Acid (pronounced as-id)
(1) In
chemistry, a compound usually having a sour taste and capable of neutralizing
alkalis and reddening blue litmus paper, containing hydrogen that can be
replaced by a metal or an electropositive group to form a salt, or containing
an atom that can accept a pair of electrons from a base. Acids are proton
donors that yield hydronium ions in water solution, or electron-pair acceptors
that combine with electron-pair donors or bases; having a pH value of less than
7.
(2) In
chemistry, any compound which easily donates protons (a Brønsted acid); any of
a class of water-soluble compounds, having sour taste, that turn blue litmus
red, and react with some metals to liberate hydrogen, and with bases to form
salts; any compound that can accept a pair of electrons to form a covalent bond
(a Lewis acid).
(3) A
substance sour, sharp, or biting to the taste; tart; having the taste of
vinegar.
(4) Something,
as a remark or piece of writing, that is sharp, sour, or ill-natured.
(5) A
slang term for the hallucinogenic drug Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).
(6) In
metallurgy, noting, pertaining to, or made by a process in which the lining of
the furnace, or the slag that is present; functions as an acid in
high-temperature reactions in taking electrons from oxide ions: usually a
siliceous material, as sand or ganister.
(7) Of
or pertaining to an acid; acidic.
(8) In
pop music, a genre that is a distortion (as if hallucinogenic) of an existing
genre, as in acid house, acid jazz, acid rock etc.
1620-1630:
From the French acide, from Latin acidus (sour, sharp, tart (and used also
figuratively to suggest "disagreeable” etc)), adjective of state from acere (to be sour, be sharp) and akin to
ācer (sharp) & acētum (vinegar), from aceō (I am sour); doublet of agita.
Root was the primitive Indo-European ak (be sharp, rise (out) to a
point, pierce).
The figurative
use (sour-tempered; acerbic) in English dates from 1775 and came to be applied
to intense colors after 1916. The
process of the acid dye was invented in 1888 and used an acid bath. The “acid
test” is American English from 1881, originally a quick way to distinguish gold
from similar metals by application of nitric acid, it came to be used
figuratively (and not always accurately) in the same senses as “litmus
test”. The “Acid drop”, a kind of hard
sugar candy flavored with tartaric acid, was first sold in 1835, the noun “drop”
applied in the sense of a lozenge. The
noun appeared in the 1690s, derived from the adjective and was originally applied
(rather loosely) to just about any substance tasting like vinegar; the more
precise parameters defined only in the early eighteenth century as the
techniques of modern chemistry came to be refined. In the chemical sense, the antonym is alkaline. The term “acid rain” (highly acidic rain
caused by atmospheric pollution) was in 1872 coined by Scottish chemist
(Robert) Angus Smith (1817–1884) although it wouldn’t be for another hundred
years before if came into general use. Diana,
Princess of Wales (1961–1997) coined a nickname for her step-mother, Raine
Spencer (1929-2016): Acid Raine.
Acid as
a slang term for the hallucinogenic drug Lysergic
acid diethylamide (LSD) dates from 1966.
From the same year “acid rock” was originally a descriptor applied to
music performed by those who were tripping on LSD (or what they sounded like suggested
they might be) but, as acid rockers, soon applied equally to the audience. The adjective before long was bolted onto a wide
variety of pop music (acid jazz, acid folk etc), acid house from 1988 probably
the most enduring as a marketing term.
In an example of cross-breeding in marketing,"LSD-25 Auto"
is a strain of weed. The retailers
recommend LSD-25 Auto to those who “love
purple strains”, praising her “tightly
packed trichomes”… “clustered around
the hypnotic purple shining buds that have a stacked and long characteristic”. “Bag appeal”
is said to be “on the next level” and
able to “blast you into another dimension
and keep you there”. Being “mind-bending and certainly on the trippy
side”, she’s said to be “best suited
for smokers with a high tolerance to cerebral roller coasters and those who
enjoy high concentration levels and spurts of creativity”. For those still unsure, they caution that “novice smokers should take in moderation”.
LSD is also the abbreviation for the limited slip differential, a device used in motor vehicles which allows a differential’s two output shafts to rotate at different speeds within a defined permissible difference in speed. LSDs are used to improve traction under extreme conditions and the usual slang is “slippery-diff”. LSD was also the historic abbreviation for the currency denominations used by UK prior to the decimalization of Sterling in 1971. Although pre-1971 Sterling (based on there being 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound) also used guineas, half crowns, threepenny bits, sixpences and florins, LSD referenced just the base units: pounds, shillings and pence. The abbreviation LSD dates from Ancient Rome when a pound of silver was divided into 240 pence (or denarius) and the Latin currency denominations were librae, solidi, and denarii. In veterinary science, LSD is also the standard abbreviation for lumpy skin disease, a viral disease of cattle and water buffalo.
The active
ingredient in the patches is hyaluronic acid, a gooey, slippery substance produced naturally
throughout the body and at its highest concentration in the eyes, joints and
skin. Best visualized as a lubricant, it
works by providing a fluid cushion between tissues which would otherwise grind
against each other. As a lubricant, hyaluronic
acid has remarkable properties, one teaspoon of the stuff able to absorb and
retain some 6 US gallons (22¾ litres) of water, a reason why it’s used in
the treatment of dry eyes and is a popular additive in in moisturizing creams,
lotions, ointments and serums. Hyaluronic
acid is often produced by fermenting certain types of bacteria (rooster combs
(the red, Mohawk-like growth on top of a rooster’s head and face) a common
source) something the beauty industry dwells on less than the use to enhance
the way skin stretches and flexes, reducing wrinkles. It said also to be helpful in wound healing
and the reduction in scarring.
Because
of the popular association science fiction and gaming with toxic, flesh dissolving
fluids (sometimes flowing through the veins of aliens) the word “acid” evokes
horror in many but the body naturally produces many acids and it depends on
these interacting with everything else to ensure good health and acids in many
forms are in every diet. An apple (a
typical example containing up to 300 chemicals) for example includes pantothenic
acid (B5), citric acid, tartaric acid & acetic acid while its taste depends
on the concentration of malic acid. Pantothenic
is a combination of pantoic acid and β-alanine, the name pantohenic from the Greek
πάντοθεν (pantothen) (from everywhere),
the name chosen by chemists because, at least in tiny quantities, it’s present
in almost all foods. Familiar too is the
pain-killer aspirin, now taken by many in low-dose form (100 mg or 1½
grains), a regime first
recommended as a blood-thinner for those with certain risk factors for heart
disease but later adopted by those impressed with the apparent protection
offered against many internal cancers.
To a chemist, what we call the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug aspirin
is acetylsalicylic acid (usually pronounced uh-seet-l-sal-uh-sil-ik as-id).
Lysergic
acid diethylamide
LSD,
known colloquially as acid, is a drug known for its psychological
effects. This includes altered awareness of surroundings, perceptions, and feelings
as well as sensations and images that seem real though they are not. It’s thus most often described as a
hallucinogenic and the one which first generated a moral-panic although there has never been any evidence to support the stories which circulated telling cautionary tales of users leaping to their deaths from tall buildings, thinking themselves able to fly. The urban myths persist to this day.
LSD was created in Basel in November, 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann (1906–2008). Dr Hofmann synthesized LSD after examining the constituents of the well-known medicinal plant Drimia maritima (squill) and the fungus ergot, the breakthrough moment apparently his understanding of the chemical structure of the squill's Scilla glycosides but the famous properties were discovered only serendipitously, his pharmaceutical research for a unrelated purpose. It wasn't until 1943 that Dr Hofmann conducted any research on the possibilities LSD might offer using what he then regarded as side-effects. In a long-known scientific tradition, he tested it on himself, thus enjoying the first acid-trip.
Having no bad trips, he continued the research and LSD (acronym for the German Lyserg-säure-diäthylamid) was in 1947 introduced as a commercial medication under the trade-name Delysid and intended for various psychiatric uses. In the 1950s, the CIA thought the drug might be useful for mind control and chemical warfare, their tests conducted on young servicemen and students, usually without anything even close to informed consent. Its possibilities interested psychiatrists and it was a popular subject in experimental research, the design of many of which would today appall ethics committees and terrify the lawyers.
The subsequent recreational use in the Western
world, an outgrowth of the 1960s counterculture, resulted in its worldwide prohibition
in 1971, one of the most obvious casualties of the Nixon administration’s “war
on drugs” which has around the world been for fifty-odd years waged with many
consequences but little apparent effect on the demand for drugs, supply now at historically high levels, outpacing the increase in population. Fifty years on, LSD remains popular though
the extent of its use varies according to supply which tends to be dictated
more by the economics of production and distribution than demand, the illicit
drug business really preferring other substances because LSD is not addictive. Of late there’s been much renewed interest in
the possibilities offered by therapeutic hallucinogenics, the encouraging
findings in DMT, LSD, mescaline & psilocybin research drawing in venture
capital, the odd start-up picking up not only where things were left off in
1971 but working with more recently synthesised compounds. Their difficulties are less scientific than regulatory.
Notable
moments in Acid Rock
It’s not known if most listeners recovered from this but Todd Rundgren probably
never did, his subsequent output so discursive that the many audiences he
sought and sometimes gained never coalesced into a consistent following. A
Wizard, a True Star is there to be enjoyed as his psychedelic phase; just
don’t expect more of the same.
Anthem of the Sun (1968) cast such a
shadow that few dead heads list Aoxomoxoa
as the band’s finest but none deny it’s the most psychedelic the Dead ever got in
the studio. The hippie-dippy vibe is of
course more on display on many of the live releases (bootlegs and otherwise)
but on Aoxomoxoa there are enough of
the long, circular guitar lines for any tripper to keep tripping. Unlike some of the European electronica which
would follow, the Dead sound best through speakers rather than headphones but,
at the time, the effect of Quadraphonic divided opinion.
Not all of Electric
Ladyland was as psychedelic as the reputation suggests but, spread over two
records, there was room to move and psychedelia does at least tinge much of the
blues for which this is remembered. Some
trippers however resist the epic length Voodoo
Chile and go straight to side three of the original vinyl, setting the
turntable to repeat.
Although
not released until the era’s historic moment had passed with the implosion of
the San Francisco ecosystem which fed the beast, Twelve Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus is the retrospective encapsulation of
the psychedelic and is Spirit’s masterpiece. Lyrically one long, strange trip, it’s also
musically playful, mixing (rather than fusing) the most clichéd of the motifs
of jazz, pop & rock. This is acid
rock’s period piece.
So much has Dark Side of the Moon (1973) loomed over Pink Floyd that their
early work is neglected by all but a few.
In some cases the indifference is not undeserved but, influenced by the
late Syd Barrett (1946-2006), before they were a staple of FM radio, Pink Floyd
were certainly somewhere on the psychedelic spectrum and while The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
hints at it, their work in a trilogy of film soundtracks, More (1969), Zabriskie Point
(1970) & Obscured by Clouds
(1972) tracks the path of acid-rock.
The best approach is said to be to watch Zabriskie Point with the sound turned down while the album plays on
repeat and a true aficionado will drop some acid a few minutes before putting on the headphones.
Sheryl
Crow: There goes the neighborhood
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