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Leary T, Litwin GH, Metzner R. 
“Reactions to psilocybin administered in a supportive environment”. 
J. Nerv. Ment. Disease. 1963;137:561-573.
Abstract
In recent decades Western civilization has discovered that the ingestion of certain plants can produce astonishing effects upon human consciousness. This information has been held for centuries by certain non-literate tribes who have used the plants in religious and medical procedures. Interest in these substances has been stimulated by the achievment of chemists, most notably Dr. Albert Hofmann, of the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, who have succeeded in synthesizing the active agents in these plants. Among these the bestknown are the peyote cactus, from which mescaline is derived, the mushroom psilocybin mexicana, the South American vince yage or caapi, and the seed of the ololiuqui, also from Mexicao. LSD-25, an ergot derivative, is an artificially synthesized substance with properties and effects similar to these others. The substance used in a recent study is psilocybin, a synthetic of the Mexican "sacred mushroom" introduced to Americans by the mycologist R. Gorden Wasson. The active ingredient, psilocybin, was synthesized by Dr. Hofmann (6,11).

[13 pages]
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