.

• "Seven Weeks in the Great Yo-Semite"

  A travel article from The Atlantic Monthly, June 1864.

• "On Horseback into Oregon"

  A travel article from The Atlantic Monthly, July 1864.

• "Through Tickets to San Francisco"

  A travel article from The Atlantic Monthly, November 1864.

• "On the Columbia River"

  A travel article from The Atlantic Monthly, December 1864.

• "The American Metropolis"

  A discussion of the history of New York City, from The Atlantic Monthly, January 1865.

• Harriet Hosmer's Zenobia

  A sculpure review from The Atlantic Monthly, February 1865.

• "An International Affair"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine

  • part one, January 1866
  • part two, February 1866

• "The Gray Jockey"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, March 1866.

• "A Result of the Lambeth Casual"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, September 1866.

• "A Brace of Boys"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, March 1867.

• "A Reformed Ring Man"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, August 1867.

• "Pairing Off"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, September 1867.

• "Uncle George"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, May 1868.

• "Draw Your Own Conclusions"

  A story from Harper's new monthly magazine, August 1869.