Medical Ecstasies: Chemical Synthesis and Self-Experimentation in Romantic Science and Poetry
European Romantic Review January 2, 2019 Neşe Devenot
Romantic-era poets and scientists shared a self-experimental method for studying ecstatic states. Humphry Davy tested nitrous oxide on himself, while William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge experimented with natural scenery and poetic composition. Both groups intentionally varied an independent stimulus—a drug or landscape—to observe its effects on body, mind, and well-being. They then packaged these experiences into forms that could transmit ecstatic states to others for healing. This common approach constituted an "ecstatic paradigm" in Thomas Kuhn's sense: a framework for perceiving, interpreting, and generating ecstasy that bridged Romantic science and poetry.