AtDTDA: (8) 233/234 "Pinky"

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Lew seems to be growing into his role as the "Psychical Detective",
starting to dress for the occupation:

           . . . .favoring black overcoats, slouch hats and 
           serviceable boots, a trimmed black mustache. . . .
           233. 3/4

The ongoing transition from gaslight to electrical light is in effect:

           . . . .he had begun to discover a structure to the 
           darkness, dating from quite ancient times, 
           perhaps well before there was any city here at 
           all. . . . 233. 6/8

. . . .the ancient, "Druidic" layer we managed to stumble across earlier.

Pynchon noting, in his rather personal form of Ludditism, how the shift from 
gaslight to electrical would draw out the:

           . . . .quotidian frights which would become 
           unbearably visable with the passing of 
           lamplighting-time into the lofty electrical 
           night. 233. 12/14

Lew's still a hankerin' for some of that cyclomite, trying out Collis Brown's Mixture:

           Chlorodyne was the name for one of the most 
           famous patent medicines sold in the British 
           Isles. It was invented in the 19th century, by a 
           Dr. J. Collis Browne. . . .
           Though the drug was effective in many ways, 
           its high opiate content also made it very 
           addictive, and deaths from overdoses, either 
           accidental or deliberate, became a frequent 
           occurrence. A common feature of the Coroner's 
           report in such cases would be the description 
           of the deceased's body being found in a flat 
           or bedsit littered with empty Chlorodyne bottles. 
           Over the decades of the twentieth century, the 
           cannabis was removed from the formulation, 
           and the amount of opiates in the medicine 
           were progressively reduced. The name of 
           Collis Browne lives on in Britain in a mixture 
           sold under the trade name. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorodyne 

Lew also tries out other psycotropics available at the time including:

           . . . .cocainized brain tonics, cigarettes soaked 
           in absinthe, xylene in unventilated rooms. . . .
           233. 18/19

Nigel offers Lew some 'pinky', a drug featuring our old friend permanganate, a 
coumpound we encountered in GR. There, Saure Bummer (if I recall correctly) 
complains how it's impossible to deal cocaine during the peak years of the 
development of the V-2, as all the permanganate---crucial to checking out the 
potency and purity of coke---was being all used up in rocket fuel. If I were to 
get into crazy spectulation (give me a chance folks, I'm up for it) I'd note that 
Lew is picking up the "British Mystery Traditions" and bringing them to the 
U.S.A. I'm picking up something here concerning liquid fuels vs. solid fuels 
(I'd take Lew to be a solid fuels man) and consider that Jack Parsons (Crucial 
O.T.O. figure in the States, hooked up with Heinlein and Hubbard) was a 
specialist in dry rocket fuel. But that's just crazy speculation. However, I will 
take the reference to permanganate as a pointer to Gravity's Rainbow.