I wrote this book urged by the overwhelming desire that arises towards the end of life to recapitulate the past. My goal was to summarize my experience of practicing science at the end of the 20th and early 21st centuries in Argentina, a country located far away from the world s leading scientific centers. In the book, I summarize the intricacies of the pineal gland ( the stone of madness ) as historical, mystical and medical entity and its entry in contemporary medicine with the description of melatonin. I also reflect on how being associated with an unexplored subject at the beginning of his scientific career impacts the life of a scientist throughout their entire life. Today we know that in humans pineal melatonin is released every day late in the evening, and there is evidence that it is the trigger for the sleep process.