After Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798, returning troops brought with them a newly found pleasure - hashish. As a result, cannabis was slowly started to popularize in France. Dr Jacques-Joseph Moreau, who also learned about the plant from his trips to Syria, discovered the effects of eating it led to euphoria, hallucinations, and a rapid flow of ideas. Together with philosopher Théophile Gautier he formed the secretive Club des Hachichins, or Hash Club, at the Hôtel de Lauzun in Paris. Luminaries like Dumas, Balzac, Flaubert, Nerval, Baudelaire, Delacroix and Daumier were known to frequent its events, often dressing in Arab garb, dining on jams and foods infused with cannabis, and of course smoking. As Baudelaire writes, describing a familiar feeling:
"At first, a certain absurd, irresistible hilarity overcomes you. The most ordinary words, the simplest ideas assume a new and bizarre aspect. This mirth is intolerable to you; but it is useless to resist. The demon has invaded you..."
Though the club eventually broke up, it's scientific and social impact had been made. Dr. Moreau eventually would publish his major work on cannabis, De Hachish et de l'Alienation Mentale - Études Psychologiques (Hashish and Mental Illness - Psychological Studies) in 1846.