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Clean
the lense


Registered: 05/11/03
Posts: 2,374
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Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP)
#5845152 - 07/10/06 11:44 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_sc/psychedelic_research
Mushroom drug produces mystical experience
By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
People who took an illegal drug made from mushrooms reported profound mystical experiences that led to behavior changes lasting for weeks — all part of an experiment that recalls the psychedelic '60s.
Many of the 36 volunteers rated their reaction to a single dose of the drug, called psilocybin, as one of the most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Some compared it to the birth of a child or the death of a parent.
Such comments "just seemed unbelievable," said Roland Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the study's lead author.
But don't try this at home, he warned. "Absolutely don't."
Almost a third of the research participants found the drug experience frightening even in the very controlled setting. That suggests people experimenting with the illicit drug on their own could be harmed, Griffiths said.
Viewed by some as a landmark, the study is one of the few rigorous looks in the past 40 years at a hallucinogen's effects. The researchers suggest the drug someday may help drug addicts kick their habit or aid terminally ill patients struggling with anxiety and depression.
It may also provide a way to study what happens in the brain during intense spiritual experiences, the scientists said.
Funded in part by the federal government, the research was published online Tuesday by the journal Psychopharmacology.
Psilocybin has been used for centuries in religious practices, and its ability to produce a mystical experience is no surprise. But the new work demonstrates it more clearly than before, Griffiths said.
Even two months after taking the drug, pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin, most of the volunteers said the experience had changed them in beneficial ways, such as making them more compassionate, loving, optimistic and patient. Family members and friends said they noticed a difference, too.
Charles Schuster, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at Wayne State University and a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the work a landmark.
"I believe this is one of the most rigorously well-controlled studies ever done" to evaluate psilocybin or similar substances for their potential to increase self-awareness and a sense of spirituality, he said. He did not participate in the research.
Psilocybin, like LSD or mescaline, is one of a class of drugs called hallucinogens or psychedelics. While they have been studied by scientists in the past, research was largely shut down after widespread recreational abuse of the drugs during the 1960s, Griffiths said. Some work resumed in the 1990s.
"We've lost 40 years of (potential) research experience with this whole class of compounds," he said. Now, with modern-day scientific methods, "I think it's time to pick up this research field."
The study volunteers had an average age of 46, had never used hallucinogens, and participated to some degree in religious or spiritual activities like prayer, meditation, discussion groups or religious services. Each tried psilocybin during one visit to the lab and the stimulant methylphenidate (better known as Ritalin) on one or two other visits. Only six of the volunteers knew when they were getting psilocybin.
Each visit lasted eight hours. The volunteers lay on a couch in a living-room-like setting, wearing an eye mask and listening to classical music. They were encouraged to focus their attention inward.
Psilocybin's effects lasted for up to six hours, Griffiths said. Twenty-two of the 36 volunteers reported having a "complete" mystical experience, compared to four of those getting methylphenidate.
That experience included such things as a sense of pure awareness and a merging with ultimate reality, a transcendence of time and space, a feeling of sacredness or awe, and deeply felt positive mood like joy, peace and love. People say "they can't possibly put it into words," Griffiths said.
Two months later, 24 of the participants filled out a questionnaire. Two-thirds called their reaction to psilocybin one of the five top most meaningful experiences of their lives. On another measure, one-third called it the most spiritually significant experience of their lives, with another 40 percent ranking it in the top five.
About 80 percent said that because of the psilocybin experience, they still had a sense of well-being or life satisfaction that was raised either "moderately" or "very much."
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CptnGarden
fuck this site
Registered: 05/13/04
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Clean]
#5845178 - 07/10/06 11:50 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I bet they went right home and called up some highschool hippy friends
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Clean
the lense


Registered: 05/11/03
Posts: 2,374
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: CptnGarden]
#5845241 - 07/11/06 12:04 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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It is rare to see such unbiased reporting on this subject. Especially from Associated Press!
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FunkyLoFi
Existing

Registered: 07/18/05
Posts: 1,542
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Clean]
#5845581 - 07/11/06 01:56 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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This is awesome!
-------------------- All the people you knew were the actors
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Darcho
PhysicallyDetermined

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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: FunkyLoFi]
#5845950 - 07/11/06 06:44 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Lana
Head Banana


Registered: 10/27/99
Posts: 3,109
Loc: www.MycoSupply.com
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Clean]
#5846409 - 07/11/06 10:51 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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This is one of the best articles I've seen in years.
I'm glad it had such a positive effect on the participants.
Lana
-------------------- Myco Supply - Distributors of Mycological Products http://www.MycoSupply.com The Premiere Source for Mushroom Growing Supplies. Visit us online or call us toll free
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garbage

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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Lana]
#5846687 - 07/11/06 12:08 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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This article made me smile and proclaim aloud, "This is so fucking cool" while reading it.
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Vaporbrothers
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CoolMojo
Imagination iswhat you make ofit

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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: garbage]
#5847335 - 07/11/06 03:06 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I wonder if in future studies they will continue to give pure psilocybin or if they will start giving mushrooms themselves.
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: CoolMojo]
#5847541 - 07/11/06 04:10 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Awesome! A positive report about a positive substance! Amazing!
Someone should turn this into a pro-mushroom flyer. Something like "Proof that mushrooms produce positive, life-changing experiences and lead to spiritual enlightenment!"
-FF
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demiu5
humans, lol


Registered: 08/18/05
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Loc: the popcorn stadium
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Clean]
#5847891 - 07/11/06 05:54 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I sent this to my mom, as she doesn't entirely approve or understand why I do the things I do, in hopes of maybe making more sense since the people were close to/in her age bracket.
She says she thinks there was an article about this in The Tennessean, but I couldn't find it online or through the library's super cool access to the newspaper. If she can get me a link or transcript of it, I'll post it up.
-------------------- channel your inner Larry David
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Caelligh
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Clean]
#5847925 - 07/11/06 06:04 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Why would Dr. Griffiths still insist that people should "absolutely" not use this drug at home? To quote the study itself:
"67% of the volunteers rated the experience with psilocybin to be either the single most meaningful experience of his or her life or among the top five most meaningful experiences of his or her life."
"22% experienced a period of notable anxiety/dysphoria during the session, sometimes including transient ideas of reference/paranoia. No volunteer required pharmacological intervention and the psychological effects were readily managed with reassurance."
That doesn't sound like an unmanagable risk to me. Oh well...this is still the closest thing to unbiased research done on the subject in a long time. Email Dr. Griffith with your thanks at rgriff@jhmi.edu!
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shymanta
Mad Scientist


Registered: 01/27/05
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Caelligh]
#5848928 - 07/11/06 10:04 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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"We've lost 40 years of (potential) research experience with this whole class of compounds," he said. Now, with modern-day scientific methods, "I think it's time to pick up this research field."
It's about fucking time!
(grins)
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motaman
old hand

Registered: 12/18/02
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NYP: God-Related Shrooming OK! [Re: Clean]
#5850138 - 07/12/06 08:46 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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http://www.gawker.com/news/new-york-post/nyp-godrelated-shrooming-ok-186481.php
July112006
NYP: God-Related Shrooming OK!
When is the otherwise square New York Post pro-drug? When drugs are proven to enhance the conservative pro-God agenda. Thirty-six "hallucinogen-naive" adults were treated to a regimen of psilocybin pills, i.e. the psychoactive ingredient in certain mushrooms. The NYP capsules the study's results theologically, noting that despite potential side effects, shrooms "also can spark a religious experience that leaves users feeling kinder and happier"; regarding the 36 test subjects, "two-thirds judged it to be among their top-five experiences, equal to the birth of a first child." Of course, the NYP clipped the story from the Washington Post, whose hippie commies were even more excited, headlining their article, "Drug's Mystical Properties Confirmed." Magic is real, people!
-------------------- http://heffter.org
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stefan
work in progress

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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: Clean]
#5850247 - 07/12/06 09:36 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
the research was published online Tuesday by the journal Psychopharmacology.
can anyone find the full article? I can't find it. please pm me with a link or even better post it if you find it and pm me the link afterwards
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: stefan]
#5850341 - 07/12/06 10:16 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Full article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query...l=pubmed_docsum
As with most publications you'll need institutional access.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: badchad]
#5851629 - 07/12/06 05:57 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I got a copy of the full paper... PM me if interested in it.
Edit: Actually I uploaded it. See below...
-FF
Edited by fastfred (07/14/06 01:24 PM)
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) *DELETED* [Re: fastfred]
#5851638 - 07/12/06 06:00 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Post deleted by fastfredReason for deletion: Upload didn't work!
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: fastfred]
#5851648 - 07/12/06 06:02 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Log in to view attachment
OK That didn't work... I'll try again!
-FF
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: fastfred]
#5852890 - 07/12/06 10:23 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Here is a commentary by scientists David E. Nichols, Herbert D. Kleber, Charles R. Schuster, and Solomon H. Snyder about the research that spawned the above news story...
Commentary on: Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance by Griffiths et al.
The article by Griffiths et al. in this issue of Psychopharmacology should make all scientists interested in human psychopharmacology sit up and take notice. It is the first well-designed, placebo-controlled, clinical study in more than four decades to examine the psychological consequences of the effects of the hallucinogenic (psychedelic) agent known as psilocybin. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find a single study of psychedelics from any earlier era that was as well-done or as meaningful. Perhaps more importantly, despite the notion by many people that psychedelics are nothing more than troublesome drugs of abuse, the present study convincingly demonstrates that, when used appropriately, these compounds can produce remarkable, possibly beneficial, effects that certainly deserve further study.
Although many people seem to believe that “psychedelics” simply appeared during the turbulent 1960s, in fact the use of these materials spans back through many millennia of human history. Ancient substances with names such as Soma (India), Kykeon (Greece), and Teonanacatl (South America) served for thousands of years as psychopharmacological catalysts in a variety of sacred religious and magical rituals (Nichols 2004; Schultes and Hofmann 1979). Peyote, the ceremonial use of which is now thought by anthropologists to date back at least 5,000 years, is revered as a sacrament by the Native American Church. Ayahuasca, a decoction made from plants that grow in the Amazon basin, is a sacrament used by a syncretic church in Brazil. This church has a small following in the US that has just received a favorable decision by the US Supreme Court allowing them continued use of this material.
The parallel between mystical states and the effects of psychedelic drugs is well-known among those familiar with the literature. Aldous Huxley, in his classic but controversial 1954 book, The Doors of Perception, (Huxley 1970) noted the similarity of his own mescaline-induced state to experiences described by mystics and visionaries from a variety of cultures. Perhaps it is not surprising then that the name “entheogen,” with the connotation that these materials reveal god within, is becoming increasingly popular among those who continue to use these substances for purposes that are neither medical nor “recreational.”
We must, therefore, take note of what has come to be known as the “Good Friday Experiment,” carried out by Walter Pahnke for his Ph.D. studies at a small private chapel in Boston. His 1963 Ph.D. dissertation was titled Drugs and Mysticism. An analysis of the relationship between psychedelic drugs and the mystical consciousness. He described in an experiment with 20 student volunteers from a local Christian theological seminary. Subjects were given either 30 mg of psilocybin or 200 mg of nicotinic acid as a “placebo.” The experiment was carried out in a religious setting during a Good Friday service. Pahnke concluded, “Under the conditions of this experiment, those subjects who received psilocybin experienced phenomena which were indistinguishable from, if not identical with, certain categories defined by our typology of mysticism.”
Clearly, these substances have profound effects on human consciousness, and in the 1950s and 1960s, the drug known as LSD was hailed as a revolutionary new technology for psychiatry. LSD was intensively investigated for its medical potential and for possible use as an adjunct to psychotherapy until clinical research was abruptly halted by laws passed in response to concerns over widespread recreational use. Despite studies that involved tens of thousands of patients, using “therapeutic” approaches that employed LSD in a variety of ways, little of clear significance resulted, at least partly due to faulty experimental design and data analysis. As a consequence, a conventional wisdom seems to have developed that psychedelic drugs are generally pretty worthless. But medical technology has advanced in the past four decades; we know quite a bit more about the brain now than we did then, and human experimental methods are certainly much better.
All that being said, there was one indication for the use of psychedelics, particulary LSD, that was reasonably well-documented. Chicago internist Eric Kast first reported in 1964 that some “gravely ill” patients treated with LSD obtained mood elevation and reductions in the need for pain medication that lasted for nearly 2 weeks after the drug, and that some patients “displayed a peculiar disregard for the gravity of their situations” (Kast and Collins 1964). In a subsequent study, he further noted that, “Patients who had been listless and depressed were touched to tears by the discovery of a depth of feeling they had not thought themselves capable” (Kast 1966).
Kast’s findings served as the foundation for a series of groundbreaking studies into the value of LSD in the treatment of terminal cancer patients. That work was carried out at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Baltimore, Maryland by Drs. Stanislav Grof, Al Kurland, Walter Pahnke, Sanford Unger, and their colleagues (Grof et al. 1973; Pahnke et al. 1969, 1970a,b). Significantly reduced need for analgesics and improved mood and quality of life were observed in 60–70% of patients treated with LSD. The treatment response appeared to be correlated with the extent to which the patients experienced a mystical or transcendental state. That is, those who experienced the most profound LSD-induced states seemed to gain the most improvement. The basis for this benefit appeared to be related to a reduced or abolished fear of death, with an attendant reduction in anxiety, which we know affects subjective pain.
What Griffiths et al. have done in their present work represents an important extension of Pahnke’s “Good Friday” experiment. They have used proper controls, better experimental design, and have provided a better analysis of the experience using more modern instruments. The experiments were not conducted in a church, or in a venue that would lead to a strong expectation of some sort of religious experience. The subjects in the Griffiths et al. study were not theology students, but were simply ordinary people with an interest in spiritual things. The work by Griffiths et al. demonstrates that, under appropriate experimental conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical states. Most importantly, some of the persisting positive changes in attitudes and behavior reported by subjects were confirmed by independent ratings from community observers such as family members or friends.
The prospects for far-ranging scientific advancement are exciting. We know that psychedelics have powerful effects in many areas of the brain that are critically important for cognition and awareness. Our present understanding is that they act principally by activating serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, especially those densely expressed on the apical dendrites of cortical pyramidal cells, the quintessential computational units within the cortex of the brain. In that respect, psychedelics depolarize these cortical cells, leading one to speculate that they may become more sensitive to low-level signals. That is, perhaps they can do more with less, potentially amplifying processes that are normally running, but which are not generally apparent in everyday awareness.
The science of pharmacology involves perturbing biological systems with chemical modulators (i.e., drugs), the results of which have had profound effects on our understanding of both normal and disease state physiology. Rigorous research with psychedelics may hold the key to understanding the very nature of consciousness, self-awareness, the ability to introspect, and the properties of mind that set us apart from other species.
With such a huge potential impact, is there any good reason why a well-done study like the one reported here by Griffiths et al. should appear only once in half a century? Until a related compound, DMT, was studied by Rick Strassman at the University of New Mexico in the mid-1990s (Strassman and Qualls 1994; Strassman et al. 1994; Strassman 1996), no significant work on the clinical effects of psychedelics had appeared in the scientific literature for more than a generation. Perhaps the time has now come to reinvestigate the psychopharmacological properties of psychedelics. Thus, the study by Griffiths et al. in this issue could be a watershed event.
Finally, Griffiths et al. conclude, “The ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences.” Indeed.
Edited by fastfred (07/12/06 10:35 PM)
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Rubin
Stranger
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Re: Mushroom drug produces mystical experience(AP) [Re: fastfred]
#5884867 - 07/21/06 03:40 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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There are two links to the full (PDF) article here:
http://www.sharemation.com/Rubin/entheogen/index.html
and links to interesting stuff on the web.
If I can find the time, I might be able to OCR Walter Pahnke's entire doctoral thesis. Thank me folks, I created an account just so I could post that link to you!
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