LSD was first developed in Switzerland by chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938. He was working on chemicals derived from lysergic acid for Sandoz Laboratories because similar agents had known therapeutic uses, including the treatment of migraine headaches and gynecological problems. Hofmann did not learn about LSD's hallucinogenic properties until he accidentally ingested some in 1943. Here is an excerpt from Hofmann's report to the head of the laboratory's pharmaceutical department describing his first, accidental LSD experience:

"... I was seized by a peculiar restlessness associated with the sensation of mild dizziness. On arriving home, I lay down and sank into a kind of drunkenness, which was not unpleasant and which was characterized by extreme activity of the imagination. As I lay in a dazed condition with my eyes closed, (I experienced daylight as disagreeably bright) there surged upon me an uninterrupted stream of fantastic images of extraordinary...