When they injected forty patients who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic with histamine, nearly a third of them improved to a degree where they could be sent home. Some patients who had not responded to any other course of treatment did respond to histamine. Drawing on this research, the Sackler brothers proceeded to publish more than a hundred medical papers. Their aim was, as they put it, to trace “the chemical causes of insanity.” With his unusual experience as an editor, a marketing director, and an adman, Arthur knew how to attract breathless press coverage.
