MichelleBasel and the Chemist
April 18th 2009 07:10
'Gehen Sie zur Wiese, gehen Sie zum Garten, gehen Sie zum Holz. Oeffnen Sie Ihre Augen!'
Go to the meadow, go to the garden, go to the woods. Open your eyes!
- Albert Hofmann
Basel, Switzerland is an important little city, a hub for train and car traffic on the Upper Rhine. It has great sunshine and enjoys a spring-like climate for much of the year. I first went to Basel to enjoy Art Basel, the 'Olympics of the art world' (quoted by New York Times) but more on that another day.
The second time I went to Basel, it was something to do with Fasnacht, another famous festival that sees three or four days of constant partying (again, more on that another day). Today, I'm more interested in another kind of event that happened in Basel - namely, the day Albert Hofmann discovered the potency of what came to be known as LSD. He died at the beginning of the year, on the 28th February.
I often wonder how we find ourselves standing in a world with guns, instruments of torture, drugs and never stop to think where they came from or from what mind they sprung from. Albert Hofmann was working on something called lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25 when he accidentally rubbed it into his eyes. When he hallucinated, he saw colors and strings and ribbons of light. Even sound was a color.
It was doomed to end badly.
Go to the meadow, go to the garden, go to the woods. Open your eyes!
- Albert Hofmann
Basel, Switzerland is an important little city, a hub for train and car traffic on the Upper Rhine. It has great sunshine and enjoys a spring-like climate for much of the year. I first went to Basel to enjoy Art Basel, the 'Olympics of the art world' (quoted by New York Times) but more on that another day.
The heart of Basel
Basel Switzerland
It was doomed to end badly.
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