The diary of an opium user
Episode in the regional televsion series Van Rossem vertelt
In the regional television series Van Rossem vertelt, Maarten van Rossem takes us to Teylers Museum in Haarlem and to the Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 Library City Centre. The reason behind this visit is that Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 Library has acquired the diary of Joan Gideon Loten:
Forgotten Utrecht citizen
born in Groenekan, near Utrecht, spent the greater part of his life abroad. For 25 years he worked for the Dutch East India Company and after that he lived for 23 years in London. Loten was interested in mathematics and astronomy, but he also had a keen interest in natural phenonema. He made beautiful drawings of tropical birds or commissioned artists to make drawings of nature. A number of them is housed in the collection of Teylers Museum.
In London, where Loten was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians, a monument was erected for him in Westminster Abbey. However, no traces are left of him in Utrecht.
Opium
The years in the Dutch East Indies had been hard on Loten. Not only was he often in conflict with his fellow officials, also his wife and children had died there. On the return voyage to the Netherlands he began suffering from asthma attacks and to relieve the symptoms he started using opium. The quantities taken he carefully noted down in his .
Drift 27
The last years of his life Loten lived with his second wife in Cour de Loo, situated on Drift 27, the current address of the 木瓜福利影视 Library City Centre.
Want to watch the video? . (In Dutch and no subtitles)