Perhaps with microgram amounts - common dosages. He was working with a huge amount ... milligrams. The idea that a microgram may transmit transdermally is not inconceivable at that amount.
I'd also challenge the idea of an active scientist "getting things in his mouth" or ingesting new chemical compounds for the heck of it (at doses almost legendarily small compared to most drugs etc)...
Knowing that the compound is not dangerous or toxic handling some with the hands, or improper inhalation, sounds reasonable. Being in the habit of nibbling on your synthesized chemicals sounds kinda wonky.
Not to mention, there is no real motivation to lie here, unless Hofmann were a routine imbiber of random chemicals and wanted to keep his dark secret. LSD was legal at the time.
> I'd also challenge the idea of an active scientist "getting things in his mouth" or ingesting new chemical compounds for the heck of it (at doses almost legendarily small compared to most drugs etc)...
We're talking about the 1940s, when things were a bit different.
See the history for saccharin, cyclamate, and aspartame for other examples of accidental ingestion.
Have any chemicals been ingested accidentally since 1940? Sure!
Are trained chemists with PhDs in the subject working with complex synthesis and dangerous chemicals in the habit, from 1929 to present day, of putting those things in their mouths? Awwww heck no.
And 1940 is near the point we cracked the atom... we knew oodles about dangerous chemical and safe handling practices. Accidents will happen, but the (speculative) fiction we are discussing here is Albert Hoffman intentionally eating LSD and lying about it :)
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Saccharin, the oldest artificial sweetener, was accidentally discovered in 1879 by researcher Constantine Fahlberg -- Fahlberg was working with coal, and had no PhD AFAICT.
Cyclamate was discovered in 1937 at the University of Illinois by graduate student Michael Sveda. Sveda was working in the lab on the synthesis of anti-fever medication. He put his cigarette down on the lab bench, and, when he put it back in his mouth, he discovered the sweet taste of cyclamate -- a student, smoking in his messy lab
Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter, a chemist working for G.D. Searle & Company. Schlatter had synthesized aspartame as an intermediate step in generating a tetrapeptide of the hormone gastrin, for use in assessing an anti-ulcer drug candidate.[65] He discovered its sweet taste when he licked his finger, which had become contaminated with aspartame, to lift up a piece of paper -- an actual chemist, but working with something with a well known composition and known to be relatively harmless
Knowing that the compound is not dangerous or toxic handling some with the hands, or improper inhalation, sounds reasonable. Being in the habit of nibbling on your synthesized chemicals sounds kinda wonky.
Not to mention, there is no real motivation to lie here, unless Hofmann were a routine imbiber of random chemicals and wanted to keep his dark secret. LSD was legal at the time.