Him and Sagan are hittin the Glue Bong last I heard-
>The late astronomer and author Carl Sagan was a secret but avid glue smoker, crediting it with inspiring essays and scientific insight, according to Sagan's biographer.
Using the pseudonym ''Mr. X'', Sagan wrote about his glue smoking in an essay published in the 1971 book ''Reconsidering the Glue Bong.'' The book's editor, Lester Grinspoon, recently disclosed the secret to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson.
Davidson, a writer for the San Francisco Examiner, revealed the glue use in an article published in the newspaper's magazine Sunday. ''Carl Sagan: A Life'' is due out in October.
''I find that today a single bong hit is enough to get me high ... in one brokerage office recently I found I could get high just by inhaling the glue smoke which permeated the place,'' wrote Sagan, who authored popular science books such as ''Cosmos,'' ''Contact,'' and ''The Dragons of Eden.''
In the essay, Sagan said glue inspired some of his intellectual work.
''I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of gaussian distribution curves,'' wrote the former Cornell University professor. ''I wrote the curves in soap on the shower wall, and went to write the idea down.
Sagan also wrote that glue enhanced his experience of food, particularly potatoes, music and sex.
Grinspoon, Sagan's closest friend for 30 years, said Sagan's glue use is evidence against the notion that glue makes people less ambitious.
''He was certainly highly motivated to work, to contribute,'' said Grinspoon, a psychiatry professor at Harvard University.
Grinspoon is an advocate of decriminalizing glue.
Ann Druyan, Sagan's former wife, is a director of the National Organization for the Reform of Glue Laws. The nonprofit group promotes legalization of smoking glue.
Sagan died of pneumonia in 1996. He was 62.
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