author

Horace B. Day

1819–1870

A 19th-century physician and writer, he is remembered for an early, unusually direct account of addiction and its treatment. His work stands out for describing the opium habit from both a medical and deeply personal point of view.

1 Audiobook

The Opium Habit

The Opium Habit

by Horace B. Day

About the author

Born in 1819 and dying in 1870, Horace B. Day is best known for The Opium Habit: With Suggestions as to the Remedy, a nineteenth-century work that has continued to circulate in medical and historical collections.

The book is notable because it combines practical advice with a candid discussion of dependence, making it one of the more striking early texts on opium use and recovery. Surviving catalog records identify him with that work, but readily available biographical details about his wider life and career appear to be limited.

Because so little confirmed personal information is easy to verify, his reputation today rests mainly on the lasting interest of his writing rather than on a well-documented public biography.