alternatehistory.com

(No, this isn't a thread about 1890s Empire-wank ;) )

While researching gamma-butyrolactone for P, I found out that gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (NB, the two interconvert in the body) was first discovered and synthesised in the 1870s, but its effects on humans were not studied until the 1960s, as often happens.

What if some scientist at the time decides the molecule's effects on human biology are worth investigating then, and therefore Ecstacy's effects are learned of as early as the 1880s or 90s?

The drug has useful anaesthetic and antidepressant properties, though nowadays it has fallen out of favour from abuse and the fact that it has a narrow delivery window (i.e., finding a dosage between ineffectiveness and fatality). It's likely that the Victorians would use it initially as a painkiller for childbirth, as happened in the 1960s and 70s OTL, and so would inevitably discover its addictive properties. It was already an age of increasing recreational drug abuse, so what would the effect of adding this to the cocktail be? (Beyond Sherlock Holmes having something new to try ;) ).
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