especially rye. The ears of rye that have been attacked 
by the fungus develop into long, dark pegs to form ergot. 
The chemical and pharmacological investigation of the 
ergot alkaloids has been a main field of research of the 
natural products department of the Sandoz laboratories 
since the discovery of ergotamine by A. Stoll in 1918. 
These investigations have resulted in a variety of useful 
pharmaceuticals which find wide application in obstetrics, 
in internal medicine, in neurology and psychiatry. 
On the 16th of April 1948, upon recrystallizing d- 
lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate, which I had produced 
from natural lysergic acid and diethylamine by way of 
the lysergic acid hydrazide and azide, I suddenly became 
strangely inebriated. ‘The external world became changed 
as in. a dream. Objects appeared to gain in relief; they 
assumed unusual dimensions; and colors became more 
glowing. Even self-perception and the sense of time were 
changed. When the eyes were closed, colored pictures 
flashed past in a quickly changing kaleidoscope. After a 
few hours, the not unpleasant inebriation, which had 
been experienced whilst I was fully conscious, dis- 
appeared. What had caused this condition? Subsequent 
systematic self-experimentation with the chemicals that 
I had used on that day were to provide the answer. Ly- 
sergic acid diethylamide was tested, amongst other sub- 
stances, as it was possible that a drop had fallen on my 
fingers and had been absorbed by the skin. I com- 
menced my experiments on this compound by taking 0.5 
ml. of a 0.5 per mille aqueous solution, corresponding to 
0.25 mg. of d-lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate. This 
extremely small quantity proved to be a substantial over- 
dose. A state of inebriation, lasting for a number of hours 
and filled with dramatic experiences, which have been 
described in former publications,‘ ° followed. This is how 
the most active psychotomimetic hallucinogenic com- 
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