64 ROLAND FISCHER 



even prolonged washing does not dislodge. This example of competitive absorp- 

 tion (displacement) could be simulated in a model experiment showing the high 

 affinity of methylene blue chloride to wool, (3.3 X 10 ~ 2 mMoles/1 gm. of wool) 

 whereas acetylcholine bromide could be washed out completely (desorbed) from 

 the wool under the same experimental conditions. 



II 



Based on these premises, the affinity for wool 2 (Fischer, Hoelle and Seiden- 

 berg, 1951) of the following four basic compounds was determined at pH 5.2: 

 mescaline hydrochloride, methedrine hydrochloride, lysergic acid monoethyl- 

 amide (LAE) and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the latter two in form of 

 their methanoltartrates. These drugs, if administered to humans in the approxi- 

 mate range of dosages, 500 mg., 100 mg., 1 mg. and 100 mg. respectively, cause 

 a model psychosis characterized by hallucinations and related phenomena of 

 similar intensity and duration (Behringer, 1927; Mayer-Gross et al, 1951 and 

 1953; Stoll, 1947; Liddell and Weil-Malherbe, 1953; Solms, 1953; Fischer, 1946; 

 Fischer, Georgi and Weber, 1951). The method of determining the affinity for 

 wool used in this study gives only relative values but these were found to be 

 proportional to the absolute values obtained by another method (Larose and 

 Fischer, 1953b). 



The results are presented in Fig. 1. The logarithms of dosage of each of the 

 four compounds which causes a model psychosis of comparable intensity and 

 duration are plotted against the amount of these compounds sorbed by wool. 

 The results indicate that the higher the affinity of a drug for wool, the lower the 

 amount of that drug required to cause hallucinations. 



We are inclined to attribute the increasing affinity of these drug for wool 3 to 

 their different degrees of specificity simulating a reversible inhibition of an 

 equilibrium involved in the production of hallucinations. 



We included only these four drugs in Fig. 1 because it is not easy to find other 

 drugs which precipitate a reversible model psychosis with hallucinatory expe- 

 rience of comparable duration and intensity after administration of a single 

 dose. Atabrine (mepacrine), for example, which is known to produce hallucina- 

 tions and catatonic excitement (Greiber, 1947; Szatmari) requires prolonged 

 daily administration. 4 Another antimalarial, of similar structure and action, 



2 The term wool is identical with that of intact wool used in some previous papers; 

 (Fischer and Larose, 1952b). 



:i High affinity for wool does not mean the same for us as "selective absorption." 

 An example: Bradley, 1951, has shown the selective absorption of one of the optical 

 antipodes by wool from an aqueous or alcoholic solution containing both of the op- 

 tical antipodes of resolvable acids. 



4 E.g. 3 gms. per day for 8 days (Halpern, et al, 1953). We found the affinity of wool 

 for atabrine to be low, i.e. 0.9 X 10~ 2 mMoles/gm. This example suggests that com- 

 pounds of low affinity for wool seem to display their biological activity only in high 

 dosage. 



