Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Jekyll and Hyde - fact or fiction?

This is interesting. Newly uncovered evidence suggests Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the classic good vs. evil story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while under the residual influence of a drug derived from a mould common to grains - ergot that is similar to LSD.
During the Victorian era, ergotine, a derivative of the fungus, was used by doctors to stop bleeding. Stevenson, who suffered from tuberculosis, was given injections of the drug to stop bleeding in his lungs.
Researchers believe, "The fact that Stevenson was injected with such a powerful drug just a couple of weeks before the writing of his famous story about personality-altering drugs has to be linked."

[Hat tip to Vig]

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home