by Dr Jelena Martinovic (IAS, UCL) with responses by Dr Chiara Ambriosio (Department of Science and Technology Studies, UCL) and Prof John Tresch (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
Dr Martinovic presented a remarkable case of mescaline research by neurophysiologist Heinrich Klüver (1897-1967), a German émigré to the United States who experimented with mescaline to study mechanisms of hallucination, personality and intelligence. The talk connected a history of anthropology (based on the analysis of medicinal and shamanic use of peyote) with a history of scientific investigation of pharmaceutical agents. It showed that the Interwar period played a crucial role in redefining the relationship between nature and culture, reductionism and holism.
Find more information at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of-advanced-studies/ias-events/ias-talking-points-looking-beyond-the-psychedelic-60s-mescaline-experiments-in-the-early-20th-century
