I've read that mescaline was first identified as the active principle of peyote in the late 19th century and isolated around the same time. That leaves an awful lot of time before the 1960's counter-culture in which the Western world was aware of these substances and I'm interested in what the public attitudes were before they gained the reputation they do today as a result of their mass use abuse. I'm interested as a result of reading The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley which was written before and seems to be different to later, post 1960s accounts of the experience.
The Doors Of Perception was the beginning of widespread awareness and interest in what we call psychedelic experience. It was not a helpful beginning either because it is largely an account of how a very cultured Englishman takes some mescaline, goes for a walk around an art gallery, and returns home again with all his prejudices confirmed about everything, much to his satisfaction. It remained influential for a very long time, not least because psychedelic drugs make people highly suggestible, so users inspired to follow Huxley's example generally reproduced his experiences. My own book Jimi Hendrix London looks at this problem, among other things.