Lucy in the Sky and Microdosing WO RD S ― JAMI E C H RI STIAN D ES P L AC ES
In April 1943, Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann wrote a memo to his boss at pharmaceutical company Sandoz explaining that he’d had to leave his laboratory early having felt “a remarkable restlessness combined with a slight dizziness”. Back at home, the chemist described a “not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition” accompanied by an “extremely stimulated imagination”. With the sunlight causing a sudden discomfort, Hofmann closed his eyes to an “uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures” alongside “extraordinary shapes” whose colours were “intense” and “kaleidoscopic”. Hofmann had, via skin absorption, unknowingly microdosed on a chemical compound he had earlier developed (unsuccessfully) to stimulate respiration and circulation. The compound was a lysergic acid combination, or LSD.
