Ergot Alkaloids

The masterpiece we have all been waiting for in this classic text from the 60s, Ergot Alkaloids comes to life in the English translation of Albert Hofmann's historic encyclopedia of Ergot Alkaloids and their derivatives.

This title is a detailed account of chemical compounds and pharmacological investigation into the potential of magical plants. Starting with the botany and cultivation of the ergot mushroom, Hofmann takes us through the historical elaboration of the fungus. This includes the poisoning epidemic of ergot and its early medical uses, all the way to the use of psilocybin as a "magical drug".

With a detailed timeline, we explore the growth of pharmaceutical-chemical investigation from 1816 to 1961 with a total synthesis of ergotamine. This includes tables of chemical structures and the roles of lysergic acid, d-lysergic acid, and diethylamide in experimental psychiatry, gaining increasing importance in psychotherapy as a medical aid. Hofmann provides an observational account of these plants and their ceremonial and healing purposes still used by indigenous peoples, such as the "Peyotl" cactus, "Teonanactl" the sacred mushroom of the Aztecs, and "Ololiuqui" the seeds of bindweed plants.

With representations of over 30 chemical structures and pharmaceutical analysis, Hofmann introduces the next generation of scientific knowledge into the world of hallucinogenic plants and special subgroups of psychotropic drugs. He categorises these as phantastica, hallucinogens, psychotomimetic, psychedelica, psychodysleptics, and more.