Page:Drug Themes in Science Fiction (Research Issues 9).djvu/21

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Author: Pratt, Fletcher and Lester, Irvin
Title: The Roger Bacon formula
Journal: Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 10, 940-948
Publisher: Experimenter Publishing Company, New York
Date: January 1929
Format: Short story
Descriptor: Drugs as mind-expanders
Annotation:Medievalist rediscovers lost manuscript in which Roger Bacon provides the formula for mandragordeum, a drug that induces "transportation of the mind." Taking it, the experimenter finds himself freed from his body and journeying to Venus; a vivid vision of life on the second planet ends only when the drug wears off. Fearing addiction, he never tries the drug again, though he admits a temptation to more tripping.




Author: Harris, Clare Winger
Title: The diabolical drug
Journal: Amazing Stories, Vol. 4, No. 2, 156-161
Publisher: Experimenter Publishing Company, New York
Date: May 1929
Format: Short story
Descriptor: Drugs as mind-controllers
Annotation:Scientist develops a chemical which, by retarding the voltage of the brain's electrical activity, halts the aging process. An experiment on a human is performed, the subject being the scientist's beloved, who is six years older than he is; he intends to hold her at the same age until he has caught up. She sinks into a kind of stasis. Unable to perfect an antidote, he injects himself also, and the two of them enter a strange suspended animation in which extreme psychological effects of the metabolic slowdown manifest themselves.




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