GRGR(19) - PIHKAL

[David Morris]

Lotsa Fun From:
http://www.erowid.org/archive/hyperreal/drugs/psychedelics/phenethylamines/pihkal.review.html

(Unfinished) Review of PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story
by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin
Reviewed by Tyrone Slothrop

"The book PIHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known And
Loved), A Chemical Love Story, is unusual in that it
combines under one cover, an auto-biographical novel
about a love triangle, and 30 years of scientific
laboratory notes. The entire package weighs in at a
hefty 978 pages, and is not padded. The unusual
presentation is a reflection of the subject matter:
the chemistry of the human mind and the methodology of
its exploration.
I consider the life work of Alexander (Sasha) Shulgin
to represent one of the most significant scientific
contributions of this century. I say this because he
has perfected a methodology for the exploration of the
chemistry of the human psyche, and he has used that
methodology to generate a large set of chemical tools.
These tools are non-invasive probes of the intact
human mind.

This methodology violates all acceptable scientific
procedures, and as such is at the root of the
scientific advance that Shulgin's work represents. It
is only when imaginative scientific individuals break
free from scientific traditions that they cease to be
builders and become architects. This is what underlies
scientific revolutions. In spite of the revolutionary
nature of Shulgin's work, it will not incite a
scientific revolution because in 1986 the methodology
was prohibited by legislation at the national level in
the United States. One can only speculate as to what
might become of Shulgin's chemical tool set, if the
use of psychedelics in research or therapy with human
subjects should become accepted at some time in the
future."

and later

Those of you who enjoyed PIHKAL are no doubt looking
forward to the publication of TIHKAL (tryptamines I
have known and loved), dealing with the indole based
psychedelics. An interesting twist on the indole story
is the concept of the indole polymer. These have also
been developed and experimented with, producing some
interesting results, most notoriously Imipolex. One
experimental subject reports:


``They took away my clothes and dressed me in an
exotic costume of some black polymer, very tight at
the waist, open at the crotch. It felt alive on me.
`Forget leather, forget satin,' shivered Drohne. `This
is Imipolex, the material of the future.' 


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