Happy Bicycle Day, everyone!
"Bicycle Day is commemorated as the day Swiss Scientist Albert Hofmann discovered the effects of the psychedelic substance Lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD.
Although Bicycle Day took place on April 19, 1943, it wasn’t Hofmann’s first encounter with LSD. Back in 1938, Hofmann first synthesized LSD while he was studying the properties of a rye fungus called ergot. He was looking for a compound that stimulates the nervous system as a medical solution for the treatment of headaches or respiratory problems.
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Though it isn’t clear how Hofmann accidentally absorbed a trace amount, it’s speculated that he licked his fingers after getting a bit of the drug on them. Once he got a taste for it, he felt an effect in the form of an altered state of consciousness.
Though he wasn’t sure what to expect, Hofmann felt a visceral transition less than an hour after taking the drug, which included distortion, mixed with slight anxiety, as well as the desire to laugh. Hofmann asked his lab assistant to take him home, but due to wartime restrictions, cars were prohibited at the time. Thus, Hofmann and his associate had to ride home on bicycles.
Here is where the climax of Bicycle day took place. Hofmann’s condition became more and more severe as he rode home. He developed full-on anxiety, paranoia, and feared that he was going insane.
Hofmann became afraid that he had poisoned himself, not too wild of a thought, even for someone on a psychedelic trip. After all ergot, the fungi LSD comes from, is deadly poisonous in its natural state.
On his experience during the ride back on Bicycle Day, Hofmann is quoted in his book saying, “Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled very rapidly.”
Once he reached home, Hofmann had a doctor come to see him. The doctor found no lethal signs and no physical abnormalities, aside from slightly dilated pupils. As soon as Hofmann learned he wasn’t in danger, he felt a shift.
“The horror softened and gave way to a feeling of good fortune and gratitude,” he said of his account. “Now, little by little, I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me.”
And so the invention of LSD as a psychedelic drug was born, as was the day called Bicycle Day. Albert Hofmann died in 2008 at the age of 102."
"Bicycle Day is commemorated as the day Swiss Scientist Albert Hofmann discovered the effects of the psychedelic substance Lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD.
Although Bicycle Day took place on April 19, 1943, it wasn’t Hofmann’s first encounter with LSD. Back in 1938, Hofmann first synthesized LSD while he was studying the properties of a rye fungus called ergot. He was looking for a compound that stimulates the nervous system as a medical solution for the treatment of headaches or respiratory problems.
...
Though it isn’t clear how Hofmann accidentally absorbed a trace amount, it’s speculated that he licked his fingers after getting a bit of the drug on them. Once he got a taste for it, he felt an effect in the form of an altered state of consciousness.
Though he wasn’t sure what to expect, Hofmann felt a visceral transition less than an hour after taking the drug, which included distortion, mixed with slight anxiety, as well as the desire to laugh. Hofmann asked his lab assistant to take him home, but due to wartime restrictions, cars were prohibited at the time. Thus, Hofmann and his associate had to ride home on bicycles.
Here is where the climax of Bicycle day took place. Hofmann’s condition became more and more severe as he rode home. He developed full-on anxiety, paranoia, and feared that he was going insane.
Hofmann became afraid that he had poisoned himself, not too wild of a thought, even for someone on a psychedelic trip. After all ergot, the fungi LSD comes from, is deadly poisonous in its natural state.
On his experience during the ride back on Bicycle Day, Hofmann is quoted in his book saying, “Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled very rapidly.”
Once he reached home, Hofmann had a doctor come to see him. The doctor found no lethal signs and no physical abnormalities, aside from slightly dilated pupils. As soon as Hofmann learned he wasn’t in danger, he felt a shift.
“The horror softened and gave way to a feeling of good fortune and gratitude,” he said of his account. “Now, little by little, I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me.”
And so the invention of LSD as a psychedelic drug was born, as was the day called Bicycle Day. Albert Hofmann died in 2008 at the age of 102."