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Mindbending experiments: how drugs shaped modern science

From Freud’s experiments with cocaine to doctors sampling chloroform at dinner parties, Mike Jay reveals how scientists and thinkers experimented with drugs in the 19th century

Published: April 18, 2023 at 7:00 AM

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In the 19th century, cannabis, cocaine and heroin were widely available over the counter at the local chemist. Respected scientists and doctors tested out laughing gas and chloroform on their friends at dinner parties, while philosophers and artists dabbled in drug use to try and unlock different states of consciousness and even access the spirit world. Mike Jay, author of Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind, tells Ellie Cawthorne about these formative experiments in drug taking.

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Mike Jay is the author of Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind (Yale, 2022)

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Authors

Ellie CawthorneHead of content (audio)

Ellie Cawthorne is head of content (audio) at HistoryExtra

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