title: Mark Twain

text: In the late 1890s, he spoke to the Savage Club in London and was elected an honorary member. He was told that only three men had been so honored, including the Prince of Wales, and he replied: "Well, it must make the Prince feel mighty fine." He visited Melbourne and Sydney in 1895 as part of a world lecture tour. In 1897, he spoke to the Concordia Press Club in Vienna as a special guest, following the diplomat Charlemagne Tower, Jr. He delivered the speech ""Die Schrecken der Deutschen Sprache"" ("The Horrors of the German Language")—in German—to the great amusement of the audience. In 1901, he was invited to speak at Princeton University's Cliosophic Literary Society, where he was made an honorary member.


title: Mark Twain

text: In 1881, Twain was honored at a banquet in Montreal, Canada where he made reference to securing a copyright. In 1883, he paid a brief visit to Ottawa, and he visited Toronto twice in 1884 and 1885 on a reading tour with George Washington Cable, known as the "Twins of Genius" tour.


title: Mark Twain

text: The reason for the Toronto visits was to secure Canadian and British copyrights for his upcoming book "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", to which he had alluded in his Montreal visit. The reason for the Ottawa visit had been to secure Canadian and British copyrights for "Life on the Mississippi". Publishers in Toronto had printed unauthorized editions of his books at the time, before an international copyright agreement was established in 1891. These were sold in the United States as well as in Canada, depriving him of royalties. He estimated that Belford Brothers' edition of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" alone had cost him ten thousand dollars (). He had unsuccessfully attempted to secure the rights for "The Prince and the Pauper" in 1881, in conjunction with his Montreal trip. Eventually, he received legal advice to register a copyright in Canada (for both Canada and Britain) prior to publishing in the United States, which would restrain the Canadian publishers from printing a version when the American edition was published. There was a requirement that a copyright be registered to a Canadian resident; he addressed this by his short visits to the country.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain lived in his later years at 14 West 10th Street in Manhattan. He passed through a period of deep depression which began in 1896 when his daughter Susy died of meningitis. Olivia's death in 1904 and Jean's on December 24, 1909, deepened his gloom. On May 20, 1909, his close friend Henry Rogers died suddenly.


title: Mark Twain

text: In April 1906, he heard that his friend Ina Coolbrith had lost nearly all that she owned in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and he volunteered a few autographed portrait photographs to be sold for her benefit. To further aid Coolbrith, George Wharton James visited Twain in New York and arranged for a new portrait session. He was resistant initially, but he eventually admitted that four of the resulting images were the finest ones ever taken of him. In September, Twain started publishing chapters from his autobiography in the "North American Review". The same year, Charlotte Teller, a writer living with her grandmother at 3 Fifth Avenue, began an acquaintanceship with him which "lasted several years and may have included romantic intentions" on his part.


title: Mark Twain

text: In 1906 Twain formed the Angel Fish and Aquarium Club, for girls whom he viewed as surrogate granddaughters. Its dozen or so members ranged in age from 10 to 16. He exchanged letters with his "Angel Fish" girls and invited them to concerts and the theatre and to play games. Twain wrote in 1908 that the club was his "life's chief delight". In 1907, he met Dorothy Quick (aged 11) on a transatlantic crossing, beginning "a friendship that was to last until the very day of his death".


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) by Yale University in 1901. Then in 1902, the Doctor of Law by the University of Missouri, Oxford University would also award him the Doctorate of Law in 1907.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's prediction was eerily accurate; he died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910, in Stormfield, one day after the comet's closest approach to Earth.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's funeral was at the Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue, New York. He is buried in his wife's family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York. The Langdon family plot is marked by a 12-foot monument (two fathoms, or "mark twain") placed there by his surviving daughter Clara. There is also a smaller headstone. He expressed a preference for cremation (for example, in "Life on the Mississippi"), but he acknowledged that his surviving family would have the last word.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain began his career writing light, humorous verse, but he became a chronicler of the vanities, hypocrisies, and murderous acts of mankind. At mid-career, he combined rich humor, sturdy narrative, and social criticism in "Huckleberry Finn". He was a master of rendering colloquial speech and helped to create and popularize a distinctive American literature built on American themes and language.


title: Mark Twain

text: Many of his works have been suppressed at times for various reasons. The "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been repeatedly restricted in American high schools, not least for its frequent use of the word "nigger", a slur commonly used for Black people in the nineteenth century.


title: Mark Twain

text: A complete bibliography of Twain's works is nearly impossible to compile because of the vast number of pieces he wrote (often in obscure newspapers) and his use of several different pen names. Additionally, a large portion of his speeches and lectures have been lost or were not recorded; thus, the compilation of Twain's works is an ongoing process. Researchers rediscovered published material as recently as 1995 and 2015.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was writing for the Virginia City newspaper the "Territorial Enterprise" in 1863 when he met lawyer Tom Fitch, editor of the competing newspaper "Virginia Daily Union" and known as the "silver-tongued orator of the Pacific". He credited Fitch with giving him his "first really profitable lesson" in writing. "When I first began to lecture, and in my earlier writings," Twain later commented, "my sole idea was to make comic capital out of everything I saw and heard." In 1866, he presented his lecture on the Sandwich Islands to a crowd in Washoe City, Nevada. Afterwards, Fitch told him:


title: Mark Twain

text: Clemens, your lecture was magnificent. It was eloquent, moving, sincere. Never in my entire life have I listened to such a magnificent piece of descriptive narration. But you committed one unpardonable sin – the unpardonable sin. It is a sin you must never commit again. You closed a most eloquent description, by which you had keyed your audience up to a pitch of the intensest interest, with a piece of atrocious anti-climax which nullified all the really fine effect you had produced.


title: Mark Twain

text: It was in these days that Twain became a writer of the Sagebrush School; he was known later as its most famous member. His first important work was "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," published in the "New York Saturday Press" on November 18, 1865. After a burst of popularity, the "Sacramento Union" commissioned him to write letters about his travel experiences. The first journey that he took for this job was to ride the steamer "Ajax" on its maiden voyage to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). All the while, he was writing letters to the newspaper that were meant for publishing, chronicling his experiences with humor. These letters proved to be the genesis to his work with the San Francisco "Alta California" newspaper, which designated him a traveling correspondent for a trip from San Francisco to New York City via the Panama isthmus.


title: Mark Twain

text: On June 8, 1867, he set sail on the pleasure cruiser "Quaker City" for five months, and this trip resulted in "The Innocents Abroad or The New Pilgrims' Progress". In 1872, he published his second piece of travel literature, "Roughing It", as an account of his journey from Missouri to Nevada, his subsequent life in the American West, and his visit to Hawaii. The book lampoons American and Western society in the same way that "Innocents" critiqued the various countries of Europe and the Middle East. His next work was "", his first attempt at writing a novel. The book, written with his neighbor Charles Dudley Warner, is also his only collaboration.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's next work drew on his experiences on the Mississippi River. "Old Times on the Mississippi" was a series of sketches published in the "Atlantic Monthly" in 1875 featuring his disillusionment with Romanticism. "Old Times" eventually became the starting point for "Life on the Mississippi".


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's next major publication was "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", which draws on his youth in Hannibal. Tom Sawyer was modeled on Twain as a child, with traces of schoolmates John Briggs and Will Bowen. The book also introduces Huckleberry Finn in a supporting role, based on Twain's boyhood friend Tom Blankenship.


title: Mark Twain

text: "The Prince and the Pauper" was not as well received, despite a storyline that is common in film and literature today. The book tells the story of two boys born on the same day who are physically identical, acting as a social commentary as the prince and pauper switch places. Twain had started "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (which he consistently had problems completing) and had completed his travel book "A Tramp Abroad", which describes his travels through central and southern Europe.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's next major published work was the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", which confirmed him as a noteworthy American writer. Some have called it the first Great American Novel, and the book has become required reading in many schools throughout the United States. "Huckleberry Finn" was an offshoot from "Tom Sawyer" and had a more serious tone than its predecessor. Four hundred manuscript pages were written in mid-1876, right after the publication of "Tom Sawyer". The last fifth of "Huckleberry Finn" is subject to much controversy. Some say that Twain experienced a "failure of nerve," as critic Leo Marx puts it. Ernest Hemingway once said of "Huckleberry Finn":


title: Mark Twain

text: If you read it, you must stop where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating.


title: Mark Twain

text: Near the completion of "Huckleberry Finn", Twain wrote "Life on the Mississippi", which is said to have heavily influenced the novel. The travel work recounts Twain's memories and new experiences after a 22-year absence from the Mississippi River. In it, he also explains that "Mark Twain" was the call made when the boat was in safe water, indicating a depth of two (or twain) fathoms ().


title: Mark Twain

text: The McDowell's cave—now known as Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, Missouri, and frequently mentioned in Twain's book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"—has "Sam Clemens", Twain's real name, engraved on the wall by Twain himself.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain produced President Ulysses S. Grant's "Memoirs" through his fledgling publishing house, Charles L. Webster & Company, which he co-owned with Charles L. Webster, his nephew by marriage.


title: Mark Twain

text: At this time he also wrote "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed" for "The Century Magazine". This piece detailed his two-week stint in a Confederate militia during the Civil War. He next focused on "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", written with the same historical fiction style as "The Prince and the Pauper". "A Connecticut Yankee" showed the absurdities of political and social norms by setting them in the court of King Arthur. The book was started in December 1885, then shelved a few months later until the summer of 1887, and eventually finished in the spring of 1889.


title: Mark Twain

text: His next large-scale work was "Pudd'nhead Wilson", which he wrote rapidly, as he was desperately trying to stave off bankruptcy. From November 12 to December 14, 1893, Twain wrote 60,000 words for the novel. Critics have pointed to this rushed completion as the cause of the novel's rough organization and constant disruption of the plot. This novel also contains the tale of two boys born on the same day who switch positions in life, like "The Prince and the Pauper". It was first published serially in "Century Magazine" and, when it was finally published in book form, "Pudd'nhead Wilson" appeared as the main title; however, the "subtitles" make the entire title read: "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy of The Extraordinary Twins".


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's next venture was a work of straight fiction that he called "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" and dedicated to his wife. He had long said that this was the work that he was most proud of, despite the criticism that he received for it. The book had been a dream of his since childhood, and he claimed that he had found a manuscript detailing the life of Joan of Arc when he was an adolescent. This was another piece that he was convinced would save his publishing company. His financial adviser Henry Huttleston Rogers quashed that idea and got Twain out of that business altogether, but the book was published nonetheless.


title: Mark Twain

text: To pay the bills and keep his business projects afloat, Twain had begun to write articles and commentary furiously, with diminishing returns, but it was not enough. He filed for bankruptcy in 1894. During this time of dire financial straits, he published several literary reviews in newspapers to help make ends meet. He famously derided James Fenimore Cooper in his article detailing Cooper's "Literary Offenses". He became an extremely outspoken critic of other authors and other critics; he suggested that, before praising Cooper's work, Thomas Lounsbury, Brander Matthews, and Wilkie Collins "ought to have read some of it".


title: Mark Twain

text: George Eliot, Jane Austen, and Robert Louis Stevenson also fell under Twain's attack during this time period, beginning around 1890 and continuing until his death. He outlines what he considers to be "quality writing" in several letters and essays, in addition to providing a source for the "tooth and claw" style of literary criticism. He places emphasis on concision, utility of word choice, and realism; he complains, for example, that Cooper's "Deerslayer" purports to be realistic but has several shortcomings. Ironically, several of his own works were later criticized for lack of continuity ("Adventures of Huckleberry Finn") and organization ("Pudd'nhead Wilson").


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's wife died in 1904 while the couple were staying at the Villa di Quarto in Florence. After some time had passed he published some works that his wife, his "de facto" editor and censor throughout her married life, had looked down upon. "The Mysterious Stranger" is perhaps the best known, depicting various visits of Satan to earth. This particular work was not published in Twain's lifetime. His manuscripts included three versions, written between 1897 and 1905: the so-called Hannibal, Eseldorf, and Print Shop versions. The resulting confusion led to extensive publication of a jumbled version, and only recently have the original versions become available as Twain wrote them.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's last work was his autobiography, which he dictated and thought would be most entertaining if he went off on whims and tangents in non-chronological order. Some archivists and compilers have rearranged the biography into a more conventional form, thereby eliminating some of Twain's humor and the flow of the book. The first volume of the autobiography, over 736 pages, was published by the University of California in November 2010, 100 years after his death, as Twain wished. It soon became an unexpected best-seller, making Twain one of a very few authors publishing new best-selling volumes in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's works have been subjected to censorship efforts. According to Stuart (2013), "Leading these banning campaigns, generally, were religious organizations or individuals in positions of influence – not so much working librarians, who had been instilled with that American "library spirit" which honored intellectual freedom (within bounds of course)". In 1905, the Brooklyn Public Library banned both "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" from the children's department because of their language.


title: Mark Twain

text: Mark Twain lived for two decades in a house in Hartford, Connecticut (1871-1891), and the American Publishing Company in that city published the first edition of several of his books. The same can be said about a number of New York-based companies, such as Harper & Brothers and his nephew's Charles L. Webster and Company. Other memorable editions were created by The Ash Ranch Press of San Diego and Barry Moser's Pennyroyal Press.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's views became more radical as he grew older. In a letter to friend and fellow writer William Dean Howells in 1887, he acknowledged that his views had changed and developed over his lifetime, referring to one of his favorite works:


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was a staunch supporter of technological progress and commerce. He was against welfare measures, because he believed that society in the "business age" is governed by "exact and constant" laws that should not be "interfered with for the accommodation of any individual or political or religious faction". He opined that "there is no good government at all & none possible". In the opinion of Washington University professor Guy A. Cardwell:


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain wrote glowingly about unions in the river boating industry in "Life on the Mississippi", which was read in union halls decades later. He supported the labor movement, especially one of the most important unions, the Knights of Labor. In a speech to them, he said:


title: Mark Twain

text: Before 1899, Twain was an ardent imperialist. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, he spoke out strongly in favor of American interests in the Hawaiian Islands. He said the war with Spain in 1898 was "the worthiest" war ever fought. In 1899, however, he reversed course. In the "New York Herald", October 16, 1900, Twain describes his transformation and political awakening, in the context of the Philippine–American War, to anti-imperialism:


title: Mark Twain

text: During the Boxer Rebellion, Twain said that "the Boxer is a patriot. He loves his country better than he does the countries of other people. I wish him success."


title: Mark Twain

text: From 1901, soon after his return from Europe, until his death in 1910, Twain was vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, which opposed the annexation of the Philippines by the United States and had "tens of thousands of members". He wrote many political pamphlets for the organization. The "Incident in the Philippines", posthumously published in 1924, was in response to the Moro Crater Massacre, in which six hundred Moros were killed. Many of his neglected and previously uncollected writings on anti-imperialism appeared for the first time in book form in 1992.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was critical of imperialism in other countries as well. In "Following the Equator", Twain expresses "hatred and condemnation of imperialism of all stripes". He was highly critical of European imperialists such as Cecil Rhodes and King Leopold II of Belgium, both of whom attempted to establish colonies on the African continent during the Scramble for Africa. "King Leopold's Soliloquy" is a political satire about his private colony, the Congo Free State. Reports of outrageous exploitation and grotesque abuses led to widespread international outcry in the early 1900s, arguably the first large-scale human rights movement. In the soliloquy, the King argues that bringing Christianity to the colony outweighs "a little starvation". The abuses against Congolese forced laborers continued until the movement forced the Belgian government to take direct control of the colony.


title: Mark Twain

text: During the Philippine–American War, Twain wrote a short pacifist story titled "The War Prayer", which makes the point that humanism and Christianity's preaching of love are incompatible with the conduct of war. It was submitted to "Harper's Bazaar" for publication, but on March 22, 1905, the magazine rejected the story as "not quite suited to a woman's magazine". Eight days later, Twain wrote to his friend Daniel Carter Beard, to whom he had read the story, "I don't think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth." Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Twain could not publish "The War Prayer" elsewhere; it remained unpublished until 1916. It was republished in the 1960s as campaigning material by anti-war activists.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain acknowledged that he had originally sympathized with the more moderate Girondins of the French Revolution and then shifted his sympathies to the more radical Sansculottes, indeed identifying himself as "a Marat" and writing that the Reign of Terror paled in comparison to the older terrors that preceded it. Twain supported the revolutionaries in Russia against the reformists, arguing that the Tsar must be got rid of by violent means, because peaceful ones would not work. He summed up his views of revolutions in the following statement:


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was an adamant supporter of the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of slaves, even going so far as to say, "Lincoln's Proclamation ... not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also". He argued that non-whites did not receive justice in the United States, once saying, "I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature ... but I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done to him". He paid for at least one black person to attend Yale Law School and for another black person to attend a southern university to become a minister.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's forward-thinking views on race were not reflected in his early writings on American Indians. Of them, Twain wrote in 1870:


title: Mark Twain

text: As counterpoint, Twain's essay on "The Literary Offenses of Fenimore Cooper" offers a much kinder view of Indians. "No, other Indians would have noticed these things, but Cooper's Indians never notice anything. Cooper thinks they are marvelous creatures for noticing, but he was almost always in error about his Indians. There was seldom a sane one among them." In his later travelogue "Following the Equator" (1897), Twain observes that in colonized lands all over the world, "savages" have always been wronged by "whites" in the most merciless ways, such as "robbery, humiliation, and slow, slow murder, through poverty and the white man's whiskey"; his conclusion is that "there are many humorous things in this world; among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages". In an expression that captures his East Indian experiences, he wrote, "So far as I am able to judge nothing has been left undone, either by man or Nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile."


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was also a supporter of women's suffrage, as evidenced by his "Votes for Women" speech, given in 1901.


title: Mark Twain

text: Helen Keller benefited from Twain's support as she pursued her college education and publishing despite her disabilities and financial limitations. The two were friends for roughly 16 years.


title: Mark Twain

text: Through Twain's efforts, the Connecticut legislature voted a pension for Prudence Crandall, since 1995 Connecticut's official heroine, for her efforts towards the education of young African-American women in Connecticut. Twain also offered to purchase for her use her former house in Canterbury, home of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, but she declined.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was a Republican for most of his life. However, in 1884 he publicly broke with his party and joined the Mugwumps to support the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland, over the Republican nominee, James G. Blaine, whom he considered a corrupt politician. Twain spoke at rallies in favor of Cleveland. In the early 20th century, he began decrying both Democrats and Republicans as "insane" and proposed, in his 1907 book "Christian Science", that while each party recognized the other's insanity, only the Mugwumps (that is, those who eschewed party loyalties in favor of voting for “the best man”) could perceive the overall madness linking the two.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was a Presbyterian. He was critical of organized religion and certain elements of Christianity through his later life. He wrote, for example, "Faith is believing what you know ain't so", and "If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be – a Christian". With anti-Catholic sentiment rampant in 19th century America, Twain noted he was "educated to enmity toward everything that is Catholic". As an adult, he engaged in religious discussions and attended services, his theology developing as he wrestled with the deaths of loved ones and with his own mortality.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain generally avoided publishing his most controversial opinions on religion in his lifetime, and they are known from essays and stories that were published later. In the essay "Three Statements of the Eighties" in the 1880s, Twain stated that he believed in an almighty God, but not in any messages, revelations, holy scriptures such as the Bible, Providence, or retribution in the afterlife. He did state that "the goodness, the justice, and the mercy of God are manifested in His works", but also that "the universe is governed by strict and immutable laws", which determine "small matters", such as who dies in a pestilence. At other times, he plainly professed a belief in Providence. In some later writings in the 1890s, he was less optimistic about the goodness of God, observing that "if our Maker "is" all-powerful for good or evil, He is not in His right mind". At other times, he conjectured sardonically that perhaps God had created the world with all its tortures for some purpose of His own, but was otherwise indifferent to humanity, which was too petty and insignificant to deserve His attention anyway.


title: Mark Twain

text: In 1901, Twain criticized the actions of the missionary Dr. William Scott Ament (1851–1909) because Ament and other missionaries had collected indemnities from Chinese subjects in the aftermath of the Boxer Uprising of 1900. Twain's response to hearing of Ament's methods was published in the "North American Review" in February 1901: "To the Person Sitting in Darkness", and deals with examples of imperialism in China, South Africa, and with the U.S. occupation of the Philippines. A subsequent article, "To My Missionary Critics" published in "The North American Review" in April 1901, unapologetically continues his attack, but with the focus shifted from Ament to his missionary superiors, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.


title: Mark Twain

text: After his death, Twain's family suppressed some of his work that was especially irreverent toward conventional religion, including "Letters from the Earth", which was not published until his daughter Clara reversed her position in 1962 in response to Soviet propaganda about the withholding. The anti-religious "The Mysterious Stranger" was published in 1916. "Little Bessie", a story ridiculing Christianity, was first published in the 1972 collection "Mark Twain's Fables of Man".


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain created a reverent portrayal of Joan of Arc, a subject over which he had obsessed for forty years, studied for a dozen years and spent two years writing about. In 1900 and again in 1908 he stated, "I like "Joan of Arc" best of all my books, it is the best".


title: Mark Twain

text: Those who knew Twain well late in life recount that he dwelt on the subject of the afterlife, his daughter Clara saying: "Sometimes he believed death ended everything, but most of the time he felt sure of a life beyond."


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's frankest views on religion appeared in his final work "Autobiography of Mark Twain", the publication of which started in November 2010, 100 years after his death. In it, he said:


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was a Freemason. He belonged to Polar Star Lodge No. 79 A.F.&A.M., based in St. Louis. He was initiated an Entered Apprentice on May 22, 1861, passed to the degree of Fellow Craft on June 12, and raised to the degree of Master Mason on July 10.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain visited Salt Lake City for two days and met there members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They also gave him a Book of Mormon. He later wrote in "Roughing It" about that book:


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain was opposed to the vivisection practices of his day. His objection was not on a scientific basis but rather an ethical one. He specifically cited the pain caused to the animal as his basis of his opposition:


title: Mark Twain

text: I am not interested to know whether Vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't. ... The pains which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain used different pen names before deciding on "Mark Twain". He signed humorous and imaginative sketches as "Josh" until 1863. Additionally, he used the pen name "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass" for a series of humorous letters.


title: Mark Twain

text: He maintained that his primary pen name came from his years working on Mississippi riverboats, where two fathoms, a depth indicating water safe for the passage of boat, was a measure on the sounding line. Twain is an archaic term for "two", as in "The veil of the temple was rent in twain." The riverboatman's cry was "mark twain" or, more fully, "by the mark twain", meaning "according to the mark [on the line], [the depth is] two [fathoms]"; that is, "The water is deep and it is safe to pass."


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain said that his famous pen name was not entirely his invention. In "Life on the Mississippi", he wrote:


title: Mark Twain

text: Captain Isaiah Sellers was not of literary turn or capacity, but he used to jot down brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river, and sign them "MARK TWAIN", and give them to the "New Orleans Picayune". They related to the stage and condition of the river, and were accurate and valuable; ... At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one, and have done my best to make it remain what it was in his hands – a sign and symbol and warrant that whatever is found in its company may be gambled on as being the petrified truth; how I have succeeded, it would not be modest in me to say.


title: Mark Twain

text: Twain's story about his pen name has been questioned by some, with the suggestion that "mark twain" refers to a running bar tab that Twain would regularly incur while drinking at John Piper's saloon in Virginia City, Nevada. Samuel Clemens himself responded to this suggestion by saying, "Mark Twain was the nom de plume of one Captain Isaiah Sellers, who used to write river news over it for the "New Orleans Picayune". He died in 1863 and as he could no longer need that signature, I laid violent hands upon it without asking permission of the proprietor's remains. That is the history of the nom de plume I bear."


title: Mark Twain

text: In his autobiography, Twain writes further of Captain Sellers' use of "Mark Twain": I was a cub pilot on the Mississippi River then, and one day I wrote a rude and crude satire which was leveled at Captain Isaiah Sellers, the oldest steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, and the most respected, esteemed, and revered. For many years he had occasionally written brief paragraphs concerning the river and the changes which it had undergone under his observation during fifty years, and had signed these paragraphs "Mark Twain" and published them in the St. Louis and New Orleans journals. In my satire I made rude game of his reminiscences. It was a shabby poor performance, but I didn't know it, and the pilots didn't know it. The pilots thought it was brilliant. They were jealous of Sellers, because when the gray-heads among them pleased their vanity by detailing in the hearing of the younger craftsmen marvels which they had seen in the long ago on the river, Sellers was always likely to step in at the psychological moment and snuff them out with wonders of his own which made their small marvels look pale and sick. However, I have told all about this in "Old Times on the Mississippi." The pilots handed my extravagant satire to a river reporter, and it was published in the New Orleans True Delta. That poor old Captain Sellers was deeply wounded. He had never been held up to ridicule before; he was sensitive, and he never got over the hurt which I had wantonly and stupidly inflicted upon his dignity. I was proud of my performance for a while, and considered it quite wonderful, but I have changed my opinion of it long ago. Sellers never published another paragraph nor ever used his nom de guerre again.


title: Mark Twain

text: While Twain is often depicted wearing a white suit, modern representations suggesting that he wore them throughout his life are unfounded. Evidence suggests that Twain began wearing white suits on the lecture circuit, after the death of his wife in 1904. However, there is also evidence showing him wearing a white suit before 1904. In 1882, he sent a photograph of himself in a white suit to 18-year-old Edward W. Bok, later publisher of the "Ladies Home Journal", with a handwritten dated note. The white suit did eventually become his trademark, as illustrated in anecdotes about this eccentricity (such as the time he wore a white summer suit to a Congressional hearing during the winter). McMasters' "The Mark Twain Encyclopedia" states that Twain did not wear a white suit in his last three years, except at one banquet speech.


title: MDMA

text: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly seen in tablet form (ecstasy) and crystal form (molly or mandy), is a potent empathogen–entactogen with stimulant properties primarily used for recreational purposes. The desired effects include altered sensations, increased energy, empathy, and pleasure. When taken by mouth, effects begin in 30 to 45 minutes and last 3 to 6 hours.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA was first developed in 1912 by Merck. It was used to enhance psychotherapy beginning in the 1970s and became popular as a street drug in the 1980s. MDMA is commonly associated with dance parties, raves, and electronic dance music. It may be mixed with other substances such as ephedrine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine. In 2016, about 21 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 used ecstasy (0.3% of the world population). This was broadly similar to the percentage of people who use cocaine or amphetamines, but lower than for cannabis or opioids. In the United States, as of 2017, about 7% of people have used MDMA at some point in their lives and 0.9% have used it in the last year.


title: MDMA

text: Short-term adverse effects include grinding of the teeth, blurred vision, sweating and a rapid heartbeat, and extended use can also lead to addiction, memory problems, paranoia and difficulty sleeping. Deaths have been reported due to increased body temperature and dehydration. Following use, people often feel depressed and tired. MDMA acts primarily by increasing the activity of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline in parts of the brain. It belongs to the substituted amphetamine classes of drugs.


title: MDMA

text: medical uses in a small number of countries. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration is currently evaluating the drug for clinical use. Canada has allowed limited distribution of MDMA and other psychedelics such as psilocybin upon application to and approval by Health Canada.


title: MDMA

text: In general, MDMA users report feeling the onset of subjective effects within 30 to 60 minutes of oral consumption and reaching peak effect at 75 to 120 minutes, which then plateaus for about 3.5 hours. The desired short-term psychoactive effects of MDMA have been reported to include:


title: MDMA

text: The experience elicited by MDMA depends on the dose, setting, and user. The variability of the induced altered state is lower compared to other psychedelics. For example, MDMA used at parties is associated with high motor activity, reduced sense of identity, and poor awareness of surroundings. Use of MDMA individually or in small groups in a quiet environment and when concentrating, is associated with increased lucidity, concentration, sensitivity to aesthetic aspects of the environment, enhanced awareness of emotions, and improved capability of communication. In psychotherapeutic settings, MDMA effects have been characterized by infantile ideas, mood lability, and memories and moods connected with childhood experiences.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA has been described as an "empathogenic" drug because of its empathy-producing effects. Results of several studies show the effects of increased empathy with others. When testing MDMA for medium and high doses, it showed increased hedonic and arousal continuum. The effect of MDMA increasing sociability is consistent, while its effects on empathy have been more mixed.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA is often considered the drug of choice within the rave culture and is also used at clubs, festivals, and house parties. In the rave environment, the sensory effects of music and lighting are often highly synergistic with the drug. The psychedelic amphetamine quality of MDMA offers multiple appealing aspects to users in the rave setting. Some users enjoy the feeling of mass communion from the inhibition-reducing effects of the drug, while others use it as party fuel because of the drug's stimulatory effects. MDMA is used less often than other stimulants, typically less than once per week.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA is sometimes taken in conjunction with other psychoactive drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, 2C-B, and ketamine. The combination with LSD is called "candy-flipping".


title: MDMA

text: , MDMA has no accepted medical indications. Before it was widely banned, it saw limited use in psychotherapy. In 2017 the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved limited research on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with some preliminary evidence that MDMA may facilitate psychotherapy efficacy for PTSD.


title: MDMA

text: Small doses of MDMA are used by some religious practitioners as an entheogen to enhance prayer or meditation. MDMA has been used as an adjunct to New Age spiritual practices.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA has become widely known as ecstasy (shortened "E", "X", or "XTC"), usually referring to its tablet form, although this term may also include the presence of possible adulterants or diluents. The UK term "mandy" and the US term "molly" colloquially refer to MDMA in a crystalline powder form that is thought to be free of adulterants. MDMA is also sold in the form of the hydrochloride salt, either as loose crystals or in gelcaps. MDMA tablets can sometimes be found in a shaped form that may depict characters from popular culture, likely for deceptive reasons. These are sometimes collectively referred to as "fun tablets".


title: MDMA

text: Partly due to the global supply shortage of sassafras oil—a problem largely assuaged by use of improved or alternative modern methods of synthesis—the purity of substances sold as molly have been found to vary widely. Some of these substances contain methylone, ethylone, MDPV, mephedrone, or any other of the group of compounds commonly known as bath salts, in addition to, or in place of, MDMA. Powdered MDMA ranges from pure MDMA to crushed tablets with 30–40% purity. MDMA tablets typically have low purity due to bulking agents that are added to dilute the drug and increase profits (notably lactose) and binding agents. Tablets sold as ecstasy sometimes contain 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA), other amphetamine derivatives, caffeine, opiates, or painkillers. Some tablets contain little or no MDMA. The proportion of seized ecstasy tablets with MDMA-like impurities has varied annually and by country. The average content of MDMA in a preparation is 70 to 120 mg with the purity having increased since the 1990s.


title: MDMA

text: Acute adverse effects are usually the result of high or multiple doses, although single dose toxicity can occur in susceptible individuals. The most serious short-term physical health risks of MDMA are hyperthermia and dehydration. Cases of life-threatening or fatal hyponatremia (excessively low sodium concentration in the blood) have developed in MDMA users attempting to prevent dehydration by consuming excessive amounts of water without replenishing electrolytes.


title: MDMA

text: Other adverse effects that may occur or persist for up to a week following cessation of moderate MDMA use include:


title: MDMA

text: Administration of MDMA to mice causes DNA damage in their brain, especially when the mice are sleep deprived. Even at the very low doses that are comparable to those self-administered by humans, MDMA causes oxidative stress and both single and double-strand breaks in the DNA of the hippocampus region of the mouse brain.


title: MDMA

text: , the long-term effects of MDMA on human brain structure and function have not been fully determined. However, there is consistent evidence of structural and functional deficits in MDMA users with high lifetime exposure. There is no evidence of structural or functional changes in MDMA users with only a moderate (<50 doses used and <100 tablets consumed) lifetime exposure. Nonetheless, MDMA in moderate use may still be neurotoxic. Furthermore, it is not clear yet whether "typical" users of MDMA (1 to 2 pills of 75 to 125 mg MDMA or analogue every 1 to 4 weeks) will develop neurotoxic brain lesions. Long-term exposure to MDMA in humans has been shown to produce marked neurodegeneration in striatal, hippocampal, prefrontal, and occipital serotonergic axon terminals. Neurotoxic damage to serotonergic axon terminals has been shown to persist for more than two years. Elevations in brain temperature from MDMA use are positively correlated with MDMA-induced neurotoxicity. However, most studies on MDMA and serotonergic neurotoxicity in humans focus on the heaviest users, those who consume more than seven times the average. It is therefore possible that no serotonergic neurotoxicity is present in most casual users. Adverse neuroplastic changes to brain microvasculature and white matter also occur in humans using low doses of MDMA. Reduced gray matter density in certain brain structures has also been noted in human MDMA users. Global reductions in gray matter volume, thinning of the parietal and orbitofrontal cortices, and decreased hippocampal activity have been observed in long term users. The effects established so far for recreational use of ecstasy lie in the range of moderate to severe effects for serotonin transporter reduction.


title: MDMA

text: Impairments in multiple aspects of cognition, including attention, learning, memory, visual processing, and sleep have been found in regular MDMA users. The magnitude of these impairments is correlated with lifetime MDMA usage and are partially reversible with abstinence. Several forms of memory are impaired by chronic ecstasy use; however, the effects for memory impairments in ecstasy users are generally small overall. MDMA use is also associated with increased impulsivity and depression.


title: MDMA

text: Serotonin depletion following MDMA use can cause depression in subsequent days. In some cases, depressive symptoms persist for longer periods. Some studies indicate repeated recreational use of ecstasy is associated with depression and anxiety, even after quitting the drug. Depression is one of the main reasons for cessation of use.


title: MDMA

text: At high doses, MDMA induces a neuroimmune response that, through several mechanisms, increases the permeability of the blood–brain barrier, thereby making the brain more susceptible to environmental toxins and pathogens. In addition, MDMA has immunosuppressive effects in the peripheral nervous system and pro-inflammatory effects in the central nervous system.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA may increase the risk of cardiac valvulopathy in heavy or long-term users due to activation of serotonin 5-HT receptors. MDMA also induces cardiac epigenetic changes in DNA methylation, particularly hypermethylation changes.


title: MDMA

text: A 2007 UK study ranked MDMA 18th in harmfulness out of 20 recreational drugs. Rankings for each drug were based on the risk for acute physical harm, the propensity for physical and psychological dependency on the drug, and the negative familial and societal impacts of the drug. The authors did not evaluate or rate the negative impact of ecstasy on the cognitive health of ecstasy users (e.g. impaired memory and concentration).


title: MDMA

text: Approximately 60% of MDMA users experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking MDMA. Some of these symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, depression, and trouble concentrating. Tolerance to some of the desired and adverse effects of MDMA is expected to occur with consistent MDMA use. A 2007 analysis estimated MDMA to have a psychological dependence and physical dependence potential roughly three-fourths to four-fifths that of cannabis.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA has been shown to induce ΔFosB in the nucleus accumbens. Because MDMA releases dopamine in the striatum, the mechanisms by which it induces ΔFosB in the nucleus accumbens are analogous to other dopaminergic psychostimulants. Therefore, chronic use of MDMA at high doses can result in altered brain structure and drug addiction that occur as a consequence of ΔFosB overexpression in the nucleus accumbens. MDMA is less addictive than other stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine. Compared with amphetamine, MDMA and its metabolite MDA are less reinforcing.


title: MDMA

text: One study found approximately 15% of chronic MDMA users met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for substance dependence. However, there is little evidence for a specific diagnosable MDMA dependence syndrome because MDMA is typically used relatively infrequently.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA is a moderately teratogenic drug (i.e., it is toxic to the fetus). In utero exposure to MDMA is associated with a neuro- and cardiotoxicity and impaired motor functioning. Motor delays may be temporary during infancy or long-term. The severity of these developmental delays increases with heavier MDMA use.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA overdose symptoms vary widely due to the involvement of multiple organ systems. Some of the more overt overdose symptoms are listed in the table below. The number of instances of fatal MDMA intoxication is low relative to its usage rates. In most fatalities, MDMA was not the only drug involved. Acute toxicity is mainly caused by serotonin syndrome and sympathomimetic effects. Sympathomimetic side effects can be managed with carvedilol. MDMA's toxicity in overdose may be exacerbated by caffeine, with which it is frequently cut in order to increase volume. A scheme for management of acute MDMA toxicity has been published focusing on treatment of hyperthermia, hyponatraemia, serotonin syndrome, and multiple organ failure.


title: MDMA

text: A number of drug interactions can occur between MDMA and other drugs, including serotonergic drugs. MDMA also interacts with drugs which inhibit CYP450 enzymes, like ritonavir (Norvir), particularly CYP2D6 inhibitors. Life-threatening reactions and death have occurred in people who took MDMA while on ritonavir. Concurrent use of MDMA high dosages with another serotonergic drug can result in a life-threatening condition called serotonin syndrome. Severe overdose resulting in death has also been reported in people who took MDMA in combination with certain monoamine oxidase inhibitors, such as phenelzine (Nardil), tranylcypromine (Parnate), or moclobemide (Aurorix, Manerix). Serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as citalopram (Celexa), duloxetine (Cymbalta), fluoxetine (Prozac), and paroxetine (Paxil) have been shown to block most of the subjective effects of MDMA. Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors such as reboxetine (Edronax) have been found to reduce emotional excitation and feelings of stimulation with MDMA but don't appear to influence its entactogenic or mood-elevating effects.


title: MDMA

text: In humans, MDMA increases the amount of serotonin in the synaptic clefts of serotonergic neurons by inhibiting its uptake into neurons and by directly releasing it from the neurons. The released serotonin binds to various serotonin receptors and activates them in excess, which is the primary mechanism through which MDMA causes intoxication. MDMA also induces significant norepinephrine release.


title: MDMA

text: Extracellular MDMA binds to presynaptic serotonin (SERT), norepinephrine (NET) and dopamine transporters (DAT) as a reuptake inhibitor, so that they uptake less of their namesake monoamine neurotransmitters. The efficacy of MDMA inhibition is highest towards NET and SERT, and is much less towards DAT. As a result, more norepinephrine and serotonin remains in the synaptic cleft.


title: MDMA

text: These monoamine transporters (SERT, NET and DAT) reuptake their respective neurotransmitters via ion gradient. Normally there is a high extracellular sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) ion concentration, and low potassium (K) ion concentration in respect to intracellular concentrations. In each reuptake cycle, one monoamine, Na and Cl are simultaneously taken inside the cell. One intracellular K is then transported outside the cell. In experimental situations, high extracellular K concentration can cause reverse transport. MDMA can substitute for K in this transport. Thus, high extracellular MDMA can reverse the transport. This reversal is most notable with SERT and NET, which results in direct serotonin and norepinephrine release in exchange for cellular uptake of MDMA.


title: MDMA

text: Intracellular MDMA binds to VMAT2-proteins on synaptic vesicles as an inhibitor. Each VMAT2 transports cytosolic monoamines into the vesicle by dissipating proton gradient across the vesicular membrane. Thus, VMAT2 inhibition results in more free cytosolic monoamines like serotonin in the case of serotonergic neurons. These monoamines can then be released via monoamine transporters, which have been reversed by MDMA (see below).


title: MDMA

text: Intracellular MDMA can also bind to monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) as an inhibitor, and thus prevent it from breaking down cytosolic serotonin. However, this effect is not significant in humans.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA has two enantiomers, "S"-MDMA and "R"-MDMA. Mixture of the two (racemate) is typically used recreationally. "S"-MDMA causes the entactogenic effects of the racemate, because it releases serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine much more efficiently via monoamine transporters. It also has higher affinity towards 5-HTR. "R"-MDMA has notable agonism towards 5-HTR, which supposedly contributes to the mild psychedelic hallucinations induced by high doses of MDMA in humans. MDMA racemate is a partial agonist towards human TAAR1, but this is not physiologically relevant due to low EC50. Relevant EC50 would be below 5 µM, but for humans it is 35 µM. However, the agonism is significant towards the TAAR1 of mice and rats (EC50 is 1–4 µM).


title: MDMA

text: The MDMA concentration in the blood stream starts to rise after about 30 minutes, and reaches its maximal concentration in the blood stream between 1.5 and 3 hours after ingestion. It is then slowly metabolized and excreted, with levels of MDMA and its metabolites decreasing to half their peak concentration over the next several hours. The duration of action of MDMA is usually four to six hours, after which serotonin levels in the brain are depleted. Serotonin levels typically return to normal within 24–48 hours.


title: MDMA

text: Metabolites of MDMA that have been identified in humans include 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethamphetamine (HMMA), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyamphetamine (HMA), 3,4-dihydroxyamphetamine (DHA) (also called alpha-methyldopamine (α-Me-DA)), 3,4-methylenedioxyphenylacetone (MDP2P), and 3,4-Methylenedioxy-N-hydroxyamphetamine (MDOH). The contributions of these metabolites to the psychoactive and toxic effects of MDMA are an area of active research. 80% of MDMA is metabolised in the liver, and about 20% is excreted unchanged in the urine.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA is known to be metabolized by two main metabolic pathways: (1) "O"-demethylenation followed by catechol-"O"-methyltransferase (COMT)-catalyzed methylation and/or glucuronide/sulfate conjugation; and (2) "N"-dealkylation, deamination, and oxidation to the corresponding benzoic acid derivatives conjugated with glycine. The metabolism may be primarily by cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 and COMT. Complex, nonlinear pharmacokinetics arise via autoinhibition of CYP2D6 and CYP2D8, resulting in zeroth order kinetics at higher doses. It is thought that this can result in sustained and higher concentrations of MDMA if the user takes consecutive doses of the drug.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA and metabolites are primarily excreted as conjugates, such as sulfates and glucuronides. MDMA is a chiral compound and has been almost exclusively administered as a racemate. However, the two enantiomers have been shown to exhibit different kinetics. The disposition of MDMA may also be stereoselective, with the S-enantiomer having a shorter elimination half-life and greater excretion than the R-enantiomer. Evidence suggests that the area under the blood plasma concentration versus time curve (AUC) was two to four times higher for the ("R")-enantiomer than the ("S")-enantiomer after a 40 mg oral dose in human volunteers. Likewise, the plasma half-life of ("R")-MDMA was significantly longer than that of the ("S")-enantiomer (5.8 ± 2.2 hours vs 3.6 ± 0.9 hours). However, because MDMA excretion and metabolism have nonlinear kinetics, the half-lives would be higher at more typical doses (100 mg is sometimes considered a typical dose).


title: MDMA

text: MDMA is in the substituted methylenedioxyphenethylamine and substituted amphetamine classes of chemicals. As a free base, MDMA is a colorless oil insoluble in water. The most common salt of MDMA is the hydrochloride salt; pure MDMA hydrochloride is water-soluble and appears as a white or off-white powder or crystal.


title: MDMA

text: There are numerous methods available to synthesize MDMA via different intermediates. The original MDMA synthesis described in Merck's patent involves brominating safrole to 1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-bromopropane and then reacting this adduct with methylamine. Most illicit MDMA is synthesized using MDP2P (3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone) as a precursor. MDP2P in turn is generally synthesized from piperonal, safrole or isosafrole. One method is to isomerize safrole to isosafrole in the presence of a strong base, and then oxidize isosafrole to MDP2P. Another method uses the Wacker process to oxidize safrole directly to the MDP2P intermediate with a palladium catalyst. Once the MDP2P intermediate has been prepared, a reductive amination leads to racemic MDMA (an equal parts mixture of ("R")-MDMA and ("S")-MDMA). Relatively small quantities of essential oil are required to make large amounts of MDMA. The essential oil of "Ocotea cymbarum", for example, typically contains between 80 and 94% safrole. This allows 500 ml of the oil to produce between 150 and 340 grams of MDMA.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA and MDA may be quantitated in blood, plasma or urine to monitor for use, confirm a diagnosis of poisoning or assist in the forensic investigation of a traffic or other criminal violation or a sudden death. Some drug abuse screening programs rely on hair, saliva, or sweat as specimens. Most commercial amphetamine immunoassay screening tests cross-react significantly with MDMA or its major metabolites, but chromatographic techniques can easily distinguish and separately measure each of these substances. The concentrations of MDA in the blood or urine of a person who has taken only MDMA are, in general, less than 10% those of the parent drug.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA was first synthesized in 1912 by Merck chemist Anton Köllisch. At the time, Merck was interested in developing substances that stopped abnormal bleeding. Merck wanted to avoid an existing patent held by Bayer for one such compound: hydrastinine. Köllisch developed a preparation of a hydrastinine analogue, methylhydrastinine, at the request of fellow lab members, Walther Beckh and Otto Wolfes. MDMA (called methylsafrylamin, safrylmethylamin or N-Methyl-a-Methylhomopiperonylamin in Merck laboratory reports) was an intermediate compound in the synthesis of methylhydrastinine. Merck was not interested in MDMA itself at the time. On 24 December 1912, Merck filed two patent applications that described the synthesis and some chemical properties of MDMA and its subsequent conversion to methylhydrastinine.


title: MDMA

text: Merck records indicate its researchers returned to the compound sporadically. A 1920 Merck patent describes a chemical modification to MDMA. In 1927, Max Oberlin studied the pharmacology of MDMA while searching for substances with effects similar to adrenaline or ephedrine, the latter being structurally similar to MDMA. Compared to ephedrine, Oberlin observed that it had similar effects on vascular smooth muscle tissue, stronger effects at the uterus, and no "local effect at the eye". MDMA was also found to have effects on blood sugar levels comparable to high doses of ephedrine. Oberlin concluded that the effects of MDMA were not limited to the sympathetic nervous system. Research was stopped "particularly due to a strong price increase of safrylmethylamine", which was still used as an intermediate in methylhydrastinine synthesis. Albert van Schoor performed simple toxicological tests with the drug in 1952, most likely while researching new stimulants or circulatory medications. After pharmacological studies, research on MDMA was not continued. In 1959, Wolfgang Fruhstorfer synthesized MDMA for pharmacological testing while researching stimulants. It is unclear if Fruhstorfer investigated the effects of MDMA in humans.


title: MDMA

text: Outside of Merck, other researchers began to investigate MDMA. In 1953 and 1954, the United States Army commissioned a study of toxicity and behavioral effects in animals injected with mescaline and several analogues, including MDMA. Conducted at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, these investigations were declassified in October 1969 and published in 1973. A 1960 Polish paper by Biniecki and Krajewski describing the synthesis of MDMA as an intermediate was the first published scientific paper on the substance.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA may have been in non-medical use in the western United States in 1968. An August 1970 report at a meeting of crime laboratory chemists indicates MDMA was being used recreationally in the Chicago area by 1970. MDMA likely emerged as a substitute for its analog methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), a drug at the time popular among users of psychedelics which was made a Schedule 1 substance in the United States in 1970.


title: MDMA

text: American chemist and psychopharmacologist Alexander Shulgin reported he synthesized MDMA in 1965 while researching methylenedioxy compounds at Dow Chemical Company, but did not test the psychoactivity of the compound at this time. Around 1970, Shulgin sent instructions for N-methylated MDA (MDMA) synthesis to the founder of a Los Angeles chemical company who had requested them. This individual later provided these instructions to a client in the Midwest. Shulgin may have suspected he played a role in the emergence of MDMA in Chicago.


title: MDMA

text: Shulgin first heard of the psychoactive effects of N-methylated MDA around 1975 from a young student who reported "amphetamine-like content". Around 30 May 1976, Shulgin again heard about the effects of N-methylated MDA, this time from a graduate student in a medicinal chemistry group he advised at San Francisco State University who directed him to the University of Michigan study. She and two close friends had consumed 100 mg of MDMA and reported positive emotional experiences. Following the self-trials of a colleague at the University of San Francisco, Shulgin synthesized MDMA and tried it himself in September and October 1976. Shulgin first reported on MDMA in a presentation at a conference in Bethesda, Maryland in December 1976. In 1978, he and David E. Nichols published a report on the drug's psychoactive effect in humans. They described MDMA as inducing "an easily controlled altered state of consciousness with emotional and sensual overtones" comparable "to marijuana, to psilocybin devoid of the hallucinatory component, or to low levels of MDA".


title: MDMA

text: While not finding his own experiences with MDMA particularly powerful, Shulgin was impressed with the drug's disinhibiting effects and thought it could be useful in therapy. Believing MDMA allowed users to strip away habits and perceive the world clearly, Shulgin called the drug "window". Shulgin occasionally used MDMA for relaxation, referring to it as "my low-calorie martini", and gave the drug to friends, researchers, and others who he thought could benefit from it. One such person was Leo Zeff, a psychotherapist who had been known to use psychedelic substances in his practice. When he tried the drug in 1977, Zeff was impressed with the effects of MDMA and came out of his semi-retirement to promote its use in therapy. Over the following years, Zeff traveled around the United States and occasionally to Europe, eventually training an estimated four thousand psychotherapists in the therapeutic use of MDMA. Zeff named the drug "Adam", believing it put users in a state of primordial innocence.


title: MDMA

text: Psychotherapists who used MDMA believed the drug eliminated the typical fear response and increased communication. Sessions were usually held in the home of the patient or the therapist. The role of the therapist was minimized in favor of patient self-discovery accompanied by MDMA induced feelings of empathy. Depression, substance use disorders, relationship problems, premenstrual syndrome, and autism were among several psychiatric disorders MDMA assisted therapy was reported to treat. According to psychiatrist George Greer, therapists who used MDMA in their practice were impressed by the results. Anecdotally, MDMA was said to greatly accelerate therapy. According to David Nutt, MDMA was widely used in the western US in couples counseling, and was called "empathy". Only later was the term "ecstasy" used for it, coinciding with rising opposition to its use.


title: MDMA

text: In the late 1970s and early 1980s, "Adam" spread through personal networks of psychotherapists, psychiatrists, users of psychedelics, and yuppies. Hoping MDMA could avoid criminalization like LSD and mescaline, psychotherapists and experimenters attempted to limit the spread of MDMA and information about it while conducting informal research. Early MDMA distributors were deterred from large scale operations by the threat of possible legislation. Between the 1970s and the mid-1980s, this network of MDMA users consumed an estimated 500,000 doses.


title: MDMA

text: A small recreational market for MDMA developed by the late 1970s, consuming perhaps 10,000 doses in 1976. By the early 1980s MDMA was being used in Boston and New York City nightclubs such as Studio 54 and Paradise Garage. Into the early 1980s, as the recreational market slowly expanded, production of MDMA was dominated by a small group of therapeutically minded Boston chemists. Having commenced production in 1976, this "Boston Group" did not keep up with growing demand and shortages frequently occurred.


title: MDMA

text: Perceiving a business opportunity, Michael Clegg, the Southwest distributor for the Boston Group, started his own "Texas Group" backed financially by Texas friends. In 1981, Clegg had coined "Ecstasy" as a slang term for MDMA to increase its marketability. Starting in 1983, the Texas Group mass-produced MDMA in a Texas lab or imported it from California and marketed tablets using pyramid sales structures and toll-free numbers. MDMA could be purchased via credit card and taxes were paid on sales. Under the brand name "Sassyfras", MDMA tablets were sold in brown bottles. The Texas Group advertised "Ecstasy parties" at bars and discos, describing MDMA as a "fun drug" and "good to dance to". MDMA was openly distributed in Austin and Dallas–Fort Worth area bars and nightclubs, becoming popular with yuppies, college students, and gays.


title: MDMA

text: Recreational use also increased after several cocaine dealers switched to distributing MDMA following experiences with the drug. A California laboratory that analyzed confidentially submitted drug samples first detected MDMA in 1975. Over the following years the number of MDMA samples increased, eventually exceeding the number of MDA samples in the early 1980s. By the mid-1980s, MDMA use had spread to colleges around the United States.


title: MDMA

text: In an early media report on MDMA published in 1982, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spokesman stated the agency would ban the drug if enough evidence for abuse could be found. By mid-1984, MDMA use was becoming more noticed. Bill Mandel reported on "Adam" in a 10 June San Francisco Chronicle article, but misidentified the drug as methyloxymethylenedioxyamphetamine (MMDA). In the next month, the World Health Organization identified MDMA as the only substance out of twenty phenethylamines to be seized a significant number of times.


title: MDMA

text: After a year of planning and data collection, MDMA was proposed for scheduling by the DEA on 27 July 1984 with a request for comments and objections. The DEA was surprised when a number of psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and researchers objected to the proposed scheduling and requested a hearing. In a Newsweek article published the next year, a DEA pharmacologist stated that the agency had been unaware of its use among psychiatrists. An initial hearing was held on 1 February 1985 at the DEA offices in Washington, D.C. with administrative law judge Francis L. Young presiding. It was decided there to hold three more hearings that year: Los Angeles on 10 June, Kansas City, Missouri on 10–11 July, and Washington, D.C. on 8–11 October.


title: MDMA

text: Sensational media attention was given to the proposed criminalization and the reaction of MDMA proponents, effectively advertising the drug. In response to the proposed scheduling, the Texas Group increased production from 1985 estimates of 30,000 tablets a month to as many as 8,000 per day, potentially making two million ecstasy tablets in the months before MDMA was made illegal. By some estimates the Texas Group distributed 500,000 tablets per month in Dallas alone. According to one participant in an ethnographic study, the Texas Group produced more MDMA in eighteen months than all other distribution networks combined across their entire histories. By May 1985, MDMA use was widespread in California, Texas, southern Florida, and the northeastern United States. According to the DEA there was evidence of use in twenty-eight states and Canada. Urged by Senator Lloyd Bentsen, the DEA announced an emergency Schedule I classification of MDMA on 31 May 1985. The agency cited increased distribution in Texas, escalating street use, and new evidence of MDA (an analog of MDMA) neurotoxicity as reasons for the emergency measure. The ban took effect one month later on 1 July 1985 in the midst of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign.


title: MDMA

text: As a result of several expert witnesses testifying that MDMA had an accepted medical usage, the administrative law judge presiding over the hearings recommended that MDMA be classified as a Schedule III substance. Despite this, DEA administrator John C. Lawn overruled and classified the drug as Schedule I. Harvard psychiatrist Lester Grinspoon then sued the DEA, claiming that the DEA had ignored the medical uses of MDMA, and the federal court sided with Grinspoon, calling Lawn's argument "strained" and "unpersuasive", and vacated MDMA's Schedule I status. Despite this, less than a month later Lawn reviewed the evidence and reclassified MDMA as Schedule I again, claiming that the expert testimony of several psychiatrists claiming over 200 cases where MDMA had been used in a therapeutic context with positive results could be dismissed because they weren't published in medical journals. In 2017, the FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation for its use with psychotherapy for PTSD. However, this designation has been questioned and problematized.


title: MDMA

text: While engaged in scheduling debates in the United States, the DEA also pushed for international scheduling. In 1985 the World Health Organization's Expert Committee on Drug Dependence recommended that MDMA be placed in Schedule I of the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The committee made this recommendation on the basis of the pharmacological similarity of MDMA to previously scheduled drugs, reports of illicit trafficking in Canada, drug seizures in the United States, and lack of well-defined therapeutic use. While intrigued by reports of psychotherapeutic uses for the drug, the committee viewed the studies as lacking appropriate methodological design and encouraged further research. Committee chairman Paul Grof dissented, believing international control was not warranted at the time and a recommendation should await further therapeutic data. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs added MDMA to Schedule I of the convention on 11 February 1986.


title: MDMA

text: The use of MDMA in Texas clubs declined rapidly after criminalization, although by 1991 the drug remained popular among young middle-class whites and in nightclubs. In 1985, MDMA use became associated with acid house on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Thereafter in the late 1980s, the drug spread alongside rave culture to the UK and then to other European and American cities. Illicit MDMA use became increasingly widespread among young adults in universities and later, in high schools. Since the mid-1990s, MDMA has become the most widely used amphetamine-type drug by college students and teenagers. MDMA became one of the four most widely used illicit drugs in the US, along with cocaine, heroin, and cannabis.


title: MDMA

text: After MDMA was criminalized, most medical use stopped, although some therapists continued to prescribe the drug illegally. Later, Charles Grob initiated an ascending-dose safety study in healthy volunteers. Subsequent FDA-approved MDMA studies in humans have taken place in the United States in Detroit (Wayne State University), Chicago (University of Chicago), San Francisco (UCSF and California Pacific Medical Center), Baltimore (NIDA–NIH Intramural Program), and South Carolina. Studies have also been conducted in Switzerland (University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zürich), the Netherlands (Maastricht University), and Spain (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).


title: MDMA

text: "Molly", short for 'molecule', was recognized as a slang term for crystalline or powder MDMA in the 2000s.


title: MDMA

text: In 2010, the BBC reported that use of MDMA had decreased in the UK in previous years. This may be due to increased seizures during use and decreased production of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture MDMA. Unwitting substitution with other drugs, such as mephedrone and methamphetamine, as well as legal alternatives to MDMA, such as BZP, MDPV, and methylone, are also thought to have contributed to its decrease in popularity.


title: MDMA

text: In 2017 it was found that some pills being sold as MDMA contained pentylone, which can cause very unpleasant agitation and paranoia.


title: MDMA

text: According to David Nutt, when safrole was restricted by the United Nations in order to reduce the supply of MDMA, producers in China began using anethole instead, but this gives para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA, also known as "Dr Death"), which is much more toxic than MDMA and can cause overheating, muscle spasms, seizures, unconsciousness, and death. People wanting MDMA are sometimes sold PMA instead.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA is legally controlled in most of the world under the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances and other international agreements, although exceptions exist for research and limited medical use. In general, the unlicensed use, sale or manufacture of MDMA are all criminal offences.


title: MDMA

text: In Australia, MDMA was declared an illegal substance in 1986 because of its harmful effects and potential for misuse. It is classed as a Schedule 9 Prohibited Substance in the country, meaning it is available for scientific research purposes only. Any other type of sale, use or manufacture is strictly prohibited by law. Permits for research uses on humans must be approved by a recognized ethics committee on human research.


title: MDMA

text: In Western Australia under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 4.0g of MDMA is the amount required determining a court of trial, 2.0g is considered a presumption with intent to sell or supply and 28.0g is considered trafficking under Australian law.


title: MDMA

text: In the United Kingdom, MDMA was made illegal in 1977 by a modification order to the existing Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Although MDMA was not named explicitly in this legislation, the order extended the definition of Class A drugs to include various ring-substituted phenethylamines. The drug is therefore illegal to sell, buy, or possess without a licence in the UK. Penalties include a maximum of seven years and/or unlimited fine for possession; life and/or unlimited fine for production or trafficking.


title: MDMA

text: Some researchers such as David Nutt have criticized the current scheduling of MDMA, which he determines to be a relatively harmless drug. An editorial he wrote in the "Journal of Psychopharmacology", where he compared the risk of harm for horse riding (1 adverse event in 350) to that of ecstasy (1 in 10,000) resulted in his dismissal as well as the resignation of his colleagues from the ACMD.


title: MDMA

text: In the United States, MDMA is currently placed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. In a 2011 federal court hearing, the American Civil Liberties Union successfully argued that the sentencing guideline for MDMA/ecstasy is based on outdated science, leading to excessive prison sentences. Other courts have upheld the sentencing guidelines. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee explained its ruling by noting that "an individual federal district court judge simply cannot marshal resources akin to those available to the Commission for tackling the manifold issues involved with determining a proper drug equivalency."


title: MDMA

text: In the Netherlands, the Expert Committee on the List (Expertcommissie Lijstensystematiek Opiumwet) issued a report in June 2011 which discussed the evidence for harm and the legal status of MDMA, arguing in favor of maintaining it on List I.


title: MDMA

text: In Canada, MDMA is listed as a Schedule 1 as it is an analogue of amphetamine. The CDSA was updated as a result of the Safe Streets and Communities Act changing amphetamines from Schedule III to Schedule I in March 2012.


title: MDMA

text: In 2014, 3.5% of 18 to 25 year-olds had used MDMA in the United States. In the European Union as of 2018, 4.1% of adults (15–64 years old) have used MDMA at least once in their life, and 0.8% had used it in the last year. Among young adults, 1.8% had used MDMA in the last year.


title: MDMA

text: In Europe, an estimated 37% of regular club-goers aged 14 to 35 used MDMA in the past year according to the 2015 European Drug report. The highest one-year prevalence of MDMA use in Germany in 2012 was 1.7% among people aged 25 to 29 compared with a population average of 0.4%. Among adolescent users in the United States between 1999 and 2008, girls were more likely to use MDMA than boys.


title: MDMA

text: In 2008 the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction noted that although there were some reports of tablets being sold for as little as €1, most countries in Europe then reported typical retail prices in the range of €3 to €9 per tablet, typically containing 25–65 mg of MDMA. By 2014 the EMCDDA reported that the range was more usually between €5 and €10 per tablet, typically containing 57–102 mg of MDMA, although MDMA in powder form was becoming more common.


title: MDMA

text: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime stated in its 2014 World Drug Report that US ecstasy retail prices range from US$1 to $70 per pill, or from $15,000 to $32,000 per kilogram. A new research area named Drug Intelligence aims to automatically monitor distribution networks based on image processing and machine learning techniques, in which an Ecstasy pill picture is analyzed to detect correlations among different production batches. These novel techniques allow police scientists to facilitate the monitoring of illicit distribution networks.


title: MDMA

text: , most of the MDMA in the United States is produced in British Columbia, Canada and imported by Canada-based Asian transnational criminal organizations. The market for MDMA in the United States is relatively small compared to methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin. In the United States, about 0.9 million people used ecstasy in 2010.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA is particularly expensive in Australia, costing A$15–A$30 per tablet. In terms of purity data for Australian MDMA, the average is around 34%, ranging from less than 1% to about 85%. The majority of tablets contain 70–85 mg of MDMA. Most MDMA enters Australia from the Netherlands, the UK, Asia, and the US.


title: MDMA

text: A number of ecstasy manufacturers brand their pills with a logo, often being the logo of an unrelated corporation. Some pills depict logos of products or media popular with children, such as Shaun the Sheep.


title: MDMA

text: The potential for MDMA to be used as a rapid-acting antidepressant has been studied in clinical trials, but as of 2017 the evidence on efficacy and safety were insufficient to reach a conclusion. A 2014 review of the safety and efficacy of MDMA as a treatment for various disorders, particularly PTSD, indicated that MDMA has therapeutic efficacy in some patients; however, it emphasized that issues regarding the controlability of MDMA-induced experiences and neurochemical recovery must be addressed. The author noted that oxytocin and -cycloserine are potentially safer co-drugs in PTSD treatment, albeit with limited evidence of efficacy. This review and a second corroborating review by a different author both concluded that, because of MDMA's demonstrated potential to cause lasting harm in humans (e.g., serotonergic neurotoxicity and persistent memory impairment), "considerably more research must be performed" on its efficacy in PTSD treatment to determine if the potential treatment benefits outweigh its potential to harm to a patient.


title: MDMA

text: MDMA in combination with psychotherapy has been studied as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, and four clinical trials provide moderate evidence in support of this treatment. However, it is important to note that the lack of appropriate blinding of participants likely leads to overestimation of treatments effects due to high levels of response expectancy. In addition, there are no trials comparing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD with existent evidence-based psychological treatments for PTSD, which seems to attain similar or better treatment effects compared with that achieved by MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.


title: MDMA

text: In 2018 researches identified MDMA as a psychoplastogen which refers to a compound capable of promoting neuroplasticity and received the “breakthrough therapy” designation by the Food and Drug Administration for treating PTSD.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with "Hamlet", is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: "Romeo and Juliet" belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and retold in prose in "Palace of Pleasure" by William Painter in 1567. Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Believed to have been written between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. The text of the first quarto version was of poor quality, however, and later editions corrected the text to conform more closely with Shakespeare's original.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Shakespeare's use of poetic dramatic structure (including effects such as switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten tension, the expansion of minor characters, and numerous sub-plots to embellish the story) has been praised as an early sign of his dramatic skill. The play ascribes different poetic forms to different characters, sometimes changing the form as the character develops. Romeo, for example, grows more adept at the sonnet over the course of the play.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: "Romeo and Juliet" has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, musical, and opera venues. During the English Restoration, it was revived and heavily revised by William Davenant. David Garrick's 18th-century version also modified several scenes, removing material then considered indecent, and Georg Benda's "Romeo und Julie" omitted much of the action and used a happy ending. Performances in the 19th century, including Charlotte Cushman's, restored the original text and focused on greater realism. John Gielgud's 1935 version kept very close to Shakespeare's text and used Elizabethan costumes and staging to enhance the drama. In the 20th and into the 21st century, the play has been adapted in versions as diverse as George Cukor's 1936 film "Romeo and Juliet", Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film "Romeo and Juliet", Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film "Romeo + Juliet," and most recently, Carlo Carlei's 2013 film "Romeo and Juliet".


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: The play, set in Verona, Italy, begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants who, like the masters they serve, are sworn enemies. Prince Escalus of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his daughter Juliet, but Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet and Juliet's Nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris's courtship.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets and falls in love with Juliet. Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, is enraged at Romeo for sneaking into the ball but is only stopped from killing Romeo by Juliet's father, who does not wish to shed blood in his house. After the ball, in what is now famously known as the "balcony scene", Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears Juliet at her window vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her, and they agree to be married. With the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are secretly married the next day.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Tybalt, meanwhile, still incensed that Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, challenges him to a duel. Romeo, now considering Tybalt his kinsman, refuses to fight. Mercutio is offended by Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission", and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to break up the fight, and declares a curse upon both households before he dies. ("A plague o' both your houses!") Grief-stricken and racked with guilt, Romeo confronts and slays Tybalt.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Benvolio argues that Romeo has justly executed Tybalt for the murder of Mercutio. The Prince, now having lost a kinsman in the warring families' feud, exiles Romeo from Verona, under penalty of death if he ever returns. Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet's chamber, where they consummate their marriage. Capulet, misinterpreting Juliet's grief, agrees to marry her to Count Paris and threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Paris's "joyful bride". When she then pleads for the marriage to be delayed, her mother rejects her.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Juliet visits Friar Laurence for help, and he offers her a potion that will put her into a deathlike coma or catalepsy for "two and forty hours". The Friar promises to send a messenger to inform Romeo of the plan so that he can rejoin her when she awakens. On the night before the wedding, she takes the drug and, when discovered apparently dead, she is laid in the family crypt.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: The messenger, however, does not reach Romeo and, instead, Romeo learns of Juliet's apparent death from his servant, Balthasar. Heartbroken, Romeo buys poison from an apothecary and goes to the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Believing Romeo to be a vandal, Paris confronts him and, in the ensuing battle, Romeo kills Paris. Still believing Juliet to be dead, he drinks the poison. Juliet then awakens and, discovering that Romeo is dead, stabs herself with his dagger and joins him in death. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. Friar Laurence recounts the story of the two "star-cross'd lovers", fulfilling the curse that Mercutio swore. The families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: "Romeo and Juliet" borrows from a tradition of tragic love stories dating back to antiquity. One of these is Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses", which contains parallels to Shakespeare's story: the lovers' parents despise each other, and Pyramus falsely believes his lover Thisbe is dead. The "Ephesiaca" of Xenophon of Ephesus, written in the 3rd century, also contains several similarities to the play, including the separation of the lovers, and a potion that induces a deathlike sleep.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: One of the earliest references to the names "Montague" and "Capulet" is from Dante's "Divine Comedy", who mentions the Montecchi ("Montagues") and the Cappelletti ("Capulets") in canto six of "Purgatorio":


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: However, the reference is part of a polemic against the moral decay of Florence, Lombardy, and the Italian Peninsula as a whole; Dante, through his characters, chastises German King Albert I for neglecting his responsibilities towards Italy ("you who are negligent"), and successive popes for their encroachment from purely spiritual affairs, thus leading to a climate of incessant bickering and warfare between rival political parties in Lombardy. History records the name of the family "Montague" as being lent to such a political party in Verona, but that of the "Capulets" as from a Cremonese family, both of whom play out their conflict in Lombardy as a whole rather than within the confines of Verona. Allied to rival political factions, the parties are grieving ("One lot already grieving") because their endless warfare has led to the destruction of both parties, rather than a grief from the loss of their ill-fated offspring as the play sets forth, which appears to be a solely poetic creation within this context.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: The earliest known version of the "Romeo and Juliet" tale akin to Shakespeare's play is the story of Mariotto and Ganozza by Masuccio Salernitano, in the 33rd novel of his "Il Novellino" published in 1476. Salernitano sets the story in Siena and insists its events took place in his own lifetime. His version of the story includes the secret marriage, the colluding friar, the fray where a prominent citizen is killed, Mariotto's exile, Ganozza's forced marriage, the potion plot, and the crucial message that goes astray. In this version, Mariotto is caught and beheaded and Ganozza dies of grief.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Luigi da Porto (1485–1529) adapted the story as "Giulietta e Romeo" and included it in his "Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti" "(A Newly-Discovered History of two Noble Lovers"), written in 1524 and published posthumously in 1531 in Venice. Da Porto drew on "Pyramus and Thisbe", Boccaccio's "Decameron", and Salernitano's "Mariotto e Ganozza", but it is likely that his story is also autobiographical: He was a soldier present at a ball on 26 February 1511, at a residence of the pro-Venice Savorgnan clan in Udine, following a peace ceremony attended by the opposing pro-Imperial Strumieri clan. There, Da Porto fell in love with Lucina, a Savorgnan daughter, but the family feud frustrated their courtship. The next morning, the Savorgnans led an attack on the city, and many members of the Strumieri were murdered. Years later, still half-paralyzed from a battle-wound, Luigi wrote "Giulietta e Romeo" in Montorso Vicentino (from which he could see the "castles" of Verona), dedicating the "novella" to the "bellisima e leggiadra" (the beautiful and graceful) Lucina Savorgnan. Da Porto presented his tale as historically factual and claimed it took place at least a century earlier than Salernitano had it, in the days Verona was ruled by Bartolomeo della Scala (anglicized as Prince Escalus).


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Da Porto presented the narrative in close to its modern form, including the names of the lovers, the rival families of Montecchi and Capuleti (Cappelletti) and the location in Verona. He named the friar Laurence ("frate Lorenzo") and introduced the characters Mercutio ("Marcuccio Guertio"), Tybalt ("Tebaldo Cappelletti"), Count Paris ("conte (Paride) di "), the faithful servant, and Giulietta's nurse. Da Porto originated the remaining basic elements of the story: the feuding families, Romeo—left by his mistress—meeting Giulietta at a dance at her house, the love scenes (including the balcony scene), the periods of despair, Romeo killing Giulietta's cousin (Tebaldo), and the families' reconciliation after the lovers' suicides. In da Porto's version, Romeo takes poison and Giulietta keeps her breath until she dies.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: In 1554, Matteo Bandello published the second volume of his "Novelle", which included his version of "Giuletta e Romeo", probably written between 1531 and 1545. Bandello lengthened and weighed down the plot while leaving the storyline basically unchanged (though he did introduce Benvolio). Bandello's story was translated into French by Pierre Boaistuau in 1559 in the first volume of his "Histories Tragiques". Boaistuau adds much moralising and sentiment, and the characters indulge in rhetorical outbursts.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: In his 1562 narrative poem "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet", Arthur Brooke translated Boaistuau faithfully but adjusted it to reflect parts of Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde". There was a trend among writers and playwrights to publish works based on Italian "novelle"—Italian tales were very popular among theatre-goers—and Shakespeare may well have been familiar with William Painter's 1567 collection of Italian tales titled "Palace of Pleasure". This collection included a version in prose of the "Romeo and Juliet" story named ""The goodly History of the true and constant love of Romeo and Juliett"". Shakespeare took advantage of this popularity: "The Merchant of Venice", "Much Ado About Nothing", "All's Well That Ends Well", "Measure for Measure", and "Romeo and Juliet" are all from Italian "novelle". "Romeo and Juliet" is a dramatization of Brooke's translation, and Shakespeare follows the poem closely but adds detail to several major and minor characters (the Nurse and Mercutio in particular).


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Christopher Marlowe's "Hero and Leander" and "Dido, Queen of Carthage", both similar stories written in Shakespeare's day, are thought to be less of a direct influence, although they may have helped create an atmosphere in which tragic love stories could thrive.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: It is unknown when exactly Shakespeare wrote "Romeo and Juliet". Juliet's Nurse refers to an earthquake she says occurred 11 years ago. This may refer to the Dover Straits earthquake of 1580, which would date that particular line to 1591. Other earthquakes—both in England and in Verona—have been proposed in support of the different dates. But the play's stylistic similarities with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and other plays conventionally dated around 1594–95, place its composition sometime between 1591 and 1595. One conjecture is that Shakespeare may have begun a draft in 1591, which he completed in 1595.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" was published in two quarto editions prior to the publication of the First Folio of 1623. These are referred to as Q1 and Q2. The first printed edition, Q1, appeared in early 1597, printed by John Danter. Because its text contains numerous differences from the later editions, it is labelled a so-called 'bad quarto'; the 20th-century editor T. J. B. Spencer described it as "a detestable text, probably a reconstruction of the play from the imperfect memories of one or two of the actors", suggesting that it had been pirated for publication. An alternative explanation for Q1's shortcomings is that the play (like many others of the time) may have been heavily edited before performance by the playing company. However, "the theory, formulated by [Alfred] Pollard," that the 'bad quarto' was "reconstructed from memory by some of the actors is now under attack. Alternative theories are that some or all of 'the bad quartos' are early versions by Shakespeare or abbreviations made either for Shakespeare's company or for other companies." In any event, its appearance in early 1597 makes 1596 the latest possible date for the play's composition.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: The superior Q2 called the play "The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet". It was printed in 1599 by Thomas Creede and published by Cuthbert Burby. Q2 is about 800 lines longer than Q1. Its title page describes it as "Newly corrected, augmented and amended". Scholars believe that Q2 was based on Shakespeare's pre-performance draft (called his foul papers) since there are textual oddities such as variable tags for characters and "false starts" for speeches that were presumably struck through by the author but erroneously preserved by the typesetter. It is a much more complete and reliable text and was reprinted in 1609 (Q3), 1622 (Q4) and 1637 (Q5). In effect, all later Quartos and Folios of "Romeo and Juliet" are based on Q2, as are all modern editions since editors believe that any deviations from Q2 in the later editions (whether good or bad) are likely to have arisen from editors or compositors, not from Shakespeare.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: The First Folio text of 1623 was based primarily on Q3, with clarifications and corrections possibly coming from a theatrical prompt book or Q1. Other Folio editions of the play were printed in 1632 (F2), 1664 (F3), and 1685 (F4). Modern versions—that take into account several of the Folios and Quartos—first appeared with Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition, followed by Alexander Pope's 1723 version. Pope began a tradition of editing the play to add information such as stage directions missing in Q2 by locating them in Q1. This tradition continued late into the Romantic period. Fully annotated editions first appeared in the Victorian period and continue to be produced today, printing the text of the play with footnotes describing the sources and culture behind the play.


title: Romeo and Juliet

text: Scholars have found it extremely difficult to assign one specific, overarching theme to the play. Proposals for a main theme include a discovery by the characters that human beings are neither wholly good nor wholly evil, but instead are more or less alike, awaking out of a dream and into reality, the danger of hasty action, or the power of tragic fate. None of these have widespread support. However, even if an overall theme cannot be found it is clear that the play is full of several small thematic elements that intertwine in complex ways. Several of those most often debated by scholars are discussed below.