Albert Hofmann

Hofmann — LSD: My Problem Child (2009) [DECLARED]

Schultes y Hofmann — The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens (1980) [DECLARED]

Schultes, Hofmann y Rätsch — Plants of the Gods (2001) [DECLARED]

Wasson, Hofmann y Ruck — The Road to Eleusis (ponencias de 1977; edición del trigésimo aniversario, 2008) [DECLARED]

«My father, Adolf Hofmann, and my mother Elisabeth, born Schenk, met in Miinchenstein, near Basel, where my father worked as a locksmith for one of the subsidiaries of the mechanical engineering group Brown-Boveri.» — los nombres que da de sus padres y el oficio del padre, cerrajero en una filial de Brown-Boveri, en la autobiografía preliminar traducida por Elisabeth Riccabona.

«It was there that, during enchanted moments, the wonder of creation revealed itself to me in the beauty of nature, and already then forged my view of the world in its basic features.» — dónde pone el origen de su visión del mundo: en las escapadas de infancia al bosque del Martinsberg, en momentos que llama encantados.

«It was these experiences that shaped the main outlines of my worldview and convinced me of the existence of a miraculous, powerful, unfathomable reality that was hidden from everyday sight.» — la tesis con que abre el libro: esas experiencias de infancia le formaron la visión del mundo y le convencieron de una realidad poderosa e insondable oculta a la vista cotidiana.

«More recent investigations have shown that many persons also have visionary experiences in daily life, though most of us fail to recognize their meaning and value. Mystical experiences, like those that marked my childhood, are apparently far from rare.» — dice, con grado, que las experiencias místicas no son raras y que la mayoría no les reconoce sentido ni valor.

«I share the belief of many of my contemporaries that the spiritual crisis pervading all spheres of Western industrial society can be remedied only by a change in our worldview. We shall have to shift from the materialistic, dualistic belief that people and their environment are separate, toward a new consciousness of an all-encompassing reality, which embraces the experiencing ego, a reality in which people feel their oneness with animate nature and all of creation.» — su diagnóstico y su propuesta: la crisis espiritual de la sociedad industrial de Occidente solo se remedia cambiando de visión del mundo, del dualismo materialista a una realidad que lo abarca todo.

«Foremost among such approaches are the various methods of meditation, either in a religious or a secular context, which aim to deepen the consciousness of reality by way of a total mystical experience.» — qué pone en primer lugar entre las vías a ese cambio: los métodos de meditación, religiosos o seculares.

«Deliberate provocation of mystical experience, particularly by LSD and related hallucinogens, in contrast to spontaneous visionary experiences, entails dangers that must not be underestimated. Practitioners must take into account the peculiar effects of these substances, namely their ability to influence our consciousness, the innermost essence of our being.» — el límite que pone a su propia propuesta: provocar la experiencia mística con estas sustancias entraña peligros que no deben subestimarse.

«In 1938, I produced the twenty-fifth substance in this series of lysergic acid derivatives: lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD-25 (Lyserg-saure-diathylamid) for laboratory usage.» — la fecha y el lugar de serie del LSD según su autor: 1938, la vigesimoquinta sustancia de la serie de derivados del ácido lisérgico, de donde sale la abreviatura.

«4/19/43 16:20: 0.5 cc of 1/2 promil aqueous solution of diethylamide tartrate orally = 0.25 mg tartrate. Taken diluted with about 10 cc water. Tasteless. 17:00: Beginning dizziness, feeling of anxiety, visual distortions, symptoms of paralysis, desire to laugh. Supplement of 4/21: Home by bicycle. From 18:00- ca.20:00 most severe crisis. (See special report.» — el asiento de su diario de laboratorio del 19 de abril de 1943, con la hora, la dosis, el sabor, el comienzo de los síntomas y la vuelta a casa en bicicleta anotada dos días después.

«We went by bicycle, no automobile being available because of wartime restrictions on their use.» — la razón de la bicicleta, que da al pasar: las restricciones de guerra al uso del automóvil.

«At times I believed myself to be outside my body, and then perceived clearly, as an outside observer, the complete tragedy of my situation.» — el desdoblamiento que reporta de aquel día: percibirse desde fuera como observador de su propia situación.

«What seemed even more significant was that I could remember the experience of LSD inebriation in every detail. This could only mean that the conscious recording function was not interrupted, even in the climax of the LSD experience, despite the profound breakdown of the normal worldview.» — el dato que considera más significativo: la función consciente de registro no se interrumpió ni en el clímax.

«The more its use as an inebriant was disseminated, bringing an upsurge in the number of untoward incidents caused by careless, medically unsupervised use, the more LSD became a problem child for me and for the Sandoz firm.» — dónde fija el origen del título de su libro: el uso descuidado y sin supervisión médica es lo que vuelve problem child a la sustancia.

«At that time, I was now and again assailed by doubts whether the valuable pharmacological and psychic effects of LSD might be outweighed by its dangers and by possible injuries due to misuse. Would LSD become a blessing for humanity, or a curse? This I often asked myself when I thought about my problem child.» — la duda que declara haber tenido y que no resuelve ahí: si sería bendición o maldición para la humanidad.

«My other preparations, Methergine, Dihydroergotamine, and Hydergine, caused me no such problems and difficulties. They were not problem children; lacking extravagant properties leading to misuse, they have developed in a satisfying manner into therapeutically valuable medicines.» — el contraste con que acota qué hace problemático a un producto: sus otros preparados carecían de propiedades extravagantes que invitaran al abuso.

«AT THE END OF THE LAST INTRODUCTION, written over 30 years ago, I expressed my hope that the problem child LSD might become a miracle child, if one could learn how to make use of its extraordinary psychic effects.» — abre el prefacio de la edición nueva recordando lo que esperó treinta años antes: que el problem child se volviera miracle child si se aprendía a usar sus efectos psíquicos.

«But LSD Is sTILL A PROBLEM CHILD.» — el veredicto con que contesta a su propia esperanza treinta años después; el troceo imprime las versalitas como mayúsculas y minúsculas mezcladas.

«This resulted in the important finding that LSD belongs chemically, as well as in its psychological effects, to this group of sacred Mexican drugs. Thus the adventure of the discovery of LSD found a surprising continuation 15 years later, in the exciting discovery of ancient sacred drugs—the account of which covers a big part of this book.» — la tesis que saca de sus hallazgos mexicanos: el LSD pertenece químicamente y por sus efectos al grupo de las drogas sagradas mexicanas.

«Reality is inconceivable without an experiencing subject, without an ego. It is the product of the exterior world, of the sender and of a receiver, an ego in whose deepest self the emanations of the exterior world, registered by the antennae of the sense organs, become conscious. If one of the two is lacking, no reality happens, no radio music plays, the picture screen remains blank.» — la definición de realidad con que trabaja: producto de un emisor y un receptor, sin uno de los dos no hay realidad.

«If one continues with the conception of reality as a product of sender and receiver, then the entry of another reality under the influence of LSD may be explained by the fact that the brain, the seat of the receiver, becomes biochemically altered. The receiver is thereby tuned into another wavelength than that corresponding to normal, everyday reality.» — la explicación que da del efecto en esos términos: el cerebro, sede del receptor, queda sintonizado en otra longitud de onda.

«These different realities, more correctly designated as different aspects of the reality, are not mutually exclusive but are complementary, and form together a portion of the all-encompassing, timeless, transcendental reality, in which even the unimpeachable core of self-consciousness, which has the power to record the different egos, is located.» — la corrección que hace a su propia formulación: aspectos de la realidad y no realidades distintas, complementarios y parte de una realidad transcendental que lo abarca todo.

«The true importance of LSD and related hallucinogens lies in their capacity to shift the wavelength setting of the receiving “self,” and thereby to evoke alterations in reality consciousness. This ability to allow different, new pictures of reality to arise, this truly cosmogonic power, makes the cultish worship of hallucinogenic plants as sacred drugs understandable.» — dónde cifra la importancia verdadera de estas sustancias, y el puente que tiende desde ahí al culto de las plantas sagradas: una potencia que llama cosmogónica.

«This condition of cosmic consciousness, which under favorable conditions can be evoked by LSD or by another hallucinogen from the group of Mexican sacred drugs, is analogous to spontaneous religious enlightenment, with the unio mystica.» — la equivalencia que declara, con su condición: bajo condiciones favorables, ese estado de consciencia cósmica es análogo a la iluminación religiosa espontánea.

«But the questions raised by hallucinogenic drugs do actually belong in the church—in a prominent place in the church, for they are sacred drugs (peyotl, teonanacatl, ololiuhqui, with which LSD is mostly closely related by chemical structure and activity» — su tesis más fuerte sobre el lugar del asunto: estas preguntas pertenecen a la iglesia, y en lugar destacado, porque se trata de drogas sagradas; nombra peyotl, teonanácatl y ololiuhqui.

«I SEE THE TRUE IMPORTANCE OF LSD in the possibitity of providing material aid to meditation aimed at the mystical experience of a deeper, comprehensive reality. Such a use accords entirely with the essence and working character of LSD as a sacred drug.» — la última frase del cuerpo de su libro, donde fija el uso que defiende: ayuda material a la meditación dirigida a la experiencia mística, concorde con el carácter del LSD como droga sagrada; el troceo imprime possibitity.

«The latter would have to be explained by the fact that the effect of magic drugs happens at the borderline where mind and matter merge—that these magic substances are themselves cracks in the infinite realm of matter, in which the depth of matter, its relationship with the mind, becomes particularly obvious.» — su tesis metafísica: las drogas mágicas actúan en la frontera donde mente y materia se juntan, y son ellas mismas grietas en el reino de la materia.

«This would correspond to cracks which the radioactive substances constitute in the periodic system of the elements, where the transition of matter into energy becomes manifest. Indeed, one must ask whether the production of atomic energy likewise represents a transgression of forbidden limits.» — el paralelo que traza entre su grieta y la radiactividad, y la pregunta que extiende a la energía atómica.

«Above all, for Western people with their hypertrophied rationality, the development and expansion of a direct, emotional experience of reality, unobstructed by words and concepts, would be of evolutionary significance.» — el diagnóstico que aplica al hombre occidental y el remedio que propone: experiencia directa y emocional de la realidad, sin palabras ni conceptos de por medio.

«The rapid rise of drug use, which had its beginning in this country about twenty years ago, was not, however, a consequence of the discovery of LSD, as superficial observers often declared. Rather it had deep-seated sociological causes: materialism, alienation from nature through industrialization and increasing urbanization, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in a mechanized, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in a wealthy, saturated society, and lack of a religious, nurturing, and meaningful philosophical foundation of life.» — a qué atribuye el auge del consumo de drogas, contra lo que llama observadores superficiales: no al hallazgo del LSD sino a causas sociológicas de fondo.

«In the future, I hope that LSD provides to the individual a new worldview, which is in harmony with nature and its laws.» — lo que espera del LSD en una declaración posterior a su centenario que el editor cita: una visión del mundo en armonía con la naturaleza y sus leyes.

«In July 1975 I was visiting my friend Gordon Wasson in his home in Danbury when he suddenly asked me this question: whether Early Man in ancient Greece could have hit on a method to isolate an hallucinogen from ergot that would have given him an experience comparable to LSD or psilocybin.» — abre su capítulo de The Road to Eleusis con la pregunta que Wasson le hizo en julio de 1975: si el hombre antiguo en Grecia pudo dar con un método para aislar del cornezuelo un alucinógeno comparable al LSD o a la psilocibina.

«I replied that this might well have been the case and I promised to send him, after further reflection, an exposition of our present knowledge on the subject, which I already suspected would support my tentative position. Two years have passed, and here now is my answer.» — consigna su respuesta inmediata y el plazo: dos años entre la pregunta y esta exposición, que ya sospechaba favorable a su posición tentativa.

«Ergot itself is not of uniform chemical composition: it occurs in ‘biological’ or ‘chemical’ races, differing from each other mainly by the composition of their alkaloidal constituents.» — el dato que le permite todo el argumento: el cornezuelo no tiene composición química uniforme, sino razas biológicas o químicas que difieren en sus alcaloides.

«But the Lolium species (L. temulentum and L. perenne) are notoriously prey to the Claviceps fungus. The psychotropic reputation of darnel must therefore be attributed to its parasitic infection by ergot.» — la salida que propone al resultado negativo de su laboratorio sobre el Lolium: la fama psicotrópica de la cizaña se debe a su infección por el cornezuelo, no a la planta.

«In conclusion I now answer Wasson’s question. The answer is yes, Early Man in ancient Greece could have arrived at an hallucinogen from ergot.» — su respuesta, afirmativa: el hombre antiguo en Grecia pudo llegar a un alucinógeno a partir del cornezuelo.

«He might have done this from ergot growing on wheat or barley. An easier way would have been to use the ergot growing on the common wild grass Paspalum. This is based on the assumption that the herbalists of ancient Greece were as intelligent and resourceful as the herbalists of pre» — enumera las dos vías y declara el supuesto en que descansa toda su respuesta: que los herbolarios de la Grecia antigua fueran tan inteligentes y recursivos como los del México anterior a la Conquista.

«These are the psychopharmaka of the hallucinogenic class, which have also been described as psychedelics or entheogens, whose most important modern representative is LSD. The Greeks used the term pharmacotheon, or ‘divine drug.’» — en el epílogo del volumen, traducido del alemán por Jonathan Ott: da los tres nombres en circulación para esa clase y añade el término griego pharmacotheon, droga divina.

«As a matter of fact, under specific internal and external conditions, this class of drugs, whether called hallucinogens, psychedelics, or entheogens, is capable of producing a totality experience, the unio mystica.» — en el epílogo, con la condición por delante: esa clase de drogas puede producir una experiencia de totalidad, la unio mystica.

«A prerequisite for meaningful use and a propitious psychic experience of these compounds – which can be described as Sacred Drugs – is the external environment and the spiritual preparation of those experimenting with them.» — en el epílogo: fija el requisito del uso con sentido, el entorno externo y la preparación espiritual de quien experimenta, y llama a esas sustancias drogas sagradas.

«In conclusion, I wish once more to raise the fundamental question: why were such drugs probably used in Eleusis, and why are they still used by certain Indian tribes even today in the course of religious ceremonies? And why is such use scarcely conceivable in the Christian liturgy, as though it were not significant?» — en el epílogo: vuelve a plantear la pregunta de fondo y la extiende a por qué tal uso es apenas concebible en la liturgia cristiana.

«The answer is that the Christian liturgy worships a godly power enthroned in heaven, that is a power outside of the individual. At Eleusis, on the contrary, an alteration in the innermost being of the individual was striven for, a visionary experience of the ground of being which converted the subjects into Mystai, Epotetai, Initiates.» — en el epílogo: da su respuesta como contraste de direcciones, la liturgia cristiana adora un poder entronizado en el cielo y en Eleusis se buscaba una alteración en lo más íntimo del individuo.

«Alteration within the individual is again underway today. The requisite transformations in the direction of an all-encompassing consciousness, as a precondition for overcoming materialism and for a renewed relationship with Nature, cannot be relegated to society or to the state. The change must and can only take place in each individual person.» — en el epílogo: sostiene que esa transformación no puede delegarse en la sociedad ni en el Estado y solo puede darse en cada persona.

«The fact that extraordinary states of awareness can be induced with various means and in various ways shows us that capacity for mystical experience is innate to every person. It is part of the essence of human spirituality.» — en el epílogo: saca de la variedad de los medios una conclusión sobre la capacidad, la experiencia mística es innata a toda persona y parte de la esencia de su espiritualidad.

«It is unrelated to the external, social status of the individual. Thus, in Eleusis, both free men and women, as well as slaves, could be initiated.» — en el epílogo: cierra ese punto con el dato eleusino, se iniciaban hombres y mujeres libres y también esclavos.

«Eleusis can be a model for today. Eleusis-like centers could unite and strengthen the many spiritual currents of our time, all of which have the same goal – the goal of creating, by transforming consciousness in» — en el epílogo: propone centros del tipo de Eleusis como unión de las corrientes espirituales de su tiempo.

«individual people, the conditions for a better world, a world without war and without environmental damage, a world of happy people.» — el remate de su epílogo en la última plana del capítulo: un mundo sin guerra, sin daño ambiental y de gente feliz.

«In a particular field of research closely related to the theme of this congress and initiated by the discovery of LSD, our investigations on psychotomimetic drugs have been pursued.» — de la carta que envió al simposio de 1967 y que Nathan Kline leyó en la sala: sitúa la investigación de Sandoz sobre drogas psicotomiméticas como abierta por el hallazgo del LSD.

«To a large extent the non-medical, partially legitimate, partially illegitimate, interest in and use of hallucinogenics or psychedelics is as a result of the possibilities mentioned under 3 above, namely of attaining a profound transformation of the conscious with the aid of these drugs.» — de la misma carta: deriva del tercer punto de su exposición el interés no médico por estas sustancias, la transformación profunda de la consciencia.

«THIS FOURTH ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDITION of Albert Hofmann’s LSD; My Problem Child is being published after Albert’s recent death. On April 29th, 2008, Albert Hofmann died at the age of 102.» — la nota del editor de MAPS que abre la cuarta edición inglesa fija el día de su muerte y la edad.

«Anita Hofmann, Albert’s wife for over 72 years, died on December 20, 2007, at the age of 94.» — la misma nota consigna la muerte de Anita Hofmann cuatro meses antes que la de su marido, tras setenta y dos años de matrimonio.

«After these pioneering clinical experiments with mescaline, very little research was done in this fascinating problem area until Albert Hofmann’s 1942 epoch-making serendipitous discovery of the psychedelic properties of LSD-25, or diethylamid of lysergic acid, a substance of extraordinary potency.» — Stanislav Grof, en el prólogo, data en 1942 el descubrimiento serendípico de las propiedades psicodélicas del LSD-25; el cuerpo del libro lo fecha en 1943 y la divergencia se consigna sin armonizar.

«Because of the incredible promises it held in many different fields of research, this new substance appeared to be Albert Hofmann’s “prodigious child.”» — la fórmula con que Grof le da la vuelta al título: por sus promesas, la sustancia parecía el hijo prodigioso de Hofmann.

«Following the discovery of the psychedelic effects of LSD-25, Albert Hofmann identified the active principles of the Mexican magic mushrooms (Psilocybe mexicana), psilocybin and psilocin, and that of ololiuhqui, or morning glory seeds (Rivea corymbosa), which turned out to be lysergic acid amide, closely related to LSD» — Grof enumera lo que Hofmann identificó después: psilocibina y psilocina de los hongos mexicanos, y la amida del ácido lisérgico del ololiuhqui.

«According to a theory proposed by a research team that included Albert Hofmann himself, the sacred potion kykeon administered to thousands of initiates in the Eleusinian mysteries every five years for almost two millennia contained an ergot alkaloid similar to LSD.» — Grof atribuye a un equipo que incluía a Hofmann la tesis de que el kykeon de Eleusis llevaba un alcaloide del cornezuelo semejante al LSD.

«I personally believe that in the future LSD will be seen as one of the most influential discoveries of the twentieth century and that Albert Hofmann’s “problem child” will again be seen —as it should have been seen all along—as a “wonder child” that had to grow up in a dysfunctional society.» — el pronóstico que Grof declara como creencia personal, y la vuelta de tuerca al título: un wonder child que tuvo que crecer en una sociedad disfuncional.

«I would like to end this foreword on a personal note. Writing it gives me the opportunity to express my profound gratitude to Albert Hofmann for everything that his discovery brought into my personal and professional life and the lives of countless others who used his gift responsibly and with respect that this extraordinary tool deserves.» — el cierre personal del prólogo de Grof, con su gratitud a Hofmann.

«LSD, psilocybin, and the other hallucinogens do indeed, as Albert Hofmann asserts, constitute “cracks” in the edifice of materialistic rationality, cracks we would do well to explore and perhaps widen.» — Jonathan Ott, su traductor al inglés, recoge y suscribe la figura de las grietas en el edificio de la racionalidad materialista, y añade que convendría ensancharlas.

«This translation has been carefully overseen by Albert Hofmann, which made my task both simpler and more enjoyable.» — Ott declara que Hofmann supervisó la traducción, dato que pesa sobre el estatuto del texto inglés.

«Two chapters of this book—-“How LSD Originated” and “LSD Experience and Reality”—were presented by Albert Hofmann as a paper before the international conference “Hallucinogens, Shamanism and Modern Life” in San Francisco on the afternoon of Saturday, September 30, 1978. As a part of the conference proceedings, the first chapter has been published in the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11 (1-2), 1979.» — Ott da la procedencia de dos capítulos: una ponencia leída por Hofmann en San Francisco el 30 de septiembre de 1978, y su publicación en el Journal of Psychedelic Drugs.

«It is our good fortune that Dr. Albert Hofmann, a nature mystic and Nobel-prize-worthy scientist, made such an amazing discovery.» — recomendación de contracubierta firmada por Martin A. Lee, coautor de Acid Dreams, que lo llama místico de la naturaleza y científico digno del Nobel.

«The discovery of the psychedelic properties of LSD was a milestone in the history of consciousness. Albert Hofmann’s personal story of that discovery and its consequences is one of my favorite books.» — recomendación de contracubierta firmada por Andrew Weil.

«Originally compiled by the staff of the Sandoz Pharmaceutical Corporation during Albert Hofmann’s residence there, the collection represents nearly every research paper on LSD or psilocybin published between the mid-1940s and the mid-1970s. The papers reflect the evolving trends in psychiatry and culture over the decades, and changing perceptions of psychedelics’ risks and benefits. About 80% of the articles are published in English, and 20% are in other languages.» — lo que el apéndice de MAPS declara sobre el origen y el alcance de la colección Hofmann, con el reparto de lenguas.

«In 1996, Sandoz donated the collection to the Albert Hofmann Foundation, and the papers were displayed in the AHF Museum in Los Angeles while funding lasted.» — el destino de la colección tras la donación de Sandoz, según el apéndice de MAPS.

«Dr. Schultes of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Dr. Hofmann of Basel, Switzerland, combine their botanical and chemicaI knowledge to integrate interdisciplinary knowledge and international wisdom about powerful alkaloids from primitive cultures to modern times.» — I. Newton Kugelmass, editor de la serie, presenta a los dos autores por su ciudad y su disciplina.

«the authors of this book are unique in the annals of science: the one, Richard Evans Schultes, for remaining in the jungle for some twelve years to acquire the tools of his trade and his facts; the other, Albert Hofmann, for constantly following the trail he discovered on April 16, 1942, a day that was destined to launch, not 1,000 but several, perhaps even 10,000, publications on LSD.» — Kugelmass fecha el hallazgo el 16 de abril de 1942, contra el 19 de abril de 1943 del diario de laboratorio del propio Hofmann y contra el 16 de abril de 1943 de Ott; las tres fechas se consignan sin arbitrar.

«But in pursuing this magic circle of research, Hofmann, unusual amongst chemists, insisted on field work in regions where natives were employing the hallucinogenic plants that he was analyzing.» — Heinrich Klüver señala como excepcional en un químico su insistencia en el trabajo de campo.

«it is easy to understand why LSD should have been called (by A. E. Caldwell) a one-man drug and its discoverer, Albert Hofmann, "a multihallucinogenic man.» — Klüver recoge dos fórmulas ajenas: la de A. E. Caldwell, que llama al LSD droga de un solo hombre, y la que lo apoda hombre multialucinógeno.

«Albert Hofmann tested one species of mushroom on himself; he discovered that it was psychoactive, that it could be grown under laboratory conditions, and he was able to isolate two active compounds.» — el volumen que coescribe firma en singular: es Hofmann quien se autoadministra el hongo, y de ahí salen el cultivo en laboratorio y los dos compuestos.

«Dr. Albert Hofmann, born 1906, discoverer of LSD and the hallucinogenic principles of Teonanácatl and of Ololiuqui, is shown here with the molecular model of LSD in his pharmaceuticchemical research laboratory, Sandoz, Basel,» — pie de lámina en que el volumen presenta a su propio coautor como descubridor del LSD y de los principios del teonanácatl y del ololiuqui, retratado en el laboratorio de Sandoz.

«Above: Albert Hofmann visited the shaman Maria Sabina in 1962 and took many portraits of her.» — pie de lámina que fecha en 1962 la visita de uno de los propios autores a María Sabina.

«On Friday, the sixteenth of April 1943, Albert Hofmann was abruptly overcome by the symptoms described above while working in his laboratory at the pharmaceutical firm Sandoz LTD. in Basel, Switzerland» — Jonathan Ott fecha el hallazgo el viernes 16 de abril de 1943, en el laboratorio de Sandoz en Basilea.

«The following Monday, 19 April, Hofmann prepared a 0.05% aqueous solution of Lsp-tartrate, and ingested 0.5 cc of the solution» — Ott fecha el autoexperimento el lunes 19 de abril y da la dosis.

«Within 40 minutes Hofmann experienced “slight dizziness, restlessness... visual distortions, desire to laugh...” and it was evident that tsp had indeed been the cause of his inebriation the previous Friday.» — Ott consigna lo que siguió a los cuarenta minutos y el razonamiento que cerró el caso; la capa de texto corrompe la sigla.

«He began to experence bizarre alterations of perception, hallucinations, synaesthesia and out-of-body sensations. Fearing that his life (or at least his sanity) was endangered, Hofmann’s assistant summoned a physician, who was unable to find any abnormal symptoms, other than widely dilated pupils.» — Ott reporta el desenlace: el médico llamado por el asistente no halló más anomalía que las pupilas muy dilatadas.

«The present bibliography is triple the size of that of Schultes and Hofmann, and even so, does not pretend to be exhaustive.» — Ott mide su propia bibliografía contra la de Schultes y Hofmann y la acota en la misma plana.

«The most important chemist in this history of research is the Swiss Albert Hofmann. Not only did he invent LSD while investigating the ergot alkaloids, but also he discovered the active principles in the magic mushrooms of Mexico as well as other American Indian magical drugs» — Christian Rätsch lo pone por químico más importante de esta historia de investigación, por el LSD y por los principios activos de los hongos mexicanos y de otras drogas mágicas indígenas.

«For this reason, Albert Hofmann was greeted with severe skepticism and disbelief when his report was first published and when he made his first presentations on the subject» — Rätsch registra la recepción del hallazgo del ololiuqui: escepticismo severo e incredulidad al publicar el informe y al presentarlo.

«Later analyses of ergot by Albert Hofmann uncovered the structures of numerous other ergot alkaloids and also resulted in the “accidental” synthesis of LSD» — Rätsch consigna a dónde llevaron sus análisis del cornezuelo: la estructura de otros alcaloides ergóticos y la síntesis accidental del LSD.

«Albert Hofmann noted that Psilocybe mexicana can be recognized by its cap, which resembles a typical Mexican sombrero» — la seña con que Rätsch dice que Hofmann reconocía la Psilocybe mexicana.

«LSD is a psychopharmaca, a “remedy for the soul” (Albert Hofmann) whose entheogenic effects are very well known» — la fórmula suya que Rätsch recoge para el LSD: un remedio para el alma.

«An Indian drawing of a woman under a borrachero tree has been incorrectly interpreted as a depiction of Brugmansia vulcanicola (Schultes and Hofmann 1992, 128*). The species shown is in fact Iochroma fuchsioides» — la enmienda iconográfica que Rätsch hace a Schultes y Hofmann sobre el dibujo indígena de la mujer bajo el árbol borrachero.

«initial analysis of juice pressed from the plant (Hofmann 1979, 151– 68*; 1990). The chemistry and pharmacology was not clarified until the 1980s and 1990s, when salvinorin A was discovered» — el resultado negativo que Rätsch consigna de su primer análisis del jugo prensado de la Salvia divinorum, y la fecha en que se aclaró.

«Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD, was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann in 1938, shortly before physicists split an atom of uranium for the first time.» — Michael Pollan data la primera síntesis del LSD en 1938 y la sitúa poco antes de la primera fisión del uranio.

«Hofmann, who worked for the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Sandoz, had been looking for a drug to stimulate circulation, not a psychoactive compound.» — según Pollan, trabajaba para Sandoz y buscaba un estimulante de la circulación, no un psicoactivo: el hallazgo no fue lo buscado.

«Although virtually every person in that hall knew the story of LSD’s discovery by heart, Hofmann was asked to recite the creation myth one more time.» — Pollan llama mito de creación al relato del descubrimiento y describe su recitación ritual en el centenario de Basilea.

«According to one of the American scientists in attendance, many had come “to worship” Albert Hofmann, and indeed the event bore many of the hallmarks of a» — Pollan atribuye a un científico estadounidense presente, sin nombrarlo, la observación de que muchos habían ido a adorarlo.

«Now unfolds the world’s first bad acid trip as Hofmann is plunged into what he is certain is irretrievable madness.» — Pollan llama a lo que siguió el primer mal viaje del mundo.

«Because Hofmann’s experiences with LSD are the only ones we have that are uncontaminated by previous accounts, it’s interesting to note they exhibit neither the Eastern nor the Christian flavorings that would soon become conventions of the genre.» — el argumento de Pollan: por ser las únicas no contaminadas por relatos previos, sus experiencias no traen ni el aderezo oriental ni el cristiano que después se volvieron convención.

«Yet Hofmann also came to regard the youth culture’s adoption of LSD in the 1960s as an understandable response to the emptiness of what he described as a materialist, industrialized, and spiritually impoverished society that had lost its connection to nature.» — según Pollan, acabó viendo la adopción del LSD por la cultura juvenil como respuesta comprensible al vacío de una sociedad materialista, industrializada y desconectada de la naturaleza.

«In 1962, Hofmann joined Wasson on one of his return trips to Huautla, during which the chemist gave María Sabina psilocybin in pill form. She took two of the pills and declared they did indeed contain the spirit of the mushroom.» — según Pollan, dio a María Sabina psilocibina en pastilla en 1962 y ella declaró que en efecto contenía el espíritu del hongo.

«While it left him uncertain whether he had experienced madness or transcendence, Hofmann immediately sensed the potential importance of this compound for neurology and psychiatry.» — Pollan consigna que quedó sin saber si había vivido locura o trascendencia y aun así intuyó la importancia del compuesto para la neurología y la psiquiatría.

«Attempts made by his own laboratory at the Muséum, and by various American pharmaceutical companies (Merck; Smith, Kline & French), had failed in the task, so Heim approached Albert Hofmann as the leading authority in the field of Plant alkaloids: Hofmann, after all, had discovered LSD some fourteen years earlier.» — Andy Letcher reconstruye el encargo: Roger Heim acudió a él tras fracasar su museo y dos farmacéuticas estadounidenses.

«He managed to persuade Albert Hofmann to risk his job by posting at least two consignments {psilocybin pills, wrapped in foil to avoid detection, from the Sandoz factory in Switzerland to a care-of address in California.» — el detalle que aporta Letcher: arriesgó su puesto enviando desde la fábrica de Sandoz al menos dos remesas de pastillas de psilocibina envueltas en papel de aluminio.

«The plot wheels were set In motion as soon as Albert Hofmann mounted his bicycle way back 111945, were propelled forward when Sandoz put LSD on the market, a Were unstoppable once the drug was taken up by research psyologists across the Western world.» — la cadena causal que Letcher traza para el LSD, con las grafías del troceo: la bicicleta, la salida al mercado por Sandoz y la adopción por los psicólogos de investigación.

«In very different ways, both Harner and Castaneda rej demic life to pursue their own ideas of shamanism. Buta of their contemporaries, likewise turned on to psyched ing for legitimate ways to pursue their hallucinogenic inte: to take the “Great White Shamans’ — Schultes, Hofmann, — as their role-models.» — la bifurcación que Letcher traza entre quienes dejaron la academia y quienes tomaron por modelo a los que llama los grandes chamanes blancos.

«In 1938 the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was working with ergot, a rye fungus, in the natural products division of Sandoz Laboratories, even then a major pharmaceutical company. He hoped to find a drug that might help stop uterine bleeding after childbirth.» — Rick Strassman fecha en 1938 su trabajo con el cornezuelo en Sandoz y da el propósito buscado: detener la hemorragia uterina del parto.

«One of these ergot-based compounds was LSD-25, or lysergic acid diethylamide. It had little effect on the uterus of laboratory animals, and Hofmann shelved it. Five years later, "a curious presentiment" called Hofmann back to examine LSD, and he accidentally discovered its powerful psychedelic properties.» — el relato que da Strassman del hallazgo: archivado por su poco efecto uterino y recobrado cinco años después.

«Over a cup of tea one summer day at his house in Switzerland, Albert Hofmann, who discovered LSD, shared with me his fondness for low doses of this drug. He and others have described a quickening of thought, brightening of perception, and elevation in mood that contribute to subtle but profound effects on mental function. Side effects are nearly nonexistent.» — lo que le compartió a Strassman en su casa de Suiza: su afición a las dosis bajas, con los efectos que describe.

«In The Road to Eleusis, Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, and Carl Ruck made a passionate and detailed argument for why the kukeon, the sacramental beverage of the Mysteries, must have been spiked with one or more psychedelics. And they did so in truly interdisciplinary fashion, which was basically unheard of in the stodgy field of Classics at the time.» — Brian Muraresku resume el argumento central de The Road to Eleusis y subraya lo inusual del cruce de disciplinas.

«Neither Wasson nor Hofmann had much to lose. Wasson, then seventy-nine, was independently wealthy, free from the politics and constraints of the university system. Hofmann, then seventy-two, had comfortably retired from the Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland, which is now called Novartis—still a leading multinational company in the pharmaceutical industry. Ruck, the youngest member of the trio at forty-two, had everything to lose for consorting with “public enemy number one.” And he lost it hard.» — Muraresku pesa lo que cada uno arriesgaba en 1978, con las edades y la situación de los tres.

«Kerenyi quotes a personal letter he received from Hofmann at some point in the mid-1960s: “The principal ingredient of the poley oil (Oleum pulegii), prepared as an aromatic in southern Europe and obtained in distilling the wild plant [Mentha pulegium] is the aromatic substance pulegone.… In large doses it induces delirium, loss of consciousness, and spasms.» — la carta suya que Kerényi transcribe sobre la pulegona del aceite de poleo, según Muraresku.

«Hofmann thought the word Tollkorn (mad grain), in particular, demonstrated a “folk awareness” of the “psychotropic effects of ergot”—“deeply rooted in European traditions.”» — la lectura suya sobre la palabra Tollkorn como conciencia popular de los efectos psicotrópicos del cornezuelo, según Muraresku.

«Rather than pitting Albert Hofmann and Fritz Graf against each other, isn’t it possible they’re both right? The Eleusinian initiates could have both suffered through the physical demands of a traditional rite of passage, and received a carefully dosed psychedelic potion to amplify whatever they experienced inside Demeter’s temple. The two theories aren’t mutually exclusive.» — la salida que propone Muraresku ante el desacuerdo entre Hofmann y Fritz Graf: las dos tesis no se excluyen.

«Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD for short, was actually synthethized for the first time in 1938, shortly before the outbreak of war in Europe, by the brilliant Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann and his associate, W. A. Kroll» — Peter Furst fecha en 1938 la primera síntesis del LSD y la adjudica a Hofmann y a su colaborador W. A. Kroll.

«There was little interest in Rivea corymbosa as a hallucinogen until 1955, when a psychiatrist, Humphrey Osmond, first described an intoxication from seeds of this morning-glory. Chemists immediately became interested, but no psychoactive constituents were isolated until Hofmann, discoverer of the most powerful hallucinogen known, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD 25), announced to the unbelieving scientific world that the seeds contained lysergic acid derivatives» — Richard Evans Schultes, en el volumen de Furst, narra la incredulidad con que se recibió su hallazgo sobre las semillas del ololiuqui.

«Later chemical analyses and pathological studies of the morning-glory seeds, however, fully substantiated Hofmann’s work» — el desenlace que Schultes consigna: los análisis posteriores respaldaron su trabajo.

«LETTER from Albert Hofmann, Ph. D., Pharm. D., H.C. Deputy Director Sandoz A. G., Basel, Switzerland» — el encabezado de su carta al simposio de 1967, con el cargo de subdirector de Sandoz en Basilea.

«Dr. Hofmann was unable to attend this meeting and his letter was read to the audience by Dr. N. Kline.» — la nota al pie que fija cómo entró esa voz en la sala: no asistió y Nathan Kline leyó la carta en voz alta.

«5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, 5-methoxy-N-monomethyltryptamine, N-monomethyltryptamine bioxalate were kindly placed at our disposal by Dr. A. Hofmann, Sandoz A.G., Basle.» — los patrones de referencia que facilitó desde Sandoz para los análisis del simposio.

«It was only the speedy publication of the molecular structure of psilocybin by Swiss pharmacologist and LSD-inventor Albert Hofmann that had short-circuited that dark and grandiose fantasy.» — Terence McKenna le adjudica, llamándolo inventor del LSD, el haber cortado un plan de secreto al publicar pronto la estructura de la psilocibina.

«It was then taken up in the twentieth century and developed further by thinkers like Henri Bergson, C. D. Broad, Aldous Huxley, and Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD, who felt it was the only adequate explanation for the astonishing phenomenology of altered states of consciousness triggered by his new chemical catalyst.» — Jeffrey Kripal lo pone en la genealogía de la tesis del filtro en el siglo XX, junto a Bergson, Broad y Huxley.

«The only scholar who has given systematic attention to the role of entheogens in what he calls contemporary “occulture” is Christopher Partridge. In a very well-documented overview, he distinguished between three phases in the “modern spiritual psychedelic revolution”: 1. from Albert Hofmann’s discovery of LSD in 1938 to the end of the 1950s, with Aldous Huxley as the central figure; 2. the psychedelic era from the 1960s to 1976, with Timothy Leary at the centre; and 3. the development of rave culture since the mid-1980s» — Christopher Partridge, citado en el volumen de Asprem y Granholm, hace arrancar de su hallazgo la primera de las tres fases de lo que llama la revolución psicodélica espiritual moderna.

«It is therefore clear that Newman has begun to make a significant impression on the global psychedelic and esoteric research communities and it is not inconceivable that, in time, Newman will be mentioned in the same breath as giants such as Ruck, Wasson, and Hofmann.» — el pronóstico en condicional con que Lamb cierra su reseña: no le parece inconcebible que con el tiempo se mencione a Newman junto a Ruck, Wasson y Hofmann.