Protuberant

Protuberant (pronounced proh-too-ber-uhnt, proh-tyoo-ber-uhnt, or pruh-too-ber-uhnt)

Bulging out beyond the surrounding surface; protruding; projecting; swelling from the surrounding surface; bulging.

1640–1650: From the sixteenth century French protubérant (prominent beyond the surrounding surface), from the Late Latin protuberantem (nominative protuberans), present participle of prōtūberāre (to swell, bulge, grow forth), the construct being pro- (forward) + tuber (lump, swelling) from the primitive Indo-European root teue- (to swell).  The most common form in the Late Latin was prōtūberāre (to swell).  The verb protuberate (bulge out, swell beyond the adjacent surface) dates from the 1570s, from Late Latin protuberatus, past participle of prōtūberāre.  Protuberant is an adjective, protuberate is a verb, protuberance & protuberancy are nouns and protuberantly is an adverb.

Artwork not by PM&C.

In Australia, the Department of Prime-Minister & Cabinet (PM&C) recently released a new logo for the “Women’s Network”.  To the left of the construct was a cursive "W", the right stroke (the vertical diagonal line in a letter) adorned with a swash (a fancy or decorative replacement for a terminal or serif in an upper-case capital letter (although if the w is lower case (it’s hard to tell) this would be a flourish).  To the right was a capsular (technically a geometric stadium) protuberance which had been bitten into by the stylized W.  The logo’s graphical elements were rendered in a darkish purple which lightened to the right, the text below in two different sans serif fonts, one line in black, the other grey.  The design and placement of the text, though not obviously thoughtful, did at least add meaning to the graphic which might otherwise have been thought something to do with aubergines (eggplant).

Innocent interpretation: The aubergine (eggplant).

The logo proved to have a short life, withdrawn from circulation in response to complaints it resembled male genitalia; on Twitter, #logonono quickly trended.  Almost immediately the furor erupted, PM&C issued a statement saying the logo had been “removed” from its website “pending consultation with staff”.  Noting the phallic creation was part of a rebrand of staff diversity networks “to establish a consistent look and feel” between the logos used for various groups, PM&C added “the Women’s Network logo retained a ‘W’ icon which staff had been using for a number of years” which seemed an unnecessary clarification given nobody had objected to the W.  Anxious to assure the country that whatever controversy might have been induced by the purple protuberance, PM&C announced the “…rebrand was completed internally, using existing resources, and designs were consulted on widely.  No external providers were engaged for this work… (and that) the prime minister and the prime minister’s office were not part of this logo design.”

Graphic designers do seem sometimes unaware of the levels of anatomical comparison their work offers.

The errors cut across cultures.  Here technical advice from an architect would have helped, a historically correct second minaret should have been added and only a single dome depicted.

The attitude of critics was exemplified by the National Older Women’s Network, which issued a statement describing the logo as “either thoughtless or an insult” although as a re-branding exercise, the project had to be labeled a success, most of the country now aware of the existence of the Women’s Network, a mysterious body previously familiar probably only to a few dozen.  A discussion of what it does or whether it fulfils any useful purpose wasn’t stimulated by the outcry over the offending logo so whatever the Women’s Network was doing before, it presumably continues to do.  One thing it achieved was to flush out the competition; it seems there are in the country a number of organizations with "Women's Network" in their title.

Developed in 1973 for the Archdiocesan Commission of Catholic Youth, this logo won an award.  It was a more innocent time.

Perhaps the men involved in the “Women’s Network” design didn’t notice the shape of the protuberance because they were focused on the color, anxious to avoid what might once have been the obvious choice: pink.  That would of course have been condescending and gender-stereotyping so PM&C deserve some praise for this mater in which they weren’t involved.  Pink stuff for products aimed at the female market may be less of a thing than once it was but pink stuff aimed at men wanting a gift with a difference for women seems more of a thing than ever, pink tool kits popular gifts with sales spiking reliably in the run up to Valentine’s Day.  It works for novelties like hammers and screwdrivers but doesn’t have a good record as a marketing device writ large, failure exemplified by the Dodge La Femme.

Chrysler show cars, 1954.  Chrysler Le Comte (his, top) & Chrysler La Comtesse (hers, bottom).

Chrysler offered the La Femme package in 1955 and 1956 on certain Dodge models, a creation that was not a stylistic whim but a response to sociological changes in an unexpectedly affluent post-war US society in which women were found to be exerting a greater influence on the allocation of their family’s rising disposable income and of most interest to Chrysler was that those increasingly suburban families were buying second cars, women getting their own.  Adventurous color schemes were nothing new to Detroit, the cars of the art deco era noted for their combinations but things had been more subdued in the years immediately after the Second World War.  That changed with the exuberance of 1950s experimentation, reflected in the colors of the La Femme concept which had been previewed in two of the cars Chrysler displayed during the 1954 show season.  The Le Comte & La Comtesse attracted most attention for their clear Perspex roofs (a craze at the time which didn’t last long as buyers found themselves slowly being cooked) but, following the grammatical conventions of their French definite articles, they were very much a “his & hers” brace, the darker (black & bronze) Le Comte with a “masculine” image and the La Comtesse, painted in  "Dusty Rose" & "Pigeon Grey", a softer and more “feminine” look.

Dodge La Femme (1955-1956).

The public and critical response was sufficiently positive to encourage production and for the 1955 model year, the La Femme option was offered on the Dodge Custom Royal Lancer two-door hardtop, finished in a two-tone combination of "Heather Rose".(a shade of pink) & "Sapphire White", highlighted with gold-colored "La Femme" badges in a display script.  If the exterior was (almost) subdued, the interior, a sea of pink, was femininity laid on with a trowel.  Trimmed in a tapestry fabric unique to the La Femme which wove pink rosebuds on a silver-pink background with pastel-pink vinyl, confronting those who sat there was a dashboard painted in a bright-pink lacquer.

Dodge La Femme (1955-1956).

In a marketing ploy which turned out to be years ahead of its time, the La Femme also came with coordinated accessories, the centrepiece a pink calfskin handbag that fitted neatly into a storage compartment built into the back of the passenger’s seat, the shape of which included a scallop which meant the handbag’s escutcheon plate was visible, Dodge’s press-kits noting the brushed-metal was designed to permit the owner’s name to be engraved.  The handbag contained a compact, lipstick case, cigarette case, comb, cigarette lighter, and change purse, all made variously with faux-tortoiseshell or pink calfskin, both combined with anodized gold-tone metal.  In a matching compartment on the back of the driver’s seat was a matching compartment holding rain coat, rain-cap and an umbrella, all made with a vinyl patterned to match the rosebud interior fabric.  The design and production was by Evans of Chicago, a furrier and maker of fine accessories, famous for the display of "Black Diamond" mink coats in their flagship store at 36 South State Street.  Evans would later fall victim to the anti-fur movement which would lay waste to the industry.

Accessories by Evans of Chicago.

In toned-down form, the La Femme option re-appeared in 1956.  The external color combination was changed to a "Misty Orchid" & "Regal Orchid" scheme and the interior finish was simplified, the previous year’s tapestry fabric proving difficult to produce in volume.  The upholstery used a heavy white cloth with random patterns of short lavender and purple loops, matching the loop-pile carpeting and the accessories were fewer, restricted in 1956 to just the rain coat, rain cap and umbrella.  Over the two season, fewer than 2500 buyers chose the US$143 option and it didn’t re-appear in 1957.  Interestingly, (unverified) sources suggest at least three La Femme buyers chose the most powerful engine on the option list, Dodge’s D-500 (a 315 cubic inch (5.2 litre) V8 with hemi heads and a four-barrel carburetor); perhaps not all clung to 1950s gender stereotyping.

A simple solution.

Other manufacturers did offer feminine-themed cars in a similar vein including the pink Pontiac Parisienne, Chevrolet Impala Martinique, and Cadillac Eldorado Seville Baroness but none enjoyed much more success than the La Femme.  What in the US did prove a success with the female demographic was the new generation of more compact cars introduced in the early 1960s, women sensibly drawn to something smaller than the standard-size US automobile which after 1957 grew to an absurdly inefficient size.  Much later, there would be innovations in car design which women found genuinely helpful such as a hook on which a handbag could hang while remaining conveniently accessible and headrests which comfortably accommodate ponytails.

Detecting the protuberance of pregnancy: Ali Lohan (b 1993, left) photographed with her pregnant sister (right) wearing Sandal-Malvina Fringe Tank Dress in (unattributed) Dodge Yorange (left).  The shoes are Alexandre Birmen Clarita Platforms.

Cope

Cope (pronounced kohp)

(1) To struggle or deal, especially on fairly even terms or with some degree of success.

(2) To face and deal with responsibilities, problems, or difficulties, especially successfully or in a calm or adequate manner.

(3) To come into contact; to meet (archaic).

(4) A long mantle, especially of silk, worn by ecclesiastics over the alb or surplice in processions and on other occasions.

(5) Any cloak-like or canopy-like covering (now rare).

(6) The night sky or the sky (archaic except as a literary or poetic device, sometimes in conjunction with “heaven”).

(7) In metallurgy, the upper half of a flask.

(8) In woodworking, to join (two molded wooden members) by undercutting the end of one of them to the profile of the other so that the joint produced resembles a miter joint.

(9) To form a joint between such members in this way or to undercut the end of (a molded wooden member) in order to form a coped joint.

(10) In steel fabrication, to cut away a flange of a metal member so that it may be joined to another member at an angle.

(11) In falconry, to clip or dull the beak or talons of a hawk.

(12) In medieval military use, for infantry forces to meet in battle.

(13) In South Africa, an acronym for Congress of the People, a political party founded in 2008 by dissident members of the African National Congress (ANC).

(14) To buy, barter; make a bargain, exchange for value (obsolete since the seventeenth century.

1175-1225: From the Middle English capa (large outer garment, cloak, mantle) which by the late thirteenth century acquired the specific ecclesiastical sense of “large mantle of silk or other material worn by priests or bishops over the alb on special occasions” from the Medieval Latin capa (cloak), from the Late Latin cappa (hooded cloak) (and source of the Old English cāp and the modern cap).  In figuratively use it was used of the night (the idea of the “cloak” of night's darkness) which was later extended to the "vault of the sky", the notion of the sky enveloping the earth as a cape covers the body, hence the late fourteenth century poetic phrase “cope of heaven”.  Cope is a noun & verb and coping is a noun, verb & adjective; the noun plural is copes.

In Medieval Europe, meanings evolved in parallel.  The verb emerged in the late fourteenth century as coupen (to quarrel) which in the early 1400s had meant “come to blows, deliver blows, engage in combat”, from the Anglo-French & Old French couper, from colper (to strike; to cut; a blow hit, punch), from colp (a blow).  The meaning evolved and by the eighteenth century meant “handle (successfully), deal with” and etymologists suspect this may have been under the influence of the obsolete use of cope to mean “to traffic, bargain for, buy”, in common use between the fifteenth & seventeenth centuries in North Sea trade, from the Flemish version of the Germanic source of English “cheap”.  The construct of København (literally “merchant's port”) (Copenhagen), the capital of Denmark, was køber (merchant (literally “buyer”)) + havn (port) (thus the idea in English of a port as a “haven in a storm”).  English picked up cope in the fifteenth century from its sense in Low German of "to buy, barter, make a bargain”, use lasting until late in the seventeenth.  The noun coping dates from the early seventeenth century as a term in architectural meaning “the top or cover of a wall, usually sloped to shed water”, an allusion to the function of a priest’s cloak-like cope in protecting the wearing from rain.  By the 1660s, this technical sense in building extended to a general description of the form and shape of a typical cope and the verb cope in this context was used to describe “forming a cope, bend as an arch or vault”.  The notion was picked up in carpentry in the 1880s as “coping saw”, a saw with a long, narrow blade used for cutting curved patterns.

Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) in red papal cope & mitre, worn when presiding over the ceremonies marking the opening of the Pauline Year, 29 June 2008.

The cope is a liturgical vestment, a long cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp, known as a morse.  Always made in a great variety of colors and patterns, the cope has never been restricted to the clergy and although now, in its more elaborate forms, it's most associated with bishops and cardinals, there's no doubt it was originally a functional garment designed for no higher purpose than to protect the wearer and his clothes from the elements.  In Ancient Rome, it was known in Classical Latin as pluviale (rain coat) or cappa (cape) and in design and construction has changed little in two-thousand years.

Cardinal Pell (1941-2023) in Cappa Magna with caudatario.

Among copes, the highlight of any ecclesiastical fashion parade in the Roman Catholic Church is the silk cappa magna (great cape).  Technically a jurisdictional garment, it’s now rarely seen and worn only in processions or when "in choir" (attending but not celebrating services).  Cardinals wear red and bishops violet and both cardinals and papal nuncios are entitled to a cappa magna of watered silk.  Well into the twentieth century, a cappa magna could stretch for nearly 15 metres, (50 feet) but Pius XII’s (1876-1958; pope 1939-1958) motu proprio (literally “on his own impulse”, essentially constitutionally the same as a royal decree which unilaterally creates law) Valde solliciti (1952) laid down that they should not be longer than 7m (23 feet) and later instructions from the Vatican banned them from Rome and curtailed their use elsewhere.  Valde solliciti translates literally as “very worried” and Pius in 1952 was clearly exactly that, concerned at complaints that the extravagance of the Church’s rituals was inappropriate at a time of such troubled austerity.  There was in 1952 still little sign of the remarkable post-war economic recovery which within a decade would be critiqued in Federico Fellini's (1920–1993) film La Dolce Vita (the sweet life).  Accordingly, Pius wrote:

Being greatly troubled by the peculiar conditions of our times, which laborious experiments and changes make daily more difficult and more difficult, and which make those wishes worthy of the greatest consideration and care, for the attainment of which many strive today with a noble anxiety, We have always thought it opportune and consistent with the duty of Our conscience to respond to them with warnings which arise from it: namely, that all, and in a special way from the sacred order of men, are directed to a more sober, moderate and austere way of life.

For this reason, which also concerns Us, it was decided to set an example in these matters: it was decided to moderate somewhat the external rites which belong to the fulfilment of Our Apostolic office, that is, to reduce the sacred ceremonies to a simpler and shorter form; and for this reason above all we are moved with joy, because we see all men of heart, when in the habit of acting of individuals, as well as in the actions of public life, even in regard to the clergy, more than pride, we are amazed at the painstaking concern for the needs of human society.

It is our intention, therefore, to issue some regulations concerning the vestments of the Cardinal Fathers, who indeed are very dear to Us, and are present to Us so much in the whole Church that we govern. Indeed, we know that they do not look to the admiration of their admirers, but to place their own excellent dignity and authority in their own light; and in the same way it was seen by Us not only to abhor them from empty luxury, but rather those who have attributed to them the piety of the ecclesiastical patrimony of the Christian faithful, and sometimes also family wealth, to spend liberally in projects of beneficence when they are deeply convinced of themselves, to respond to the precepts of evangelical wisdom, as those who the results that remain, even those that arise from a more moderate way of living and dressing, will be invested in divine worship, in charity, in the education of the youth, and in apostolic works.

Therefore, while we honor them with due honor, we think that We will make their laudable Christian plans and purposes easier by these, which we have established by Motu Proprio, norms pertaining to the attitude of the Cardinal Fathers:

(1) Of the robe of the Cardinal Fathers, the cord or tail is to be removed, either of a red or purple color.

(2) The string or tail of their cap, which will not be worn in the Supreme Pontifical Chapels, nor in the Sacred Consistory, should be reduced to half, considering its size, which is in use today.

(3) Their clothes of a purple color (talar clothes, mantles, mozeta) are woolen; that the Cardinal Fathers, who had previously had silk vestments of a purple color, may continue to wear them for the same period.

(4) The norms of the ceremonies in the Roman Court will be reintegrated, according to the habit of those Cardinal Fathers who are recruited into the Sacred College either from among the Canons Regular, or from the Clergy Regular, or from the Religious Congregations.

Amanda Seyfried (b 1985) in cloak, Little Red Riding Hood (2011).

The caudatari need a practical understanding of physics when dealing with the challenge of stairs; note the parabolic curve a Cappa Magna assumes in ascent.

Over the centuries, there was certainly a bit of mission creep in the cope.  Originally garments like other cloaks of at most of ankle-length, by the mid-twentieth century, those used by cardinal could trail for 7 metres (23 feet).  Formerly introduced as an ecclesiastical vestment by Pope Nicholas III (circa 1225–1280; pope 1277-1280), even when of more modest length, in those dustier, muddier times, the need for an aide (familiar in English as “Page of the Robes”), saw the appointment of those who would follow behind, carrying the tail of the robe and preventing it dragging on the ground.  The first aides were laymen but the role was later assigned to junior clerics, often trainee priests and, in the way of bureaucracy, as bishops and other more junior clerics began to lengthen their trains, their numbers grew, not least because sometimes two were required when a cardinal might be negotiating tricky obstacles like stairs.  In the Church these aides were styled as caudatario (plural caudatari), (from Italian and literally “train-bearer”) and their sole role was to carry the train of the cassock or cappa magna during solemn ceremonies but, again in the way bureaucracies tend to grow, they began to assume the role of a personal assistant (PA) taking charge of the vestments’ cleaning, repair and storage (the role in England of the “Master of the Robes”) and during services, holding the cardinal’s cap or books and prompting him to recall (as required) what came next in the order of service.  However, Pope John XXIII (1881-1963; pope 1958-1963), either moved by the spirit of La Dolce Vita or responding to cardinals complaining about their sartorial emasculation, restored things, setting the Cardinals' copes to 12 meters (40 feet) and the bishops’ to 7m (23 feet).  One quirk in the Orthodox Church is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is required to don an ermine-lined winter cappa, because he is bound by the unalterable rules of the Status quo, an 1852 Ottoman firman (a word from the Persian (فرمان) meaning "decree") which regulates relations between the various religious groups caring for sites in the Holy Land.

Lindsay Lohan in Lavish Alice cape.  Lindsay Lohan is believed to have good coping skills.

In modern use, people seem often to use the words cloak & cape interchangeably, presumably because (1) both are now less common and (2) both are made from a single piece of fabric (though often lined), is sleeveless and hangs loose.  Properly though, capes are shorter, often of hip-length while cloaks are calf-length or descend to the floor.  Perhaps what misleads is the tendency in popular culture (especially film) to depict super-heroes (Superman and his many imitators) in flappy capes which extend sometimes almost to the ankles.  Cloaks also often have hoods which are less common on capes.  Cloak is from the French word cloche (bell), implying a wrap narrow at the top, flaring at the bottom and the envelopment they provide saw the word adopted to mean conceal, used in fields as diverse as coatings which resist detection by radar and masking agents used to suppress the presence of drugs.

Acid

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. 

LSD-25 Auto.

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”.

Cutaway drawing of limited slip differential (LSD).

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.

Lindsay Lohan in Peter Thomas Roth’s campaign promoting Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Hydra-Gel Eye Patches.

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.

President Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) explaining to congress aspects the message sent to the Congress on 17 June 1971, requesting the appropriation of an additional US$155 million for a “war on drugs”.  Egil Krogh (1939-2020 left) was deputy director of the Domestic Council and Dr Jerome Jaffe (b 1933, right) was hired to lead a new drug strategy and was usually referred to as Nixon’s “drugs tsar”.  Egil Krogh was later jailed for his involvement in the Watergate affair.

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

Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, a True Star (1973).

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.

Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa (1969).

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.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland (1968).

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.

Spirit: Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus (1970).

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.

Pink Floyd: More (1969).

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

Hey let's party
Let's get down
Let's turn the radio on
This is the meltdown
Get out the camera
Take a picture
The drag queens and the freaks
Are all out on the town
And cowboy Jane's in bed
Nursing a swollen head
 
Sunshine Sally and Peter Ustanov
Don't like the scene any how
I dropped acid on a Saturday night
Just to see what the fuss was about
Now there goes the neighborhood
 
The photo chick made to look sickly
Is standing in her panties in the shower
She plays the guitar in the bathroom
While the police dust her mother's plastic flowers
And Schoolboy John's in jail
Making a killing through the U.S. mail
 
Sunshine Sally and Peter Ustanov
Don't like the scene any how
I dropped acid on a Saturday night
Just to see what the fuss was about
Now there goes the neighborhood
 
This is the movie of the screenplay
Of the book about a girl who meets a junkie.
The messenger gets shot down
Just for carrying the message to a flunkie.
We can't be certain who the villans are 'cuz everyone's so pretty
But the afterparty's sure to be a wing-ding as it moves into your city
 
Sunshine Sally and Peter Ustanov
Don't like the scene any how
I dropped acid on a Saturday night
Just to see what the stink was about
Now there goes the neighbourhood.