His experimental notes commence: ‘4/19/43 16:20 0.5 cc of 1/2 promil aqueous solution of diethylamide tartrate orally =. “At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicatedlike condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination.”Ī few days later at work, Hofmann decided to adopt the Romantic methods of Stevenson’s celebrated Dr. He went home (he doesn’t say how) and subsequently submitted a report to Sandoz. On April 16, 1943, he apparently absorbed a minuscule amount of the lysergic acid he was synthesizing through his fingertips. Most famously, of course, Hofmann’s ergot experiments synthesized D-lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate, LSD. Indeed, he discovered some for Sandoz, including Hydergine, a medication that, among other things, enhances memory function in the elderly. Hofmann set out to find whether there might be further therapeutic applications for ergot derivatives. Ergot had one positive effect: in appropriate doses it facilitated childbirth. Anthony’s Fire, which resulted in gangrene and convulsions. Among these was a rye fungus called ergot, known principally as the cause of a grim disease called St. As a narrative it was very fondly regarded because so many of us imagined a clueless botanist pedaling over the cobblestones with the clockwork Helvetian order dissolving under him.Īt Sandoz, Hofmann specialized in the investigation of naturally occurring compounds that might make useful medicines. The story presented another example of enlightenment as trickster.
Albert Hofmann, a research chemist at the Sandoz pharmaceutical company, fell from his bicycle in April 1943 on his way home through the streets of Basel, Switzerland, after accidently dosing himself with LSD at the laboratory. In the circles where LSD eventually thrived, the moment of its discovery was more cherished than even the famous intersection of a fine English apple with Isaac Newton’s inquiring mind, the comic cosmic instant that gave us gravity.
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