1
^^^1 31967
mmmi mimm or hialu
Ethnopharmacologic Search for
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS
Within the symbolic chemical representation on the cover
are shown a view of a mushroom stone from the Namuth
collection and a morning glory blossom. The mushroom
stone — early pre-classic, circa B.C. 1000-500 — contains a
figure believed to be that of a young woman before a metate
or grinding stone.
Workshop Series of Pharmacology Section, N.I.M.H. No.
Ethnopharmacologic Search for
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS
Proceedings of a Symposium held in San Francisco, California
January 28-30, 1967
DANIEL H. EFRON, Editor-in-Chief,
National Institute of Mental Health,
Chevy Chase, Maryland
BO HOLMSTEDT, Co-Editor, NATHAN S. KLINE, Co-Editor,
Karolinska Institutet, Rockland State Hospital,
Stockholm, Sweden Orangeburg, New York
Sponsored by:
Pharmacology Section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch
National Institute of Mental Health Public Health Service
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
1%^
The opinions expressed and any conclusions
drawn are those of the participants of the
Symposium and are not to he understood as
necessarily having the endorsement of, or
representing the viewpoints of, the Public
Health Service of the U.S. Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare.
Public Health Service Publication No. 1645 1967
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $4.00
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Daniel H. Efron
Seymour M. Farber
Bo HOLMSTEDT
Nathan S. Kline
Roger H. L. Wilson
Pharmacology Section, Psychopharmacology Research
Branch, National Institute of Mental Health,
Chevy Chase, Maryland
Continuing Education in Medicine and Health Sciences,
San Francisco Medical Center, Univesrsity of California,
San Tranei'sco, California
Department of Toxicology, Swedish Medical Research
Council, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Research Center, Rockland State Hospital,
Orangeburg, New York
Continuing Education in Medicine and Health Sciences,
San Francisco Medical Center, University of California,
San Francisco, California
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Chairman : Seymour M. Farber Leon Epstein
Virginia Barrelier Mrs. Bo Holmstedt (Artist)
Patricia K. Black Bo Holmstedt
Daniel H. Efron Nathan S. Kline
Chauncey Leake
E. Leong Way
Florence Webster
Roger H. L. Wilson
INVITED PARTICIPANTS
SIRI VON REIS ALTSCHUL
Botanical Museum of Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
I. I. BREKHMAN
Institute of Biologically Active Substances,
Far-Eastern Branch of Siberian Depart-
ment of Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R.,
Vladivostok 22, U.S.S.R.
JOSEPH P. BUCKLEY
Department of Pharmacology, School of
Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania
GBORG E. CRONHEIM
Riker Laboratories, Inc., Northridge, CJali-
fomia
JOHN W. DALY
Laboratory of Chemistry, National Insti-
tute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,
Maryland
VENANOIO DEULOFEU
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de
Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Parera 77,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
DANIEL H. EFRON
Pharmacology Section, Psychopharmacol-
ogy Research Branch, National Institute
of Mental Health, Chevy Chase, Maryland
CONRAD H. EUGSTBR
Department of Organic Chemistry, Univer-
sity of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
OLBLLAN S. FORD
Department of Anthropology, Yale Univer-
sity, New Haven, Connecticut
DANIEL X. FREBDMAN
Department of Psychiatry, University of
Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
CARLETON GAJDUSEK
National Institute of Neurological Diseases
and Blindness, National Institutes of
Health, Bethesda, Maryland
LOWELL D. HOLMES
Department of Anthropology, Wichita State
University, Wichita, Kansas
BO HOLMSTEDT
Department of Toxicology, Swedish Medi-
cal Research Council, Karolinska Insti-
tutet, Stockholm 60, Sweden
EVAN C. HORNING
Lipid Research Center, Department of Bio-
chemistry, Baylor University College of
Medicine, Houston, Texas
HARRIS ISBELL
Department of Medicine, University of
Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Ken-
tucky
NATHAN S. KLINE
Rockland State Hospital, Orangeburg, New
York
MURLE W. KLOHS
Medicinal Chemistry Section, Riker Labo-
ratories, Northridge, California
HANS J. MEYER
Department of Pharmacology, University of
Freiburg, Freiburg i. Br., Germany
OLAUDIO NARANJO
Bscuela de Medicina, Universidad de Chile,
Santiago, Chile
CARL C. PFEIFFER
Section on Neuropharmacology, New Jer-
sey Neuropsychiatric Institute, Princeton,
New Jersey
EFRlCN CARLOS DEL POZO
Instituto de Estudios Medicos y Biologicos,
Universidad Nacional de Mexico, Mexico
D.F., Mexico
THORNTON SARGENT
Donner Laboratory, University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley, California
GBORG J. SBITZ
Koln-Lindenthal, Diirenerstrasse 175, Ger-
many
RICHARD E. SCHULTES
Botanical Museum of Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
ALEXANDER T. SHULGIN
Department of Pharmacology, University
of California, San Francisco Medical Cen-
ter, San Francisco, California
vii
STEPHEN I. SZARA
Section on PsychopMrmacology, Clinical
Neuropharmacology Research Center, Na-
tional Institute of Mental Health, St. Eliza-
beths Hospital, Washington, District of
Columbia
DBRMOT TAYLOR
Department of Pharmacology, School of
Medicine, Center for Health Sciences,
University of California, Los Angeles,
California
EDWARD B. TRUITT
Division of Physiology and Pharmacology,
Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus,
Ohio
PETER G. WASER
Department of Pharmacology, University
of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
S. HENRY WASSfiN
Gothenburg Ethnographic Museum, Norra
Hamngaten 12, Gothenburg, Sweden
R. GORDON WASSON
Botanical Museum of Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
ANDREW T. WEIL
Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mas-
sachusetts (mailing address: 128 Lexing-
ton Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts)
viii
PREFACE
The use of plants or tlueir extracts for medicinal or religious cere-
monial purposes is very old — practically as old as the human race. The in-
formation about the use of plants as psychotropic agents by man is probably
found in the Bible. The apple that Adam ate (whatever the variety) could
be considered as a psycho-energizer. Was it a stimulator, did it enhance
memory or learning abilities, or did it activiate the desire for acquiring more
information ? As with our new psychotropic drugs, I don't know if it brought
happiness and comfort, or new problems, aggravations, and unbappiness.
Another example of early use and knowledge of medicinal plants we find
in the fact that the most ancient medical god of Mesopotamia — Sin — was
also the god of medicinal herbs.
The development of drug chemistry brought : first, isolation from plants
of a number of pharmacologically active substances (e.g. curare, atropine
ouabain, etc.), later, synthesis of these entities and their derivatives; and
finally, creation of completely new molecules, formerly not known, in the
plant or animal kingdom.
We know, also, that in the process of development and worship of chemistry
we somehow forgot about our prime source, the plants. We forgot that we
have used only some of the known substances of plant origin. At the same
time, the intrusions of civilization have been progressively destroying the
sources of our knowledge, as well as the source itself of many plants — plants
which are used either in medicine or in ceremonial and sacred context. Today,
time is running out if we want to save this information, and perhaps use for
medicinal purposes some of the unknown compounds contained in plants.
The idea of acquiring knowledge about these plants and compounds we
have neglected or forgotten was the reason for organizing this symposium.
It was self-evident that this meeting had to be multidisciplinary. We invited
pharmacologists, pharmacists, chemists, biochemists, psychiatrists, anthropol-
ogists, etc., etc. We wanted to exchange existing information, confront dif-
ferent points of view, and outline and stimulate research objectives for the
future.
As one of the organizers of this symposium, I am certainly biased, but 1
feel that this meeting was very successful. I would like to include here the
opinion of one of the participants.
"This," he remarked, "is the first meeting I have attended that at the end
of the sessions we had as many or even more participants than in the begin-
ning — this is a measure of the interest the meeting has created."
We discovered after the meetings how many scattered researchers in wide
and varied fields could contribute to the knowledge which we seek. This find-
ing alone was one of the very important immediate gains from the sym-
posium. And we hope that in the future we will be able to organize a second
ix
meeting on the same topics, and cover a much broader spectrum of problems
in the ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs.
The meeting was divided into six sessions, all but the first ending in panel
discussions. All authors who delivered papers at the session served also as
panelists. They discussed ditferent problems among themselves and answered
questions from the floor. The discussion after Session IV covered a special
topic: "Psychoactive Action of Various Tryptamine Derivatives," and ex-
perts in this field were invited. The discussions after Sessions V and VI were
merged, and covered, besides specific topics of these sessions, all problems
dealt with in the symposium. Speakers from other sessions also participated
in this dicussion.
The discussions held after the sessions were recorded m extenso, and are
printed here following the papers of each session. Because of the multidis-
ciplinary character of the symposium, problems of terminology and the ex-
tent of discussion, no restrictions were imposed on participants with regard
to nomenclature used, order of material or uniformity of presentation and
reference listing. The diversity of form and style of the various presentations
was not altered for publication; they remain in their original form.
We extend our deep appreciation and thanks to the local group from the
Ck>ntinuing Education in Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Cali-
fornia, San Francisco Medical Center, for their excellent work in organizing
this meeting in San Francisco. This group, under the chairmanship of Dean
Seymour M. Farber, with the participation of Dr. Roger H. Wilson, and
Mesdames Virginia Barreliei", Patricia K. Black, Florence Webster and
Matilda Wilson, deserves a great deal of credit for the success of our meeting.
It would be remiss for me not to remark here (and I am doing so with de-
light) on the contributions of Drs. Bo Holmstedt and Nathan Kline, co-
editors of this volume. Without their vision, interest, know-how, persistence
and scientific knowledge, this meeting could not have taken place. I would
like also to express my thanks to Dr. Albert A. Manian and Mrs. Shirley
Maltz from the Pharmacology Section, N.I.M.H., for their help in the
preparation of this manuscript.
Finally, many thanks to all speakers, discussants and participants. In final
analysis, it was their contributions which made the meeting a success, and
helped so much in the stimulation and delineation of new directions in re-
search — directions which may bring us a new arsenal of useful drugs, es-
pecially in the field of psychiatry and neurological diseases.
D.H.E.
X
CONTENTS
Page
Organizing Committee v
Conference Committee v
List of Invited Participants vii
Preface ix
Greetings — ^WUlard C. Fleming xv
Introduction — Nathan S. Kline xvii
Letter from A. Hofmann xxi
SESSION I AN OVERVIEW OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY
Chauncey D. Leake, Chairman
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION 1
Chauncey D. Leake
HISTORICAL SURVEY 3
Bo Holmstedt
THE PLACE OF ETHNOBOTANY IN THE ETHNO-
PHARMACOLOGIC SEARCH FOR PSYCHOTOMI-
METIC DRUGS 33
Richard E. Schultes
EMPIRICISM AND MAGIC IN AZTEC PHARMA-
COLOGY 59
Efren Carlos del Pozo
PERSPECTIVES ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF PSY-
CHEDELIC DRUGS 77
Daniel X. Freedman
SESSION II PIPER METHYSTICUM (KAVA)
Georg E. Cronheim, Chairman
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION 03
Georg E. Cronheim
THE FUNCTION OF KAVA IN MODERN SAMOAN
CULTURE 107
LoweU D. Holmes
RECENT OBSERVATIONS ON THE USE OF KAVA
IN THE NEW HEBRIDES 119
Carleton Gajdusek (With an Appendix: Historical and
Ethnographic Accounts of Kava Usage.)
CHEMISTRY OF KAVA 126
Murle W. Klohs
PHARMACOLOGY OF KAVA 133
Hans J. Meyer
xi
Page
SESSION II PHARMACOLOGY OF KAVA 141
Joseph P. Buckley
ELECTROPHARMACOLOGICAL AND BEHAV-
IORAL ACTIONS OF KAVA 152
Atnedeo S. Marrazzi
EFFECT OF KAVA IN NORMAL SUBJECTS AND
PATIENTS 155
Carl C. Pfeiffer
ETHNOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS OF KAVA 162
CleUan S. Ford
DISCUSSION 174
Chairman — Georg E. Cronheim
Members of the Panel:
Joseph P. Buckley
CleUan S. Ford
Carleton Gajdusek
Lowell D. Holmes
Murle W. Klohs
Hans J. Meyer
Carl C. Pfeiffer
SESSION III MYRISTICA FRAGRANS (NUTMEG)
Edward B. Truitt, Jr., Chairman
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION 185
Edward B. Truitt, Jr.
NUTMEG AS A PSYCHOACTIVE DRUG 188
Andrew T. WeH
THE CHEMISTRY AND PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
.OF NUTMEG AND OF SEVERAL RELATED
PHENYLISOPROPYLAMINES 202
Andrew T. Shulgin, Thornton Sargent and Claudio Naranjo
THE PHARMACOLOGY OF MYRISTICIN AND
NUTMEG 215
Edward B. Truitt, Jr.
DISCUSSION 223
Chairman— Edward B. Truitt, Jr.
Members of the Panel:
Claudio Naranjo
Thornton Sargent
Alexander T. Shulgin
Andrew T. Weil
SESSION IV SOUTH AMERICAN SNUFFS
Bo Holmstedt, Chairman
ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE USE OF
SOUTH AMERICAN SNUFFS 233
S. Henry Wassen
xii
SESSION IV THE BOTANICAL ORIGINS OF SOUTH AMERICAN Page
SNUFFS 291
Richard E. Schultes
VILCA AND ITS USE 307
Siri von Reis Altschul
EPENA, THE INTOXICATING SNUFF POWDER OF
THE WAIKA INDIANS AND THE TUCANO MED-
ICINE MAN, AGOSTINO 315
Georg J. Seitz
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS AND PHARMACOL-
OGY OF SOUTH AMERICAN SNUFFS 339
Bo Hohnstedt and Jan-Erik Lindgren
DISCUSSION ON THE PSYCHOACTIVE ACTION
OF VARIOUS TRYPTAMINE DERIVATIVES 374
Chairman — Bo Hohnstedt
Members of the Panel:
John W. Daly
Efren Carlos del Pozo
Evan C. Horning
Harris IsbeU
Stephen I. Szara
SESSION V AYAHUASCA, CAAPI, YAGE
Daniel H. Efron, Chairman
PSYCHOTROPIC PROPERTIES OF THE HARMALA
ALKALOIDS 385
Claudio Naranio
THE MAKING OF THE HALLUCINOGENIC DRINK
FROM BANISTERIOPSIS CUAPI IN NORTHERN
PERU 392
Dermot Taylor
CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS ISOLATED FROM BA-
NISTERIOPSIS AND RELATED SPECIES 393
Venancio Deulofeu
SESSION VI AMANITA MUSCARIA (FLY AGARIC)
Daniel H. Efron, Chairman
FLY AGARIC AND MAN 405
R. Gordon Wasson
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF
SOME PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS USED BY SIBE-
RIAN AND FAR-EASTERN MINOR NATIONAL-
ITIES OF U.S.S.R 415
I. I. Brekhman
ISOLATION, STRUCTURE AND SYNTHESES OF
CENTRAL-ACTIVE COMPOUNDS FROM AMA-
NITA MUSCARIA (L. ex Fr.) HOOKER 416
Conrad H. Eugster
xiii
Page
SESSION VI THE PHAKMACOLOGY OF AMANITA MUSCARIA_. 419
Peter G. Waser
DISCUSSION 441
Chairman — Daniel H. Efron
Members of the Panel:
Venancio Deulofeu
Conrad H. Eugster
Claudio Naranjo
Dermot Taylor
Peter G. Waser
R. Gordon Wasson
Subject Index 453
xiv
GREETINGS
WiLLARD C. Fleming, D.D.S. Chancellor
University of California, San Francisco Medical Center,
San Francisco, California
My name is Fleming. I am Chancellor of the San Francisco Medical
Center. If you do not know me, I prefer to introduce myself always, because
if my friends introduce me I am a little fearful of people I do not know — I
do a much better job myself.
I was born some sixty-seven years ago in Sausalito of poor but honest
parents. The poverty angle must have been a dominant genetic factor because
my daughter has the same problem.
I came here as a student of dentistry in 1918. I became a member of the
Dental Faculty in 1923. I became Dean of the Dental School in 1939. After
three years of attempting to retire, I took three years to find my successor.
I thought this was fine, until one of my "friends" said: "Bill, did it ever
occur to you they don't want to make the same mistake twice ?"
From there to Dean of Students ; and I have since last July been Chancellor
of this campus. I have no illusions about why a Chancellor, Mayor or Gover-
nor gives introductory speeches. This is for the audience to calm down, chat
with one's neighbor, get the identification, and so on.
I will follow the same pattern. After residence here of almost fifty years,
you should understand that the local history of this center is of interest to
me. History can be a very static chronicle of what has happened ; or on the
other hand, it can be a very dynamic encounter, and establish a sort of a
curve of progress that can be extended as a curve of probability into the
future.
I welcome the participants of the symposium entitled, "Ethnopharmaco-
logical Search for Psychoactive Drugs." I have a great deal of difficulty with
that word. This is really the first time I have gone through it quite smoothly.
If you agree with what I said about history being used as our prediction
of events to come, you may agree this campus is historically the logical place
to sponsor this idea.
The history of California and in particular the Bay Area, is replete with
the part medicine has played in its development. Bear Flag Republic ; vigi-
lante movement in San Francisco ; the role of California in the years of Civil
War; the bubonic plague epidemic; the Golden Gate Park and the health
crisis that grew out of the fire and earthquake of 1906 ; an interesting course
of development.
At the start of the very facilities that were in here, now, to give you some
idea of how this started : like some medical schools in the early days, this
school started with the history of a proprietary school, in other words, a
school for profit. Then in the Gold Rush days of '49 and '50, a great many
physicians came to California. They were adventurers, charlatans, and also
XV
some very highly qualified and respected professional people. They were in-
clined to be a quarrelsome lot. This is an attribute that has not quite died
out yet ; and it is hard to think of another group that was so individualistic.
Among them was Dr. Hugh Toland, a well trained and well qualified sur-
geon. He tried his luck in the gold fields, but like so many others shortly
returned to private practice in San Francisco. He was eminently successful
both professionally and economically. During the '60's his annual income
was reported to be over forty thousand dollars — more than they pay the
Chancellor today.
This phenomenal income for those days was accomplished by taking ad-
vantage of two situations: The pioneers of those days were subject to many
medical conditions and diseases, and of all of these, scurvy and syphilis were
high on the morbidity list. Like many physicians of those years. Dr. Toland
compounded and dispensed his own drugs, so it is no surprise to learn that
in the backroom of Dr. Toland's offices were two barrels. One was labeled
"Anti-Syph" and the other, "Anti-Scrof". There were no mail order houses,
but there was the Wells Fargo Express throughout the entire west.
Through the dispensing of drugs for treatment of syphilis and scurvy
by mail order, Hugh Toland became wealthy. Like so many people of these
days, he attempted to memorialize himself by founding a medical school in
his name. It is an interesting and intriguing story how, with the aid of
Dr. Richard Beverly Cole, his first Dean of the medical school, this pair
persuaded Regents of the newly started University of California to take
on the Toland Medical School as the medical school of the University of
California.
The Regents refused to name it Toland School of the University of Cali-
fornia, but they did agree that there should be a physical part or plant with
the name of Toland. Thus, today we have in our University of California
Hospital a small auditorium known as the Toland Auditorium.
Our Department of Pharmacology has always been strong, as has our
School of Pharmacy. Possibly it is our heritage, the fact that our medical
center has a strong pharmacological school here, resting on one barrel of
Anti-Syph and one barrel of Anti-Scrof.
At any rate, one can see that this symposium and its participants are in a
hospitable environment. You are a welcome addition to a long line of
predecessors, a fair example of the past and a prologue to the future.
Again I officially welcome you to the opening of this symposium.
xvi
INTRODUCTION
The Psychology, Philosophy, Morality and Legislative
Control of Drug Usage
Nathan S. Kline
Research Center, Rockland State Hospital
Orangeburg, New York
Man's Need for Action
Man is an animal impelled by internal forces to act. Just what form
that action will take depends on the sensations experienced, the learned
modifications of innate response patterns, and the possible alternatives exist-
ing in the immediate environmental situation. Behavior based on purely ra-
tional decision, if it exists at all, is certainly rare. Action is usually evoked
by the sensual and emotional, or at times by reflex or even motor needs.
Provocation& to Action
Each of us is continuously being teased, hoodwinked, wheedled, invaded,
bluffed, seduced and assaulted. When such blandishments to action are at the
cognitive or even the emotional level the attempts are often obvious enough.
More basic and often underriding them are appeals and approaches to
primitive patterns of sensation involving incense, drums, drugs, ritualistic
postures, idols, pageantry; rhythmic sounds and motions interspersed with
abrupt syncopes; vast or close repetitive visual designs, color shock and most
of all, movement. There are elusive, lingering, attractive, unidentifiable odors
or revolting stenches that stir some troubled layer that lies below conscious-
ness ; and the body itself, the skin with its ceaseless prickling, itching, stretch-
ing, hotness, coldness never really leaves us alone. Nor do the muscles that pro-
test by making us fidget if they are not moved frequently and then ache if
they are exercised too long or too hard ; the vague internal stirrings, appetites,
"all the nameless feelings that go coursing through our breast." Finally, there
is the mind's own place, eternally restless, seeking, peeking, poking, squirm-
ing, probing. Quiet and silence is a kind of death, from which we fear we
may never be able to rouse ourselves.
The Role of Drugs in Altering Perception : and the Partial Dependence of
Such Responses on Environment and Expectation
Evocation and certainly control of these response patterns is still largely
"unscientific." Experience and a particular habit of mind are necessary, how-
ever, before experience can be decocted into an effective guide through these
mazes. Fatigue, hyperexcitement and drugs, by producing dissociation, tend
xvii
262-016 0-67— 2
both to heighten such experiences but at the same time to break down
sophisticated self -awareness.
The loss of ego integrity with its capacity for reality testing leaves the self
wide and uncritically open to prior expectations and environmental influ-
ences. How the drug-induced perceptual, kinesthetic or other distortions will
be interpreted will therefore vary from culture to culture and even from
individual to individual. Occasionally the same drug may induce profound
depression, Dionysian ecstasy, terror or bland inditierence. Yet if we induce
similar expectations and control environment, the response is usually pre-
dictable. Duration is yet all too short and side effects still all too great, but
we are well along toward recognizing both the circumstances and the agents
which will do what we ask of them, by way of temporarily altering the
perceived universe.
Society's Moral Attitude
Whether such para-universes lead to improA^ed philosophic or psychologic
insights is far from clear. The use of drugs for any thing other than medical
therapeutic purposes has always been construed as a threat — even when the
purpose was ostensibly religious — few except the in-group would sanction
such use. Even at the most simple level there is confusion ; "taking drugs"
has an immoral connotation despite the fact that the particular drug may be
life saving; there is only disapproval of escape from intolerable thoughts,
feelings or situations. At times drugs serve to induce actions which would
otherwise not be possible; the hope of ex-static (i.e., out of the status quo)
movement leads man to seize upon whatever is at hand to trv to bring about
such alterations. "The desire to take pills" wrote Olser, "is the greatest
feature which distinguishes man from the animals."
Why the Increased Interest and Use of Drugs at This Time and Place in
History?
Here I repeat what I have written elsewhere :
To varying degrees each of us mortgages the present for the future : we tolerate present
discomfort in expectation of eventual relief or even reward. Those parts of the remem-
bered past which make us queasy are usually justified as contributing to some useful
purpose yet to be realized. In the process we create a cultural as well as a personal his-
tory involving the whence and hence of existence.
On rare and glorious occasions some individual or group floods through time with an
epic tide and in sheer admiration we are all swept along. More frequently the individual
narrative thread is thin and frayed. In place of the grand patterned fabric we see only
the thrums of existence. The whole business becomes a drag. Bugged by what we trail
along and hung up on what is yet to come, we seek temporary or semipermanent escapes.
Today we lack any viable universally accepted dramatic plot. The success (not the fail-
ure) of nineteenth century rationalism has left us at least momentarily without a
denouement. Not that those dated objectives of adequate food, housing and racial equal-
ity for everyone have been attained but, as in the stock market, their achievement
has been "discounted" since it is obvious that within another few hundred years they
will be substantially achieved. The sense of great purpose and broad adventure which
xviii
these goals engendered has vanished. Instead of singing down the high road we are
looking at our sore feet. It requires solid stupidity, bland carelessness or extraordinary
courage to disregard signposts which say "To Nowhere." The road is studded with squat-
ters who block those who would pass. The gatherings at the campflres are not for coun-
sels or imaginative planning but to titillate with pointless ghost stories.
Curiosity and action are thus directed inward. Drugs that help sever the tenuous
ties with the outside world become highly prized since they both assist and justify the
disregard for external realities. . . .
In the search for new values to give rise to a new narrative the towering, probing
mystics of the past have sought to recapture the UR-experience upon which every Estab-
lishment originally drew strength until it became formalized. This invariably demanded
the shattering of the idols or the escape from the Concept. Visions, iconoclasm, tran-
scendence took place as the inevitable realization of a whole life's agon. Smashing a few
clay figures or experiencing visual hallucinations does not produce an Abraham or a St.
Theresa. Every great mystic has had experiences dissociated from the time and culture
in which he lived — but the dissociation arose out of inner necessity. Conversion in turn
is facilitated by the ecstasy of dance, ritual death, drugs. Dissociation per se has no
value and can become meaningful only as it is integrated into a conceptual framework.
This incorporation can be strongly directed from outside. . . .
The dissociation can also produce panic if the attempt is made to retain dissolving
ego controls. Once these are surrendered a para-infantile acceptance of the universe
is experienced in which there are no clear ego boundaries so that the One-ness with the
All comes about. Whether this feeling (or any other) has important value dei)ends
entirely on how it alters the organization and action of the organism.
Can We Legislate Control?
Pharmaceuticals, like firearms, in themselves can be described only by such
terms as potent or precise. Not their effectiveness but their application deter-
mines whether they are "^ood" or "bad". We probably should not, and in
any case can not effectively, legislate against exploration of these other worlds.
But we must protect ourselves by knowledge of what to expect and by
attempting to control who may use these agents and for what purposes. There
will obviously be wide differences of opinion on this score. Past epidemics of
opiate or of cocaine usage finally required legal restrictions which did serve
some useful purpose. Attending, or reading the records of, the present sessions
is an act of affirmation in that they lead to increased understanding. We push
back the darkness a bit ; the darkness of the mysterious world of drugs and the
equally dark and mysterious realms of self-knowledge and self-control.
In addition to moralizing, proselytizing, speculating; new legislation has
and will continue to emerge in an attempt to influence the natural history
of this uniquely human venture in which man deliberately alters his experi-
ences of the world. As to how effective or desirable such legislation has been
or will be, I can best end with a comment of Ambrose Bierce about Satan :
Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven.
Half way in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went
back. "There is one favor that I should like to ask," he said.
"Name it."
"Man, I understand, is about to be created. He will need laws."
"What, wretch ! You his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with
hatred of his soul — you ask the right to make his laws?"
"Pardon ; what I have to ask is that he be i)ermitted to make them himself."
xix
LETTER
FROM Albert Hofmann, Ph. D., Pharm. D., H.C.
Deputy Director Sandoz A. G.,
Basel, Switzerland*
January 19, 1967
Mr. Chairman, dear Colleagues,
While it is undoubtedly possible, with the aid of psychoactive drugs, to
span both time and space, this method of overcoming these factors is unfor-
tunately possible only psychically and not physically. Would the latter be
possible, you may rest assured that I would now have taken the appropriate
dosage of LSD or psilocybin so as to be transported on the flying carpet to
San Francisco, for the purpose of participating in the symposium on psycho-
active drugs.
I very much regret the fact that, for reasons of company policy, it was
impossible for me to actively participate in this Congress. It is nonetheless
my desire to convey from here in Basel, to the numerous prominent research
workers in the field of psychoactive drugs attending this conference, my best
wishes and the expression of the hope that the exchange of ideas will be
fruitful.
The investigations of the lysergic acid derivatives, from which LSD
resulted, have continued uninterruptedly in a variety of directions in the
Sandoz research laboratories.
Thus, for example, it was possible, in pursuing the serotonin antagonistic
activity first observed in LSD, to develop new lysergic acid derivatives in
which a specific serotonin antagonistic activity is of prime importance. One
of these highly active compounds has been introduced into therapy for the
interim treatment of migraine.
In a particular field of research closely related to the theme of this congress
and initiated by the discovery of LSD, our investigations on psychotomimetic
drugs have been pursued. In using the experiences gained with LSD as the
foundation, the problem of the so-called Mexican magic mushrooms, which
has been studied ethnomycologically by Gordon Wasson and botanically by
Roger Heim, was solved from a chemical point of view. The active ingre-
dients, psilocybine and psilocine have been synthesised and made available
for psychiatric research. The magic mushrooms in turn led us to a further
important Mexican magic drug, namely Ololiuqui. In the Ololiuqui seeds,
provided us by Wasson, we found the active ingredients to be lysergic acid
derivatives, the main components of which are lysergic acid amide and
lysergic acid hydroxyethylamide.
It would have given me great pleasure had I been able, at this symposium,
to discuss in detail this most unusual, one can almost say magic circle of
research which, starting from lysergic acid amides, namely lysergic acid
*Dr. Hofmann was unable to attend this meeting and his letter was read to the audience by
Dr. N. Kline.
xxi
diethylamide (LSD), proceeded via two Mexican magic drugs — the sacred
mushroom "Teonanacatl" and the Morning Glory seeds "Ololiuqui" and led
back to the lysergic acid amides. I sincerely hope that I shall be able to satisfy
this desire at the next symposium on psychoactive drugs in the not too distant
future.
In conclusion I should like to express a few general points of view on
psychoactive drugs.
These drugs are of especial importance in the following three fields:
1. In neuro- and brain-chemistry they are useful tools for the investiga-
tion of biochemical processes which form the basis of the nervous and
psychic functions.
2. In psychiatry they have proved themselves to be compounds which,
upon sensible administration, are becoming ever more important
medical aids in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.
3. From a epistemological point of view we must face the consequences
resulting from the fact that it is possible, with the aid of mere traces
of a compoimd, to radically affect the psychic processes and mental
functions. This finding may throw new light on the age-old prc^blem
of the relationship and interrelationship of body and soul, or more
generally, of mind and matter.
To a large extent the non-medical, partially legitimate, partially illegiti-
mate, interest in and use of hallucinogenics or psychedelics is as a result of
the possibilities mentioned under 3 above, namely of attaining a profound
transformation of the conscious with the aid of these drugs.
It is in fact this very general interest in psychedelics, which has unfortu-
nately, in some cases, led to dangerous misuse, that behooves scientists to con-
tinue research in the field of psychoactive compounds in all directions as
quickly as possible, so as to elucidate the possibilities of these potent drugs in
order that they may be used for the benefit of mankind.
It is my fervent wish that, in this respect also, this congress will be
successful.
Yours
xxu
SESSION I
AN OVERVIEW OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY
Chauncey D. Leake, Chairman
I
Chairman's Introduction
Chauncey D. Leake
Department of Pharmacology, University of California
San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, California
Following the example set by Chancellor Fleming, I suppose I should
introduce myself. I am Chauncey Leake, and I have little idea exactly why'
I should be honored by being asked to be the Chairman of this first session.
I have had some contact with psychoactive drugs, largely through the asso-
ciation with the late Gordon Alles, who died unfortunately in 1963 at the
age of sixty-two. He did a great deal of the work on the amphetamines and
the extraordinary hallucinogenic agents that had been developed in the
amphetamines in the old pharmacological laboratory that we had over here.
I did some work on the bufotenine, which, when it is injected, is a tough
drug to handle. It is difficult to get into solution. I have reported on mush-
rooms, but they were not hallucinogenic, although it was stated they did cause
peculiar feeling, but this was due to the agaric acid in them, which has
a local irritant.
I am thrilled to see you here, even in the face of the rain. I understand
pharmacologists are tough and I think psychopharmacologists are especially
tough, they seem to like this type of weather. It has been this way all across
the country last week where the pharmacologists have been meeting.
Our session this afternoon is going to be a good one, and we start appro-
priately with a consideration of the historical survey of the field of
ethnopharmacology by Dr. Bo Holmstedt.
1
Historical Survey
Bo HOLMSTEDT
Department of Toxicology, Swedish Medical Research Council
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
The most fascinating part of ethnopharmacology is perhaps that dealing
with man's use of intoxicating compounds. A few — not too many — books
have been written encompassing this subject, the most prominent being Louis
Lewin's "Fantastica" (Lewin 1924).^ The story of the use of these drugs
is as old as man himself. Many people have for example speculated over
what drugs and arrow poisons are mentioned in the Iliad and the Odyssey.
There is not much need for speculation on this matter since the possible
alternatives have been thoroughly discussed in the light of the 19th century
achievement in pharmacology by two such authorities as Oswald Schmiede-
berg and Louis Lewin. (Schmiedeberg 1918, Lewin 1920) . Likewise, the toxic
substances used during the middle ages and particularly during the witch
trials have been much discussed. There is no need to go into this here.
This review is supposed to cover ethnopharmacology, and there was no
ethnopharmacology before there was pharmacology. With some exaggera-
tion it can be said that pharmacology started during the nineteenth century
independently in three places.^ One was Paris where the work of Magendie
and his successors paved the way, the second was Edinburgh, where Sir
Eobert Christison among other things investigated ordeal poisons and coca,
and advocated the rapid withdrawal in opium addiction. The third place
was Dorpat, later called Jurjew and Tartu, in Estonia, where pharmacology
as an academic science started around the middle of the 19th century. Of
particular interest to the ethnopharmacology of psycho-active agents are
Paris and Dorpat. This review will deal with some of the men who worked
at these places.
Taking for granted that no ethnopharmacology can exist without true
pharmacology it is appropriate to start this review at the beginning of the
19th century. At that time, the knowledge of foreign people, their habits,
food and drugs in Europe and USA was generally speaking negligible. A
spearhead thrust into this ignorance was Napoleon's ill-fated adventure in
Egypt.
Napoleon was a remarkable general in many respects, in this specific case
because he took with him to Egypt a library and 175 learned men who ob-
served, wrote down, sketched and collected information about languages,
♦This Investigation was supported by Grant MH-12007 from the National Institute of Mental
Health, U.S. Public Health Service, Chevy Chase, Md.
^ A new print of the original English edition has recently appeared : Phantastica, Narcotic and
Stimulating Drugs ; Their Use and Abuse, by Louis Lewin, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London,
1964.
Those interested In the history of pharmacology are referred to Readings in Pharmacology by
Holmstedt and Liljestrand, Pergamon Press 1963.
3
archeology and folk lore. This ultimately resulted in the publication of 24
volumes (Description de I'Egypte) printed between 1809-1813. These books
stimulated enormously the interest in the Orient and led to a series of travels
to Egypt, Asia Minor and Africa. Many people published travel accounts,
such as the French poet and statesman A. de Lamartine (1790-1851), and
the interpreter of the hieroglyphs, J. F. Champollion (1790-1832). Cham-
pollion made his expedition to Egypt 1828-1829.
Of particular importance to psychopharmacology is, however, the travel
in this part of the world of J. J. Moreau (de Tours), a French psychiatrist
whose work unfortunately is much forgotten. Moreau and Champollion
apparently had the same guide or dragoman as it was called at the time
(Moreau 1841).
Moreau was the first medical man to work systematically with centrally
acting compounds. It is therefore appropriate to go into some detail about
his life and works.
Jacques-Joseph Moreau {de Tours) was born at Montr6sor (Indre-et Loire) June 3,
1804. (Baruk 1962 Collet 1962, Ritti 1887).
His father, a soldier in the armies of the Republic and the Emperor, traversed the
whole of Europe, taking part in most of the battles and was finally awarded the cross
of the Legion of Honour. He resigned only after the battle of Waterloo, and spent the
rest of his life in Belgium, where he devoted all his time to mathematics, for which
science he had a great passion.
While the father carried on this turbulent life, the son began his studies of the Classics
at the college of Chinon, later terminating them at the college of Tours. Thanks to pro-
found and brilliant studies he passed with success his matriculation examination.
Moreau then continued his studies at the Medical School, where he was characterised
as : A zealous and industrious student with a tremendous appetite for learning. The
Medical School of the public hospital of Tours at that time was run by one of the most
famous medical men of the period, Bretonneau. Moreau was fortunate in hearing the
lectures of this teacher.
After a stay of two years with this master, Moreau went to Paris to complete his
studies and to take his degree. We are not aware of the circumstances around his appli-
cation for the position as assistant physician at the Charenton mental hospital, but
there is no doubt that on July 6, 1826, the date of his nomination, he found the mission
of his life to which he would devote himself as profit for science.
At that time the psychiatrist Esquirol had recently become head of the mental hos-
pital, and thanks to him a number of useful reformations had been introduced for the
benefit of the patient. Besides his great intelligence Esquirol was no less great as far
as his character was concerned. The following maxim is ascribed to him "One must
love the mentally ill in order to be worthy and capable of being of service to him."
Among the various methods of treatment for the mentally sick — travels — had been
prescribed even as far back as ancient Greece. Esquirol had a great number of clients —
people came from all parts of France and even from abroad to consult him. Among
them were rich persons to whom he could prescribe long travels ; he entrusted them to
the intelligent care of his young assistants. Also Moreau was commissioned with such
a task, and visited Switzerland and Italy with a patient.
Travel then became a necessity for Moreau. He had nothing to keep him in France ;
he was young and had no desire to settle down. He longed to see foreign countries.
Esquirol entrusted him with the care of a new patient, this time for a very long absence :
An absence of three years and a journey to the Orient. To visit the Orient ! What a
dream for a young man ! And this at a time when eyes were turned towards these sunny
countries from where came since ten years the most extraordinary news. Each stage
of the journey would lead him to places where classic events faded in comparison with
4
J. J. Moreau (de Tours) 1804-1884
the more recent ones. One hardly thought of the Pharaohs when setting foot on the soil
of Egypt, governed by the famous Mohammed All. When passing through Asia Minor
interest was less lively for the rapid campaign of Alexander the Great than for the
exploits of Ibraham-Pasha and his 30,000 Egyptians, the victories of whom had dis-
turbed the Sultan's power.
The young and enthusiastic Moreau wished to learn and profit as much
as possible from what he saw and heard, and for this reason he adopted the
dress and the customs of the countries he passed through. He wrote down
what he experienced, and it is much to be regretted that he never published
his observations. Some of them are, however, contained in his medical books.
It is striking that in the Orient the mentally ill appear to be fewer than
in Europe. Is this marked difference to be explained by climate, race, or by
the political and religious institutions? Moreau adhered to the opinion of
Montesquieu, who admitted the joint responsibility of these various causes :
The heat of the climate can be so excessive that all strength leaves the body. The
lacli of strength passes on to the spirit — no curiosity, no noble sentiments, no generous
feelings .... laziness is happiness .... resignation. . . .
Immediately upon his return to Paris, Moreau hastened to renew his old
acquaintances and acquire new ones. He met Esquirol again and his circle
5
of disciples among whom he counted numerous friends. The master received
him with open arms : he bestowed on this dear pupil the tokens of his aSec-
tionate benevolence, and eased for him his first entry into the medical career,
always difficult in Paris.
During his stay in the Orient, Moreau had noted the common use of
hashish, especially among the Arabs. He must also have tried it himself
since in his travel reports he writes rather lyrically about "pleasures im-
possible to interpret" which this "marvellous substance" brings about, and
which "would be impossible to describe to anybody who had not experienced
it". Thanks to a mysterious legend and particularly to the imagination of
poets and novelists, only the wonderful effects of this substance were known.
Moreau wished to contrast poetry with observation and experience, and his
experimental research into the psychopharmacological actions of the extract
of Indian hemp permitted him to throw light on psychological phenomena
which had previously been obscure. They inspired him also with ingenious
ideas on the nature of insanity.
Xo criticism can be made of his investigative procedures. Moreau took
hashish himself. Thanks to the singular property of the substance t-o keep
intact "consciousness and the innermost feeling" of the user, he could
analyze all his impressions and in a way be aware of the disorganization
of all his mental faculties. In order to complete this internal observation
of himself, he also commissioned the persons surroundina: him to note
carefully his words, acts, gestures and the expression of his face. The results
were very characteristic. They fully justified the name of "fantasia" which
the Oriental imagination gives to the intoxication with Kief, one of the
many names for hashish. Moreau desired, moreover, "controls with other
people." He turned to his pupils and with enthusiastic curiosity they lent
themselves to experiments with hashish in the most varying doses, giving
exact accounts of what they experienced. Moreau observed with scrupulous
care every (external) symptom during the course of intoxication. The two
series were compared and full conformity was proved.
The effect of the hashish reveals itself by a series of intellectual disturb-
ances, Moreau described all the sensations with meticulous care.
In 1845 Moreau published his extensive book of more than 400 pages
entitled Du Hachich et de I'alienation mentale (Hashish and mental illness) .
Its detailed accounts of the hashish intoxication aroused the interest of
numerous physicians and the curiosity of many writers, and was followed
by a great deal of personal experimentation. Moreau's book gave rise to
the modem researches regarding the effects of hashish, and can also be held
responsible for its use in certain Paris circles in the middle of the 19th
century. However, it never became a true epidemic in all parts of Europe,
confining itself mainly to the Near and Middle East.
Such factors as origin, education and environment as well as the atmos-
phere in which hashish is consumed, affects individuals in different ways.
Due to the great number and varying nature of the psychic effects of the
hashish intoxication, these cannot be outlined in the same way as the
6
physical effects. However, Moreau enumerated eight main groups of symp-
toms. They are:
(1) General feeling of pleasure.
(2) Increased excitement combined with a heightening of all senses.
(3) Distortion of the dimension of space and time (generally a mag-
nification of the actual dimensions : Minutes are changed into days
or years, inches into feet, etc.).
(4) A keener hearing combined with a great susceptibility to music and
the phenomenon that ordinary noise is enjoyed as though it soimded
sweet.
(5) There often arise persistent ideas on the verge of persecution
mania.
(6) Disturbances of the emotions, mostly in the form of an increase
of already existing feeling.
(7) Irresistible impulses.
(8) Illusions and hallucinations of which evidently only the first
named are related to objects of the exterior world.
Moreau pointed out that psychiatry could profit from these experi-
ments by comparing the symptoms to those in mentally ill people. The illu-
sions produced by the hashish — are they not attacks of insanity? These
attacks will take on all the characteristics of violent insanity if only the
dose of the toxic agent is increased. Moreau had the occasion of sadly ex-
periencing this. His assistant in pharmacy wished to see the effects of the
Indian hemp when taken in a larger quantity, and swallowed 16 grams of
the extract.
A very intense delirium broke out, followed by agitation, incoherence and
hallucinations of all kinds. Three days passed before the young man re-
gained his ordinary calmness and the entire use of his power of reasoning.
During the course of the attack he maintained, however, some idea of
what was happening to him.
Moreau postulated that there exists in insanity a primary factor which
is the source of all symptoms; i.e., excitation, which is the primitive genera-
tive power. He attached special importance to this hypothesis, and considered
it as equal to other great scientific laws. Moreau also compared insanity with
dreams. The hypothesis is not new; it already preoccupied Aristotle. The
learned philosopher from Stagira writes in his books on "Dreams" that "the
reason why we, even awake, deceive ourselves in certain illnesses is the
same which produces in us, in our sleep, an impression of a dream." The
favorite formula of Moreau was: "Insanity is the dream of the man who
is awake."
Even though Moreau cannot be said to be dependent on his countryman
the French materialist and medical man La Mettrie (1709-1751) who said:
"Man is what he eats", he still considered a range of causes for insanity.
With regard to the conception of an organic origin he writes: "I am not
against the conceptions of organic damage but I require to see the lesion : I
only believe in damages which are proven, not in those that are supposed
7
Dll HACHISCH
ET I)E
L'ALIENATION MENTALK
ETUDES PSYCHOLOGIQIIES
PAR
J. MOREAl ^
1 I>E TOURS ) ,
'liiispiic di" Ricctrc. Mrmlur *lc Ih Sin irtr
oi k-nUiti* lie l*;iri.*!.
PAULS.
I.I i; II \ I 111 j: Dh; I'OU i i n. m v.sson i i c".
i'i.Ai:i i>K I. Li;i>i.i,~iii';-Mi:iii.i 1 M I
to exist."' This certainly was a veiy wise position to take. Even in our days,
organic or biochemical lesions in mental illness have been difficult to prove.
Moreau loved art in all its forms. He gladly sought the company of
writere and artists. His works on hashish had j)ut him in contact with nu-
merous poets and novelists and he was well acquainted with Balzac, Grerard
de Nerval and Theophile Gautier. The author of "la comedie humaine"
wrote him the day after a "fantasia" a'bout an idea that he had had for
twenty years: "To make a new brain in an idiot (with the aid of hashish)
8
in order to see if the mind could be expanded by development of the rudi-
ments." It has a familiar ring.
Moreau passed away June 26, 1884, at the age of 80 after a short illness.
He was undoubtedly the first psychiatrist with interest in psychopharma-
cology. It seems that during his life time he was never recognized as he
should have been. Among those who did not understand his qualities Avas
regretfully Frangois Magendie (Collet 1962). On the other hand, Claude
Bernard once called hashish a psychopharmacological counterpart of cu-
rare. Up to recent years, however, with regard to hashish people have
been mostly interested in the literary feats of Theophile Gautier and Charles
Baudelaire, and "Le Club des Haschischins" with its strange meeting in the
old hotel on He St. Louis in Paris. It is perhaps typical that a very recent
collection of papers around the subject hashish only mentions Moreau in
passing. (Solomon Ed. 1966.)
Unlike Moreau Ernst von Bihra (1806-1878), was the prototype of a
wealthy, private scientist. Although he acquired academic degrees he per-
formed a good deal of his research in his own house.
Bibra was born in Unterfranken, studied in Wiirzburg, where he became
M.D. and Ph. D. and later partly in Niirnberg living on his estate Schweb-
heim. He was mostly interested in chemistry, but also was a geographer and
a numismatologist (Giinther 1901). Of special importance to this account
is his trip to South America 1849-1850. He was more or less forced to
leave for political reasons, because of his liberal attitude during the revo-
lution in 1848.
The most important result of this journey — except for his travel ac-
count ("Reise in Siid-Amerika, B. Mannheim, 1854") which is well worth
reading — -is the book "Die narkotischen Genussmittel mid der Mensch"
(Niirnberg 1855). The book was undoubtedly prompted by his South Amer-
ican trip, and is the first of its kind to summarize the effect of centrally
acting compounds, in all seventeen. He devotes chapters both to compounds
such as coffee and tea, and also to Amanita Muscaria, opium, hashish and
coca, the chewing of which he had I'ich opportunities to observe during his
trip to South America. Due to the fact that comparatively little was known
about these drugs at the time, Bibra's book created quite a sensation. He
did not pursue this line of research, but devoted the rest of his life to his
private hobbies, such as numismatics and writing of novels.
There were other people who were to make such compilations during the
nineteenth century. One of them was Georg Noel Dragendorff (1836-1898).
Dragendorff was born in Rostock, Germany, as the son of a medical man, studied
cliemistry in Heidelberg and learned thie trade of pharmacy in his home town (Hart-
wich 1897-1898). His main interest was chemistry. The famous Witte pharmacy in
his home town soon expanded into a house of medicinal chemistry and Dragendorff
became employed there. He heard lectures by Bunsen, Kirchhoff, Helmholtz and Brlen-
meyer, but it is said that he never had an opportunity to hear a lecture in pharma-
cognosy either in Rostock or Heidelberg. The first one he ever heard was the one he
had to give himself when he had become professor in Dorpat.
In 1862 Dragendorff was called to St. Petersburg to help organize the editing of a
journal of pharmacy. He learned to speak Russian and also helped organize the pharma-
cies in Russia. From St. Petersburg he was called to become professor of pharmacy
9
262-016 0-67— 3
and director of the Pharmaceutical Institute of Dorpat, 18&4. Dorpat came to be his
home for 30 years, and when he finally resigned his chair in 1894 he returned to his
home town of Rostock, where he organized a private laboratory and carried on research
until his death.
Dragendorff's work dealt with two things: one, relevant to the present
account, was the chemical investigation of plants; the other was toxicologi-
cal analysis. He was particularly interested in the medicinal plants used
by foreign people, and had acquired collections from far off countries in
his institute at Dorpat. His most famous work and a summary of his activi-
ties in the field, was published shortly after his death and is now a rare book :
"Die Heilpflanzen der verschiedenen Volker unci Zeiten", 1898.^ With regard
to his chemical activities we only have to point out that he had numerous
pupils from many countries, and that no reputable phytochemist is unfa-
miliar with Dragendorff's reagent for alkaloids.
Another German pharmacist who perhaps accumulated even greater
knowledge in one field of ethno-pharmacology was Carl Hartioicli (1851-
1917). (Schroterl9l7.)
Hartwich was born in Tangermiinde where his father had a pharmacy, the manage-
ment of which the son took over in 1879. He was, however, so interested in scientific
activities that he sold the pharmacy and moved to Braunschweig. From there he went
to Bern in order to take his doctor's degree and then again to Braunschweig to become
university lecturer in pharmacy and pharmacognosy. A few weeks afterwards (also
in Hartwich's case before he had given one single lecture) he accepted a call to the
Swiss Polytechnical Institute in Ziirich. He began his service in the autumn of 1892
and stayed for 24 years, as professor and head of the Pharmacology Department.
Hartwich published a multitude of papers dealing with numerous drugs and stimu-
lants. In these studies the historical and ethnographical questions are strongly empha-
sized. Of a particularly historical interest is "Die Bedeutung der Entdeckung von
Amerika f iir die Drogenkunde" ( 1892 ) .
Hartwich's most important publication, however, is "Die menschlichen
Genussmittel", 877 pages with 24 tables and 168 pictures in the text (1911).
He worked on this monumental volume during a decade, with considerable
joy and even with the passion of a fanatic collector. The gigantic quantity
of material is astounding and includes drawings, photographs, observations
of his own, and literary notes from the most remote sources. The physical,
historical, ethnographical and commercial and ethical aspects of the com-
pounds are treated with the same love. The richly decorated book is a true
gold mine of information that was previously widely dispersed.
In addition to these voluminous collections of ethno-pharmacological and
ethno-botanical material there arose during the second part of the 19th
century the science of psychology. The pioneers in this field were Hennann
V. Helmholtz (1821-1894), Gustav Theodm^ Fechner (1801-1887) and Wil-
helm M. W. Wundt (1832-1920).
The foremost service of W. Wundt to psychology was the introduction
of laboratory investigation. Before his time experimental research in psy-
chology had been mainly individual. He gathered around him enthusiastic
^ At the time of writing a reprint of the original has been issued.
Georg Dragendorff, Die Heilpflanzen der verschiedenen Volker and Zeiten, Neudnick der Ausgabe
Stuttgart 1898. Antiquariat Fritsch, Postach 1043, 79/Ulni/ Do. Germany.
10
students and assistants whom he trained in the methods of exact experi-
mentation. The first real institute for psychological studies was erected by
Wundt in Leipzig 1879 (Kraepelin 1920). It consisted of two rooms and
some tables with equipment, some of which was Wundt's personal property.
No grant for equipment was available and Kraepelin tells how it had to be
made by hand from wood, tin, strings and cardboard. They had, however,
accumulators and chronoscopes. In spite of the obvious poverty the new
institute was filled with a pioneering spirit and enthusiasm.
Wundt had never had near contact with psychiatry or drug research even
though he had to do with it now and then. One of his first pupils was
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926).
Kraepelin was born in Neu-Strelitz (Mecklenburg-Strelitz) , studied in Leipzig and
Wiirzlburg with the intention at the very start to become a psychiatrist. He graduated
in 1878 and came to the Munich Mental Hospital. In 1882 he became, assistant of
Flechsig in Leipzig, but soon left in order to work in the Institute of Wundt. At
the start working with experimental psychology, he later turned wholly to clinical
psychiatry which he endeavored to put on a new basis that brought world-wide fame
to his Munich Olinic.
Kraepelin published the first account on the use of the new psychological methods
in clinical pharmacology which he undertook during his tenure of a professorship in
Dorpat (188&-1890). In that remarkable university at this time worked also not only
Dragendorff but Rudolf Kobert, who held the chair in pharmacology. Obviously,
Kobert was the one who interested Kraepelin in applying his psychological tools to
the study of drug effects in man (Jelliffe 1931). Among the drugs he studied were
morphine and alcohol, and after he had left Dorpat this resulted in the first real
monograph of psycho-pharmacology where the new methods were applied : "Ueber
die Beeinfliissung einfacher psychischer Vorgange durch einige Arzneimittel — Jena,
1892."
Kraepelin maintained a lifelong interest in the pharmacology of alcohol. In his hospital
he introduced variously colored lemonades immediately christened "Kraepelin liquors"
(KoUe 1956).
Robert's association with the clinic of psychiatry in the meantime had resulted in
the publication of another epoch-making paper, written together with one of
Kraepelin's co-workers (Kobert R. and A. Sohrt: "Ueber die Wirkung des salzauren
Hyoscin,"1887.).
Rudolf Koiert (1854^1918) started his medical career in Halle under Theodor
Weber and spent many years as assistant to Schmiedeberg before he was called upon to
become H. H. Meyer's successor at the famous department of pharmacology in Dorpat
(Sieburg 1919). He remained in Dorpat until 1897. The title of his chair was Pharma-
cology and Physiological Chemistry; he was also a teacher in History of Medicine
and Pharmacy. In 1899 Kobert became professor at the university of Rostock where
he remained until his death.
From Kobert's hand originate a great many publications concerning pharma-
codynamics and toxicology. He wrote a textbook in toxicology which has had a con-
siderable influence on many fields Including forensic medicine. He was one of the
two great toxicologists of the nineteenth century, the other being Louis Lewin. The
great learning and wide scope of his interest is witnessed among other things by
the issue during his time in Dorpat of "Historische Studien aus dem Pharmakologischen
Institut". This work in five volumes is an invaluable source, among other things for
information to early research of drugs, also to research of drugs affecting the central
nervous system.
The above mentioned paper by Kobert and Sohrt is of considerable psycho-
pharmacological interest. For the first time here, dissimilarities and sim-
11
Emil Kraepelin 1856-1926
12
ilarities between atropine and scopolamine are pointed out, the latter com-
pound at this time called hyoscine. Robert and Sohrt in their carefully
conducted investigation demonstrated the sedative action of the latter com-
pound. The experiments were made both on animals and man, and included
a series of self -experiments. Robert writes the following:
. . . During the past autumn vacation I had the opportunity to arrange at the
Department of Psychiatry in Dorpat and supervise directly an investigation of the
actions of a pharmacological agent. This investigation, which lasted several months,
was undertaken because work on animals is of value If it is extended to man. The
pharmacological agent involved was hyoscine.
. . . Mr. Sohrt, the assistant in the Department of Psychiatry, wrote up these experi-
ments at my instigation for his inaugural thesis. In view of its limited circulation I
wish to present here the following account taken from the thesis:
. . . Sohrt gave himself at 10.04 p.m. an injection of 0.5 mg hyoscine hydrochloride.
The pulse rate before injection was 64 per minute. After a latent period of 10 minutes
Sohrt observed as the first symptom a ptosis which made it diflScult for him to keep
his eyes open. Gradually a feeling of heaviness mthout headache occurred. His head
tended to drop to his shoulders and it became diflScult to keep the head upright. His
limbs felt as if they were lumps of lead attached to the body. There was a marked
tiredness.
Throughout this period S. was fully conscious and able to give an account of
everything and to answer questions speedily. He was able to read his own writing
without much difficulty and did not feel sick. At 11.25 p.m. he stood up, but his walk
was unsteady. He went to bed, therefore, and at once fell asleep. He had a quiet
sleep without dreams. On the following morning S. woke up at 9 a.m., instead of at
5 or 6 a.m., which was his usual time. His head felt slightly numb, but this symptom
disapi)eared after breakfast.
These experiments show that hyoscine, 0.5 to 1 mg, given subcutaneously, produces
in healthy man dryness of the mouth, dilation of the pupils, marked sleepiness and
tiredness, but is devoid of other special actions.
... In nearly all those cases of illness which are associated with a state of
excitation hyoscine produced sleep promptly or at the very least induced sedation,
even when all other drugs used for this purpose failed to produce an effect.
By far the most interesting personality of all psychopharmacologists of
this time Avas Louis Lewin (1850-1929) .
Lewin was born in the small town of Tuchel in Western Prussia. In 1854 he came
to Berlin where he remained more or less until the end of his life. He graduated from
the University of Berlin. In 1875 as an M.D., he studied for a while with Pettenkofer and
Voit in Munich, and became "Privatdozent" in pharmacology in Berlin in 1881. In 1894
he became titular professor at the University of Berlin but held no full academic posi-
tion. Only as late as 1919 did he become permanent honorary professor at the Technical
Academy. There has been much speculation about the reasons why Lewin did not ad-
vance academically in pharmacology and toxicology, and it has been said that he could
have become head of the greatest pharmacology department in Germany had he re-
nounced his Jewish faith and consented to become baptized. Whatever truth there may
be in this, he established his own private laboratory and lecture hall in No. 3 Ziegel-
strasse in an old tenement house in the centre of the medical district of Berlin. He
preferred to teach and to do his research with his own means in these surroundings.
Financially, he was partly enabled to do so through the fact that although he had no
official position, the courts preferred him to all other experts in Germany in toxicology
and industrial hygiene.
Lewin's way of lecturing was extraordinary and held the audiences spellbound. It
has been said that he expounded facts with a contagious enthusiasm and performed his
13
Ueber die Beeinflnssimg
einfacher psychischer VorgaBge
durcli einige Arzneimittel.
Experimentelle Untersuehungen
von
Dr. Emil Kraepelin,
ProfeeBor der Pa v c- b i a t r i c in fl e i d e 1 ber g.
Mit einer ('Urventafel.
Jena,
Verlag von Gustav Fischer.
1892.
experiments with loving care. Any narrow specialization was foreign to him. He could
quote flawlessly in foreign languages, and marshal facts from all four corners of the
world and all periods of history. Classical and contemporary authors were all familiar
to him. Many famous men who visited his lectures were deeply influenced by him. Among
them was J. J. Abel who has been called the father of American pharmacology. Lewin's
outstanding wide general knowledge meant that he had many friends among scholars
in other faculties.
14
Among Lewin's personal acquaintances were the explorer Georg Schweinfurth, and
Albert Einstein. In history, geography and anthropology his knowledge was enormous ;
he showed special interest in travel and topography. It is said that scarcely a travel
book of importance was unknown to him. His own travelling included visits, among
other places, to the United States, Switzerland and Italy.
When surveying Lewin's works one is greatly helped by a list he compiled himself
before his death. The list includes 248 major publications in the years 1874-1929. From
the list are excluded book reviews, printed discussions and other minor communications
of his which were also numerous. Among the publications there are about a dozen books
and monographs. Lewin himself claimed that by 1880 he had already decided to devote
most of his time to the side effects of drugs.
Lewin's first major work, in 1881, "Nebenwirkungen der Arzneimittel", Pharmakolo-
gisch-klin. Handbuch (Berlin, A. Hirschwald), dealt with this topic and became a classic
and the first of its kind. This book had two more editions and was translated into three
languages, including English. Notable among the other books are his outstanding text-
book in toxicology, a summary of all available knowledge of arrow poisons, two volumes
on the effects of drugs on the eye, and another work in which he gives the world's his-
tory as seen by a toxicologist, "Die Gifte in der Weltgeschichte" (J. Springer, Berlin
1920) .
It is not possible here to summarize all the fields of interest to which Lewin
made original contributions, but it is appropriate to dwell on his activities in
psychopharmacology, a topic in which he published some 20 articles. His
own contributions to the field occurred mostly in the 1880's. Then he more
or less left this field, but in 1924 summarized admirably his own work and
those of others in the first edition of his book "Phantastica". The long delay
certainly did not mean that he remained unfamiliar with the progress in
the field; on the contrary, the books show that he kept up to date with all
achievements made.
Lewin's first publication, in 1874, was a study of chronic morphinism,
which he was one of the first to investigate scientifically. In 1886 there ap-
peared his monograph on Piper methysticum (Kawa Kawa) : "Ueber Piper
raethysticum (Kawa)." (Monographie. Berlin. A. Hirschwald). This is a
very comprehensive review of all aspects of the use of Piper methysticvsm and
current research on its constituents and their chemistry, pharmacology and
clinical effects. This admirable monograph is now understandably much out
of date in its chemistry and pharmacology, but it was a pioneering work,
and the period following its appearance saw the first real progress being
made in the chemistry of kaava. In 1889 appeared another similar mono-
graph: "Ueber Areca Catechu, Chavica Betle und das Betelkauen." (Mono-
graphie. Stuttgart. F. Enke) an equally comprehensive review.
Before that, however, Lewin had had occasion to get into polemics with
Sigmund Freud about coca and cocaine. This strange episode in the history
of science runs as follows :
A century ago the height of nationalistic pride was to have a man-of-war
circumnavigate the globe. Austria, a sea power in those days, planned to
send the Novara on such a trip. Prof. Wohler of Gottingen just before de-
parture requested the naturalists on the expedition to bring him back a suffi-
cient quantity of coca leaves to carry out a thorough investigation. Dr.
Scherzer, one of the scientists, did manage to get some 30 lbs. of leaves to
15
Louis Lewin (1850-1929). Picture taken about the time of his trip to the United States.
16
Prof. Wohler. His assistant, Niemann, succeeded in isolating an unusual
crystalline organic base.
The first description of cocaine occurs in Tagesber. allgem. med. Zentral-
Zeitung, 25 April 1860, p. 262-263. It is noted that, "It would seem that Coca
will be of great use to the medicine of the future. ... It has the remarkable
action on the nerves of the tongue that after a few moments the place of
contact becomes anaesthetized and almost insensitive". In 1859 Paolo Man-
tegazza's description of the therapeutic versatility of coca aroused much in-
terest but little confidence, although subsequently his reports have been largely
verified. However, early investigations in Austria, Germany and England
were largely negative in their findings, and by the 1870s there was general
disillusionment.
A military surgeon, Aschenbrandt, in 1883 claimed a remarkable effect
of cocaine upon Bavarian soldiers enabling them to better endure hunger,
strain, fatigue and heavy burdens. He anticipated a demand of today's purists
in experimental design by adding the cocaine to the drinking water and not
telling the soldiers. Unfortunately the use of control subjects was overlooked
and Aschenbrandt was anything but unbiased. Palmer (1880) in the Louis-
ville Medical News, and Bentley in the Detroit Therapeutic Gazette (1880) ,
had described the use of coca in the treatment of morphinism. The Louisville
Medical News said in its editorial comment "one feels like trying coca with
or without the opium habit. A harmless remedy for the blues is imperial."
In 1884 Sigmund Freud wrote to his fiancee that he had been experimenting
with "a magical drug". After dazzling success in treatment of a case of gas-
tric catarrh he continues "If it goes well I will write an essay on it and I
expect it will win its place in therapeutics by the side of morphium, and
superior to it. ... I take very small does of it regularly against depression
and against indigestion, and with , the most brilliant success." He urged his
fiancee, his sisters, his colleagues, and his friends to try it (Jones 1956) . That
same year he published an article "Uber Coca" which among other virtues
extolled the drug as a safe exliilarant which he himself used and recom-
mended as a treatment for morphine addiction. For emphasis he stated, in
italics, that "Inebriate asylums can be entirely dispensed with" and a cure
effected in 10 days. That same fateful year he used it -for this purpose in
treating his close friend, Ernst Fleischl. For a while the treatment succeeded
but increasingly larger doses were needed. Freud spent one frightful night
nursing Fleischl through an episode of cocaine psychosis and thereafter was
bitterly against drugs, rarely permitting them even for himself during op-
erations for the painful carcinoma of the jaw which finally killed him.
Freud's paper on Coca Avas subjected to a severe criticism by Louis Lewin
(1885). Among other things, he said:
I want to state explicitly that according to all available evidence coca is no substitute
for morphine and that a morphine addiction cannot be cured by the use of coca. . . .
I am convinced that coca cannot be a substitute for morphine for any length of time
since the real morphine addict wants the specific morphine effect and since he can very
well distinguish the euphoria of other substances. Such an exchange does not suit his
17
Uebcr
PIPER METIIYSTICUM
(KAWA).
XJntersiiclivingeii
Ton
Dr. L. Lewin,
Decent der t'lLarin:iLologie in dcr Uiiiveriitit Berlin.
Mit 1 litbograpliiiten Tafel.
Berlin 1886.
Verlag von August Hirschwald.
N\V. Uoler dru Linden 68.
special needs. The morphinist wants more than the euphoria which can be brought about
in normal man and which Freud experienced himself when taking 0.05-0.1 gr. cocaine
hydrochloride.
However, even if it were possible to treat a morphine addict for a time exclusively
with cocaine and even if he were given very large doses producing hallucinations and
a pleasant sopor, there would very likely occur a case of what I would like to call double
addiction. The man in question would use cocaine in addition to morphine in the same
way as many morphine addicts use chloroform, chloralhydrate, ether, etc.
18
Lewin's clear perception of tliis question was corroborated by A. Erlen-
meyer slightly afterwards, and also by others. Lewin never understood Sig-
mund Freud, especially not his psychoanalytical works, and used to refer
to him as "Joseph der Traumdeuter" ("Joseph, the dream interpreter").
In 1887 Lewin made a cross coimtry trip in the US and Canada. According^
to some lines in his travel accomat he had thought about emigration. He
traveled together with one Mr. Jolm Warburg whom he called uncle. His wife
had grown up in the Warburg family in Hamburg. Other members of this
family were famous botanists. Lewin's trip across the country resulted in a
hand-written manuscript of more than 300 pages Avith numerous photos,
illustrations and cuttings glued into it. It is a family property never printed
and not intended to be.* It was written as a gift to his wife and given to her
upon his return to Berlin. The manuscript is a treasure of wealth of informa-
tion about the US about 1880. Lewin's itinerary took him also into Canada,
to the big lakes, to San Francisco, Detroit, Washington and back His deter-
mined way of travelling is well borne out in what he says about his stay in
San Francisco:
My main purpose in visiting San Francisco had been to see for myself "Chinatown",
as the Chinese quarter is called, and esi)ecially the smoking of opium. In our hotel we
asked for a guide. It appeared that we could get one for 10 dollars — 40 mark. What
an insolent overcharge ! We asked in a ticket-oflSce — the same charge, hut with a reduc-
tion to half the price for a guided tour in the daytime. But during the day there Is
nothing to see there and everybody can then walk through the quarter and the shops.
I decided to show those swindling yankees that we were able to find the right way by
ourselves. We asked a policeman what to do to get a policeman as guide. He directed us
to the main police-station. There I explained my request after having shown my card.
When the captain began long deliberations with someone else I showed him the legitima-
tion I had received from Washington. This proved effective. We were to meet our police-
guide at 9 o'clock in the evening at the station. We told this to Mr. H. who wanted to see
Chinatown too. Strange to say — the better society of San Francisco does not know it.
On the way we passed the stock-exchange and went in. After a few paces we meet the
strapping policeman, our companion for the excursion. After a short time we arrived.
How many different impressions do I bring home from this visit ! From the moment we
entered this quarter in which approximately 30,000 Chinese live till we left it, an
unpleasant odour did not leave us. It is impossible to describe it, it is so repugnant
that even uncle was, at the beginning, somewhat repelled and disgusted. The streets
were repulsively dirty and filthy. People throw everything in the streets to let it rot
there. It is impossible to use the so-called sidewalks, partly because they are full of
baskets and boxes, partly because there yawn everywhere cellar-holes one might easily
fall into. I had to roll up my trousers. What a contrast to this filth, when we entered the
first shop, a barber-shop! There two Chinese were sitting, under the hands of the
barbers. They had just finished shaving the hair from the forehead to the top, and were
occupied in tidying the ears and the noses of their clients with very small knives — not
wider than a straw — and very fine sponges with handles. The barbers removed all hair
and other substances. On the other side of the street there was a food-shop.
The streets are dark, lighted only by the shops and by candles burning in the street
in front of the houses. Every few paces 6-8 wax-candles are stuck into the ground.
These candles bum down very quickly, but their long stem consists of incense, so that
there are hundreds of incense-candles fuming in the streets. Asia in America ! What a
contrast of customs and habits ! But that was not yet the worst by far. We entered a
* The author wishes to express his gratitude to Mrs. Irene Sachs, N.Y., for permission to publish
part of the travel account and to Mrs. Hertha Jaff€ and Mr. Mordechai YafE4, Israel, for help with
the translation.
19
... -JS-i-
L',-'":::!.. ^... ^^j- ^
.... „..^„
V-a-
rr
11
! —
^ rr:
^^""-jf-*. ^ .j-.t^ .c^ —t/^ ,
„W. -Z-i^.^ vOy^w <,-^f..^i, -.^■...-y..-,, .•..-..y-
.1
Pages from Louis Lewin's travel account related to visit to Chinatown in San Francisco.
pitch-dark house — or so it appeared to us as we went in, for we had to light up the
entrance with matches. By and by we could see some light in the passage we were
standing in. We were in the only house built in Chinese fashion. I am not expert
enough to describe it to you as it really is or to make a drawing of it. Perhaps you will
get some idea? I sketch it as follows. As far as I could see there are 2-3 such stories,
a cellar-story, the groundfloor and one above. I might be mistaken as to dimensions and
numbers of rooms but the arrangement in the plan is correct. I sketched it from
memory while travelling through the State of Colorado. I must explain the broad dark
areas. These are apertures leading to the cellar. There are corresponding apertures in
the first story, I think for illumination. If I remember right, there is a banister on
one side.
We lighted our way down the stairs leading to the courtyard and to the cellar-story.
Darkness enveloped us. Our guide opened a door with a glass-window — all the doors have
a window like this — through which a faint light was glimmering. What we could see was
interesting to me, but in general an unpleasant view. In a small room, less than two arm-
lengths long and wide, we saw plank-beds all around leaving only very little free space
in the center of the room. On one of these I discovered a crouching figure holding an
opium pipe and inhaling deeply the pernicious fume. Before bim burned the small oil-
lamp for the preparation of the opium-pill. Such a pill, even a bigger one, is, as I saw,
enough for 2-3 draughts, seldom four. The extract of opium has an almost honeylike
consistence. With a very fine metal-spatula — I have a similar one — he takes a small
amount of the extract and puts it somewhere at the clay-top of his pipe. He then again
takes the opium up, this time with the needle-like other end of the spatula, passes it
lightly through the flame to condense it and make it more malleable and tries by turning
the needle round and round to give the opium pill a cylindrical form. After passing the
material another two or three times through the flame the desired form is achieved. He
sticks the needle into the aperture of the pipebowl and, while drawing it back, he
presses the small cylinder of opium into the aperture of the bowl with his index-finger.
20
Now he puts his mouth to the pipe-stem and sucks deeply, deeply, while letting the
opium-cylinder evaporate near the lamp — it looks for all the world like a thirsty man
putting his pint-glass to his lips and emptying it in deep endless draughts. After approxi-
mately half a minute he exhales the fumes which in the meantime have been partly
absorbed through the mucous membranes of the lungs. This same procedure occurs
6, 8, 10 times and even more until the gratification of the opium-visions provide the
compensation for the troublesome preparations. He feels himself transplanted from his
wretched surroundings. He sees palaces, riches, opulent repasts, splendid garments,
beautiful amorous women and perhaps oflScies, titles and decorations descending upon
him. In the morning he awakes — on a straw-mat or a heap of rags in a lightless hole
filled with pestilential air. Again he trudges by daylight to the hole where he lives. Who
can blame this human being — with his low grade of education, deprived of moral sup-
port — if he returns again and again to the pleasurable world of the opium-vision at
night?
Again we enter a house, going along what seem still narrower passages. You feel your
heart beating at the thought of a sudden conflagration. Not the most precipitous point of
the Canadian Pacific Railway gave me so much fright : The feeling of being shut-in in
these i)assages nearly choked me !
Lewin also managed during the same trip to visit the stockmarket, Chinese
restaurants and theatres, the house of the Salvation army, and another house
from which he fled in Victorian dismay.
However interested Lewin may have been in San Francisco's China Town
and the smoking of opium, the city he really longed to visit was Detroit. He
arrived there on September 16, 1887:
My first errand was, of course, a visit to Parke Davis. We drove along a splendid wide
avenue bordered by residences with beautiful gardens. Soon we were marvelling at a
grand extensive building adorned with sand-stone. This building which belongs to the
company, is not yet fully finished. We enter the oflBce where there work well over fifty
book-keepers, male and female, cashiers, clerks, stenographers etc. Mr. Wetzell showed
us round the factory and the printing-shop — I had not expected such a magnitude and
such a skilled exactitude of workmanship. It is impossible to enumerate all particulars
to you. Summing up, I can only tell you that the different departments are exemplary,
from the preparation of juices and extract, the extraction of drugs, bottling, labeling,
the homogenization of plants to the manufacture of pilular mass, sugaring and coating
of piUs etc., etc. ... In short, the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations is worthy
of the American genius for machinery and for exactitude and cleanliness of use. What-
ever I received — preparations drugs etc. — you will see for yourself when everything
arrives in Berlin.
Among these things he carried back with him to Berlin from Parke Davis
Co. was Peyotl, the "Mescal buttons". We know this exactly because he has
stated himself that he got it from the Parke Davis and Co. during his Ameri-
can trip. He was not long in investigating its properties and there appeared
in Schmiedeberg's archives and the Detroit Therapeutic Gazette the first ac-
counts of the pharmacologic properties of Peyotl (Lewin 1888). He says in
his summary:
It has toeen proven for the first time that a cactus can possess an extraordinarily high
toxicity. It will now be appropriate to elucidate the chemistry of this Anhalonium and
then go further with the investigation of other species of Anhalonium. One must, how-
ever, also investigate to what purpose and to what extent these Muscal huttons (Sic I)
are used as stimulants. In a not too distant future I hope to be able to give evidence
ahout this.
21
For some reason he never did, although, he wrote in 1894 a second long
article on what was then called "Anhalonium Lewinii and other cactea"
(Lewin 1894). By then, however, Arthur Heffter had already started his
work on the active principles in the mescaline cactus.
ArtJmr Heffter (1860-1925) was bom in Leipzig and representative of the
old German school of pharmacologists with a thorough chemical backgromad
and a medical training. (Straub 1921, Heubner 1925, Joachimoglu 1960) . He
worked for some years in agricultural chemistry and then switched to study
medicine in Leipzig, at the same time working in the laboratory of K. Bohm.
His habilitation took place in 1892, after which he for some time worked
under Schmiedeberg in Strassburg. Later he held positions in various uni-
versities, Leipzig, Bern, Marburg, and finally in 1908 became Liebreich's
successor at the department of pharmacology, University of Berlin, where
he held the chair until liis death.
Heffter 's research activities covered a wide scope of topics. As lecturer he
was, however, to say the least, mediocre.
Lewin did not like Heffter and Heffter did not like him. They had very different
opinions on many things — this concerned particularly Anhalonium Lewinii (Peyotl) on
which Heffter also had done work. It was a priority comi)etition hetween the two. I
don't remember it exactly, but I have the feeling that it was something of the sort. Lewin
was more the artist and interested in the social implications of these substances.
Heffter was not very verbal, awkward, frankly in the presentation of his material. On
the other hand, here was this tremendously stimulating, flamboyant orator Lewin who
carried away his audience with his enthusiasm. The atmosphere fused into the most
extraordinary experience every time we went to that place to listen to his lecture, and
you did that in spite of the fact that you didn't have to — it was enough had you followed
only Heffter's lectures. I went to Heffter's lectures, of course, and I was bored. Lewin
lectured the first time and I was captured — I went there every time. (Krayer 1963) .
Heffter proceeded systematically to find the psychoactive principle in
Peyotl by working it up into chemical fractions and testing these on himself
in heroic self experiments, much the same way as Albert Hofmami later did
with psilocybine. It is psycho-pharmacologically interesting to see what kind
of wonderful visions an obviously dry man like Heffter got out of mescaline.
Here is his account of the first experiment carried out with pure mescaline in
man, in 1897 :
Violet and green spots appear on the paper during reading. When the eyes are kept
shut the following visions occur. At first there are violet and green spots which are not
well defined, then come visions of carpet patterns, ribbed vaulting, etc. From time to
time single dots with the most brilliant colours float across the field of vision. The
phenomena are generally not as clear as those in the two preceding exi)eriments. Later
on landscapes, halls, achitectural scenes (e.g. pillars decorated with flowers) also appear.
The visions can be observed until about 5 :30 p.m. Nausea and dizziness are at times very
distressing. The appreciation of time is reduced during the first hours of the afternoon.
In the evening well-being and api)etite are undisturbed and there is no sign of
sleeplessness.
The results described above show that mescaline is exclusively responsible for the
major symptoms of peyote {tnescal) poisoning. This applies especially to the unique
visions. The experiment performed on 23rd November shows that mescaline hydro-
chloride, 0.15 g, produces a pattern of symptoms which differs in only a few respects
from the one obtained with the drug. Both mescaline and the crude drug produced
22
bradycardia, pupillary dilatation, headache, dizziness, clumsiness of limb movements, loss
of appreciation of time, and, what is most important, characteristic visions.
An attempt to discuss the action of mescaline in detail would not accomplish anything
in view of the limited number of experimental data, but physiologists and experimental
psychologists should find work in this field rewarding. It is very likely that we are
dealing with an action on the central nervous system, although excitation of the periph-
eral visual apparatus can not be excluded. In this connection I would like to mention
that Privatdocent Dr. Krdckmann, the first assistant to the Ophthalmological Depart-
ment in Leipzig, kindly examined me when I carried out the experiment on November 23.
He was unahle to find any reduction of the visual field either in general or in relation to
colours.
At the present moment I would like to leave open the question of whether or not any
of the peyote (mescal) alkaloids has a therapeutic value. As far as mescaline is con-
cerned the answer is probably no. Weir-Mitchell and Ellis believe that peyote (mescal)
will also become popular amongst cultured people as an intoxicating drug. I think that
this is unlikely because the results which I obtained on myself show that the side-
effects are so pronounced that they considerably spoil the appreciation of the beautiful
visions.
The discoveries of Lewin and Heffter excited a lively interest in the appli-
cation of the drug in man. Lewin's pupil, Beringer, carried out numerous
experiments in man with mescaline.
Kurt Beringer (1893-1949) was born in Uelilingen (Schwarzwald) as the
son in a peasant family (Jung 1949, Ruffin 1950). In 1911-1914 he studied
medicine in Heidelberg, and in 1918 he took part in the war as assistant
doctor. In 1921 he became attached to the Heidelberg Psychiatric and Neuro-
logical Clinic of Wilmanns, where he stayed for 12 years. In 1928 he took
part in an expedition to Mongolia. In 1934 he came to Freiburg, where he
stayed for the rest of his life.
Among many papers, Beringer published one regarding hashish intoxica-
tion: "Zur Klinik des Haschischrausches" (1932), and two papers on super-
stition: "Hexen- und Aberglauben im Schwarzwald" (1938), and "Formen
des Aberglaubens in Schwarzwald" (1938). These papers bear witness to his
interest in ethno-pharmacology. His magnum opus, however, is "Der Meska-
linrausch" (1927), translated into Spanish but never into English. This book
is to mescaline what Moreau's book is to hashish. It gives a clear cut descrip-
tion of the psychic and somatic symptoms, and should be consulted by who-
ever is interested in the actions of mescaline.
A renewed interest in psychopharmacology was awakened in Germany
around 1928. It was at this time that Lewin and others became interested in
the properties of the South American vine Banisteria Caapi.
On the 13th of February, 1929, Louis Lewin and Paul Schuster gave a
paper at the Berlin Medical Association. They described the action of
Banisterin prepared from Banisteria and later proved to be identical to
harmine in experiments both in animals and man (Lewin and Schuster 1929) .
At this time they had only 1.2 g of the drug, of which they had given 0.02-
0.04 g to 18 cases of Parkinsonism. The side-effects were reported to be a
slight nausea, paleness, tremor and bradycardia. A quarter of an hour after
the injection the patients had a feeling of being able to move more easily, even
in difficult cases with contractures. An improvement was reported of, among
other things, swallowing, chewing, speech, eating, movements of the arms and
23
Beitrage zur Giftkunde
Herausgegeben von
Professor Dr. Louis Lewin
Heft 3
Banisteria Caapi
ein neues Rauschgift und
Heilmittel
von
Prof. Dr. Louis Lewin
Mit 2 Karten
19 2 9
Verlag von Georg Stiike / Berlin
24
walking. They observed a lessening of muscular rigidity. The improvement
lasted 2-6 hours, occasionally seven days.
It is remarkable that at this time a film of the action of the drug in three
patients was shown. This undoubtedly constitutes the first documentation of
the action of monoamineoxidase inhibitors. Lewin pointed out that the drug
always affected the ability to move, and seemed inactive psychically. Their
demonstration raised a tremendous interest, and the popular press took up
the question of this so called "magic drug". Louis Lewin, sick and old at the
time, managed to complete a monograph on the subject before he passed
away: "Banisteria Caapi, ein neues Rauschgift und Heilmittel" (1929).
In the same year Beringer gave a review of the clinical papers where
harmine had been used up till then. He also had occasion to comment upon
its pharmacodynamics, and deplored the inaccurate knowledge of how the
drug worked. The following sentences are perhaps prophetic :
First of all it is necessary to find out liow it affects the central nervous system ;
whetlier this is due to a direct action upon certain centers of the "brain or indirectly
through the autonomic nervous system througli a change of metabolism. Many things
speak in favour of the latter explanation.
Kurt Beringer (1893-1949)
25
262-016 0-67— 4
Beringer also commented that new experiments in his clinic showed that
the action was not limited to the extrapyramidal system. In his review he
pointed out that no differences could be found between banisterine and
harmine. It seems at this time that all research workers considered harmine
as a new drug for the symptomatic treatment of certain extrapyramidal dis-
eases, and that in many cases it did more than previously known drugs. It
proved useful, especially, in the cases of postencephalitic Parkinsonim that
were prevalent at the time. Some patients had been on the medication con-
tinually for more than a year without decrease in drug effect. The treatment
was in no way incompatible with previously used drugs, such as scopolamine.
The most remarkable account from this time is perhaps the description of
the self experiments by Z. Halpern (1930 a and b). Dr. Halpern gave her-
self doses of up to 0.04 g per os and 0.03 g subcutaneously. The action Avas
sudden, and she had an immediate impression of excitement, with difficulty
remaining in one place to continue her intellectual labor. Unrest was the
dominant symptom at smaller doses. All actions were felt as if they were more
easily done. No euphoria and no clouding of the senses was observed. These
symptoms Dr. Halpern explained as stimulation of the cortex :
In all probability, harmine acts ui)on the motor system as a central cortico-motor
regulation as a stimulating agent acts upon the motor neurons, physiologically to in-
crease excitation. By higher doses, this excitation was increased even in a belligerent
way : The author, who normally is not belligerent, has herself experienced this dis-
charge of the motor functions. The subject started a fight with a man in the street,
where she was the one who attacked, even though according to the circumstances the
prospect for the attacker was very unfavorable.
The consciousness was in no way influenced and in no way abnormal, but the impres-
sion was felt as if the consciousness was packed in ether. An increased concentration
of observance was felt. When lying on a sofa, the lightness increased to a feeling of
a fleeting sensation, and the weight of the body was subjectively less. These clinical
observations should be compared to the state of levitation frequently reported to occur
with the crude drug ayahuasca or caapi.
Dr. Halpern continued her studies in Parkinson patients, and pointed
out the differences in action between scopolamine and harmine and the
duality of Parkinson's disease. As is now well known, the monoamineoxidase
inhibiting property of the harmala alkaloid was found as late as 1958 by
Udenfriend.
The enthusiasm for the harmala alkaloids vanished temporarily during the
thirties, as did much of the interest in ethnopharmacology. A few people,
however, worked remotely and undisturbed by the rising tide of synthetic
chemicals and the general lack of interest in exotic poisons. Among them
Avas Blasius Paul Reko, more commonly known as Bias Pablo Reko.
Bias Pablo Reko (187&-1953) was born in Prerau, Austria (Cook de Leonard 1955-
1956). His mother came from Czechoslovakia. Under the influence of his grandfather
he decided to study medicine at the University of Vienna, where he graduated in 1901.
From the year 1903 he dwelled in America, first in Chicago, in 1907 in Guayaquil
Ecuador, and finally in Mexico City. It would seem that he came to Mexico in 1911.
He lived no less than 15 years in Oaxaca where he worked professionally for some
mining companies. It was during this time that he became interested in the local
26
flora, especially medicinal plants. His interest in this field was combined with ethno-
graphical and etymological studies. He published many articles in "El Mexico Antiguo"
about the flora of Oaxaca. He became interested in astromythology through his interest
in ethno-botanics.
Reko said himself that he published his papers only to satisfy his per-
sonal taste. This concerns perhaps mostly his numerological work. To the
present reader, his ethno-botanical papers seem to be of special importance.
He was a good botanical observer and had a large collection of indigenous
plants, among them the magic mushroom used by the Mazatecs. His studies
were summarized in "Mitobotanica Zapoteca", Mexico, 1945.
In Jan. 1937 Reko wrote the following letter to Henry Wassen, anthro-
pologist and curator of the ethnographical museum, Gothenburg, Sweden:
Jan. 31, 1937.
Gelati 15, Tacubaya, D.F., Mexico
Mr. Henry Wassen
Goteborgs Museum
Goteborg, Sweden
My dear Mr. Wassen :
. . . Apparently you confound me with my cousin Victor A. Reko, the author
of "Magische Gifte", a journalistic piece of work, by the way, which you need not
to take very seriously, since its author is neither a botanist nor has he any personal
experience with the drugs described, most of which he has not even seen and would
not recognize if he saw them. It is a cleverly made up mi<ctum compositum of compiled
facts and wild inventions of his own fancy, intended for popular consumation.
I have deep interest in the work of Prof. Santesson and would like to come in touch
with him, as I can furnish him some very important botanical materials, awaiting the
solution of their mystery by a competent chemist. I am forwarding to your direction a
sample of the "Piule" seed, together with an article of mine on this topic (published in
1920 and reprinted in El. Mex. Ant. 1934) in the hope that Prof. Santesson might
get interested in the problem and conduct some experiments in that line.
"Very likely I get this year also specimen of the Teonanacatl, still used for religious
rites in some secluded places, but so far never identified . . .
With best regards
Yours truly
Dr. B. P. Reko.
Both the Piule-Ololiuqui and the Teonanacatl did arrive.
Carl Gustaf Santeswn (1862-1939) definitely has a place in ethno-pharma-
cology. He was professor of pharmocology in Stockholm from 1895 to 1927,
and had studied both with Bohm in Leipzig and with Schmiedeberg in
Strassburg. (Liljestrand 1939). These teachers influenced his interest in,
among other things, the study of compounds such as strychnine, strophan-
thine and curare. He published about 20 papers on arrow poisons, collected
from all parts of the world. Especially important, however, is the work he
carried out after retirement. The Mexican drugs he obtained were investi-
gated and the results published in journals that are not easily found nowa-
days (Santesson 1937, 1938). Among them were Ololiuqui and Teonanacatl,
the magic mushroom of Mexico, subsequently investigated by Wasson, Heim
and Hofmann. Santesson did not have much of the latter, but succeeded
in carrying out animal experiments with Ololiuqui. It is to the credit of
27
Santesson that he was able to notice the central action of this drug in
animals, and that in his paper he writes :
In some way the animals had lost their initiative. It seems to me that there is a
a partial paralysis of the brain, a kind of narcosis ... in these animals there is a
certain central depression without any other obvious symptoms.
He concludes his paper by saying :
The drug deserves a thorough investigation which can only be done with a larger
supply of material.
With Santesson's papers expire the old pre- World War II activities in the
ethno-pharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs. The revival was to come
about ten years later.
A cknowledgment
This work has been supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental
Health, Bethesda, USA (MH 12007) and by a grant from the Swedish Medical Research
Council.
28
Plasius Paul (Bias Pablo) Reko 1876-1953.
Carl Gustaf Santesson (1862-1939)
REFERENCES
AscHENBRANDT, T. "Die physiologische Wirkung und die Bedeutung des Cocain muriat.
auf den menschliehen Organismus." Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, pp. 730-
732, Dez. 12, 1883.
Baruk, H. "La vie et I'oeuvre de Moreau de Tours." Paris, Annales Moreau de Tours.
Presses Universitaires de France. 1962.
Bentley, W. H. "Brythoxylon Coca in the Opium and Alcohol Habits." Detroit Thera-
peutic Gazette, pp. 253-254, 1880.
Beringer, K. "Der Meskalinrausch, seine Geschichte and Erscheinungsweise." Mono-
graphien aus dem Gesamtegebiete der Neurologic und Psychiatric, 49 : 35-89, 119-315,
1927.
29
Beringer, K. "Uber ein neues, auf das extrapyramidal-motorische System wirkendes
Alkaloid (Banisterin)." Der Nervenarzt, 1 : 265-275, 1928.
Beeinger, K. "Zur Banisterin- und Harminfrage." Der Nervenarzt, 2 : 548-549, 1929
(Sept.)
Beringer, K., W. v. Baeyer und H. Marx. "Zur Klinik des Haschischrausches." Der
Nervenarzt, 5 : 337-350, 1932.
Beringer, K. "Hexen- und Aberglauben im Schwarzwald." Z. Neur., 161 : 535, 1938.
Beeinger, K. "Formen des Aberglaubens im Schwarzwald." Arch. f. Psychiatr., 108 : 228,
1938.
Bibra, Ernst F^eiherrn von. "Die Narkotischen Genussmittel und der Mensch." Niim-
berg, Verlag von Wilhelm Schmid, 1855.
Collet, C.-G. "Candidature de Joseph Moreau (de Tours) au Prix Monty on de I'Academie
des Sciences en 1846." Paris, Annales Moreau de Tours. Presses Universitaires de
France, 1962.
Cook de Leonard Carmen. "Obituary on Dr. Bias Pablo Reko." "El Mexico Antiguo"
Vol. 8, 1955, pags. IX-XIV, Mexico, D.F. 1956.
Dragendoeff, Georg. "Die Heilpflanzen der verschiedenen Volker und Zeiten." Neudruck
der Ausgabe Stuttgart, 1898. Antiquariat Fritsch, Postfach 1043, 79/Ulm/ Do.
Germany.
Frbtjd, S. "Ueber Coca." Centralblatt f.d. ges. Therapie, pp. 289-314, 1884 (Juli).
GtInther, S. "Ernst v. Bibra." Niimberg, Naturhist. Ges. Sacular-Feier 1801-1901. Fest-
schrift 1901.
Halpern, L. "Der Wirkungsmechanismus des Harmins und die Pathophysiologie der
Parkinsonchen Krankheit." Deut. Med. Wochenschr. 56 : 651-655, 1930a.
Halpern, L. "Ueber die Harminwirkung im Selbstversuch." Deut. Med-. Wochenschr.,
56 : 1252-1254, 1930b.
Haetwich, 0. "Die Bedeutung der Entdeckung von Amerika fiir die Drogenkunde."
Berlin, Springer Verlag, 1892.
Hartwich, C. "Georg Dragendorff." Ber. Deutsch. Pharmaceut. Ges. 7-8 : 297-320,
1897-98.
Hartwich, C. "Die menschlichen Genussmittel, ihre Herkunft, Verbreitung, Geschichte,
Anwendung, Bestandteile und Wirkung." Leipzig, Tauchnitz, 1911.
Heffter, a. "Ueber Pellote." Arch. exp. Path. Pharmakol. 40 : 418-^25, 1897.
Heubnee, W. "Nachruf auf Arthur Heffter." Gew. Hyg. N.F., 2 : 101-103, 1925.
Holmsteidt, B. and G. Liljesteand. "Readings in pharmacology." Pergamon Press Ltd.,
1963.
Jelliffe, S. E. "Emil Kraepelin, the Man and his Work." Transactions of the American
Neurological Association. Boston, 57th Annual Meeting, May 1931. Ed. Dr. Theodore
H. Weisenburg, Philadelphia.
JoACHiMOGLU, G. "Eroftningsausprache." Arch. exp. Path. Pharmak. 238 : 6-7, 1960.
Jones, E. "The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud." 1-3. New York, Basic Books Inc.
Chapter VI, Vol. 1, 1956.
Jung, R. "Kurt Beringer." Archiv f. Psych, und Zeitschr. Neurol. 183 : 293-301, 1949.
Robert, R. and A. Sohrt. "Ueber die Wirkung des salzauren Hyoscin." Arch. exp. Path.
Pharmak. 22 : 396-429, 1887.
KoLLE, K. "Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926)." Stuttgart, Grosse Nervenarzte, Georg Thieme
Verlag, 1956. pp. 175-186.
Kraepelin, E. "Ueber die Beeinflussung einfacher psychischer Vorgange durch einige
Arzneimittel." Jena, Verlag von Gustav Fischer, 1892.
Kraepelin, E. "Wilhelm Wundt." Zeitschrift f. Neurologic und Psychiatrie. pp. 35-362,
Vol. 61, 1920.
Keayer, O. Personal communication, 1963.
Lewin, L. "Nebenwirkungen der Arzneimittel." Berlin, Pharmakologisch-klin. Handbuch,
A. Hirschwald. 1881.
Lewin, L. "Referat : Pharmakologie und Toxikologie." Berliner Klinischer Wochen-
schrift, XXII: 321-322, 1885.
30
Lewin, L. "Ueber Piper Methysticum (KAWA)." Berlin, Verlag von August Hirschwald,
1886.
Lewin, L. "Ueber Anhalonium Lewinii." Arch, exper. Path. u. Pharmalvol. 24 : 401^11,
1888.
Lewin, L. : "Anhalonium Lewinii." The Therapeutic Gazette. IV, No. 4, April 16, 1888.
Lewin, L. "Ueber Areca Catechu, Chavica Betle und das Betelkauen." Monographie.
Stuttgart, F. Enke, 1889.
Lewin, L. "Uber Anhalonium Lewinii und andere Cacteen." Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm.
34 : 374-391, 1. u. 2. Heft, 1894.
Lewin, L. "Die Gifte in der Weltgeschichte." Berlin, J. Springer, 1929.
Lewin, L. "Heilmittel und Gifte bei Homer." Miinch. med. AVschr. 67 : 966, 1920.
Lewin, L. "Phantastica." Die Betiiubenden und Erregenden Genussmittel, Fiir Arzte und
Nichtiirzte. Berlin, Georg Stilke, 1924.
Lewin, L. "Untersuehungen iiber Banisteria Caapi Spr." Arch, exper. Path. u.
Pharmakol. 129 : 133-149, 1928.
Lewin, L. "Banisteria Caapi, ein neues Rauschgift und Heilmittel." Beitrage zur Gift-
kunde, herausgegeben von Professor Dr. Louis Lewin. Berlin, Verlag von Georg Stilke,
1929.
Lewin, L. und P. Schuster. "Ergebnisse von Banisterinversuchen an Kranken." Deut.
Med. Wochenschr. 55 : 419, 1929. Literatur- und Verhandlungsberiehte, 8 Marz 1929.
S. 419, Berlin, Medizinische Gesellschaft, 13.11. 1929.
Lewin, L. "Phantastica, Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs, Foreword by Bo Holmstedt."
London, Routledge & Kegan, 1964.
LiLJESTKAND, G., C. G. Santesson. "Skandiuavisches Archiv fiir Physiologie." 83. Band.
1 bis 3 Heft. Berlin, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1939.
MoREAU, J. J. (de Tours). "M6moire sur le traitement des Hallucinations par la Datura
Stramonium." Gazette MMicale de Paris LX, 1841, No. 41, 9.10. 1841.
MoEEAU, J. J. ( DE Tours ) . "M^moire sur le Traitement des Hallucinations par le Datura
Stramonium— Suite— Voir" 1" No. 41. Gazette M^dicale de Paris IX, 1841. No. 43,
23.10. 1841.
MoREAU, J. "Mtooire sur le traitement des hallucinations par le Datura Stramonium."
La Librairie des Sciences M^dicales du Just Bouvier, Paris 1841.
MoREAU, J. "Du hachisch et de I'ali^nation mentale." Etudes psychologiques. Paris,
Librairie de Fortin, Masson et C'% 1845.
Palmer, E. R. "Erythroxylon Coca as an Antidote to the Opium Habit." The Therapeutic
Gazette, 1, new series, p. 172, 1880. Vol. IV — whole series.
Reko, B. p. "Mitobotanica Zapoteca." Tacubaya, D. F., 1945.
Reko,, V. A. "Magische Gifte." Rausche- und Betaubungsmittel der Neuen Welt. Stutt-
gart, Ferdinand Enke Verlag, 1949.
RiTTi, M. "Eloge de J. Moreau (de Tours)." Annales Medico-Psychologiques, Paris 1887.
jeme ggj-jg^ Tome Sixieme, 45th year, Paris, G. Masson.
RuFFiN, H. "Kurt Beringer." Deutsche Zeitschrift fiir Nervenheilkunde, 164 : 199-208.
1950.
Santesson, C. G. "Notiz iiber Piule, eine mexikanische Rauschdroge." Ethnological
Studies, 4, 1937.
Santesson, C. G. "Piule, eine mexikanische Rauschdroge." Archiv der Pharmazie und
Berichte der deutschen Pharmazeutischen Gesellschaft. Berlin W 35, Verlag Chemie
GMBH, 1937.
Santesson, C. G. "Noch eine Mexikanische 'Piule' -Droge Semina Rynchosiae Phase-
oloidis DC" Ethnological Studies, 6, 1938.
Santesson, C. G. "Einige mexikanische Rauschdrogen." Archiv fiir Botanik — K. Sv.
Vetenskapsakad. 29 A, No. 12, 1939.
Sohmiedeberg, O. "Uber die Pharmaka in der Ilias und Odyssee." Schriften d. wiss.
Gesellsch. Strassburg. Strassburg, 1918, Heft 36.
31
ScHROTER, C. "Prof. Dr. C. Hartwich." Schweizerische Apotheker-Zeitung No. 10, Jahrg.
55, Zurich, March 8, 1917.
SiEBUEG, E. "Rudolf Robert." Ber. Dtsch. Pliarm. Ges. 29 : 285-299, 1919.
Solomon, D., Ed. The Marihuana Papers, New York. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.,
1966.
Straub, W. "Arthur Heffter." Arch. exp. Path. Pharmakol. 105 : 1-4, 1924.
32
The Place of Ethnobotany in
the Ethnopharmacologic Search
for Psychotomimetic Drugs
Richard Evans Schultes
Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Page
Introduction
Ethnobotany and the Search for New Drugs
Consideration of Pressing Problems
Guidlines for the Future
Bibliography
33
34
37
55
55
Introduction
The very descriptive word etJmohotany has been defined in sundry ways
in the 70 years since it was created and first used by Harshberger {23).
Although Harshberger indicated how ethnobotanical investigation could
be integrated into overall research, he failed to offer a definition of his new
term.
Years earlier, in 1874, Powers {38) had used the term aboriginal totany
to refer to a study of "all the forms of the vegetable world which the ab-
origines used for medicine, food, textile, fabrics, ornaments, etc."
It was, apparently, not until 1916 that a truly broad concept emerged
that went beyond mere identification and cataloguing of plants used by
primitive peoples. This broad definition of the term ethnobotany., now rather
widely held, was promulgated by Bobbins, Harrington and Freire-Marreco
(4^), and, in effect, attributes to this discipline a study and evaluation of
the knowledge of all phases of plant life amongst primitive societies, and
of the effects of the vegetal environment upon the life, customs, beliefs and
history of the peoples of such societies.
Jones {27) has offered the following precise definition: "the study of the
interrelations of primitive man and plants." It is interesting to note that
Jones and others {9) prefer to restrict ethnobotany to man in primitive states
of culture. While this premise may and probably does almost always obtain,
there is really no reason to circumscribe the term in this way. Vestal and
Schultes {62) looked upon ethnobotany as a part of economic botany. Since
I do not hold that ethnobotany need be limited exclusively to man in primi-
tive society, my own definition {Jf.6) circumscribes ethnobotany as "a study
of the relationships between man and his ambient vegetation."
33
Ethnobotany and the Search for New Drugs
It is natural that an interdisciplinary §eld such as etlinobotany be replete
with problems for investigation. These are and have been not only numerous
but varied as well, and the burgeoning nomenclature bears witness to this
variation. In recent years, such terms as archaeoethnohotany ^ ethnomycology^
ethnoecology and ethnopharmacology have been proposed and have come
into use.
Nowhere perhaps have the potentialities of ethnobotanical investigation
been more scintillating than in the search for new psychotomimetic drugs
{57) . These potentialities have been realized in the case of a number of new
and previously known hallucinogens that are now relatively well understood :
the narcotic mushrooms and morning glories of Mexico; the ayahuasca-
caapi-yaje complex of South America ; the intoxicating snuffs of the Orinoco
and Amazon basins. They remain to tantalise us, however, in the case of
several narcotics known vaguely from common names or from sketchy reports
of travellers and missionaries : several South American snuffs ; the marari
of lowland Bolivia; an intoxicating "tree-fungus" of the Yurimagua Indians
of eastern Peru ; the yurema root infusion of the Pankararu of Brazil ; the
magic woi of the Yekwana of southern Venezuela. Furthermore, they chal-
lenge us to find, through ethnobotanical avenues, new psychotropic plants
that most certainly are still in use, but which have never been seen nor re-
ported by the prying inquisitiveness of man outside of the culture that
employs the narcotics.
I cannot help thinking that Linneaus himself must have had ethnobotany
in mind, at least in part, when he in 1754 wrote in a museum catalogue the
following philosophy : "Man, ever desirous of knowledge, has already ex-
plored many things; but more and greater still remain concealed; perhaps
reserved for distant generations, who shall . . . make many discoveries for
the pleasure and convenience of life. Prosperity shall see its increasing
Musuems, and the knowledge of the Divine Wisdom, flourish together ; and at
the same time all the practical sciences . . . shall be enriched ; for we cannot
avoid thinking, that what we know of the Divine works are much fewer than
those of which we are ignorant."
In the search for new hallucinogens, we have much to do and little time
in which to do it. Peoples in primitive societies, because they live most in-
timately with their irmnediate vegetational environment, do possess a valu-
able understanding of the properties of plants, even though their knowledge
of plants has sometimes been optimistically exaggerated by both lay en-
thusiasts and ethnopharmacological zealots. The aborigines' knowledge and
understanding, furthermore, is probably everywhere far from complete. It,
therefore, behooves all of us interested in a search for new psychotomimetic
drugs to carry out our investigations along several avenues of approach, not
following the ethnobotanical avenue to the exclusion of others {52). It is,
however, the place of ethnobotany in this search that I shall here discuss,
and I want merely, at the very start, to put it thus into proper perspective.
34
Civilization is closing in on many, if not on most, parts of the world still
sacred to the less advanced cultures. It has long been pressing in, but its pace
is now accelerated as the result of geographically extensive wars, extended
commercial interests, increased missionary activity, widening tourism.
Modem methods of travel and penetration have given civilisation the tools
for this accomplishment. Road-building programmes in Latin America pro-
vide us with but one example of how fast this penetration of the hinterlands
is proceeding.
Our great concern lies in the progressive divorcement of man in primitive
societies from dependence upon his immediate environment. I have often
stated that perhaps the greatest enemy or, at least, competitor, of ethnophar-
machological research is the arrival and cheap availability of the aspirin pill.
More than once this has initiated an astonishingly rapid disintegration of
native medical lore. I doubt that social scientists are fully aware of the
rapidity of this disintegration, but the ethnobotanist cannot fail to see it.
That the aspirin (meaning, of course, modern medicines in general) may be
more beneficial than herbs and magic is not ours to consider here. What does
interest us academically and practically is how to salvage some of the medico-
botanical lore of primitive cultures before it shall have been forever entombed
with the culture that gave it birth {51).
In considering the ethnobotanical approach in our search for new drugs
we must constantly bear in mind the widespread exaggeration of the useful-
ness of ethnobotanical data. Although we cannot afford to pre- judge reports
of aboriginal uses of plants simply because they seem to fall beyond the limits
of credence, we must nevertheless ever keep in mind that there is no reason
to presume that, because man in primitive living does have knowledge as yet
unknown to us, he may possess anything more than a limited intuition into
the properties of plants.
Although now at long last there is more agreement concerning the larger
aims of ethnopharmacological investigations, the field has suffered— as has
ethnobotany in general — from lack of orientation and integration. Ethno-
botanical research has often, of necessity, been done as a sideline by botanists
untrained in ethnology ; by anthropologists lacking any knowledge of biol-
ogy ; or even by laymen, dedicated enough, but devoid of preparation in both
biology and anthropology. And in more recent years, the training commensu-
rate with thorough ethnobotanical investigations has enlarged its scope to
include some familiarity with topics such as chemotaxonomy, which once
would never have been considered germane. As a result of this checkered
history, ethnobotanical research, its purposes and its potentialities has too
often suffered from smug depreciation at the hands of specialists in disciplines
that have been academically more clearly delimited.
The potentialities of ethnobotanical research into folk medicine are far
too extensive for proper treatment in a short lecture, but certain salient points
may and should be made, and these points may be supported by specific ex-
amples. In delving into the medicine of primitive societies, we must never
lose sight of the vast difference between "medicine" in our sense and that in
primitive societies. In almost all, if not all, primitive cultures, the concept
35
of sickness and even of death from natural causes is unknown or incompre-
hensible. Instead — and we must here over-simplify the problem for our pur-
poses — supernatural spirits or forces of evil work in sundry ways to bring
about the impairment of health or cessation of life. We should realize that
hexing and witchcraft were widely accepted as recently as three centuries
ago in what was, in many respects, the advanced culture of Europe. Amongst
the members of primitive cultures to-day, treatment usually comprises various
kinds of exorcism; and diagnosis, and often treatment itself, must be carried
out through communication with the spirit or supernatural world. Many
ways of communicating have been developed, but the employment of vision-
producing narcotics or hallucinogens of plant origin seems to have been
widespread in both time and space, and to have occurred in many wholly
unrelated cultures.
We do not know exactly how many species of plants there are. There may
be as many as 800,000. Estimates for the Angiosperms alone vary from the
usually cited 200,000 to about half a million (55).
It is interesting to compare the number of species of plants that man has
found valuable for nutrition with those that he has employed to induce
hallucinations. Of this vast assemblage of Angiosperms, only about 3000 are
known to have been used directly as human food. The number of species that
actually feed mankind is, however, very small. Only about 150 Angiosperms
are important enough as foods to enter the world's commerce. Of these, only
12 or 13 stand, in effect, between the world's population and starvation, and
these dozen or so plants are all cultivated species (55) .
We find, likewise, that the number of species providing man with narcotic
agents is very small. Between four and five thousand species are now known
to be alkaloidal,^ and we must realise that constituents other than alkaloids —
glycosides, resins, essential oils and others — may also be responsible for nar-
cotic activity. Probably no more than 60 species, including Cryptogams and
Phanerogams, are employed in primitive and advanced cultures for their
intoxicating effects. Of these, only about 20 may be considered of major im-
portance. What is even more significant is that so few — coca, opium poppy,
hemp, tobacco — are numbered amongst the world's commercially important
cultivated plants. Four of these five, if not all five, species are cultigens,
unknown in the wild state. This bespeaks long association with man and his
agricultural practices (S5).
It may likewise be of significance that, whether because of cultural dif-
ferences or floristic peculiarities or for some other as yet unappreciated
reason, the New World is much richer in narcotic plants than the Old. These
statistics, naturally, relate merely to those plants the narcotic properties of
which man has discovered in his trial and error experimentation during the
course of human history. The longer I consider this question, the more I am
convinced that there may exist in the world's flora an appreciable number
of such plants not yet uncovered by the experimenting natives and still to be
found by the enquiring phytochemist. This is an aspect of the problem in
which ethnobotanical approaches cannot help, but even though our etlmo-
* R. F. Raffauf, personal communication.
36
botanical research into narcotic plants is still embryonic, we know enough
to realise that both the Old and the New Worlds offer rich fields for potential
discoveries.
Where do some of the ethnopharmacological problems in connexion with
our search for new and interesting psychotomimetic agents lie? Let us
contemplate some of the hints that might guide such research in the future.
Geographically, the problems may be found almost throughout the globe,
concentrated, to be sure, in areas where primitive societies still hold sway
unmolested by the inroads of modern civilisation.
Consideration of Pressing Problems
Some of the most interesting enigmas lurk in the desert stretches of
northern Mexico, where what we might term the "prototype" of the New
World hallucinogens — peyote or Lofhophora WUUamsii — has long been the
centre of religious and curative rites in the Tarahumare and Huichol country.
Peyote, of course, is well known from many aspects, and 13 alkaloids have
thus far been isolated from it (33) . The explorer Carl Lumholtz (3^) men-
tioned, however, other narcotic cactus plants, some of which are as yet not
even botanically identified. "High mental qualities," he wrote, "are ascribed
especially to all species of Mammilaria and Echinocactus, small cacti, for
which a regular cult is instituted. The Tarahumares designate several as
hikuli, though the name belongs properly only to the kind most commonly
used by them . . . The principal kinds are . . . Lophophora Williamsii.
The Tarahumares speak of them as the superior hikuli (hikuli waname) . . .
Besides hikuli waname . . . , the Tarahumares know and worship the fol-
lowing varieties: 1. Mulato [Mammilari micromeris) . This is believed to
make the eyes large and clear to see sorcerers, to prolong life and to give speed
to the runners. 2. Rosapara. This is only a more advanced vegetative stage
of the preceding species — ^though it looks quite different, being white and
spiny. 3. Sunami. {Mammilari fissurata). It is rare, but it is believed to be
even more powerful than waname and is used in the same way as the latter ;
the drink produced from it is also strongly intoxicating. ... 4. Hikuli
walula saeliami. This is the greatest of all, and the name means 'hikuli great
authority.' It is extremely rare among the Tahahumares, and I have not seen
any specimen of it, but it was described to me as growing in clusters of from
eight to twelve inches in diameter, resembling waname with many young
ones around it. . . . All these various species are considered good, as coming
from Tata Dios, and well disposed toward the people. But there are some
kinds of hikuli believed to come from the Devil. One of these, with long
white spines, is called ocoyome. It is very rarely used, and only for evil
purposes."
Several of these narcotic hukuli plants are still unidentified. They are
obviously all cactuses. Several species of Mammilaria have yielded alkaloids
of undetermined identity, but the genus, which is not far removed from
Lophophora, might be expected to contain active principles. The same may
37
Flowering head of the peyote cactus, Lophophora Williamsii, the "prototype" of the
New World hallucinogens. Photograph by R. E. Schultes.
be said of EchinoGactm. In this connexion, it is well known that in Mexico a
number of species in seven other genera of the Cactaceae — Ariocarjms, Astro-
phytum^ AzteJcivm, Dolichothele, Ohregonia, Pelecyphora and Solisia — are
popularly classed as peyote, perhaps because they bear some resemblance to
the true peyote, Lophophora^ or perhaps because they have similar toxic
effects and may be employed with Lophophora or as a substitute for it {JfS) .
There is much, indeed, that needs ethnobotanical clarification in this whole
picture ; and it Avould seem to be a promising problem (16). All that we know
is that, of these last seven genera mentioned, three — An'ocarpus, Astrophytum
and Dolichothele — have yielded alkaloids {65) .
Witch doctors in northern Peru (in Piura, Lambayeque and La Libertad)
prepare an hallucinogenic drink called cimora from at least six plants (-?<?)•
Several of the ingredients are said to be members of the Cactaceae. There is
indirect evidence of great age for the use of this narcotic drink which is
concerned with moon rites of the region. It is taken for therapeutic effects,
for diagnosis and divination, and to make oneself owner of another's iden-
tity. This intoxicating brew must be potent if the plant ingredients, identified
apparently without voucher specimens, are correctly indicated. The princi-
pal ingredient is said to be San Pedro, a cactus, Trichacereits Pachanoi., from
38
which the hallucinogenic alkaloid mescaline has been isolated (21). Other
cactaceous ingredients — a member of the genus Cactus and N eoraimondia
macrostihas {Oereus macrostibas) — likewise enter the preparation of the
brew. A further addition is the campanulaceous Isotoma longiflora, known to
contain the alkaloid lobeline. Pedilanfhm titimnloides of the Euphorbiaceae is
said also to be added. Datura Stramonium is furthermore cited as one of the
plants in the formula, and this alone, of course, would provide a potent
vision-producing base for the drink. With the apparent lack of voucher
specimens, however, there is no way at present to verify the determination
of these ingredients. An indication that there may be discrepancies in the
determinations is that the chief ingredient was at first erroneously deter-
mined as Opuntica cylindrica {12). It has recently, however, been shown,
on the basis of botanical collections, to represent Trichocereus Pachanoi., and
has been ethnobotanically indicated as being a "magic and dangerous" plant
{18). Whether or not the common name San Pedro applies to both Opuntia
cylindrica and to Trichocereus Pa/sJianoi., very dissimilar plants, has not been
verified.
This problem is further complicated by a recent citation of the "magic
and dangerous" timora of Huancabamba, Peru, as a species of Iresine of the
Amaranthaceae {18). Is this timora perhaps the same word as cimora'^. We
cannot tell at the present time. While several amaranthaceous genera contain
alkaloids, no such constituents have been reported from Iresine. It is of
interest to point out, however, that some of the Indians of southern Colombia
are said to employ Iresine as an admixture in preparing their strongly hallu-
cinogenic yaje drink {Banisteriopsis spp.) to increase its psychotomimetic
potency {4^). Here is one of the most challenging problems in the ethno-
botany of hallucinogenic plants, and one which would not be difficult to
investigate thoroughly.
In the late 17th and early 18th Centuries, Jesuit missionaries working
amongst the Yurimagua Indians in the uppermost Amazon basin found the
natives drinking a strongly intoxicating beverage prepared from a "tree
fungus" ". . . the Yurimaguas mix mushrooms that grow on fallen trees with
a kind of reddish film that is found usually attached to rotting trunks. This
film is very hot to the taste. No person who drinks this brew fails to fall under
its effects after three draughts of it, since it is so strong or, more correctly,
so toxic" {10). Field work in the area has, up to the present time, not yet
disclosed any practice of this kind, but it is a culture trait little likely to
disappear spontaneously, at least without leaving traces, and the region is
still inhabited by tribes in relatively primitive conditions of culture. It has
been tentatively suggested that the tree fungus might be the known hallucino-
genic Psilocybe yungensis,^ but what might be the reddish film? Here cer-
tainly is a most challenging problem in ethnopharmacology.
The Mojo Indians, an Arawakan tribe living in eastern Bolivia, employ
an unknown narcotic called marari {34-) . It has been reported that "whenever
. . . the medicine-men had to interview the spirits, they drank a decoction
prepared from a plant called marari, similar to our verbena, which caused
' R. G. Wasson, personal communication.
39
Trichocereus Pachanoi growing on the side of a clifiF on the outskirts of Cuenca, Ecuador.
Photograph by G. Rose. From Britton & Rose: The Cactaceae 2 (1920) fig. 196.
for 24 hours a general condition of excitement characterized by insomnia
and pain" {34-) • According to reports, the medicine men try to avoid drinking
marari whenever they "could operate without the narcotic." This may be
interpreted as an indication of great potency or toxicity of the drug. By
likening marari to "our verbena," the French ethnologist Metraux un-
doubtedly meant Verbena officinalis, a well known folk medicine of Europe.
The marari might well represent one of the many South American verbena-
ceous species, but only direct field observation can clear up this enigma.
Oftentimes, no clear distinction has been made between stimulants and
narcotics in the writings of early missionaries and other travellers. Guayusa
is a case in point. Reports of a strongly stimulating plant of the westernmost
Amazon, widely known as guayusa, place its use in the westernmost Amazon
40
of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The earliest report of guayusa dates from
1682 and comprises a missionary reference that pointed to a use surrounded
by superstition in the region of the upper Maranon in Peru.^ Amongst the
several references to guayusa, perhaps the most important is that of Richard
Spruce, who reported it to be a species of Ilex allied to /. paragvuriensis "but
with much larger leaves" and to be a tonic which, in strong infusions such
as those prepared by the Jibaros, may be "positively emetic" {59) .
The recent writings of Karsten (£8) seem to indicate that guayusa may
have narcotic properties as well, for he states that "just as the Jibaros take
certain narcotic drinks when they are preparing for war, to see whether they
will be lucky or not in the undertaking, so they also understand a kind of
divination in regard to hunting. The drink then used is prepared of the
guayusa (Ilex sp.), the leaves of which are boiled in water for the purpose.
The guayusa is not a real narcotic but a tonic, to which the Indians ascribe
magical purifying effects. The Jibaros, however, seem to believe that the
drink produces dreams of divinatory significance or, more strictly speaking,
what they call 'small dreams,' especially such as have reference to hunting."
Other "supernatural virtues" or magical powers are ascribed to guayusa
by the Jibaros.
Even though guayusa may not belong strictly to the category of psycho-
tomimetic plants, it would be advantageous to know more concerning its
curious effects — these "little dreams" — that the Jibaros ascribe to the infusion.
Are these effects wholly imaginary, or may perhaps some other plant be
occasionally boiled with the guayusa when the "little dreams" are expe-
rienced ?
And then, what precisely is guayusa ? Spruce noted that it was an Ilex and
reported seeing a group of guayusa trees . . . over 300 years old . . . "that were
not unlike old holly trees in England, except that the shining leaves were
much larger, thinner and unarmed." A collection of Ilex from eastern Peru
was described as Ilex Guayusa by Loessener, but it is sterile. Sterile material
of a guayusa was gathered recently by one of my students in eastern Peru
and represents undoubtedly an Ilex. It is not wholly improbable that this
widely disseminated vernacular name may refer to a number of different
plants with marked physiological action. The guayusa problem is certainly
one that might occupy the attention of ethnobotanists interested in native
narcotics and stimulants. It is rather disquieting that even the identity of
such a plant should, after some three centuries, still be uncertain.
Another interesting reference concerning a plant with marked physiological
activity which may or may not be narcotic in character reports the use by
the Kakusi Indians of British Guiana of "peppers as a stimulant and
excitant" (4^). Even though the "peppers" were definitely identified as
belonging to Capsicum, this report should be carefully checked by further
field observations.
There is an interesting and very potent narcotic drink used in eastern
Brazil that merits much more investigation. The Kariri (30) and Pankararu
{■31 ) Indians along the Sao Francisco River in Pernambuco have an ancient
' V. PatiSo, personal communication.
41
cult, still practiced, connected with a root known as yurema. Groups of war-
riors or strong young men are given a gourdful of the yurema root infusion
by an elderly chieftain. With bowed heads, the celebrants see "glorious visions
of the spirit land, with flowers and birds. They might catch a glimpse of the
clashing rocks that destroy the souls of the dead journeying to their goal, or
see the Thunderbird shooting lightning from a huge tuft on his head and
producing claps of thunder by running about." The yurema rite was formerly
much more widespread than at present, for it is known to haA^e been practiced
by at least three other tribes (the Guegue, Acroa and Pimenteira) of the
general region. The ceremony exists also amongst the Tusha Indians, neigh-
bours of the Pancararus.
There is reason to believe that the yurema-drink is the same narcotic as the
intoxicating beverage of the Pankararus which has been reported under the
Portuguese name vinho de Jurema. This drink is reportedly prepared from
the roots of the leguminous tree Mimosa hostilis {W) . Chemically, this plant
is extremely interesting because of its close relationship to Anadenanthera
peregrina, from the seeds of which the hallucinogenic yopo snuff of the
Orinoco River basin is prepared. In 1946, an alkaloid was isolated from the
bark of the roots o^^Mimosa hostilh^O) and was called nigerine, but recent
chemical investigation has established the identity of nigerine and N, N-dime-
thyltryptamine, the same constituent found in yopo seeds fvoTci^nadena,n\
(fhera peregrirm j{36) .
In a remote tributary of the Apaporis River in Amazonian Colombia, the
Peritome-Tanimukas make use of an as yet unidentified plant to prepare a
vision-producing drink employed in the adolescent initiation rites of boys
(57) . It is taken much as is the well known yaje or caapi of the same region
prepared from Banisteriopsis Caapi^ but the Tanimukas, who employ also
this malpighiaceous vine, are quick to distinguish the two. The bark of the
root of an extensive lacticiferous forest liana, without the admixture of any
other plant material, is subjected to long boiling in order to prepare the
drink. I was not able to see the vine nor to take the drug during my short
stay amongst the Tanimukas, but all information pursuant to my question-
ing was constant. This liana, reported to be rich in latex, might represent an
apocynaceous species, but the problem cannot be solved until extended field
work is carried out with these isolated Indians.
There is evidence that natives of the New World have found psychotropic
activity in plants introduced from the Old World. It has, for exam-
ple, recently been reported that Yaqui medicine men from northern
Mexico employ Genista canari-ensis, the genista of florists, for the purpose of
inducing hallucinations (17), a property that has been experimentally sub-
stantiated. The genus Genista and the closely related Cytisus, in which
Genista canariensis is sometimes included, are extremely rich in alkaloids.
Cytisine, an alkaloid that formed the basis for the former hallucinogenic use
amongst some North American Plains Indians of seeds of the leguminous
Sophora secundiflora {53), has been isolated from leaves and beans of
Genista canariensis.
42
Other Old World plants that may have hallucinogenic uses amongst New
World natives are several species of the labiate genus Colem. Concurrent
to the recent discovery by Wasson in the Mazatec Indian country of Oaxaca,
Mexico, of the utilization of the leaves of Salvia divinorum as a narcotic (63) ,
a similar employment of Coleus putnila and C. Bhimei, both introductions
from the Old World, was reported. The hallucinogenic effects of the Salvia
have been experimentally substantiated, and it has been postulated that
perhaps this plant, native to Mexico, might represent the ancient pipiltzin-
tsintli of the Aztecs. Chemical examination of Salvia divinorum has not as
yet disclosed a psychotropic constituent, and analysis of these two species of
43
Coleibs, at least on the basis of the reputedly hallucinogenic material growing
in southern Mexico, has apparently not been carried out. Other species of
Coleus that are employed in the Old World as folk medicines have, however,
been studied chemically, but no hallucinogenic substances have been reported
from them. There is in Turkestan, nevertheless, another reputedly intoxicat-
ing mint — Lagochilus inebrians (7). The leaves are crushed and mixed with
honey or sugar for ingestion. A physiologically active crystalline principle,
lagochiline — a polyhydric alcohol — has been reported from this species {1,
61)-
Without any doubt, one of the most fascinating and promising possibilities
of adding to our list of hallucinogens has recently been brought to my atten-
tion by one of my former students. Prof. Melvin L. Bristol of the University
of Hawaii, who spent more than a year in ethnobotanical field work in
southern Colombia. It concerns the solanaceous genus Brunfelsia in South
America (57) . A tropical New World genus of about 25 species, Brunfelsia
plays an important role in aboriginal folk medicine in equatorial America.
The fluid extract of one species — Brunfelsia Hopeana — is employed pharma-
ceutically in Brazil as an antidiuretic and antirheumatic. Although atropine-
type alkaloids — ^brunfelsine, manacine and mandragorine — have been re-
ported for Brunfelsia Hopeana^ little if anything is known of the chemistry
of other species {65). The aglycone scopoletine, a coumarine derivative found
in a number of plant families, has also been isolated from Brunfelsia. Conse-
quently, we know that this genus does possess active constituents of very
definite physiological activity.
Evidence for the narcotic use of Brunfelsia is quite real, but it is not yet
corroborated by a good body of field observation. Herbarium records are
very helpful in this instance. There are two collections that indicate the use
of Brunfelsia as a narcotic. One — Tessmann S2Ii3 from eastern Peru — reports
simply that the plant is "a narcotic." The other — Bristol 1361i. from the
Colombia Putumayo — states that the plant is a narcotic and medicinal cul-
tivated in Kofan Indian houseyards. Other collections of this genus from
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Eucador and Peru indicate a broad spectrum of
therapeutic uses ranging from treatment of "yellow fever" to snake bite. Its
commonest use in folk medicine seems to be to relieve "rheumatism." Several
collections indicate that Brunfelsia is toxic. In fact, in the vicinity of Leticia,
a Colombian town on the Amazon River, Brunfelsia maritima {Schultes.,
Raffauf & Soejarto 2Jf.l08) , escaped from cultivation at an abandoned Indian
site on the upper Amazon in Colombia, has been responsible for serious cattle
poisoning. The plant is here referred to as sanango^ which seems to be a
somewhat general term applied in the upper Amazon to several plants with
medicinal or toxic properties.
The Kofan Indians of the westernmost part of the Amazon of Colombia
and Ecuador grow Brunfelsia extensively as an ornamental. They know the
plant as horrachera. a vernacular term in Spanish applied to almost any
kind of intoxicating plant, especially to the species of tree-Daturas, in
Colombia. The Kofan indicate that they become very cold after taking an
infusion of the scraped bark of Brunfelsia. This characteristic of the in-
44
toxication has been reported on herbarium labels of collections from Peru,
and may well explain the wide use of the plant as a supposed febrifuge. One
of my graduate students, Mr. Homer V. Pinkley, who has spent a year living
with the Kof an, reports these medicinal applications of Brunfelsia, but found
no direct evidence that could be interpreted as indicative of its use as an
hallucinogen.
Intensive field work may still uncover a former use of Brunfelsia as an
hallucinogenic agent in the western Amazon or on the eastern slopes of the
Andes of Colombia, Eucador or Peru. But Brunfelsia is a genus that needs
botanical revision and phytochemical investigation. A thorough study could
45
Flowering branch of Brvnfelsia maritima, a medicinal and ornamental plant common
in the western Amazon of Colombia and Ecuador. Rio Aguarico, Ecuador. Photograph
by H. V. Pinkley.
reward us with a clearer picture of this possible aboriginal American hallu-
cinogen. Might its use as an hallucinogen have disappeared? We should
realise that the disappearance of the use of a plant in a given area is
not unknown. A century ago, for example, the sapindaceous caffeine-
stimulant guarana, PauINnia Cupana, was reported by Spruce as cultivated
all the way up the Eio Xegro of Amazonian Brazil and into southern Vene-
zuela (59). I found that it has now almost completely vanished from cultiva-
tion in this region, and the use of the vine as the source of a stimulant is
imknown along the Eio Negro at the present time. Might not the same fate
have happened to the solanaceous genus BrunfeUia?
One of the most interesting enigmas in South America concerns the
question of whether or not the apocynaceous genus Prestonia is or has ever
been used narcotically. The literature is rich in reports, most of them un-
critical and unfounded in field work, that Prestonm amazonica {Haemadic-
tyon amazonicum) is the source of the hallucinogen known as vaje. All man-
ner of confusion has attended this information. Although we believe that we
46
are warranted in asserting that Prestonia is not employed as a narcotic, there
remains enough doubt to justify further field investigation {68). What,
precisely, is the problem ?
It is well established that a strongly hallucinogenic drink known variously,
according to geographic area, as ayahvmca., caapi and yaje is prepared from
one or more species of the malpighiaceous genus Banisteriopsis. Spruce in
BANISTERIOPSIS Caapi
47
1851 first identified the botanical source of this narcotic beverage. He dis-
covered the natives along the upper Rio Negro in Brazil preparing it from a
liana which he called Banisteria Caapi. It is now more appropriately ac-
commodated in a related genus and bears the name Banisteriopsis Gaxipi.
Several years later, he quite correctly identified a similar drink of the western
Amazon of Ecuador, where it was cajled ayahuasca. as coming from the same
species as caapi.
When he discovered caapi in northwestern Brazil and identified it cor-
rectly as a malpighiaceous narcotic, he also meticulously observed that an-
other kind of caapi, known locally as caapi-pinima or "painted caapi," might
be made from "an apocynaceous twiner of the genus Haemadictyon,'''' but he
saw "only young shoots without flowers." "The leaves," he wT-ites, "are of
a shining green, painted with the strong blood-red veins. It is possibly the
same species . . . distributed by Mr. Bentham under the name Haemadict-
yon amazonicum. It may be the caapi-pinima which gives the nauseous taste
to the caapi . . . and it is probably poisonous, but it is not essential to the
narcotic effect of Banisteria . . ." (59). I have consulted Spruce's unpub-
lished handwritten field notes at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and
find his statement that the caapi drink is made from the lower parts of the
stems of Banisteriopsis Caapi "beaten in a mortar with the addition of water
and a small quantity of the slender roots of the Apocynac (apparently a
Haemadictyon) called caapi-pinima . . . ." "May not be the peculiar effects
of the caapi," he queried, "be owing rather to the roots of the Haemadictyon
than to the stems of the Banisteria? The Indians, however, consider the latter
the prime agent, at the same time admitting that the former is an essential
ingredient."
Spruce presumed that this apocynaceous admixture might play a role in
caapi intoxication, but he was not certain. Nor did he make any definite as-
sertions, pointing out cautiously that the malpighiaceous vine alone produces
hallucinogenic effects. It was the French anthropologist Reinberg who, in
1921, without the benefit of voucher botanical specimens, tentatively sug-
gested the possibility that yaje might be prepared from Prestonia or a re-
lated genus . Unfortunately, this suggestion has been taken up, its tenta-
tive nature forgotten or ignored, and is being propagated in technical papers.
While we know that ayahuasca, caapi and yaje are different local names
for the same narcotic drink prepared from the same malpighiaceous plants,
we cannot too lightly dismiss from further ethnobotanical and phytochemical
study this interesting apocynaceous genus Prestonia^ a tropical American
group of some 30 species. It is curious that so little is known about the
chemistry of Prestonia. a member of one of the phytochemically most as-
siduously studied families of plants {39). No alkaloids have as yet appar-
ently been isolated from Prestonia. N, N-dimethyl tryptamine has been re-
ported from '■'■Prestonia amazonica''- {26), but there is every probability
that this analysis, for which no voucher specimen is available, was made on
leaves of a species of Banisteriopsis mistakenly identified through the vernac-
ular name yaje as Prestonia amazonica {58) . The possibility that tliis alleg-
48
Makuna Indian witch doctor under the influence of caapi (Banisteriopsis Caapi). Rio
Popeyaka, Amazonas, Colombia. Photograph by J. Cabo O.
edly poisonous genus may be the source of an hallucinogenic drug makes the
solution of the problem one of both academic and practical urgency.
That there remains much to learn concerning the ayahuasca-capi-yaje
complex was recently emphasised by the discovery of the narcotic use of a
new species of a genus allied to Banisteriopsis: Tetrapterys methystica {47).
49
It was my good fortune in 1948 to witness the preparation of and take a
narcotic drink amongst nomadic Makii Indians along the Rio Tikie in the
Brazilian Amazon. The extremely bitter beverage prepared from this plant
had strong hallucinogenic effects, was yellowish, unlike the coffee-brown
Banisteriopsis preparations. It may represent one of the other "kinds" of
caapi that Spruce reported.
The identification of various admixtures utilized with Banisteriopsis in
preparing the nai'cotic drink repi'esents an interesting and still poorly under-
50
stood ethnobotanical problem {W). In addition to Prestonia^ which may pos-
sibly be added to caapi during preparation of the drink, other plants are
known to be employed in this way in sundry areas, and some of these species
belong to families and genera that have physiologically active constitutents.
It is to be supposed, therefore, that they may alter, sometimes significantly,
the flavour and effects of the narcotic preparation. The Siona of the Colom-
bian Putumayo, for example, add what is probably Datura suaveolens to
Banisteriopsis in making yaje (15). The Ingano Indians of the same area
are said to value Altemanthera Lehmannii as an admixture (-^). I found
that Makuna medicine men of the Rio Popeyaka in eastern Colombia occa-
sionally use a few crushed leaves of the apocynaceous Malouetia Tamaquar-
ina {Jf9). One of my graduate students has recently identified a species of
Psychotria similarly employed by the Kof an Indians of Amazonian Ecuador.
A most interesting anthropological report has recently appeared that enu-
merates five lianas, the barks of which are added to caapi by the Tukano In-
dians of the Brazilian part of the Rio Vaupes ; unfortunately, these plants
are as yet identified only by native names {3). How many other plants may
be used as admixtures throughout the range of use of the South American
malpighiaceous narcotics ?
Now, what about the possibility of new hallucinogens in the Old World
flora? Up to this point, we have concentrated our attention on plants em-
ployed in primitive cultures of the New World. As I have already men-
tioned, the New World seems to be far richer in known hallucinogenic plants
than the Old. The argument that the New World flora might be richer in
plants possessing psychotomimetic principles would be acceptable probably
to few chemotaxonomists, including me. There may be several reasons for
this real discrepancy, but most certainly one might be that Old World cul-
tures as a whole seem, at least upon superficial examination, to be much
less narcotic-conscious, to feel much less the "need" for these agents in
magico-religious rites and in the practice of medicine — and this notwith-
standing the great antiquity and probably original basic significance of nar-
cotics to many Old World religious systems.
There must be an appreciable number of problems in the ethnopharma-
cological search for new hallucinogens in sundry parts of Africa and Asia,
but I must content myself with a brief discussion of only a few potentialities.
What is the famous kanna or channa reported, more than 225 years ago,
as a vision-inducing narcotic of the Hottentots who chewed it and held it in
the mouth, much as the natives of South America employ coca ? The intoxi-
cation is interesting, for "their animal spirits were awakened, their ej^es
sparkled and their faces manifested laughter and gaiety. Thousands of de-
lightsome ideas appeared, and a pleasant jollity which enabled them to be
amused by the simplest jests. By taking the substance to excess, they lost
consciousness and fell into a delirium" {29). The name kanna designates, at
the present time, in South Africa, various species of the aizoaceous genus
Mesembryanthemum. While several species of Mesemhryanthemum are
known to be alkaloidal and to induce a state of torpor when ingested, at least
one investigator {29) doubts that they could produce such startling effects.
51
The ceremonial clay pot in which caapi is prepared and from which it is served. The
pot must hang always under the eaves at the left front corner of the house. Barasana
Indians, Rio Piraparana, Vaupes, Colombia. Photograph by R. E. Schultes.
He has suggested that the plant in question might have been Cannabis sativa^
pointing out, the while, that other plants, like the anacardiaceous Sclerocarya
Oajfra, are employed in South Africa for their intoxicating effects. Here is
an area where, because the inroads of civilisation have not been unduly
drastic, ethnobotanical field investigation might be extremely productive.
Another Old World genus employed for its narcotic properties is the
rubiaceous Mitragyna. Mitragyna speciosa seems to be the species most com-
monly used in southeastern Asia, especially in Siam, where the leaves are
chewed alone or mixed with the betel quid or else prepared for smoking like
opium {26). It was first reported as a substitute for opium apparently in
1836, and has cropped up constantly in the literature since that time {8) .
The use of Mitragyna is said now to be legally proscribed in Siam.
So much chemical attention has been given to Mitragyna in recent years
(5, Jfi) that the problems and potentialities offered by this genus are well
52
known. It might, however, be extremely helpful if we knew as much about its
use amongst the natives.
Passing mention should further be made of two Old World plants known
to possess hallucinogenic principles, but the narcotic use of which by native
peoples for intoxication is not well documented. One of these is Peganum
Harmala {14),^ rather enigmatic plant that has been placed in the Rutaceae,
although now it seems more properly located in the Zygophyllaceae. This
species, native in North Africa, the Balkans and from Asia Minor west to
China and India, is known to be toxic {6) , to contain the alkaloids harmaline
and harmine (the same constituents found in Banisteriopsis) , and may have,
in addition, a "narcotic hasheesh-like alkaloid" {6) . Although the seeds of
Peganum Harmala have proven narcotic properties and figure extensively in
folk medicine, going back to the time of Dioscorides, I find no direct refer-
ences to its religious or hedonistic use as an hallucinogen {37). That it may
be so employed in Asia or Africa should not be ruled out of our thinking.
Another similarly interesting narcotic is iboga of the wet tropical forests
of West Africa, especially of the Congo — the apocynaceous Tahernanthe
Ihoga {61). Its chemistry is relatively well known, with at least 12 active
alkaloids reported, the principal one of which — ibogaine — has effects similar
to that of cocaine {6€) . In high doses, it causes nervous excitement, mental
confusion, a general state of drunkenness and is a true hallucinogenic agent
{J^J^) . While it has been valued as a medicine and possibly also as an halluci-
nogen in primitive societies of West Africa, it is not clear that its use as a
vision-inducing narcotic was extensive. Ethnobotanical field work is once
again indicated.
There have been vague references to the zingiberaceous Kaemfferia
Galanga., to which the natives of several parts of New Guinea attribute hal-
lucinogenic properties (^). We know, in fact, nothing about the psycho-
tomimetic use of this genus, nor of its chemical constituents.
The role of mushrooms in the so-called "mushroom madness" of the Kuma
people of the Wagti Valley in New Guinea has been, and still is, puzzling. A
species of Russula has been suggested as the psychotropic agent that suddenly
causes individuals or groups to go berserk. Even though the "natives attrib-
uted their extraordinary behaviors to mushrooms, several species of Boletus.,
Russula and Heimiella — or at least most of them — do not seem to cause
physiological effects leading to madness." {2^) . I am convinced that much
more field work must be done in this fascinating part of the world.
Undoubtedly the greatest enigma in the field of the hallucinogens has
been the identity of soma {61). Some 3,500 years ago, a people Avho called
themselves Aryans, who were the first so to style themselves and who had
a right to the name, swept down from the north into the Indus Valley of
India. They brought with them the cult of a sacred plant, called soma. They
deified the plant and Avorshipped it, extracting its juice and drinking it.
They composed more than one thousand hymns about it, and these have come
down to us intact.
53
What was soma? No one knows at the present time. For more than two
thousand years, its identity has been clouded in a mystery. For some un-
explained reason, the Aryans abandoned the original plant soon after they
arrived in their new home, and its identity was forgotten. Other plants took
its place as substitutes — plants chosen for reasons other than the psychic
effects which, in the case of the substitutes, seem to have been non-existent.
Western civilization discovered the enigma of soma about a century and
a half ago when it began to learn about the cultural wealth that India had
to offer to the world. Since then, more than a hundred species have been
suggested as the source of the original soma, but none of the suggestions
has won acceptance. Amongst these, the principal contenders were numerous
species of Ephedra, Periploca and Sarcostemma: the first genus a gymno-
sperm ; the last two asclepiadaceous genera ; but all similar in being vine-like,
fleshy, leafless or almost leafless desert plants.
For some years now, Wasson has devoted full time to a deep study of the
historical, literary and ethnobotanical records concerning soma. He has spent
several years in the Far East and much time in European university centers
and libraries. We are justified in stating, I believe, that never has greater
thoroughness and meticulous scholarship gone into the enigma of soma, for
Wasson's avenues of ethnobotanical research have been ingeniously devious
and complex. "When I first approached the problem in 1963," he {63) wrote,
"I could hardly believe what I found ... a clear-cut botanical question — a
psychotropic plant that calls for identification. The clews should be in the
Vedic hymns . . . True, the poems contain no botanical description . . . for
those remote singers were not modern botanists . . . they were writing for
contemporaries . . . and their imagery and terms often elude our under-
standing . . . But the hymns are all shot through with soma, and about 120
of them are entirely devoted to the plant-god. Was it possible that so much
could have been written about a plant, over centuries . . . and its identity not
revealed ? It was no secret for the poet-priests. How extraordinary it would
have been if all of them . . . had withheld from their verses the revealing
descriptive terms, the tell-tale metaphors, that the trained reader today
needs to spot the plant ! But this did not happen. All that has happened is
that no ethnobotanist with an interest in psychotropic plants has applied
himself to an examination of the texts."
To this age-old enigma, Wasson has suggested a solution: that the true
soma was a mushroom, the fly agaric, Amanita rrvuscaria, the same mushroom
used narcotically today by certain natives in Siberia. All of the many intri-
cately interlocking pieces of indirect evidence gleaned from the Vedic hymns
seems to fit in with this clever suggestion so well that Wasson has asked :
"Could any key unlock this combination save the fly agaric?" He is now
engaged in writing his conclusions and, in view of his contributions to our
knowledge of the sacred Mexican mushrooms, of the narcotic morning-
glories and of the new hallucinogenic Salvia, of Mexico, we await the comple-
tion of his fascinating study with great anticipation.
54
Guidelines for the Future
The ethnobotanist, especially in his ethnopharmacologic search for hal-
lucinogenic plants, is confronted with these and many more problems through-
out the world. Faced with the ever more rapid disintegration of primitive
societies and an extraordinary dearth of trained ethnobotanists, science
would seem to be doomed to lose. The outlook, however, may not be so dour.
Specialists in those fields upon which ethnobotany impinges are experiencing
a growing realization of the potentialities of the interdisciplinary approach
that ethnobotany affords. There is growing interest in ethnobotanical
research amongst younger men going into botanical, anthropological and
pharmacological fields. Some of the most startling scientific advances of the
past twenty years have been made in various branches of ethnobotany. The
future should, therefore, solidly be ours, and our trust must be to prevent
its slipping from us.
It might here be appropriate to end with the words of Harshberger, author
of the term ethnobotany^ who wrote: "It is of importance ... to seek out
these primitive races and ascertain the plants which they have found avail-
able in their economic life, in order that perchance the valuable properties
they have utilized in their wild life may fill some vacant niche in our own."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1) Abeamov, M. M. "The isolation of lagochilin" [English transl.] Journ. Appl. Ohem.
USSR, 30 (1957 ) 691.
(2) AcKEKKNECHT, Erwin H. "Medical practices" in Handbook of South American
Indians, Bur. Am. Ethnol. Bull. 143, Vol. 5 (1949 ) 621.
(3) Alves da iSflva, Aloionilio BRxjzzi. "A tivilizacao indigena do Uaupes" (1962)
228.
(4) Bakrau, Jacques. "Observations et travaux recents sur les vegetaux hallucl-
nog^nes de la Nouvelle-Guinee" Joum. Agr. Trop. Bot. Appl. 9 (1962 ) 245.
(5) Beckett, A. H., E. J. Shellard, J. D. Phillipson and C. M. Lee. "Alkaloids from
Mitragyna speciosa (Korth.)" Journ. Pharm. Pharmacol. 17 (1965 ) 753.
(6) Black, W. L. and K. W. Parker. "Toxicity tests on African rue (Peganum
harmala L.)" N. Mex. Arg. Expt. Sta. Bull. 240 (1936).
(7) Bunge, a. "Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Flor Russlands und der Steppen Central-
Asiens" Mem. 'Sav. Etr. Petersb. 7 (1S47 ) 438.
(8) BuRKHiLL, I. H. "A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula"
2 (1935) 1480.
(9) Castetter, Edward F. "The domain of ethnobiology" Am. Nat. 78 (1944) 158.
{10) Chantre t Herrera, Jos6. "Historia de las misiones de la Compania de Jesus en
el Maranon espafiol . . . 1637-1737" (1901) 85.
(11) Cooper, John M. "Stimulants and narcotics" in Handbook of South American
Indians, Bur. Am. Ethnol. Bull. 143, Vol. 5 (1949) 525.
(12) 'Cruz Sanchez, G. "Farmacologia de Opuntia cylindrical Rev. Farm. Med Exper. 1
(1948) 143.
(13) Cruz Sanchez, G. "Aplicaciones populares de la cimora en el norte del Peru" Rev.
Farm. Med Exper. 1 (1948 ) 253.
(llf) Dayton, Wiixam A. "Notes on harmel or ""Syrian rue' " Joum. Wash. Acad. Sci.
27 (1937 ) 349.
55
(15) T>^. '^•L'J'TT A, Pt iniDo. "Apuntes sobre los indios Sionas del Putumayo" Antliroi)os
35-35 (1944 ) 749.
(16) Dee Marderosian, Ara. "Current status of hallucinogens in the Cactaceae" Am.
Journ. Pharm. 138 (1966) 1.
(17) Fadiman, J. "Genista canariensis — a minor psychedelic" Econ. Bot. 19 (1965 ) 383.
(18) Friedberg, Claudime. "Rapport sommaire sur une mission au Peru" Journ. Agric.
Trop. Bot. Appl. 6 (1959 ) 439.
(19) Friedberg, Claudine. "Des Banisteriopsis utilises comme drogue en Amerique
du Sud." Journ. Agr : Trop. Bot. Appl. 12 (1965) 403^37, 550-594, 729-780.
(20) GoN'-ATVPci \)v Ltma. Oswat.do. "Ob«ervaooes sobre o 'vinho de Jurema' utilizado
pelos indios Pancaru de Tacaratu (Pernambueo)" Arqu. Instit. Pesqu. Agron.
4 (1946) 45.
(21) GuTifiRREZ-NoRiEGA, Carlos. "Area de mesealinismo en el Peru" America Ind. 10
(1950 ) 215.
(22) Gutierrez-Noriega and G. Cruz Sanchez. "Alteraciones men tales producidas por
la Opimtia oylindrica" Rev. Neuro-Psiqu. 10 (1947 ) 422.
(23) Harshberger, J. W. "The purposes of ethno-botany" Bot. Gaz. 21 (1896) 146.
(24) Heim, Roger and R. Gordon Wasson. "The 'mushroom madness' of the Kuma"
Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 21 (1965) 1.
(25) HocHSTEiN, F. A. and A. M. Paradies. "Alkaloids of Banisteria caapi and Prestowia
amazonica" Journ. Am. Chem. 'Soc. 79 (1957 ) 5735.
(26) Hooper, D. "The anti-opium leaf" Pharm. Journ. 78 (1907) 453.
(21) Jones, Volney H. "The nature and status of ethnohotany" Chron. Bot. 6 (1941)
219.
(28) Karsten, R. "Headhunters of eastern Ecuador" (1935) 174, 380.
(29) Lbwin, Louis. "'Phantastica — die betaubenden und erregenden Genussmittel"
(1924).
(30) LowiE, Robert H. "The Cariri" in Handbook of South American Indians, Bur.
Am. Ethnol. Bull. 143, Vol. 1 (1946 ) 558.
(31) LowiE, Robert H. "The Pancarani" in Handbook of South American Indians, Bur.
Am. Ethnol. Bull. 143, Vol. 1 (1946) 561.
(32) Lumholtz, Carl. "Unknown Mexico" (1902) 356.
(33) McLaughlin, J. J. and A. G. Paul. "The cactus alkaloids I. Identification of N-
methylated tyramine derivatives in Lophophora Williamsii" Lloydia 29 (1966)
315.
(34) Metraux, Alfred. "The social organization and religion of the Mojo and Manasi"
Prim. Man 16 (1943) 1.
(35) Metraux, Alfred. "Tribes of eastern Bolivia and the Madeira headwaters" in
Handbook of South American Indians, Bur. Am. Ethnol, Bull. 143, Vol. 3 (1948)
423.
(36) Pachter, I. J., D. E. Zacharias and O. Ribeiro, "Indole alkaloids of Acer saccha-
rinum . . ., DiotyoToma, incane'cens, Piptadenia colubritia and Mimosa hostilis"
Journ. Org. Chem. 24 (1959) 1285.
(37) Porter, Duncan M. "The taxonomic and economic uses of Peganum (Zygophyl-
laceae) " Unpubl. ms. (1962) .
(38) Powers, Stephen. Cal. Acad. Sci. Proc. 5 (1873-74) 373.
(39) Baffauf, Robert F. and M. B. Flagler. "Alkaloids of the Apocynaceae" Econ. Bot.
14 (1960 ) 37.
(40) Raymond-Hamet and L. Millat. "Les 'Mitragyna' et leurs alcoloides" Bull. Sci.
Pharmacol. 40 (1933) 593.
(41) Reinburg, P. "Contribution a I'^tude des boissons toxiques des indiens du Nord-
ouest de I'Amazone, I'ayahuasca, le yaj6, le huanto" Journ. Soc. Amer. Paris, n.s.,
13 (1921) 25-54,197-216.
(42) Robbins, W. W., J. P. Harrington and B. Freire-Marreco. Bur. Am. Ethnol. Bull.
No. 55 (1916) 1.
56
Roth, E. E. "An introductory study of the arts, crafts and customs of the Guiana
Indians" 38th Ann. Rept. Bur. Am. Ethnol. 1916-17 (1924) 25.
Schneider, J. A. and E. B. Sigg. "Neuropharmacological studies on ibogaine, an
indole alkaloid with central stimulant properties" Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 66 (1957)
765.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "Peyote (Lophophora Williaimii) and plants confused
with it" Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 5 (1937) 61.
ScHULTES, Richaed Evans. "La etnobotanica : su alcance y sus objetos" Galdasia
No. 3 (1941) 7.
ScHTjLTES, Richard Evans. "Plantae Austro-Americanae IX. Plantarum novarum
vel notabilium notae diversae" Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 16 (1954) 202.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "A new narcotic snufE from the northwest Amazon"
Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 16 (1954) 241.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "The identity of the malpighiaceous narcotics of South
America" Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 18 (1957) 1.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "Native narcotics of the New World" Texas Journ.
Pharm.2 (1961) 141.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "Tapping our heritage of ethnobotanical lore" Chem.
Dig. 20 (1961) 10 ; Econ. Bot. 14 (1961) 257.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "The role of the ethnobotanist in the search for new
medicinal plants" Lloydia 25 (1962) 257.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "Botanical sources of the New World narcotics"
Psyched. Rev. 1 (1963) 145.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "Hallucinogenic plants of the New World" Harvard
Rev. 1 (1963) 18.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "The widening panorama in medical botany" Rhodora
65 (1963) 97.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. "Ein halbes Jahrhundert Ethnobotanik amerikanescher
Halluzinogene" Planta Medica 13 (1965) 125.
Sohultes, Richard Evans. "The search for new natural hallucinogens" Lloydia 29
(1966) 293.
Sohultes, Richard Evans and Robert F. Raffauf. "Prestonia — an Amazon nar-
cotic or not?" Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 19 (1960) 109-122.
Spruce, Richard. "Notes of a botanist on the Amazon and Andes" Ed. A. R. Wallace
2 (1908) 413 ff. The MacMillon Company, London.
Steinmetz, E. F. "Tabemanthe Iboga radix" Quart. Joum. Crude Drug Res. 1
(1961) 30.
Tyler, Vaero E., Jr. "The physiological properties and chemical constituents of
some habit-forming plants" Lloydia 29 (1966) 275.
Vestal, Paul A. and Richard Evans Schultes. "The economic botany of the Kiowa
Indians as it relates to the history of the tribe" ( 1939 ) .
Wasson, R. Gordon. "A new Mexican psychotropic drug from the Mint Family"
Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 20 (1962) 77.
Wasson, R. Gordon. "Soma : divine mushroom of immortality" Unpubl. ms. (1966).
Address presented at Peabody Museum Centennial Symposium, Yale Univ., July
14, 1966.
Witt. A MAN, J. J. and Bernice G. Schubert. "Alkaloid-bearing plants and their
contained alkaloids" Teen. Bull. No. 1234, U.S.D.A. (1961).
262-016 0-67— 6
57
Empiricism and Magic in Aztec
Pharmacology
Efren C. del Pozo
Instituto de E studios Medicos y Biologicos
National University of Mexico
Indigenous pharmacology is always based on empiricism ; however, magic
procedures and religious ceremonies are often mixed in medical use. When
a plant has been found to produce marked physiological effects it is likely
than an explanation for those properties is to be looked for according to the
substratum culture of the particular ethnic group.
That has been the case for coca, "the divine plant of the Incas" ; for peyotl,
"divine messenger"; teonanacatl, "God's flesh." These examples show that
the magic or religious associations could not be taken as evidence of lack of
empirical knowledge. Many times a plant used by medicine-men or priests
has been found to be an active pharmaco.
However, the astronomical number of plants, minerals and animals used
in popular medicine prescribed by all sorts of medicine men, herb-vendors,
magicians, shamen, or used directly by the people, prevents an indiscriminate
study of all this materia medica.
An ethnoiatric study (i) from the standpoints of social, historical, reli-
gious and philosophical contexts, is required for the evaluation of the medical
uses of a community. Moreover, even for pharmacology, an extensive knowl-
edge of the socio-cultural background and environment of a tribe is needed
for understanding the orientation and purposes in the use of a drug.
The case of Azetc pharmacology is a very peculiar one. A brief history
of Aztec civilization will help to evaluate the problem :
The Aztecs were a nomadic and primitive group that arrived in the Mexi-
can Valley only two hundred years before the Spanish Conquest. They had
been conducted and governed by a witch called M alinalxochitl, and later on
by a warrior, Huitzilopochtli. They encountered in the Valley of Mexico
human groups, the Nahuas, of much higher cultural development and with a
religion based on spiritual values inspired by the great Quetzalcoatl, a god or
perhaps a man full of wisdom, who gave to the Toltecs codes of ethics and
love for art and science. All the Nahua groups settled in the Valley of Mexico,
inheritors of the old Toltec civilization already disappeared, had a great
veneration for Quetzalcoatl, god and man, father of knowledge and morals.
Human sacrifices, the horror of Aztec Society, were not practiced among the
N ahuas before the Aztec arrival {2) .
The incongruity of a well-advanced culture with high moral principles as
taught by the Calmecac or Aztec College, and brutal ritual butcheries, are
to be explained by the merger of two different thoughts. One, the Toltec,
spiritual and learned; the other, the original Aztec, magical, bellicose and
59
One of the multiple representations of Quetzalcoatl (Codex Borbonicus).
imperialistic. The Aztecs brought under their command all the Nahuatl
groups through wars, treachery and terror, but took advantage of all the
knowledge and cultural development of the conquered nations. They adopted
the Quetzalcoatl title for their highest priest, paid devotion to Quetzalcoatl
teachings and myths, and kept great respect for Toltec traditions {3) .
Sahagun, the most eminent Spanish priest who studied the Mexican culture
in the XVI Century, said with regard to the Toltecs : "They had great ex-
perience and knowledge : They knew the quality and virtues of the herbs, and
they left marked and known those that nowadays are used for healing, be-
cause they were also physicians and essentially the first in this art. . . . They
were the first inventors of medicine ... So able were they in natural
astrology . . . that they were the first to count the number of days in a
year . . . They invented the art of interpretation of dreams, and were so
learned and wise that they knew the stars of the sky, had named them and
knew their influences and qualities. They also knew the movements of the
skies through knowledge of the stars . . . The said Toltecs were good men
and lovers of virtue ..." (4).
60
When in 1519 the Spanish Conquerors arrived in Mexico they found a large
number of nations or tribes under the tyrannical rule of Tenochtitlan
Emperor. They were forced to pay heavy and growing tributes, and very
often to provide human beings for the continuous sacrificial ceremonies at
the Aztec capital. These sacrifices sometimes reached the incredible number
of several tens of thousands of human beings, according to several Spanish
chroniclers. No wonder that Cortes and their men easily found allies among
those subjugated people, who candidly thought they would obtain their
freedom.
The fall of the Aztec empire to a handful of Spanish adventurers was
also helped by the magic-minded Moctezuma, who had a series of dreams and
other warnings about the imminent return of Quetzalcoatl.
The complexity of Mexican culture was greatly increased by the arrival
of the Spaniards who brought about movements of tribes, displacement of
towns, mixtures of people, and emigrations. Terrible wars, destructions of
cultural centers, persecution of all people representative of old beliefs and
religious and magical practices, were systematically carried out in order to
annihilate the influence of the devils. The new religion and the European
concept of the world were enforced.
Xochipilli {Magliabechi 23)
Representation of Xochipilli, god of flowers, joy and love (Codex Magliabechi) .
61
Hommage to Cortes, the Spanish Conqueror, at the time of his arrival. (Lienzo
Tlaxcala) .
Aztec medicine, as every other field of that culture, was shaken by the
arrival of the European conquerors. The most distinguished people who
ordinarily set the standards and regulations for the practice of any profes-
sion, were killed or removed. The Aztec priests, the most learned people
trained at the Galmacac^ were also killed or prosecuted, and the officers and
distinguished representatives of every civilian activity were deposed. All
people practicing medicine or any art of healing had to work at their maxi-
mal capacity trying to help the thousands and thousands of wounded, in-
jured and sick all over the destroyed towns. Devastating epidemics followed
the fall of the Aztec civilization. All books containing their knowledge and
tradition in every field were systematically burnt.
Fortunately, the most learned Spanish priests who came to evangelize, had
a great need of knowledge of the indigenous "superstitions" to enable them-
selves to prosecute evil and indoctrinate in the new faith. They went deep
into a thorough study of indigenous rites, gods, religions, history, knowledge
and morals of the newly conquered people. They learned the native languages
and wrote dictionaries and grammars to assist the ordinary priests in their
catechization work.
Some of them became seriously interested in the real value of mexican
civilization, and developed extensive studies to obtain data and information
62
about every aspect of those cultures. The most distinguished of them, Fray
Bernardino de Sahagun, was a true pioneer in the use of scientific methods
for ethnological research. He obtained reports from groups of well-selected
informers, specialists in every field, and kept protocols in Nahuatl of their
statements. He wrote his well-known "General History of Things of New
Spain" (4) based on that data. However, only recently have his protocols
received attention, and are being translated from Nahuatl into Spanish
(5) and English (6) .
Another important fact to be mentioned in order to evaluate the informa-
tion tlM has reached us is the establishment in 1536 of the Colegio of Santa
Cruz de Tlatelolco, which was founded with the purpose of indoctrination
in European culture of the potentially dangerous youngsters descending
from the previously ruling class. These students became very valuable as-
sistants to Father Sahagun and other priests, and even reached positions
as lecturers in their own College. We certainly know that one of them, Juan
Badiano, was a teacher of Latin and translated the only book of medicine
we have that was written directly by an Aztec physician, Martin de la Cruz.
It is evident that Aztec pharmacology at the beginning of the XVI
Century had reached an important degree of development: The multiple
and well-kept botanical gardens mainly devoted to growing medicinal plants
were known and admired not only by Cortes and his soldiers, but by botanists
and physicians. Francisco Hernandez, physician to Philip II, collected,
described and assayed, numerous plants from those gardens, particularly
from the one at Oaxtepec (7).
The discovery of the medicinal properties of those plants was undoubtedly
empirical. Contemporaneous chroniclers report that at those botanical
gardens the plants were given free to the patients, under the condition that
they would inform about the results. In addition to this example of in-
stitutional research, we have evidence that the professions of physician and
The conquerors receive assistance from local Indians for the transportation of all sort
of materials, At right lower angle is shown an example of the means used to obtain
cooperation (Lienzo de Tlaxcala).
63
herb-vendor were practiced by individuals other than those devoted to sor-
cery, magic, witchcraft and religion. We are aware that active plants, mainly
those with hallucinatory properties, were used by sorcerers and priests
together with their own paraphernalia.
It is a difficult matter to say what part is played by the pharmacodynamic
action of a drug, and what is due to suggestion, when psychological proce-
dures are added. The test of healing has always been poor evidence of
efficacy. However, in a long run, a conclusion based on repeated experience
may be reached.
The plants used in Aztec medicine are mentioned in several chronicles, but
ordinarily only the names are given and these in the Nahuatl language. In
the case of the Cruz-Badiano manuscript, wonderful color illustrations were
added in order to help the European people identify the plants, but even
with this data, botanical identification has been difficult. After four and a
half Centuries many of the plants contained in the materia medica of the
Aztecs remain unknown.
Some authors (8) have thought that Sahagun and other chroniclers gave
a too rationalistic idea of Aztec medicine because they tried with the
European rationalistic mind to adjust what they saw to what they knew.
However, remember that we have the almost verbatim protocols recorded
in Nahuatl by Sahagun and his mexican assistants, which in this matter coin-
cide with his writings. We believe that these protocols contain an almost
literal transcription of the answers given by the informants because, written
in Nahuatl, they maintain the peculiar repetitive structure of that language.
Series of adjectives, verbs or phrases, one after another, make clear or em-
phasize the concepts. That style appears in the protocols but not in Sahagun
History.
In order to have examples of XVI century European "rationality'" in this
matter, a few quotations may be useful :
"Thieves knew very well of enchantement, with which they used to deaden
or made to faint the dwellers of a house, and then stole everything to be found,
and even with his enchantments took out the barn and carried it on his
back ..." (Sahagun) {4).
The enchantments and carrying of barns do not appear in the informants
texts, which means that this data is the responsibility of the writer.
"I was called to confess an indian woman . . . because she was dying from
a flux of blood by mouth. ... I had a piece of bone of the Saint and Vener-
able Gregorio Lopez ... in a spoon of water I gave her to drink a little
of the bone . . . and as soon as she drank it, she felt relief. . . ." (de la Ser-
na) {9).
"There are also some stones called eztetl which means stone of blood . . .
I had experience of the virtue of this stone because I have one as big as a fist
or a little less ... in this year of 1576 during this pestilence it has given life
to many whose blood and life were going out from his nose. Taking it (the
stone) in their hand and liaving it for some time the bleeding stopped and
they recovered from this disease from which many have died and are dying in
64
all this New Spain. There are many witnesses in this town of Tlatilulco of St.
James" (Sahagun) {4)-
Undoubtedly in order to judge the Aztec medicine in its entirety it is re-
quired to try to understand the cultural and religious atmosphere of that
people living under exceptional conditions of anguish. Their own blood was
required to keep the sun shining, everything was under the influence of exact-
ing gods and thousands of major and minor priests were interpreters of the
holy designs. Diseases, particularly when chronic, grave or epidemic, were
considered as divine punishments for the group or the individual because of
deviations from the strict rules of behaviour.
But religious, magical and other psychological methods were also used in
order to solve ailments that had not responded to ordinary treatments. Un-
der the circumstances described by Sahagun, one is inclined to believe in the
effectiveness of his large stone estetl, to stop epistaxis when that exceptional
mineral was held into the tightly closed hand of the patient. The emotional
liberation of epinephrine could explain that effect.
Sorcerers and priests used to give to patients and drink themselves ololiuh-
qui and mushrooms to produce hallucinations which would give them leads
about the origin of a disease and the way to cure it.
All these facts could give the impression of an impenetrable mixture of
magic, religion and empiricism in Aztec therapeutics, but that would be the
case if we put together all the resources that present day people many times
put in action when they suffer a grave or incurable disease.
Sometimes it is very difficult to decide if a practice is rational or magic, be-
cause there is interaction of procedures and influences. The use of amulets,
stones, relics, conjures, is not magic any more when they are heavily charged
of psychological meaning or had established conditioned reflexes.
Even the classical magician technics based on the use of music (melo-
therapy), odors (osmotherapy), colors (chromotherapy), dances, cabalistic
words and phrases (versotherapy), are not to be disregarded as baseless.
Those methods represent sensorial stimulations that could provoke favourable
neuro-endocrine reactions.
If we fix our attention to pharmacology the problem has to be envisioned in
a different way. It does not matter if a pharmaco has been used by a physician,
a sorcerer, a witch or a medicine-man, if we have some evidence of a definite
effect.
We know that Aztec pharmacology was based mainly in the use of plants
selected by a long empirical testing. Present day laboratory assay has con-
firmed the activity of many of them. We are now interested in psycoactive
drugs. The Aztecs gave us teonanacatl, peyotl, ololiuhqui, piecetl, toloatzin,
already attested in their activity. There are others that have to be studied. We
need no proofs that the action of those plants was discovered by empiricism.
We would be magic minded if we would suggest that they had reached the
hands of the sorcerers by supranatural inspiration. We have no reason for
any doubt on what the XVI Century chroniclers tell us about the well trained
Aztec physicians with an extensive knowledge of medicinal plants and long
experience in diagnosis and treatments. Sahagun said very clearly that they
65
would not use sorcery and gives names of every one of the members of the
group that he selected as informants for the chapters on medicine and related
subjects of his History : "This relation given above of the medicinal herbs
and the other medicinal things above contained was given by the physicians
of Tlatilulco, James, old and very experienced in those things of Medicine ;
all of them are in general practice. The names of them and of the amanuensis
that wrote it are the following, who, because they did not know how to write,
begged the amanuensis to put their names: Gaspar Matias, neighbour of
Concepcion, Pedro de Santiago, neighbour of Santa Ines, Francisco Simon
and Miguel Damian, neighbours of Saint Toribio, Felipe Hernandez neigh-
bour of Santa Ana; Pedro de Requena, neighbour of Concepcion, Miguel
Garcia, neighbour of Saint Toribio, and Miguel Motolina, neighbour of
Santa Ines".
It is surprising that Martin de la Cruz was not among them. He was
the physician at Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, Sahagun's beloved College; he
wrote the book on the medicinal herbs of the Indians that was translated into
latin by Juan Badiano. He could have been absent or dead, but we can
not explain the fact that Sahagun does not mention the exceptional and
wonderful book written on a subject he was studying at that time and
when he refers in extenso to that School.
In a study of mine included in our recent edition of the Martin de la
Cruz and Juan Badiano book, I discussed this strange fact and arrived
at the conclusion that Sahagun might have considered Martin de la Cruz
already under the influence of European medicine. In fact, many signs
could be found of that contamination, mainly the names of diseases, the
pharmaceutical mixtures and even the presence of a reference to Pliny {10).
It is a pity that the only book on medicinal plants written by an Aztec
physician has to be read with a critical eye, because of European influences.
It is interesting to note that ololiuhqui, peyotl and teonanacatl do not
appear in the book, either because the use of them was exclusive for sorcerers
or because of church censorship. On the other hand, many prescriptions
that seem magical because they contain strange substances, now known
inert, only means pharmacological mistakes. Lack of activity does not
show absence of rationality in the use. Magic implies the performance of
acts, pronunciation of words in presence of particular objects, from which
only the magician or wizard is capable of managing to produce the effect {1).
Nothing of that sort appears in the book : medicines could be used by anybody
without devices or spells for supernatural powers {11)-
Magical practices in Aztec society had their own fields and practi-
tioners: sorcerers, necromancers, witches and magicians. However, there
are no records of true shamans as defined by Mircea Eliade (-?^), that is
with techniques for ecstasy and initiation ceremonies as practiced in Siberia.
Sahagun had left us the description of several of those professions : "The
naonlli is properly called sorcerer; he frightens men and sucks blood from
children during the night" (.^). "The necromantic [tlacateculutl) has a
pact with devil ; he transforms himself into different animals, and because
66
MARTIN DE LA CRUZ
LIBELLUS DE MEDICINALIBUS
INDORUM HERBIS
MANUSCRITO AZTBCA DB 1552
Segiin traduccidn latim de
JUAN BADIANO
VERSION ESPANOLA CON ESTUDIOS
Y COMENTARIOS POR DIVERSOS AUTORES
INSTITUTO MEXICANO DEL SEGURO SOCIAL
MEXICO
1964
Title page of the recent edition of Martin de la Cruz' book (Institute Mexicano del
Seguro Social, Mexico, 1964).
of hatred wishes death for others, using sorcery and many charms against
them." {J^) .
The same Sahagun refers to the ticitl or physicain in a very different
way: "The physician (ticitl) used to cure diseases and restore health; the
good physician is a knower of herbs, stones, trees and roots, experienced in
67
Folio 3S V. of Martin de la Cruz manuscript. Notice the Aztec representation of stone
''tetV in the roots of five of these plants.
cures. He also has the profession of knowing liow to set bones of people,
to purge thern. bleed them, to make incisions in them, to sew the wounds
and to free people from the doors of death. The bad physician because he
is not able, ha place of curing the patients, worsens them with his potions.
At times he uses sorceries and superstitions to make believe that he makes
good cures"" (4) .
All precoltmibian codices were intentionally destroyed, but we should
remember that because of the lack of a true written language those documents
were only guides for learned people, usually trained at the Cahnecac who
memorized the traditions, history and knowledge of that people. The destruc-
68
tion of that material, temples, sculptures, and every testimony of that cul-
ture, was thoroughly carried out for many years with all the zeal of the
most fanatical epoch in the history of Spain. The Holy Inquisition soon was
prosecuting any man denounced because of keeping in his house objects
corresponding to superstition, witchcraft, rites, gods, idolatries and other
uses of gentilism (13).
After the Conquest everything related to Aztec culture went underground
and declined. When the leading representatives of pre-hispanic medicine
were dead or had disappeared, it is natural to suppose that the standards of
general practice would deteriorate. XVII Century descriptions of medical
practices do not correspond to what had been said a Century before.
This shows the fundamental mistake of people who pretend to draw
conclusions about Aztec pharmacology by studying the practices of present
day Indian communities. Today, Nahuatl groups live in extreme poverty in
"refuge localities" far away from civilization; they live in ignorance and
poor health. These degenerated vestiges of the Aztecs retain no inheritance
from their glorious ancestors. Four centuries of isolation and neglect have
left the people without most of the values of their culture ; even their physical
condition has been affected.
Nobody could expect to obtain from them astronomical or mathematical
data, nor to find the marvelous sculptors and architects that left us impressive
evidence of their inspiration. However there are investigators who pretend to
judge Aztec medicine or pharmacology from the present practices in these
deteriorated groups.
Ethnopharmacologic research in Mexico has a great work ahead for
exploration of the Nahuatl knowledge and experience with plants. Many
writings have not been studied thoroughly. There are documents that have
not been translated or interpreted. A great number of plants described under
Nahuatl names have not been botanically identified. Some of them, painted
with colors in the Cruz-Badiano manuscript, have escaped classification.
Botanical Imowledge was advanced among the Aztecs. They had made
groups of plants according to morphology, size, structure, fruits and their
uses m)- Medicinal plants was one of those groups, but the system allowed
having many different plants with the same name. Hernandez used to add
to the Nahuatl name of the plant the name of the nearest town where that
specimen had been collected (7) . The color paintings obtained by Hernandez
would have helped for identification, but they were lost in the fire of the
Escorial library in 1671. The drawings published in black in the Lincei edition
of the New Spain Thesaurus (15) were redrawn from the originals (16).
These figures were used again for our recent first complete edition of Hernan-
dez Natural History (7) .
A great many of the plants described by Hernandez have not been identified,
and now collecting expeditions are planned in order to follow Hernandez'
routes in Mexico. It is expected that fresh specimens will allow identification
of some of the species described by the Spanish physician in the XVI
Century.
69
FRANCISCO HERNAnDEZ
Protomedico e HistorinJor del Key de Espaiiii,
Don Felipe II, en Im bidias Occidentales,
Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano
OBRAS COMPLETAS
TOMO II
*
HISTORIA NATURAL DE NUEVA ESPANA
VOLUMEN I
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE MEXICO
1959
Title page of Volume 1 of the recent edition of Hernandez "Natural History of New Spain"
(Universidad Nacional de Mexico, Mexico 1959) .
70
Looking for an orientation to pick out active plants used in Aztec medicine
we compared different reliable reports. We thought correlation would indicate
reputation or general use of the plant. However the results did not justify our
premises :
Sahagun mentions in his History 123 medicinal plants and only 86 of them
appear in the texts of his informants. This means that he made a rigorous
selection and that he used other sources of information that we do not know.
The comparison of his protocols kept in Madrid and Florence libraries,
showed only 78 plants in common. Of a total of 225 different plants in those
texts, 163 appear in the first and 140 in the second. This is new proof of the
differences between both manuscripts {10) .
When we compared the botanical content of the materia medica in the
Cruz-Badiano book, we discovered the surprising fact that among 251 plants
mentioned there are only 15 of those included by Sahagun in his History.
However, 14 more appear in the Informants' texts. We could speculate about
the already mentioned possibility of basic discrepancies between the pro-
fessional training and methods of Martin de la Cruz, physician at the Span-
ish College of Tlatelolco, and the Indian physicians put together by Sahagun,
who were general practitioners among his folk.
Furthermore the plants that are mentioned in both documents sometimes
appear with different therapeutic indications or they are not granted similar
interest : tlatlancuaye (plants of the genus iresine) appear 17 times in Martin
de la Cruz, only once in the texts of Sahagun informants, and none in his
History.
With regard to Francisco Hernandez Natural History, we should remem-
ber that he was an European physician, representative of the medical and
philosophical ideas of "humors" and qualities of diseases, and for the "con-
traries" or medicines. In that way Hernandez described 3076 plants and
gives the "dryness" or "humidity", "warmness" or "coldness" degrees of every
one of them. According to those European doctrines any plant could be useful
in medicine if its qualities were contrary to the nature of disease. Once he says
how bewildered he was at the use by the Indians of warm plants against fever.
We know that Hernandez was sent to New Spain to study the medicinal
plants in the newly conquered land but he, as a naturalist, devoted himself to
a wider field. During seven years, disregarding the royal and urgent requests,
he kept collecting and assaying plants and writing his Natural History,
instead of obeying the orders for sending his manuscripts. The large extension
of his final report and his wider scope perhaps were the origin for the king's
decision to entrust somebody else to make an abstract of his writings. That
commission given to Recchi was greatly resented by Hernandez.
The difference between the approaches of the writings I have mentioned
are evident : Martin de la Cruz wrote about the plants used by him and his
kindred Indian physicians; Sahagun strived to obtain uncontaminated in-
formation about the pre-hispanic uses of plants by the best known physicians,
uses that he described independently of the practices by sorcerers, wizards and
soothsayers ; Hernandez worked as a naturalist collecting specimens by him-
self and obtaining information on the spot about the popular uses of the
71
TRrS GRABAROS DK HISTORIA NATIIRAK, MAXIMI PIRICRINAI 445
TENOCHTLI
(Libro VI, cap. cx)
Nieremberg figures taken from Hernandez' originals that were kept at the Escorial
library. Note the Aztec hieroglyphs for water (atl) under Atatapalcatl and for stone
(tetl) under tenochtli.
plants. No wonder the reports differ. But they complement themselves if one
analyzes the meaning of the data by keeping in mind the wide distance
between the standpoints of view.
We have talked about only three of the most reliable sources, but there are
many other important chronicles and writings, contemporaneous and pos-
terior. Sometimes late reports relative to cultural and living conditions of
72
TRATADO
DE LAS
mmmm i mmim mnm
QUE OY VIUEN
ENTRE LOS INDIOS NATURALES
DESTA NUEUA ESPANA.
ESCRITO EN MEXICO
FOR EL BR. HERNANDO RlIZ DE ALARPON.
A^O 1629.
PRIMERA EDICION.
MfiXICO.
1892
Title page of the 1892 edition of Ruiz de Alarcon book written in 1629.
262-016 0-67— 7
MANUAL
MINISTROS DE INDIOS
VAWA III COXOi'lHIKNrn
DE SI'S IDOLATRIAS. Y EXTIRPATION UE ELLAS.
DEDICAIXI
AL 1IJ.H0. HK. OH. ». HATHEO DE ZA»A DE HUtiVEIRO,
COLEUIAL DKL DK FOKHELA SN SAKflACO PI GaLICU,
V dilMavob db Santa Csi'z de Valladoud. tu Rectoe, Cathedeatico de lkteae huiiahaii ex la Vmivbcridad ue CoiirosTFi.A,
E^( I.A DE VaLLADOLID I>B I.AS CaTHEOEAS de PhILOHOPHIA DK DUEAHDO V DE PBINA DE SaCBADA EaCBITVBA.
CaMONIGO DB LA SaKTA IglHSIA ue AtTOBCA.
Machtbal de la Imfsbial he Toledo,
ABtOHIHPit Vf- LA SaXTA tr.LEfltA UkTBOPOLITANA I>1- MkxUO, UKl. CON&RJO DF S. U.
COMPIESTO
POR EL DR. JACINTO DE LA SERN A,
NATt'BAL DE MEXICO,
Rector dos veces del Colegio V'iejo ue Todos Santos,
Db. Theologo de esta Imperial V'niversiuad, Rector ires veces de ella,
Cl'RA MAS ANTIGl'O DEL Sa(;RARIO DE ESTA SaNTA IgLESIA,
\'isiTADOH General
DE LOS Se.^'ORES ArZOBISI'OS D. KhAXCISCO Ma.VSO, Y L). Jl AN DE MaSOSCA, V EXAUINADOK SiXODAL
OF I.OS MISMOS GOVIERNOS.
PRIMERA EDICION.
MfiXICO.
IMPRKNTA. URI. MTJSKO NACH)KA.I..
1892
Title page of the la Serna book.
the Indian population at the time of the observation, try to refer to the pre-
hispanic society. That error is evident in XVII and XVIII Centuries writings
when the old ruling class had disappeared and the Indians, deprived of their
land, had been distributed as slave workers to the new owners. New religion
and magic, new medicine and superstitions had been imported, and African
rites and witchcraft had arrived with the African slaves brought by the
Spaniards.
Ruiz de Alarcon, who in 1629 wrote one of the best known treatises on
native idolatries {13) recognizes those facts and mentions that the Indians
were dying at a fast rate because of bad health and drunkenness a vice not
allowed in Aztec society.
Present research requires most careful analysis of data. No doubt we could
still find valuable information, but great patience and comprehension have
to be used in order to overcome the natural distrust of people that have been
subjected to exploitation during Centuries.
Documents on magic are difficult to study. Translations and interpreta-
tions are full of problems because of the esoteric language {Nahuatlatolli) .
Literal translations refer to "the nine times beaten" for tobacco, the "red
chichimec" for copper, the "red woman" for blood, "one water" for wood,
"seven caves" for mouth, "snake" for pain (,9) . Most of these imaginative ex-
pressions have not been explained and many others have not been interpreted.
As we say before, magic and its language represent very old myths and such
study is full of obstacles.
The scientific study of Aztec pharmacology is very recent and has already
given important discoveries. Many more will come if capable people from
different fields work together. The personal work of Gordon Wasson and
the valuable contributions from people inspired by him, is a good example of
what has to be done {17). This symposium on an even wider scope, inter-
nationally oriented, is a promising step for closer collaboration.
REFERENCES
(i) Scarpa, A., "Nozioni di Etnoiatrica," Stamperia Valdonega, Verona, 1962.
{2) Sejouene£, L., "Buming Water. Thought and Religion in Ancient Mexico,"
Thames and Hudson, London, 1956.
(3) Caso, a., "El Pueblo del Sol," Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico, 1962.
(4) SAHAGtJN, B. DE, "Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana," Fornia, Mexico,
1956.
(5) Garibay, a. M. and Le6n Portilla, M., "Fuentes Indlgenas de la Cultura Nahuatl.
Informantes de SahagHn," Universidad Nacional de Mexico, I, 1958 ; II, 1958 ; III,
1961.
(6) Anderson, A. J. O. and Dibble, C. E., "Florentine Codex." School of American
Research and University of Utah, Sante Fe, New Mexico, II, 1950 ; III, 1951 ;
IV, 1952 ; V-VI, 1957 ; VIII, 1953 ; IX, 1954 ; X, 1959 ; XI, 1961 ; XII, 1963 ; XIII,
1955.
(7) Hernandez, F., "Historia Natural de Nueva Espana," Obras Completas. Univer-
sidad Nacional de Mfeico, 1959.
{8) Aguirre Beltban, G., "Medicina y Magia." Instituto Nacional Indigenista, Mexico, -
1963.
75
(9) DE LA Sekna, J., "Manual de Ministros de Indios, escrito en 1656." Imprenta del
Museo Nacional, Mexico, 1892.
(10) DEL Pozo, E. C, "Valor mMico y documental del manuscrito." In de la Cruz, M.,
Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, Ms., 1552, Instituto Mexlcano del
Seguro Social, Mexico, 1964.
(11) DE LA CKrz, M., "Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis," Ms., 1552, Instituto
Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico, 1964.
(12) Eliade, M., "El Chamanismo," Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico, 1960.
(13) Ruiz de Alarc6n, H., "Tratado de las supersticiones y costumbres gentilicas que
oy viven entre los indios naturales desta Nueva Espafia," Imprenta del Museo
Nacional, Mexico, 1892.
(14) DEL Pozo, E. C, "La Botanica Medicinal Indigena de Mexico." Estudios de Cultura
Nahuatl, Vol. 5, Mexico, 1965.
(15) Reccho, N. a., "Rerum medicarum Novae Hispanie Thesaurus sen plantarum,
animalium, mineralium mexicanorum historia ex EYancisi Hernandez . . .,"
Tipografia Vitalis Mascardi, Roma, 1651.
(16) DEL Paso y Troncoso, F., "Estudios sobre la historia de la medicina en Mexico. I.
La botanica entre los aztecas." Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, 3: 137-235,
1886.
(17) Wasson, G., "Notes on the present status of ololiuhqui and the other hallucinogens
of Mexico," Botanical Museum Leaflets, 20 : 161-212, 1963.
76
Perspectives on the Use and
Abuse of Psychedelic Drugs
Daniel X. Freedman
Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Page
Introduction 77
The Drug Mystique 79
Scope of Contemporary Problems 80
Inherent Problems in the Study of Abuse 81
Inherent Problems in Ethnopsychopharmacology 82
The Definition of a "Psychedelic" Dimension 85
The Drug State and Its Consequences 86
Some Features of the Drug State 86
Immediacy, Novelty and Creativity 88
"Cultogenic" Actions 88
"Model Psychosis" in the Drug Experience 89
Adaptations in the Drug Experience 90
The Need for Synthesis 91
The Role of Groups in Synthesis 93
Use and Abuse of Conversion 94
LSD in Psychiatry 95
Abuse of LSD 96
Motives for Use 97
Summary Viev^r of the Value of Psychedelic Drugs 98
References 99
Introduction
It has been remarked that tradition-bound scientists will predictably
conclude that the proper use of hallucinogens is for research and medical
application; the illicit abuse is for kicks and cults {69). Our puritanical
ethics are said to prohibit us from even exploring whether the use of hallu-
cinogens could improve the healthy, or possibly transform Western society
into a Zen elysium.
Whatever scientists may think, history does indeed record our unceasing
urge to transcend limits and escape dreary reality or anxiety with the aid of
magic, drugs, drama, festival rites, and (with biological regularity) through
dreams. Even though we could doubt that drugs produce pleasure without
the risk of harm, and wonder if man is built to sustain and to manage more
than a brief chemically-induced glimpse of paradise, we must still examine
the data of ethnology, pop culture, and clinical use for real evidence. Do
such data indicate that there are drugs which specifically enhance these
varied transcendent purposes ? If so, how do they, why and how exclusively
or to what extent do they work and at what cost ? These questions will require
77
more explicit answers and more extensive research than we can presently
report.
To discriminate and analyze drug effects, quite imperfect tools will have
to be borrowed from a variety of disciplines and contexts : from the social
psychology of religion, of deviant behavior generally, of recreation, of
social change and self-help movements, as well as the social psychology of
aesthetics, pleasure and euphoria, and that of groups and of altered mental
states.
We should recognize that analysis of these problems occurs in the context
of prevailing prejudices and publicity untempered by rational scrutiny.
It already seems clear that whatever the motive for their use, the consequences
of these drugs range from isolated aAve or benign or even bored surprise, to
reported shifts of values to transient or occasionally long-term psychoses, to
varieties of religious or aesthetic experience, and to clique formation and
ritual. There are now conflicting reports of therapeutic efficacy in alcoholism,
depression, character disorders and severe neurosis {2, 12, 19, 57, 62, 66,
73, 79, 80, 82, 87). There is also a mushrooming psychedelic culture. This
underlies the tribal motions (or brownian movements) of groups of long
haired, barefooted dropouts, and the paraphernalia of fringe fashions, music
and art — the trappings and trippings commercialized as psychedelic " go-
go." Some serious theologians as well as our peripatetic prophets now seek
the drugs as a promoter of love, of religious or self -enhancement [8, 21, Jf-Jj.,
83, 91). Some are sincere and private in these pursuits, some provocative
and evangelistic.
We are in any event presented with a barrage of elaborately literate
(though not thereby the more accurate) claims. Of course, prophets, seers,
gentle and ferocious reformers, acting for good or evil, have often held
that special visions were not only their inspiration but their guide. They
promise salvation. They also threaten misery to those who do not accurately
assess (i.e., agree with) the efficacy of such claims. Truly dispassionate
assessment — ^the exercise of judgment — may, as the elect warn, deprive one
of access to the mysteries revealed in special states; thus if one is "in,"
there may be no way out ! The only answer to such dilemmas posed by any
cult is exposure to experience, to knowledge and assessment over time — i.e.,
perspective.
Thus these drugs are often used for a variety of purposes more complex
than the simple pursuit of pleasure. In any event, hedonistic kicks can
be achieved far more reliably with other chemicals or activities. If we take
LSD as a prototype, I believe that in their extreme and most potent form
we are examining drugs which influence that complex psychological ma-
chinery with which we establish meaning and communion with others. There
are few drugs which can so unhinge us from the constancies which regulate
daily life, or so clearly present us with data from the "inside world" and
from the many normally "inutile" perceptions potentially available to us.
Surely, it is tempting to snatch some good from this. It also can do us
little harm to place such experiences in the continuum of other states in
78
which a range of sensory impressions and insights revealed to the self are
regarded with awe or claimed as therapeutic, or as personality if not world-
transforming events (i, 5, 5, 56", 57, 67^ 80, 86, 88). Given an ample
smorgasbord of effects, claims and usages, we can eventually best gain
perspective by concentrating on what — if anything — is common to all of
these varied drug effects.
The Drug Mystique
The young — who are being importuned by "friendly" advocates (and the
young always have such friends) or lured by dire warnings — are entitled
to what facts we now know about these problems. We in turn might learn
from their interest, from not uncommon tragedies (of which we are seeing
an increase) and ponder the adequacy of our responses to their probings
and needs. My own patchwork impression of the growing use of marijuana
and, to a lesser extent LSD, in intellectual groups is that these are hy and
large more socially interesting (or irritating) than socially important phe-
nomena. Rather, a drug mystique has been welded to the underlyingly serious
shifts and strains inherently experienced by the most potentially unstable
group of any society — the adolescent and young adult. That our society and
our youth have problems is not at issue. Nor can we determine here whether
indeed this generation is a "now" group, tending to confrontations, valuing
honesty, love, direct and uncomplicated action, and avoiding ideologies in
favor of simple justice; these values — however germane to the LSD expe-
rience — were not born from the drugged mind. What is clear is that an
ideology couched in the language of drugs or pseudo-zen philosophy has
been insinuated into youth culture, and by a band of quite articulate writers
and vagrant psychologists. These have replaced the old medicine show of
yesteryear with an updated campus version complete with readings and
alluring arguments, if not pills to sell : "drop out, tune in, turn on." Thus,
this mystique has been generated by frenetic advertisements for themselves
by the fad and fashion makers and idea mongers, and the press has been
ready to exploit each sensation.
The philosophical arguments of the advocates are carefully dissociated
from the social consequences of their publications. They insist they have
the civil right to take any agent which "does not harm others." Such claims
gained their real momentum when a few psychologists who peddled the
drug resented the notion that scientific and medical — or at least nurse's —
training were required for responsible drug administration ; the requirement
for such institutionalized "know-how" was viewed as a plot of a smug
establishment. This argument, if carried to its extreme, would counsel a
case requiring cardiac surgery to refuse care from a trained expert who
votes Republican — and to do so, if necessary, on trumped up religious
grounds. It seems ridiculous to have to state that while each of us in our
infant development has attempted to assert the right to do what we want
79
when and where we want it, every society has shaped some constraints —
ranging from some form of toilet training to traffic control — constraints
impinging on our private views of our capacities, rights and bodily urges.
Such is the uncivil level to which "debates" about the drugs lead I It is, of
course, hardly a private matter (and it is a civil matter) when such prose-
lytizing leads to a number of drug-related cases requiring medical and
psychiatric care for brief or longer periods of time.
The irresponsibility of the psychedelic gurus is demonstrated in the fact
that while they advertise the drug as only a part of tTieir version of a way
of life, they are not in a position to manage the consequences of their ideologi-
cal schemes. Can they really be- innocently surprised if the drug per se is
more alluring and interesting to the immature than their philosophical
preachings ? They may reach certain segments of our youth far more read.ily
than most conventional authorities, but nothing in their performance to
date shows they know how to manage or anticipate what they so blithely
initiate. Psychiatrists who have worked intensively in private institutions
with young borderline or schizophrenic patients are quite familiar with some
of the tribal behaviors, excesses, philosophizing, and "freak outs" similar
to those which occur in psychedelic cults. "Wild analysis" and "psyching" —
probing into one another's supposedly tmconscious motives — characterized
youth of previous generations, as did self-experiments with hypnosis even
in the 19th century.
The increasing problem of drug abuse in most countries is alcohol, followed
by barbiturates, amphetamines, opiates and mild tranquilizers. As I see it.
the consequences to national health and social welfare of these drugs are not
as yet startling — either in terms of the utility of LSD o?' its harm. Debates
about whether to use or not to use LSD are hardly as consequential as the
use of "The Pill" in our society. The agent most frequently used by youth
for illicit purposes and with lethal effect is the automobile: and the most
faithful monitor of the scope of such social problems is the prevailing high
insurance rates for young males. I know of no rate changes for medical,
psychiatric or mortician's coverage which have been instituted by this actu-
arial superego of our society in response to these chemicals. This is an
interesting generation but they have not yet gone completely to pot ! On
the campus scene, interest in these drugs clearly flies high, but not in the
majoritj- of students. "Acid" commentaries are, if not more abmidant. more
influential than trips. While in the large picture, the scope and pattern of
hallucinogenic drug use in our society must be said to be more sensational
than consequential, the development of cults and a sharp increase in drug-
taking behavior in relatively small, often elite or fringe segments of our
society warrants investigation.
Contemporary Problems
80
Inherent Problems in the Study of Abuse
For opiate use and abuse and for the abusive potential in marijuana (j^, 6^
13^ 16, 16, Jfi, 60, 61, 63, 68) , excellent studies have been done. Designs for the
study of LSD abuse could profit from these. It is clear that the motives
for experimenting with a drug, for trying a drug, for interpreting the subjec-
tive effects of a drug {81 ) , and for continuing drug usage and for seriously
maintaining it can be quite different. The ability of the habituated to control
their intake also varies ; e.g., many people have the alcohol habit but control
their intake in accord with their social obligations. It is also clear that the
population of users shifts; e.g., cannabis users have shifted throughout
history even in countries such as India, and before 1910, middle class women
were frequently represented among our opiate addicted population. The
response of society to drugs differs, often mecurially and rarely in response
to sober judgments. For example, over 30 years ago, the Federal Nar-
cotics Bureau saw no harm in marijuana and within 2 years — and with
no more objective data — decided there was a menace. The complexities of
the drug-taking, drug selling and drug policing groups (who form sub-
societies "needing" each other) , should be noted. When underworld vendors
specialize in one class of illicit imports, they may also market others. Thus
heroin and marijuana are occasionally though not usually sold by the same
peddlers. This association is a social consequence of prohibition and polic-
ing — not an actual or pharmacological link of the drugs. Marijuana users,
psychedelic drug or opiate users, "goofball" or amphetamine abusers, are not
commonly the same population (although there is overlap), nor has the
illicit «3upply of psychedelics yet been merged with that of heroin.
For the nonaddicting but so-called hallucinogenic drugs, we have much
yet to learn about current practices. Only a minute fraction of persons who
have taken these drugs could be said to constitute a reliable base for study
of long-term users ; groups of persons who drift in and out of the category
of users are not easy to identify, and are hardly reliable reporters since some
are always first discovering the drug while others are experiencing disillusion
or worse. Indeed, over the past ten years we have been greeted with fresh
pronouncements of new discovery of the effects of a synthetic compound
(LSD) which has recurrently startled its takers since it was first known —
well over 20 years ago. Scrutiny of the response to the mescaline-containing
peyote — known since the last century — similarly reveals cycles of startled
amazement as several new groups or persons came to learn of it and adapt to
it; e.g., Havelock Ellis and William James (who did not, incidentally, form
cults in 1902) {28,30).
Complications for research arise from the current publicity. Selling and
propaganda create a bandwagon effect and complicate a sober assessment
of the extent and nature of drug use. The hucksters gain attention, audiences
and monetary support as they threaten the establishment with love and^ —
long before the fact of truly increased drug usage — announce that hordes
of young people are, if not their followers, then independently dedicated
drug users. The establishment, on the other hand, must react with irritation
81
or even fright at the announced threat. The head of the Food and Drug
Administration has a political hide which can be at stake since he must
answer to readily alarmed legislators — not to research scientists. Accordingly,
those scientists studying the effects of drugs on brain chemistry and behavior
in animals have clear-cut procedures, for obtaining and accounting for sup-
plies of narcotics but not of psychotomimetics (in spite of the promise by
the FDA in May of 1966 to set up machinery and explicit guidelines).
Finally, as the advertising escalates and the empirical problem grows, the
young and their parents must enter the debate and assess the claims of value.
Physicians hysterically crying alarm rather than pointing rationally to
danger join the melee. The use of these drugs in experimental psychiatry to
study altered states or the genesis of symptoms or new learning or the nature
of brain mechanisms related to altered perception {10^ 29, 52, 58, 72, 93)
proceeds with National Institute of Mental Health support, but not without
severe problems of sanction contingent upon sensationalism and fear in the
bureaucracy.
Physicians who make headlines with reports of dire results both lure the
susceptible and generate their clientele who are latently worried about what
they are doing. Sober medical assessment would be more effective — and
honest — as a deterrent. It is also most important to sort out the various
factors which might complicate the picture the physician sees when patients
are brought by drugged friends or in other disorganized circumstances to
hospitals for one or another indication. The possibility of complicated drug-
taking patterns in such patients, of prior instability if not mental disorder,
is to be investigated. In brief, the fact that the drug is a precipitant or
concommitant of an ongoing disorder must very clearly be distinguished
before we determine anything really definitive about long-term effects
{22, 23, 2U, 31, 32, k2, 1^5, 61^, 77, 92) . If we recall the reaction of the medical
community to the psychotogenic effect of steroids, and if we take cognizance
now of the fact that these disorders still occur, the difference is that we now
know what the steroid psychoses portend ; we can predict with more confidence
what the results will be and accordingly (even though attending physicians
are often uncomfortable) there is little scare literature presenting uneval-
uated snapshots of steroid psychoses in cross-section, so to speak. As a gen-
eral public we are gullible, vulnerable to sensationalism and to over-reactions
on any side of the issues involving behavior active drugs. This is true also
not only of the press, of poets genuine and manque, but of legislators,
bureaucrats, and physicians.
Inherent Problems in Ethnopsychopharmacology
We react with similar responses to a variety of drug-induced experiences,
but there are characteristic behavioral patterns and social uses which cluster
around one or another drug ; e.g., opiates probably do differ not only pharma-
cologically and psychologically but in terms of patterns of social use from
LSD or peyote. Research is required both at the psychopharmacological and
82
ethnological levels to be certain. A major problem exists anytime we study
the varieties of so-called irrational behavior. This is that there is nothing
intrinsic to the training and practice of a wide number of professionals
which equips them knowledgeably to handle and interpret either the irra-
tional itself or themselves when dealing with it. What little knowledge re-
sides within the experience of psychiatry has not been made sufficiently ex-
plicit to be extensively applied by others. If a historian documented the dis-
tractions inherent in trying to understand or deal with schizophrenia, with
hypnosis, with dreams, or with such questions as religious conversion — and
certainly with cannabis and LSD — we would see that it has not been easy
for men to comport themselves with the best of rational, let alone scientific
skill in these areas. Judgments and assertions, then, have to be continuously
assessed.
The sorting of the intrinsic patterns of drug effects from their varied elabo-
rations presents difficulties. For example, the social use of a drug cannot tell
us infallibly about the basic pattern of its effects. What Barron, Jarvick and
Bunnell (5) called "drug-induced ego disruptions" refers to a wide range of
substances which can provide a change of scene, a moment of being out of
it, a holiday from the constrictions of reality. A wide variety of agents can
shift our normal engagement with the world, producing an altered state. This
state in intself may promote the release of effects and be welcomed for its
novelty value as a remarkable trip from reality. Etched upon it may be a
specific pattern of the drug. I believe that LSD extends and accents this
primary ego state in a salient and sustained way.
A second complication is that sufficiently strong motives can capture any
opportune occasion in order to generate uninhibited or cultist behavior.
Thirdly, in case a cultural pattern of drug effects seems at first glance invari-
ant, the powerful role of set and setting should be assessed ; for example, the
exclusive "Mexican-ness" of Hoffman's visions when he first ingested psilocy-
bin (derived from a Mexican mushroom) is hardly ascribable to a specific
chemical action.
Pharmacological factors such as dose, route and dosage schedule, and the
form and preparation of the active agent are also critical. For brevity, can-
nabis can be taken as an example : by and large, the more potent the prepara-
tion — the more concentrated the form of the resin — ^the more psychedelic or
psychotomimetic the effects. Panic states, temporary psychosis and paranoid
episodes similar to those observed currently with LSD, occur more f reqeuntly
with the more potent preparations illicitly available in India {16, 17) and
the Near East (7) . Many abusers in Morocco and India are found in settings
not unlike our alcoholic skid rows. The weaker marijuana used here has dras-
tically fewer such effects. Inhalation or ingestion alters the intensity of effects
The pattern of use of LSD is determined in part by the dose-dependent
tolerance induced {39, 1^7, 95) . Three or four days are required for its full
development or its full loss : daily dosage leads to dramatically diminished
effects unless the dose is considerably increased. "Cyclicity" in tolerance {53)
is seen with higher daily dosages; e.g., tolerance is lost and regained with
83
every eighth or ninth consecutive daily dose. After a single dose there is
"psychological satiation," as McGlothlin calls it, which is characteristic for
any single LSD experience : one dose is emotionally sufficient, if not exhaust-
ing, for most people for quite a period — days, or weeks, or years.
If we wish to discern some universally basic pattern of effects {37), we
also have to consider at what level drug effects on behavior can intrinsically
be analysed. Dubos {27) , expressed the fundamental notion that even a highly
selective drug would react with some structure other than the one for which
it was designed ; absolute selectivity for effects is a chemical impossibility.
This does not mean that there are not intrinsically discrete chemical controls
or that chemical reactions within cells are not under exquisite feedback regu-
lations, but the control of integrated sequences of behavior remains a complex
problem. Yet, in view of the surprising associations and dissociations of
which the nervous system is capable (for example, phenothiazine-induced
sedation in the presence of motor excitation) it is not inconceivable that
chemicals exist which can produce desirable modifications in components of
the pattern of effects of a drug such as LSD. The fact that the indole and
catechol derivatives which are psychotomimetic induce a response in brain
(altering brain serotonin metabolism and probably increasing the utilization
of norepinephrine {33, SJf., 35, 36, 38, J(3) , that most of these show cross toler-
ance, and that agents — such as atropine or Ditran — producing'a deleriod type
of response {33, 58, 93, 94-), affect brain acetylcholine indicates that we are
dealing with agents for which some exquisite biological specificity exists;
indeed this is the basic reason for scientific interest in the mode of action of
the drug, a search that could lead to critical neurochemical mechanisms. Each
of the brain monaamines appears to be lawfully related to specific, largely
polysynaptic neural systems and it is not unlikely that with autoradiography
{90), and fluorescence and electron microscopy that our knowledge of the
involved neural systems and chemical changes induced by these drugs can be
more finely specified {33, 38).
Finally it will be noted that most of the drugs mentioned in this conference
have had multiple therapeutic usages, from carbuncles to mania. The Navaho
clearly seek the cure of all manner of both physical and psychic ailments
with peyote. This fact means that the ethnologist must be wary of the extent
to which reported effects are specifically drug related. The distinction be-
tween symptoms of organic dysfunction and those of bodily discomfort in
various psychic states is never easy. We see this confusion in small children ;
there are quite probably differences in social classes, personalities, and cul-
tures in the extent to which the body becomes a "sentient referent" for the
consequences of social and personal anguish. This surely could lead to con-
founding reports of drug effects.
Apparently where drugs can disrupt normal ego functions they can com-
prise a polytherapeutics for the so-called functional factor in illness. How
this is accomplished is not clear; perhaps through an ultimate shift of
attention as in hypnosis ; or through the effects of powerful wishes for cure —
which observably dampen anxiety. Something as nebulous and as potent as
faith and confidence is involved. Wlien we ingest a drug because of anxiety
84
or weakness, there is a monotonous regularity in the "non-empirical" inter-
pretations which may be evoked; psychologically, the drug is seen as a
power, either one evoking terror (poison or devils) or one producing sexual,
physical or spiritual strength leading to salvation or healing. Accordingly,
in reviewing the folk usages of drugs for therapeutic clues and in obtaining
discriminative information on the effects of drugs on patterns of behavior,
we have to distinguish the general range of effects of ego disruption and
what is commonly called the power of suggestion. Doing so, we can more
confidently focus on what is specific about the so-called hallucinogenic drugs,
including the ways in which they do and do not enhance suggestion.
The Definition of a "Psychedelic" Dimension
Comparative psychopharmacological studies of the various potent drugs
would lead to a better appreciation of the fundamental dimensions of behav-
ior, of the ground out of which complex but related behaviors emerge. That
element contributed by specifiG drug effects to the entire picture of drug
usage will require more focus. Given such reservations, it seems that the
recurrent theme in historical records is that certain drugs are compellingly
related to learning, to self-revelation, and that they are involved in some
mystical, often ritual, use. McGlothlin notes that the American Indian often
states that "peyote teaches." He does not find this major theme running
through accounts of marijuana usage [69). Again the potent preparations
of cannabis are an exception and the milder preparations have been used to
enhance contemplative states as well as for a "high". Apparently, there is
a continuum of effects along the dimension of self -revealing and ritual usages.
To the extent that there are classes of agents which starkly reveal some-
thing about the depths or the dimensions of the mind — exposing these dimen-
sions to our attention — we can say that both use and abuse stem from our
amazed response to the subjective experience revealed by these drug states.
If this is what Humphrey Osmond meant by the term "psychedelic" or
"mind manifesting" for drugs such as LSD, it is an apt though not novel
description. There is a wide range of contexts — including clinical disorder
in which states of heightened awareness with varying degrees of mental
clarity occur, and a variety of initiating causes. The mode of functioning
and experiencing called psychedelic reflects an innate capacity (like the
dream) of which the human mind, in a general sense, is capable {10) . The
fact that a certain class of drugs so sharply compels this level of function is
what so intrigues the behavioral scientist.
A rather famous and wordy Harvard professor noted that drug-induced
intoxication "expands, unites and says yes ... it makes . . . (man) for the
moment . . . one with truth." William James {JjS) went on to write that parted
from normal consciousness "... by the flimsiest of screens, there lie potential
forms of consciousness entirely different . . . apply the requisite stimulus
and at a touch they are there in all their completeness . . . somewhere (they)
have their field of application and adaptation. . . . How to regard them is
85
the question . . . they may determine attitudes through they cannot furnish
formulas and open a region though they fail to give a maf!''' (Italic mine.)
Many authors have stressed that the human mind is apparently built with
mechanisms for constancy with which to structure and use these fluid and
irrational components. Indeed in the most systematic series of neuropsycho-
logical drug studies extant — those of Heinrich Kliiver (5^) with mescaline —
the author concludes with speculations about the drug's differential action
on those subcortical areas of brain which are characterized by emotionality
and variability and those anchoring sensory-motor systems which aid in
constancy. The question perhaps is not so much expanding the mind — it is
expanded enough — but to see if there are drugs which can enhance a better
and more creative coordination among these so-called regions.
The Drug State and its Consequences
So whether we set out on a personal or on a scientific research effort to
discover and explicate this order of the mind, whether we examine it by
introspection or examine its effects on natives, patients and others, we embark
on a search which is intrinsically difficult and fraught with misunderstand-
ing. One can expect nothing else if we attemj^t to deal with the irrational. In
any event, we shall try to describe a multipotential state which, in its most
general sense, can underwrite a variety of outcomes : religious feeling and
conversions, states of hyper-perception leading to inspirational insights, to
psychosis, to exalted states or to behavior or value change.
The more we can grasp some of the intrinsic features of this state, the more
we will be able to understand some of its variable outcomes. So if we had
little experience with drugs, we might still be able to predict their con-
sequences and understand, for example, why these drugs might be properly
called, among other ascriptions, "cultogenic agents." Some of the modes of
experience — the styles — which characterize the drug experience seem fre-
quently to be linked to the outcome or to the style of life commonly
centered around drug taking: whether this "hang-over" of drug effects
is learning or reinf ormement of the ongoing trend of goals and adaptions,
or based on more complex variables and mechanisms is not known.
Some Features of the Drug State
The sequence of effects following the usual doses has been described
elsewhere {4-S, 78) . During the first four and half hours there is generally
a clear cut self recognition of effects — an internal "T.V. show" which is
followed by another four or five hour period in which a subjective sense
of change is not marked but during which heightened self centeredness,
ideas of reference and a certain "apartness" are observed. At 12^8 hours
after drug ingestion there may or may not be some let-down and slight
fatigue. There is no craving for a drug to relieve this if it occurs and no
86
true physiological withdrawal, as is the case with opiates, alcohol, sedatives,
and certain tranquilizers.
It is the intense experience without clouded consciousness — the heightened
"spectator ego" witnessing the excitement, which is characteristic for these
drugs in usual dosages. Thus there is a split of the self — a portion of which
is a relatively passive monitor rather than an active, focusing and initiating
force— and a portion of which receives vivid experiences. Some people
seem to repeat this long after the drug state; standing apart from life or
relying on the group to direct events, they turn away from the prosaic
world — or else are turned away by society, as well as turned on by the
drug. They may find a clique or a group which tolerates this disposition.
During the drug state, awareness becomes intensely vivid while self-
control over input is remarkably diminished ; thus there is the lurking threat
of loss of inner control — loss of control of integral stability — of the "dying
of the ego" so often reported in bad trips or in phases of mystical experiences
with the drug. In the drug state, customary boundaries become fluid and
the familiar becomes novel and portentous. Events take on a trajectory of
their own; qualities become intense and gain a life of their own; redness
is more interesting than the object which is red; meaningfulness more
important than what is specifically meant ; connotations balloon into cosmic
allusiveness ; the limits of sobriety are lost. The very definition of the
importance of the external world shifts when most mental activity is absorbed
either in monitoring the novelty of experience or in maintaining the integrity
of the self. And, after the drug state, we may find more tolerance for
ambiguity and a diminished readiness for the quick answer; we also caji
find an associated inability to decide, to discriminate, to make commit-
ments. Spindler reported the latter as a Rorschach pattern in certain Indian
peyote users (SO). Such a tendency to avoid distinctions could lead to
alienation and retreatism, even if these were not pre-existing traits (as they
often are) . A certain isolation, or sense of it, tends to occur as a trait in many
drug experimenters ; the after-effects may emphasize the pre-existing traits.
For many the drug experience may represent a beginning which without
luck or expertise, cannot easily come to a useful conclusion; neurotic acts
also have been viewed as misguided attempts at self cure. Thus many reported
immediate after effects of LSD — both good and bad — could depend largely
on the motive for taking the drug and in fact could be transient rather than
transforming.
In any event, when portentous implications and hidden meanings per-
petually contaminate the response to the explicit signs and conventions
of everyday life, "focus" and goal directed efficiency are usually impaired.
Since judgment is not enhanced during the drug state and since isolation
or apartness (even when sanctioned by a minority group) bring their own
problems, it is clear that persons who continually overvalue the modes of
experience of the drug state could develop patterns of poor practical judg-
ment. The consequences of long-term and frequent use of the drug — involv-
ing probably 5-15 percent of those experimenting with LSD — would prob-
ably have to be evaluated in this context.
87
Immediacy, Novelty and Creativity
In the drug state, the experience of compelling immediacy diminishes
the normal importance of past and future. One's organized anticipation
of time dissolves (which may incidentally be why, when properly given,
the drug can replace narcotics in dying cancer patients) . It also is related
to the overvaluation of "nowness," the fickle pursuit of the novel apparent
in certain youth subcultures {76, 84-). The ability to see old and familiar
events in a new light is a facet of the shift in organized anticipations and
equally a facet in the poorly understood processes related to creativity. The
impairment of goal directed efficiency also carries with it the impairment
of integrative and synthetic functions and abilities. Thus the mere mergings
of sensory objects (the synesthesias, the plastic rearrangements or the clear
focusing upon fine details or usually disregarded elements) is hardly the
same as an organized building and arrangement in which "boundaries" are,
at some jimcture, essential. Creativity requires some use of the drug-induced
facility for seeing new meanings ; but there is nothing about the drug effect
which specifically enhances this synthetic and organizing facility. Indeed
as we shall stress, the need for synthesis — ^not the ability to synthesize — is
what is enhanced in the drug state.
"Cidtogenic" Actions
An important feature of the state is an enhanced dependence upon the
environment for structure and support as well as enhanced vulnerability to
the surrounding milieu. With the loss of boundaries, persons or a group are
used for such elemental functions as control — for helping one to know what
is inside and what is outside, for comfort and for binding and balancing the
fragmenting world (10). When one is absorbed either in monitoring the
novelty of experience or in maintaining self integrity the major changes in
the external world will be overlooked or slight changes will assume a critical
role. Persons or objects in the environment have positive or negative value
in terms of quite elemental functions : e.g. as threats or as anchors in main-
taining control (quite as in the so-called psychotic transference) . Persons are
self-centeredly seen as objects — not to be related with nor evaluated in their
own right — but either to be clung to or to be contemplated in terms of what
essentially is a self centered, esthetic or ideologic frame of reference. At
best this narcissistic reworking of one's relationship to others and to one's
own ambitions can lead to outcomes which are socially valued — wisdom,
humor, perspective — but such internal syntheses never guarantee socially
pleasant behavior (e.g., non-competitive behavior or conduct which takes an
ideal regard for others into accoimt (54). In other words, the claims for a
different perspective have to be evaluated both in terms of how this is
integrated in the life and in the internal rearrangements of values of the
user; one need not argue with the asserted shift in values (although even
this can be monitored (72) ), but the consequences of this can be assessed.
88
Thus with the dissolving boundaries of self and outside, with the fusion
of self and surroundings some of the strain between harsh authority and
personal strivings can for the moment be transcended or dissolved. At the
same time there is a leaning on others for structure and control and hence,
when the drugs are taken in a group setting, the breach with reality repre-
sented by the drugs can be filled by the directive mystique and support of
the group. This is, in part, why I have termed these drugs "cultogenic."
"Model Psychosis" in the Drug Experience
The elements of a model psychosis are present. By model we do not
mean identity; rather we mean an approach to certain processes which are
present to some extent both in the drug state and psychoses ; the conditions
for either state have similarities and obvious differences (just as do dreams
and psychosis (4-^)). For example, what is impinging on an ongoing per-
ception is a vivid memory of what has just been perceived ; these co-existing
images can compete for attention and thus give rise to illusions. These can
be immaginatively elaborated into hallucinations. Similarly, past memories
can emerge vividly, competing for the status of current reality. The failure
to suppress the prior perception or memory or thought characterizes what
Bleuler called "double registration" in schizophrenia or what, in Rorschach
parlance, is called contamination. Similarly the failure of identities and cate-
gories to be maintained underlies most of the descriptions of paralogic in
schizophrenia. The capacity to direct one's focus is impaired; allocation of
the source of a feeling, a sound, a sight, or a thought becomes difficult since
inside and outside become fused. Accordingly there are frequent "projec-
tions" or misconceptions of motives. This tendency is reinforced when one
must exercise energy to account for slight changes in the environment. It
of course bears upon our thinking about any psychosis to recognize that pri-
mary or secondary shifts in the elemental ego functions of discrimination
underlie a range of symptoms.
Similarly effects can be enhanced under the drug state but are difficult to
specify since several contrary feelings co-exist or fluctuate — reminiscent of
ambivalence. Thus euphoria mixed with tension may be seen. Laughing and/
or crying in the first three hours are not uncommon. Subjects later refer to
the total state as a pleasant-unpleasant experience. However these expe-
riences are represented, they are evolved from a ground work entailing a
co-existence, heightening, and fragmenting of component urges and feelings.
With care, one observes that preceeding this there is a primary need for
elemental tension-discharge — a welling up which requires laughing or crying
for relief. Subjects have to laugh or cry and they then seem to find the
appropriate setting to rationalize this ; the cognitive and structural aspects
of affect seem to follow the need for discharge.
Thus the enhanced value and intense attention placed on the self, the
"double registrations" the ambivalence, heightened tension and diminished
control all can represent the primary symptoms of a psychosis. The appear-
ance of peak experiences (or acute psychedelic experiences) in psychosis has
89
262-016 0-67— 8
long been documented (7(9, Ifi^ 67). Thus we have with these drugs at least
a tool with which to study the genesis and sequence of a number of familiar
phenomena in psychiatry. Whether this can lead us to a better sorting and
description of the varied elements which are present in the range of clinical
disorders is yet an unanswered question; it is for example, obvious that
differences in outcome of LSD states depend upon specific prior strengths as
well as varying circumstances. These various elements may also be relevant
in the phenomena and outcomes we encounter in clinical psychiatry.
Adaptations in the Drug Experience
Some persons endure all this without evident harm. The spectator ego can
simply be interested in the reversal of figure and ground, the visual tricks,
or — with higher doses — the spectator is entranced or totally absorbed. The
experiencing ego can — especially with increasing dosage — be overwhelmed.
At any level, defensiveness can appear; the spectator shuts his eyes and a
blind struggle for control may dominate. There are different modes of cop-
ing with the drug state which could be called protective. One protection is
not to fight the experiences during the drug state. An upsurge of the tradi-
tional defensive operations may lead to temporary panic even in relatively
stable people. This has been reported both in the LSD and peyote cults, and
has been observed by medical therapists.
Most people working with the drug (either licitly or illicitly) note that
unstable surroundings or confused motives may lead to "bad trips." The
attitudes under which the drug is taken are important. The Indians of the
Native American Church emphasize sincerity, and the desire to learn, and
they link bad peyote experiences with the presence of aggression and com-
petition rather than the setting of sincerity and brotherly love and a willing-
ness to learn. It is striking that when self examination or confrontation
with internal problems is the motive for drug-taking, effects are sometimes
bad. When problems are aptly externalized or shared there is less panic
and subsequent upset. Thus a certain yielding and surrender of ambition
and personal autonomy helps some individuals to have a good experience,
but this requires if not group support a certain personal strength, or at
least a facility. It also requires stable groups.
Some people achieve an overall stability by a disposition to react with an
astounded pleasure to the whole flux of events. Others are encouraged or
equipped to transcend the fragmented disparate elements, letting them flow
into the sway of a mystique, or letting them be steered by latent guiding
interests or memories. Thus all that occurs is given a tone — or a very diffuse
direction. With higher dosages and the increasing loss of the capacity for
detailed focusing, the importance of guiding "sets" (music, mystique, af-
fective expectations such as the doctrine of boundless love) is enhanced.
The drug experience is compelling and hard to convey but incredibly vivid,
and the extent to which the experience of a specific "trip" is related to out-
come requires finer study. So too does the fact that one good trip does not
predict a second. Nevertheless the primary changes are the background
90
state from which a number of outcomes and adaptations ensue — adaptations
hoth during and after the drug experience. No doubt the rearrangements of
reality which occur during this state produce a memorable experience, but
one is reminded of Sidney Cohen's remark that most people get what they
deserve or what they are equipped at the time to experience as modified by
set, equipment and setting {21).
The Need for Synthesis
Anyone who has experienced this intense episode must come to deal with
it. Our dreams also are an episode in a sequence of states which we usually
can somehow integrate into the normal fabric of living ; similarly something
must now be done with the total drug experience — nightmare, illusion or
ecstasy. Some borrow stability from ready-made explanations. Still others
will decide that the sense of cosmic comprehension is equivalent to mastery.
They will tend to deny the anxiety about the loss or potential loss of control.
In any event, when such a profound breach with normal functioning occurs,
there is some need to synthesize and integrate this experience, to represent
and to cope with it in some way.
Some individuals will isolate it; some will set it aside in an attempt to
master it and still others, lacking any other means of mastery, will be com-
pelled repeatedly and unexpectedly, to confront what was experienced. We
see this in students who come in for help weeks after a trip.
In others the breakdown of those constancies and habits which normally
smooth over the disparate details of our perceptions and actions can persist
in benign ways. One scientist experienced his peripheral vision to be en-
hanced during the drug state ; it is not uncommon that there is an equivalence
of value for what is at the periphery and what is normally perceived at
the center of the virsual field. He commuted daily, reading during the trip.
For months after the drug, he was bothered by the telephone poles which
flashed by his train window. He could no longer suppress what normally
is background rather than a compelling figure. Similarly, the unconscious
"background" to thoughts and feelings can emerge. (There are numerous
anticipatory sets or constancies which operate to keep the body oriented in
space and ready to meet the environment as we expect to experience it;
the mind provides constancy wherever the sense organs deal with variability.
We anticipate or correct for the images on our retina to keep the world
stable and ordered; the hand stretched 8 inches before one, may appear
small though on the retina or camera it is large. Coming off a boat one may
still waddle anticipating the roll of the ship.) LSD appears to affect such
perceptual anticipations and more complex regulatory systems. It rear-
ranges our ideas of order. It is striking that prior to psychedelic ideology
and experiments with self-therapy, mescaline produced more "perceptual"
than self-revealing experiences, but the mode of breakdown of constancies
is similar whether the self or perceptions are a referent.
The intensity of the drug experience manifest in the change of con-
stancies can lead to a number of repetitive behaviors. Gordon Allport noted
91
that, once the vividly religious state is experienced, one seeks throughout
life to recapture its inspiration (3). The search for synthesis may take the
form of attempts to re-experience the intensity of elements within the drug
experience in order to master it. The classic example, of course, is the trau-
matic neurosis in which, following a traumatic episode in the trenches, the
soldier recurrently dreams the nightmare — apparently in order to master
it. This has been noted in every major theory of psychopathology since
the 19th century. The hypnoid state described by Breuer was one of two
causes which he and Freud offered for mental symptoms. Put simply, in a
state of altered consciousness where control over awareness is diminished,
there is no way to bind the intensities experienced and symptoms may ensue.
Similarly, in growth and development, many bits and pieces of impressions,
many intense experiences — experiences which for the child are intense —
have to be organized in the ongoing stream of developing psychological
control, and often this fails.
Repetitive symptoms — such as acting out — may be viewed as misguided
attempts to give structure to these pre-verbal impressions and intensities —
to restore or find constancies and boundaries. Some experience a "loss" mani-
fest by depression and an urge to recapture the illusionary world of the drug.
We know that people may produce vivid consequences or experiences in order
to see them in a new light. These are experiences which are presented to con-
sciousness, but what often is lacking is the element of guidance, correction,
reflection and structure which leads to authentic self-mastery ; this may be the
chief source of danger of LSD — the lack of structure and autonomy and the
traumatic and potent intensity !
Thus acting out behavior with or without a drug often compels control,
correction and guidance, and appears as a provocative accusation against
authority. The young do not merely "turn on" themselves but seem to display
great anger at the guides whom they feel failed them (indeed the prophets
counsel students to "turn on" their parents — one of their metaphors which
is most likely not to be concretely interpreted) . Displacing the total experi-
ence and the anxieties inherent in it by attacks upon the establishment, they
thereby keep a link — and a very strong one — to the very strictures which
had previously absorbed them (just as a misbehaving child is tied to his
parents by evoking their involved irritation or punishment). Others show
delayed panic, depression or anxiety, and seek out friends for help, and still
others aggressively talk about their experience as if they were trying to put
it together. Some kind of continuity with the gap in reality is sought for.
The bridge may be a book as it was with Huxley, a silent synthesis or change
of values and tastes, or the understanding of a group or person. In the
Native American Church, the Indian utilizes all these elements — religious
explanation and adherence, specific ceremonies and the group with its ide-
ology — to integrate the experience which serves a purpose in the total fabric
of his life. It has been speculated that during the ceremonies, by borrowing
the strength of "father peyote" and experiencing an enhancement of self, he
transcends personal anxiety and inadequacy. Some sects are tutored to ignore
the visions and disparate elements of the drug state to achieve this higher
92
cosmic state. The Indian does not accordingly seek a simple "high" or thrill
with the drug (i, 66, 86) .
For some, denial of inadequacy and enhanced omnipotence — delusional
autonomy — may lead to various outcomes : that of the benevolent and foolish
prophet, or the defensive, alienated therapist, angry at those who prevent his
curing the rest of the world. Indeed we must seriously wonder why those
who find salvation are so generous and so ready to proselytize and adver-
tise ! Implied are unsolved problems with authority figures. In any event it
appears that salvation often involves renunciation of previous ties and
that those who are saved must repetitively convince others in order to dimin-
ish their own doubt, isolation and guilt. At best, they may do this in order to
reachieve union with those with whom they have been separated by their
unique vision and experience, and to synthesize these breaches with important
others.
The Role of Groups in Synthesis
We have referred to the strain between the exertion of personal strivings
for autonomy (i.e., needs to order reality and influence the world) and in-
ternal authority (the voice of conscience). Certain groups seem built to
absorb this strain. Many successful self-help groups appear to be peer groups.
With such arrangements the distance between authority and the miscreant
(reminiscent of that between parent and child) is diminished and so too is
the inner tension. The cost is a surrender of certain order of autonomy to the
group and dependence upon it. It may be less painful to drop pretense and
to permit less masking of inadequacy in the presence of uncritical and non-
threatening peers. Of course there may also be a tendency to externalize the
conflict with authority, a tendency reinforced by peer-grouping. Still this
can permit authentic self involvement at a level which is realistically avail-
able to the persons involved.
Ideally, autonomy and involvement might mean not to be distracted by
arguments with authority ; such terms should connote putting oneself in the
place of authority — not imitatively — but in terms of real commitments in-
volving risk, initiative and responsibility. To some extent self-help groups
can aid members to move in these directions. Yet, such adjustments mean
relying heavily on the concrete presence and reinforcement of a sane group
which shares the burdens of initiative. This is not always achieved. In some
chronic users one sees a bland impulsiveness — an indifference to the habitual
and customary which may border on a supercilious posture of superiority.
The elect of many cults either assume the attitude or the outsider feels this to
be the attitude of those who know something he does not. This posture has
also been remarked upon in the American Indian peyote users, although they,
too (as with the Navaho), are often subcultures not infrequently at odds
with established groups and leaders (1 ) .
Group sanctioning of the drug state can diminish the intensity and isola-
tion ; the group mystique tends to give integration through a credible rendi-
tion, if not sanction to events which by their very nature cannot easily be
93
translated into public language. The mystique may not be more descriptive
of the drug state but simply apparently precise and sufficiently allusive to
serve as a representation of and compensation for the breach with reality.
Mystical or religious representations also are remarkably apt for synthe-
sizing the experience. Religion relates man to his limits while taking account
of his boundlessness ^vhich occurs in all aspects of this realm of the mind.
It may be that religious symbolism aptly represents the transformations
characteristic of this latent part of the mind. Against fragmentation and
directionlessness something coherent lends continuity to experience. Against
dread, transcendent love can prevail ; loving like redness can apparently be
enhanced and is remembered. The "lovingness"' and "strongness"' of a parent
can be parted from the particular persons and transcendentally represented
in various forms of power ascribed to deities.
Use and Abuse of Conversion
There are, then, a number of features of this multipotential state related
to its intensity, its novelty, its boundlessness which account for some of the
expectable occurrences within it and some of the expectable — and observed —
dangers and outcomes. There are observations about the uses and abuses of
religous conversion which are not dissimilar from what we can describe in
the current drug scene.
In Clark's topology {W) , the outcomes can be : a sudden change of role —
he calls this abrupt conversion. Another outcome entails an allegiance to
values rather than a behavior change ; e.g., adolescents who are converted to
their parents' religion. Similarly there are student LSD users who talk like
psychedelicists but continue to be headed for a career of suburbia and the
office. Gradual conversion entails what Clark calls role assimilation (and
this is reminiscent of the more protracted therapies). There are clearly
various levels of personality which can be involved either in the drug ex-
perience or in conversion experience. Classifications of pathological outcomes
of conversion (including irresponsibility and omniscience) startlingly re-
semble patterns we see with LSD {20, 88).
Even the conversion experience, if we follow Christiansen's description
{18), is not dissimilar from that described by therapists who have worked
with LSD. He notes a pre-conversion conflict which reaches a peak, a moment
of "giving up" (an intention to cease the struggle) which can be followed
by an opportunity to come up with a new solution. The conflict must 'become
sufficiently accessible to that part of the mind which can organize and
synthesize it in religious terms. If this did not happen there might be a
confrontation of old intensities and strivings and continuing struggle rather
than yielding and reworking (very much as we described in the instance
of acting out behavior) . Such struggles in which past experience must be
disowned yield pathologically defensive behavior, and symptoms easily ensue ;
there would be a lack of coherence of the personality which the conversion
experience might achieve.
94
LSD in Psychiatry
There are a number of psychotherapists who have attempted to use the
loosening of associations and the intense experiencing produced by the drug
in order to influence behavior change. Yet the history of LSD therapy by
physicians represents a picture of both use and abuse. In the late 1950's many
physicians were not only struck by the drug-induced phenomena, but ap-
parently addled by them. Perhaps they were simply jealous of the subject
when they insisted upon taking the drug concurrently with him. They cer-
tainly discovered a reality of the mind, but it was a region of mental activity
about which they were supposed to be expert prior to the advent of these
drugs. When a therapist in our culture has little sense of intellectual control
over the events he is monitoring, we are dealing with a healing cult ; what
is rational about therapy is our obligation to study and control that with
which we work. Critical observation and empathy have led us as far as we
are in our present dealing with schizophrenia ; there is no evidence that any
further progress has been made by those therapists who insisted on being
drugged themselves.
There are a number of ongoing controlled projects in this country and a
long history of experience with the use of LSD in therapy. Two major
modes of treatment prevail. The treatment employed by many European
workers (often called "psycholytic") represents a method by which certain
defenses are breached. With a strong drug-enhanced tie to the therapist, feel-
ings and memories are allowed to emerge vividly and unforgetably before
the eye of consciousness and their strength discharged. The events are later
worked over with care. Dosages are regulated in part by the capacity of the
patient to steer a course between being utterly lost on the one hand or overly
constrained by habitual defenses on the other. A kind of active participation
in the presence of a general loosening is sought. The need for a certain
autonomy and directiveness, a certain inner capacity to integrate and pull
together at least a part of the experience is recognized. The integration
which follows is a collaborative venture requiring the active participation
and the output of the patient {2) . Yet how to reinforce any shifts in attitude
which occur with the drug without running the risk of often repeated drug
sessions is a largely unstudied issue.
In the so-called psychedelic therapies as they are now being tested, there is
an awareness of an immense amount of preparation, of salesmanship with an
evangelical tone in which the patient is confronted with hope and positive
displays of it, before he has his one great experience with very high doses of
drug. The experience is structured by music and by confident good feelings.
With the support of the positive therapist throughout this experience, the
patient is encouraged to see his life in a new light, to think of his future
accordingly. There now tends to be a rather long period of follow-up and
support before the patient is discharged. An earlier mode of intervention
attempted to avoid the tangled problems of relationship between therapist
and patient with one single high dose drug session as the chief therapeutic
contact; the current approach is more explicitly ritualized (in the model
95
of nativistic movements) , and the person and attitude of the therapist tends
not to be analyzed but incorporated. It is speculated that the egocentric
problems of the alcoholic may be specifically tailored for this ego- dissolving,
ego-building teclmique. Other approaches lie somewhere between these two.
It is interesting that peyote cultures also report cures of alcoholics, but
the effects may not persist without sustained group support and leadership.
The efficacy and selectivity of current therapies is far from settled and re-
search is still ongoinsf (2) . Obviously careful follow-up is essential, since the
immediate glow which occurs with drug-induced personality change can be
deceptive.
Abuse of LSD
I have noted my current opinion that the chief abuse of LSD is irrespon-
sible, alluring and provocative advertising. "We are surely at an advanced
enough stage of our culture to identify- folly and even to study it. Professor
McClelland at Harvard (44) noted some of the effects upon the research of
the psychedelic fanatics at the height of their proselytising in the early
1960s. He documented certain features of their research which appeared to
be related to the drug state. Of course whether poor research is to be con-
sidered a drug abuse is a moot point, but some of the features noted were a
high opinion of their own proftmdity ; dissociation and detaclmient — a feel-
ing of being above and beyond the normal world of social reality; inter-
personal insensitivity ; omniscience and philosophical naivete — a simplistic
satisfaction in visions. Finally he noted inipulsivity which might be seen as
intolerance of any limits, questions or skepticism, let alone inability to predict
the consequences of irresponsible, provocative actions. These consequences
of drug taking observed in the very home of transcendentalism have been
observed in other settings ; perhaps we are delineating one mtrinsic pattern
of outcome of extensive, repeated LSD use. TVliile such descriptions may give
us a guide for future research, conclusive and analytical studies simply are
not available.
In a few current illicit self-help groups the drugs surprisingly are used
reportedly to achieve a conventional outcome. A group of ex-convicts —
allegedly — require that members have an honest job before becoming part
of the LSD-taking religious group. Sunilarly one group of homosexuals are
reported to use illicit LSD to enliance heterosexual behavior. Several groups,
recognizing that overly frequent use might have insidious and profound
effects on judgment and that careless use can lead to dangerous panic, have
set up agencies to be phoned when reqixired. "We seem to be living in an era
when many practices (half-way houses, group therapies, ''cathartic" therapy)
built into the fabric of psychiatric work are imitated by self-help groups. If
these lay LSD groups leam from experience, they will do so with even less
guidance and self critical checks than the professionals have had in coping
with adolescent confusion and turmoil and even the more serious dysfimc-
tions. It is the patient who pays for such experimentation by the gurus. On
the other hand, other organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous have
96
continued to evolve patterns of response to the problems with which they
are concerned without damage to their adherents; members are free to get
whatever professional help they need. The discipline of abstention and the
general reality orientation of this group is important.
From the evidence available, it appears that users who end up in hospitals
with prolonged and serious psychoses are initially a quite unstable group.
They are, in any event, a small group. More frequently one sees a transient
panic occurring during the drug state, from which recovery is generally
rapid. Others who have come to the attention of physicians do not require
hospitalization but often seek treatment because they are nervous or con-
cerned about having taken the drug, or about some of their thoughts and
experiences during the drug state. And a few others as noted may have
non-drug induced panics some weeks after the drug state very much as a
bad dream recurs. It is somewhat easier within a college population to get
some gauge on the prior adjustment of the students. Certainly there are a
group of students, even some of the repeaters, who appear relatively stable
{9,51,65,71,7^,75).
Motives for Use
The motives for LSD use are varied. Sociologists refer to problems of
commitment and alienation and at least add thereby to the younger genera-
tion's verbal mythology. A "need to feel" — to gain access to themselves and
others — a pervasive sense of being constricted, seems to characterize some
of the college takers I have studied. In a recent report {9) of a group in
which Rorschach and other studies were available, this theme dominated
even though outcomes sharply differed: these ranged from psychosis, to
instability, to a reaction of bemused enlightenment. Some college students
clearly tried the drug as a part of clique activity ; thanks in part to sustained
advertising, drugs and drug talk are a part of a student's vocabulary.
Taking the drug puts the student one-up — he has "been there". This is a
challenge evoking interest among friends and can provide the basis for a
loose group cohesion. Others sincerely feel they should confront an expe-
rience advertised to be so important. They see the drug as an emotional
fitness test, somewhat analogous to physical fitness. The issue for many is
"control". They experiment with the right to drink and test their ability
to stop. At this age they are doing the same, often, with cigarette smoking
or with masturbation. In general they are rehearsing their strength and
autonomy at a time when their lives are largely unwritten. Many behaviors
of this age constitute a probing for consequences — an attempt to come to
grips with life and to seize the fruits and risks promised in the future, the
threshold of which is now visible. This underlies many of the grimmer
statistics of the 18-25 age group, including accidents and suicide. One won-
ders if these represent the inevitable costs of learning the lesson of conse-
quences, of limits, of mortality.
97
Summary View of the Value of Psychedelic Drugs
In psychiatry we know something about how to use drugs to cope with
grossly inadequate functioning and to ^compensate for deficit states. "With
respect to the LSD experience, we know that many serious persons have
reported some transient or even long-term value in it. They say their aesthetic
appreciation is enhanced, and McGlothlin indeed has some evidence for a
slight shift of this sort in some but not all of a group of normal subjects {70) .
If though, we search for major productions of art, letters, music or visionary
insight, few clear cut monuments to the drug are available. Related to cre-
ativity, the effects of the drug do not seem to have compelled it. Huxley's
greatest output preceded his mescaline states ; he thereafter, as I read him,
tended to write about drugs, not to create with them. If we ask whether there
have been cultures which have eradicated mental disorders and disease with
these drugs, or groups which have seen the dissolution of deviant behavior or
even deviant drug-linked behaviors (for example, alcoholism), we find some
slight association but no clear cut overall differences that I know of in the
general titre of human misery. In fact the use of these drugs is often associ-
ated with some form of psychosocial deprivation — or (equally) with marked
privilege (as in Brahmins and college students). That private satisfactions
might have been achieved, that groups with the presence of these plants could
have attained some spiritual equilibrium seems apparent, but whether the
plants and their effects are both necessary and sufficient to get such results —
whether no alternative means exist within a culture — is another question.
We should not forget to assess the cost of sustained euphoria or pleasure
states ; we have to wonder whether the mind of man is built to accommodate
an excess either of pleasure or of over- rationality. We do not know whether or
not there are individuals with sufficient strength to take these drugs for
growth or pleasure within the social order without enhanced and credulous
alienation from it. Is a stable person really under sufficient control of his mo-
tives and shifting circumstance, let alone the dosage, to take these drugs as a
civil right for whatever personal reasons he wishes ? If so, who has to care for
the consequences of his misjudgments? Some side effects cannot be avoided
if we are correct about the way the mind is built, and if we learn from the
effects of drugs on much simpler biological systems. How can the stability of
religious custom protect drug takers who have little authentic orientation to
religion and unstable groups and barely reliable leaders upon whom to lean ?
Thus etched upon the variabilities of culture and personality are drugs
with a certain skew toward that mystical realm of the mind which knows both
psychosis and religion, both heightened and useful self insight, and impaired
and distorted judgment about the everyday world. Perhaps similarities and
differences of these various plants and their effects could — if analyzed — reveal
means for finer control of these experiences — at least in terms of their inten-
sities. Some research should point towards elucidation of critical neurochem-
ical mechanisms.
In general, it seems to me that we have been more awed than aided by our
experience with these drugs. They still remain agents which reveal but do not
98
chart the mental regions; to do that we must employ our mental faculties
available in the undrugged state. Accordingly we should do better than repeat
the ontogeny of past encounters with mind revealing drugs. We should strive
to make distinctions so that — at some future date — if we knew how the ele-
ments of mind really were related, we could specify for the chemist the
designs he should seek in nature. But to begin with we have to learn to analyze
how behavior is organized, and to see what nature can teach us about the ways
in which the chemical organization of the brain is related to the dimensions of
mind.
REFERENCES
(1) Aberle, David F., "The Peyote Religion Among the Navaho," Chicago: Aldine
PuWishing Company, 1966.
(2) Abbamson, H. a. (ed. ), "The Use of LSD in Psychotherapy and Alcoholism,"
Indianapolis : Botobs Merrill, 1967.
(3) AxLPOET, Gordon, W., "Tlie Individual and His Religion," New York: Macmillan,
1950.
(4) Ames, F., "A Clinical and Metabolic Study of Acute Intoxication with Cannabis
Savita and Its Role in the Model Psychoses", J. Mental Sci 104 : 972-999, 1958.
(5) Bakeon, F., Jaevik, M. E. and Bunnell, S., Jr., "Hallucinogenic Drugs", Scientific
American 210 : 29-37, 1964.
(6) Beckek, H. S., "Becoming a Marihuana User", Amer. J. of Sociol. 59: 235-242, 1953.
(7) Bbnabud, a., "Psycho-pathological Aspects of the Cannabis Situation in Morocco:
Statistical Data for 1956", Bulletin on Narcotics, 9 : No. 4, 1-16, 1957.
(8) Blum, R., (ed.), "Utopiates, the Use and Users of LSD-25, New York: Atherton
Press, 1964.
(9) Bowers, M., Chipman, A., Schwartz, A., and Dann, O. T. "Dynamics of Psy-
chedelic Drug Abuse — A Clinical Study", Archives of General Psychiatry 1967
(in press).
(10) Bowers, M. B. and Feeedman, D. X., " 'Psychedelic' Experiences in Acute Psy-
choses", American Medical Association Archives of General Psychiatry 15 : No.
3, 240, 1966.
(11) Bowers, M. B., Hartmann, E. L. and Freedman, D. X., "Sleep Deprivation and
Brain Acetylocholine", Science 153 : No. 3742, 1416, 1966.
(12) Chandler, A. L. and Hartman, M. A., "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (L'SD-25) as
a Facilitating Agent in Psychotherapy", Archives of General Psychiatry 2 :
286-299, 1960.
(13) Charen, S. and Perelman, L., "Personality Studies of Marihuana Addicts",
American Journal of Psychiatry 102 : 67-^682, 1946.
(14) Cheek, Frances E., "Exploratory Study of Drugs and Social Interaction",
Archives of General Psychiatry 9 : 566-574, 1963.
(15) Chein, I., Gerard, D. L., Lee, R. S. and Rosenfeld, E., "The Road to H", New
York : Basic Books, 1964.
(16) Chopra, I. C. and Chopra, B. N., "The Use of Cannabis Drugs in India", Bulletin
on Narcotics 9 : No. 1, 4-29, 1957.
(17) Chopra, R. N. and Chopra, I. C, "Treatment of Drug Addiction: Experience in
India", Bulletin on Narcotics 9 : No. 4, 21-33, 1957.
(iS) Christiansen, C. W., "Religions Conversion", American Medical Association
Archives of General Psychiatry 9 : 207, 1963.
(.19) Chwelos, N., Blewett, D. B., Smith, C. M. and Hoffee, A., "Use of D-Lysergic
Acid Diethylamide in the Treatment of Alcoholism", Quart. J. Stud. Alcohol.
20 : 577-590, 1959.
(20) Claek, W. H., "The Psychology of Religion," New York: Macmillian, 1958.
99
(2/^ Cohen. S.. "The Beyond Within," New York: Atheneum, 1964.
(22) C!oHEN, S. and Ditmax, K. S.. "Complications Associated With Lysergic Acid
Diethylamide ( LSD-2o ) ", Journal of American Medical Association 181 : 161-
162, 1962.
(23) Cohen, S. and Ditman, K. S., "Prolonged Adverse Reactions to Lysergic Acid
Diethylamide", Archives of G^eneral Psychiatry 8 : 475-^80, 1963.
(24) Cole, J. O. and Katz, M. M., "The Psychotominetic Drugs. An Overview", Journal
of American Medical Association 187 : 758-761, 1964.
(25) Deikman, a. J., "Experimental Meditation", Journal of Nervous and Mental Dis-
ease 136 : 329-343, 1963.
(26) DoziEK, Edward P., "Problem Drinking Among American Indians", Quart. J. Stud.
Alcohol. 27 : No. 1, 72-87, 1966.
(27) Dtxbos, R., "On the Present Limitations of Drug Research", Drugs in Our Society
edited by Paul Talalay, Baltimore, Maryland : The Johns Hopkins Press, 1964.
(28) Editorial, "Paradise or Inferno?", British Med. J., 1898, p. 390.
(29) Er-nFPT. D. C and SHAr,.Ass. C, "Clinical Prediction of Insightful Resi)onse to a
Single Large Dose of LSD", Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 9 : 340-346, 1966.
(30) Ems, H., "Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise", Contemporary Rev. 73: 130-141,
1898.
(31) Fink, M., Simeon, J., Haque, W. and Itil, T., "Prolonged Adverse Reactions to
LSD in Psychotic Subjects", Archives of General Psychiatry 15 : 450-454, 1966.
(32) Fink, P. J., Goldman, M. J. and Lyons, I., "Morning Glory Seed Psychosis",
Archives of General Psychiatry 15 : 1966.
(33) Feeedman, D. X., "Aspects of the Biochemical Pharmacology of Psychotropic
Drugs", Psychiatric Drugs, p. 32, P. Solomon (ed.), New York: Grune and Strat-
ton, Inc., 1966.
(34) Feeedman, D. X., "Effects of LSD-25 on Brain Serotonin", J. Pharmacol. ExptL
Therap. 134 : 160, 1961.
(35) Feeedman, D. X., "LSD-25 and Brain Serotonin in Reserpinized Rat", Fed. Proc.
19 : 266, 1960.
(36) Feeedman, D. X., "Psychotomimetic Drugs and Brain Biogenic Amines", American
Journal of Psychiatry 119 : 843, 1963.
(37) Feeedman, D. X., "Toward A Systematic Psychophannacology", Intemat J. Psy-
chiat. 2 : No. 6, 666-670, 1966.
(38) Feeedman, D. X., and Aghajanian, G. K., "Approaches to the Pharmacology of
LSD-25", Llyodia 29 : No. 4, 309, 1966.
(39) Feeedman, D. X., Aghajanian, G. K., Obnitz, E. M. and Rosnee, B. S.„ "Patterns of
Tolerance to Lysergic Acid Diethylamide", Science 127 : 1173, 1958.
(40) Feeedman, H. L. and Rockmoee, M. J., "Marihuana, Factor in Personality Evalua-
tion and Army Maladjustment", J. Clin. Psychopathology 7 & 8 : 765-782 & 221-
236, 1946.
(41) Feeud, S., "An Outline of Psychoanalysis," New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.,
1949.
(42) Feosch, W. a., Robbins, E. S. and Steen, M., "Untoward Reactions of Lysergic
Acid Diethylamide (LSD) Resulting in Hospitalization", New. Eng. J. Med. 273:
1235-1239, 1965.
(43) Giaeman, N. J. and Feeedman, D. X., "Biochemical Asi)ects of the Actions of
Psychotomimetic Drugs", Pharmacol. Rev. 17 : 1, 1965.
(44) Gordon, Noah, "The Hallucinogenic Drug Cult", The Reporter, August 15, 1963.
(45) Geinker, R. R., "Bootlegged Ecstasy", Journal of American Medical Association,
187 : 768, 1964.
(46) Huxley, A., "The Doors of Perception," New York: Harper Brothers, 1954.
(47) Isbell, H. et al., "Cross Tolerance Between LSD and Psilocybin", Psychopharmaco-
logia 2 : 147-159, 1961.
(48) Isbell, H. et al., "Studies on Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD-25)", Arch. Neurol.
Psychiat 76 : 468-478, 1956.
100
(49) James, W., "Varieties of Religious Experience", New York: Longmans, Green and
Company, 1916.
(50) Keniston, K., "The Uncommitted", New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.,
1960.
(51) Klebee, H. D., "Student Use of Hallucinogens", Journal of American College Health
Association 14 : 109-117, 1965.
{52) KLxjvEE, Heinrich, "Mescal and Mechanisms of Hallucinations", Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1966.
(53) Koella, W. p., Beaulieu, R. F. and Bergen, J. R., "Stereotyped Behavior Cyclic
Changes in Response Produced by LSD in Groats", International Journal of
Neuropharmacology 3 : 397-403, 1964.
(54) KoHUT, Heinz, "Forms and Transformations of Narcissism", Journal of the
American Psychoanalytic Association 14: No. 2, 1966.
(55) LaBarke, W., "Twenty Years of Peyote Studies", Current Anthropology 1: 45-60,
1960.
(56) Laing, R. D., "Transcendental Experience in Relation to Religion and Psychosis",
Psychedelic Review 6 : 7-15, 1965.
(57) Leaey, T. and Alpert, R., "The Politics of Consciousness Expansion", The Harvard
Review 1 : No. 4, 33-37, 1963.
(58) Lbbovits, B., Visotsky, H. M. and Ostfed, A. M., "LSD and JB318 : A Comparison
of Two Hallucinogens. Part III", American Medical Association Archives of
General Psychiatry 7 : 30-45, 1962.
(59) Lennard, H., "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD-25) : XIL A Preliminary State-
ment of Its Effects Upon Interpersonal Communication", Journal of Psychology
41 : 186-198, 1956.
(60) LiNDESMiTH, A. R., "The Addict and the Law," Bloomington : Bloomington Indiana
University Press, 1965.
(61) LINDESMITH, A. R. and Gagnon, J. H., "Anomie and Drug Addiction", Anomie and
Deviant Behavior, pp. 158-188, M. B. Clinard (ed.). New York: The Free Press,
1964.
(62) Ling, T. M. and Buckman, J., "Lysergic Acid and Ritalin in the Treatment of
Neurosis," London : Lambarde Press, 1963.
(63) Livingston, R. B., "Symposium on the History of Narcotic Drug Addiction Prob-
lems", National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 1963.
(64) LouEiA, D. B. et al., "The Dangerous Drug Problem", New York Medicine 22:
No. 9, May 5, 1966.
(65) LuDwiG, A. M. and Levine, J., "Patterns of Hallucinogenic Drug Abuse", Journal
of American Medical Association 191 : 104-108, January 11, 1965.
(66) MacLean, J. R. et al, "The Use of LSD-25 in the Treatment of Alcoholism and
Other Psychiatric Problems", Quart. J. Stud. Alcohol 22 : 34r-45, 1961.
(67) Maslow, a. H., Toward a Psychology of Being, New York: D. Van Nostrand Co.,
Inc., 1962.
(€8) Mayor's Committee on Marihuana, New York City : Cattell Press, Lancaster, Pa.,
1944.
(69) MoGlothlin, W. H., "Hallucinogenic Drugs: A Perspective With Special Refer-
ence to Peyote and Cannabis", Psychedelic Review 6 : 16-57, 1965.
(70) McGlothlin, W. H., Cohen, S. and MoGlothlin, M. S., "Long Lasting Effects of
LSD on Normals", Arch. Gen. Psy. 17 : 1967 (in press) .
(71) MoGlothlin, W. H. and Cohen, S., "The Use of Hallucinogenic Drugs Among
College Students", American Journal of Psychiatry 122 : 572-574, 1965.
(72) MoGlothlin, W. H., Cohen, S. and MoGlothlin, M. S., "Short-Term Effects of
LSD on Anxiety, Attitudes and Performance", J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. (in press,
1967).
(73) O'Reilly, P. O. and Reich, G., "Lysergic Acid and the Alcoholic", Dis. Nerv.
Syst. 28 : 331-334, 1962.
101
(74) PEABiMAN, S. J., "Drug Experiences and Attitudes Among Seniors in a Liberal
Arts College", Unpublished Manuscript. Brooklyn College of the City Pniversity
of New York, 1966.
(75) Philip, A. F.. "Drugs on Campus"'. Presented at Twentieth Anniversary Meetings.
Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Philadelphia, Pa., November 12, 1966.
(76) PoLSKT, Ned, "The Village Beat Scene; Summer I960", Dissent 8: No. 1. 339-359.
1961.
(77) BosENTHAi, S. N., "Persistent Hallucinosis Following Bei)eated Administration
of Hallucinogenic Drugs". American Journal of Psychiatry 121 : 238-243, 1964.
(78) Salvatoee, S. and Htde, E. W.. "Progression of Effects of LSD". Arch. Neurol.
Psychiat. 76 : 50-59, 1956.
(79) Sandison, E. a., Spencek, A. M. and Whitelaw, J. D. A., "The Therapeutic Value
of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in Mental Illness", J. Ment. Sci. 100 : 491-507,
1954.
(80) Savage, C, Teebhx, J. and Jackson, D. D.. "LSD, Transcedence and the New
Beginning". J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 135 : 425-439, 1962.
(81) Schactee, S., "Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emo-
tional State", Psychobiological Approaches to Social Behavior. Liederman, H.
and Shapiro, D. (eds.), Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press, 1964.
(82) Shoevon, H. M., "Abreaction and Brain", Hallucinogenic Drugs and Thar
Psychotherapeutic Use : Proceedings of the Royal Medico-Psychological Associa-
tion, pp. 74-78, Croket, R., et al. (eds.), London : H. K. Lewis & Co., Ltd., 1963.
(83) SiEGEL, J., "The New Sound: Tune In, Turn On, and Take Over". The Village
Voice, November 7, 1966.
(84) Simmons, J. I. and Winogead, B., "It's Happening", Santa Barbara: MarcLaird
Publications, 1967.
(85) Slateb, p. E., Morimoto, K., and Hyde, R. W., "The Effects of LSD Upon Group
Interaction", Archives of General Psychiatry 8 : 564—571. 1963.
(86) Slotkin, J. S., "The Peyote ReUgion", Glencoe: The Free Press, 1956.
(87) Smith, C. M., "A New Adjunct to the Treatment of Alcoholism : the Hallucinogenic
Drugs", Quart. J. Stud. Alcohol 19 : 406-417, 1958.
(88) SouTHASD, S., "Conversion and (Christian Character", Nashville, Broadman Press,
1965.
(89) Spindlee, G., "Personality of Peyotism in Menomini Indian Acculturation",
Psychiatry 15 : 151-159, 1952.
(SO) SruMPF, W. E. and Roth, L. J., "Dry-Mounting High-Resolution Autoradiography",
Isotopes in Experimental Pharmacalogy, pp. 133-143, Roth, L. J. ( ed. ) , Chicago :
The University of Chicago Press, 1965.
(91) Ungee, S. M., "Mescaline, LSD, Psilocybin, and Personality Change", Psychiatry
26 : 111-125, 1963.
(92) Ungebleideb, J. T., Fisheb, D. D. and Fxji:leb, M., "The Dangers of LSD". Journal
of American Medical Association 197 : 389-392. 1966.
(93) WnsoN, R. E., and Shagass, C, "Comparison of Two Drugs with Psychotomimetic
Effects (LSD and Ditran)", J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 138: No. 3, 1964.
(94) WoLBACH, A. B., MiNEE, E. J. and Isbeli, H., "Comparison of Psilocin With Pslio-
cybin, Mescaline and LSD-25", Psychopharmacologia 3 : 219-223. 1962.
(95) WoLBACH, A. B., Jr., Isbell. H. and Minee, E. J., "Cross-Tolerance Between Mes-
caline and LSD-25", Psychopharmacologia 3 : 1-14, 1962.
102
SESSION II
PIPER METHYSTICUM (KAVA)
Georg E. Cronheim, Chairman
Chairman's Introduction
Georg E. Cronheim
Riker Laboratories, Northbridge, California
The first session of this conference dealing with a particular plant, is
devoted to Kawa or Kava-Kava or Piper methysticum, which is indigenous
to many islands of the South Pacific.
The use of Kawa in certain parts of Oceania is apparently very old. It
has been described already by early travelers, for instance by James Cook
in 1768. It is important to remember that the Kawa drink is mentioned not
only quite early, but also repeatedly by a number of observers. The descrip-
tions uniformly indicated that the Kawa experience is apparently pleasant,
and free from hangover or other side- or aftei'-effects. Many travelers, and
also such scientific investigators as L. Lewin, have reported that Kawa can
induce a form of euphoria, described as a happy state of complete comfort
and peace, with ease of conversation and increased perceptivity, followed
by restful sleep.
In many areas, the use of Kawa was connected with religious cults and
ceremonies. Thus, it is not surprising that missionaries tried to suppress the
drinking of Kawa. In some islands, this campaign was very successful,
especially when it coincided with the introduction of alcoholic beverages.
This replacement of Kawa by alcohol may have some significance, which I
hope will be discussed by some of the speakers. Could it be that enough
people preferred the effects induced by alcohol over those of Kawa ? Other-
wise the change-over would not have taken place as rapidly or as completely
as was apparently the case in many islands. Also, the preference for alcoholic
beverages is — if not an absolute proof — at least a good indication that the
Kawa drink did not contain or simulate alcohol.
The first major scientific examination of Kawa was published by L. Lewin
in 1886. Subsequently, other investigators in Europe and in this country
studied the chemical constituents and the pharmacological properties of
Kawa and of its components. However, the number of people interested in
this plant was always relatively small. Kawa did not become the subject of
more wide-spread use (or mis-use), or of numerous scientific investigations.
Perhaps our colleagues in anthropology and sociology can tell us whether
this is purely coincidental or whether there is some specific reason that in
spite of the sudden interest and cult-like fadism related to substances with
hallucinogenic or euphoria-producing properties, Kawa remained, outside
of the South Pacific Islands, a relatively little known drug. Moreover, the
fact that Kawa did not gain any popularity may have another explanation.
In more recent references to the Kawa Ceremony and present-day Kawa
use, none of the previously described effects on the central nervous system
were mentioned. This represented always a great puzzle. How could one
explain numerous detailed eye-witness accounts of unmistakable central
262-016 0-67— 9
105
effects of Kawa when taken by natives or by white people, travelers or
settlers? Even addiction has been described for these groups. Also, Kawa
was an article of commerce. Still more important, it was not just collected
as a wild plant, but was regularly cultivated. In other words, Kawa repre-
sented something which native people in the South Pacific Islands wanted
and for which they were willing to pay in the form of money or physical
labor. Doesn't it seem reasonable to assume that they derived some pleasure
from Kawa? And wouldn't tliis explain that drinking of Kawa — both for
ceremonial and social purposes — is still practiced?
Pharmacological studies of Kawa and certain of its constituents have
shown some rather remarkable properties, which will be discussed in the
course of this program. Studies in our laboratories were in fact so promising
that we carried out the necessary chronic toxicity studies in animals, in
order to permit an evaluation in human volunteers and in patients. Unfor-
tunately, the results were not very striking. Some anti-epileptic activity was
seen in patients, but none of the "tranquilizing" effects that had been
described. At the same time, signs of skin reactions became apparent, which
precluded further chronic administration.
So here we have some obvious discrepancies, for which I am sure there
must be some explanation. It is the purpose of the present conference to
present such discrepancies and questions to groups composed of anthro-
pologists, botanists, chemists, clinicians and pharmacologists, because the
complementary approach evolving from an interdisciplinary discussion has
the best chance of solving some of the existing problems.
We are fortunate that the group of speakers in this Kawa symposium
includes three investigators who have had extensive first-hand knowledge
of the use of Kawa in various island groups of the South Pacific. This infor-
mation will be supplemented by some clinical observations in patients, as
well as special investigations of central nervous system effects of Kawa and
some of its constituents in human volunteers. The pharmacological proper-
ties of these substances and the chemistry of Kawa will also be presented
in adequate detail. All in all, a fairly comprehensive picture of Kawa should
emerge. It is my hope that the combined knowledge of the seven speakers,
each a specialist in his field, may provide some of the missing answers to
the Kawa problem.
106
The Function of Kava in
Modern Samoan Culture
Lowell D. Holmes
Department of Anthropology, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas
In the Manu'a island group of American Samoa no formal or informal
meeting of chiefs would be complete without the distribution of the tradi-
tional Polynesian beverage kava. This drink known locally as ''ava, is pre-
pared by steeping the pulverized roots of the Piper methysticum plant in a
prescribed amount of water until a cloudy, khaki-colored liquid is produced.
Kava is in no way alcoholic, but much has been made of its narcotic prop-
erties. Early missionaries maintained that the concoction partially paralyzed
the lower extremities, making it difficult to walk. More recent partakers of
kava, including the author, have experienced no debilitating effect which
could be attributed to consumption of the drink. Instead they have found it
a refreshing, astringent drink which produces nothing more than a tingling
sensation in the mucous membrane of the mouth and a short-lived numbness
of the tongue. The partial paralysis of the lower limbs is not caused by the
kava but by sitting cross-legged for hours while the kava ceremony is in
process. Samoans who find the sitting posture a more natural one do not com-
plain of any impairment to walking. Missionary V. A. Barradale, writing in
1907 stated, "I have heard it said that if people drink too much [kava], it
makes them drunk in their legs; it paralyzes their lower limbs, and they
have to sit where they are till the effect wears off. But it would certainly need
a very large quantity to affect a man in that way, and I never saw or heard of
any one in that condition" (^).
Although Beaglehole {3) reports rare cases of kava addiction in Pangai,
Tonga, such a phenomenon was not personally observed in Samoa. The
author's informants did on one occasion refer to one recently deceased chief
whom they believed drank kava in excess because he had it prepared every
morning so that he could partake throughout the day. They also felt this
excessive use of kava was the cause of his death. Actually he had died at the
age of seventy-five from cancer of the stomach. Another claim made by native
informants is that over-indulgence of the drink can result in skin diseases
and eye ailments. The literature produced by early missionaries contains
numerous references to a scaly skin condition being attributable to kava
drinking. These claims were not corroborated by the author. One European
observer believed that the consumption of kava had the effect of preventing
the Samoans from developing a taste for alcoholic liquors. The author has
not observed this phenomenon either.
Kramer reports that he observed the addition of Capsicum pepper pods to
the kava concoction and believes this strengthened its stimulating effect
thereby rendering kava the equivalent in its use to Piper hetle in Indonesia.
107
He tells of having broken open a Gapsicwn pod and accidentally having
touched his face with his soiled hands. He complains of having "endured
severe pain for a long time; thus the pepper affects even the epidermis." {6).
The addition of this pepper to the kava mixture was not observed in con-
temporary Samoa, and the extent of its use in earlier days is not known.
Kramer is the only 19th century observed to record its use.
Kava is often drunk by Europeans, who upon acquiring the taste, find it
very refreshing. Many urban centers in the South Seas boast kava saloons
where local businessmen— native and European — take a kava break during
the mid-morning hours. Some government offices have kava prepared in the
morning for the comfort and enjoyment of their employees.
The relative importance of kava varies from island group to island group.
Kava drinking in Polynesia is primarily a phenomenon of the cultures in the
west, such as Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. The plant does not grow on the atolls of
the Tokelaus. Beaglehole {3) reports universal use of the beverage in Tonga,
but maintains that accompanying ritual is almost totally absent in villages
inhabited by commoners. Hawaii and Tahiti had the drink at one time but it
has practically disappeared in recent years. The Cook Island cultures for-
merly used the plant for drinking purposes also, but many of the Bernice P.
Bishop Museum monographs on the cultures of this region do not even men-
tion kava. The Maori did not drink kava although a variety of the plant which
could have been used for such purposes was indigenous to New Zealand.
Aitken {1) reports that in the Australs the occasional and somewhat unim-
portant practice of kava drinking was abolished by missionaries in 1822. New
Caledonian Polynesian populations are described by Leenhardt (7) as ignor-
ing the plant altogether.
Other centers of kava drinking in Oceania are Ponape in the Carolines,
the Marind District of West New Gruinea, the New Hebrides and the Wallis
and Futuna islands. In Melanesia the drink is described as being made from
fresh roots, and the concoction is said to have the effect of rapidly inducing
deep sleep. Chronic drinkers in this area are said to suffer from a state of
depression accompanied by a permanent decrease in appetite. Malnutrition
is also said to be observed among some addicts. The difference in effect be-
tween this area and western Polynesia is possibly attributable to the state of
the kava root at the time of production of the beverage. The dried roots used
in Polynesia apparently do not produce as strong a drink as that concocted
from fresh ones.
In Samoa it appears that kava drinking and its attendant ceremonies has
a long history, the practice being intimately related to indigenous religious
practices and village social and political organization. Mythology relates how
kava drinking was given to mortals by the first high chief, Tagaloa Ui, and
prescribes the form for modern kava ceremonies. The myth which provides
these sanctions was recorded in Manu'a as follows :
Not far from the village of Fitiuta there is a place where the rising sun is first seen
in Samoa. Tliis place is called Sana. Long ago there was a custom that one day a year
one of the families of Fitiuta must sacrifice the daughter to the sun. On the day of the
"celebration of the sun" a daughter from the family of Matainaumati went to Samoa
108
to be sacrificed. The girl's name was Ui. When the sun came for the girl he saw that she
was very beautiful and instead of eating her he decided to take her as his wife. He
took the girl to live with him in the sky. After a time she became pregnant and wanted
to go home so that her first child could be born in her family's village, and she wanted
to show her parents that she had not been killed.
While journeying home, Ui had a miscarriage, and the fetus floated away upon the
waters where it was found by the hermit crab, (he plover and the shrike. By manipulating
the fetus and breathing life into it the animals created the first Samoan chief, Tagaloa Ui.
After his creation Tagaloa Ui made a kilt for himself out of ti leaves and started to
walk toward the village of Fitiuta. On his way he walked through a grove of kava
plants and discovered the house of the mortal, Pava. Pava invited the chief to enter his
house and there the first kava ceremony involving mortal men was held.
When Tagaloa Ui entered the house he took a place at the end of the house (today the
seat of honor), and Pava sat in the front of the house (the traditional place for talking
chiefs) and began to prepare the kava. Pava chewed and spit the kava into a taro leaf
(laupula'a) which served as the kava bowl. Cups consisted of tautava leaves, and Pava
used his fingers to wring the kava as no strainer was then known.
While Pava'was wringing the kava, his son, Fa'alafi, laughed and played near the
bowl. Tagaloa Ui instructed Pava to make the boy sit down and be quiet, but nothing
was done about the irreverent boy. After several unheeded warnings, Tagaloa Ui picked
up a coconut frond, formed it into a knife, and cut Pava's son into two pieces. Then
Tagaloa Ui said to Pava, "This is the food for the kava. This is your part and this is
mine." Pava mourned and could not drink the kava.
Then Tagaloa Ui said, "Let us have a new kava ceremony." The kava and the leaf
bowl and cups were thrown away and Tagaloa Ui told two of Pava's sons to go to the
highest mountain, the house of Tagaloa Lagi, and bring down a wooden kava bowl, coco-
nut cups, a hibiscus strainer and a new kind of kava, latasi, a single branch kava tree.
These things were brought, and a second kava ceremony was started. Again Pava served
as the kava wringer, and when the kava was ready, Tagaloa Ui said, "Bring me my cup
first." Tagaloa Ui did not drink the kava but poured it onto his piece of the dead son
of Pava and then onto Pava's piece. Then he said, "Soifua" (life). The two parts came
together and the boy lived. Pava was so happy he clapped his hands. Pava drank his
cup of kava and Tagaloa Ui gave the following orders : "Pava, do not let children stand
and talk while kava is being prepared for high chiefs, for the things belonging to the
high chiefs are sacred."
A number of ritual details of the modem Samoan kava ceremony seem to
relate directly to this myth. They are:
1. The seating arrangement of the chiefs and the talking chiefs.
2. Prohibitions against children, or indeed any unauthorized untitled
persons, attending the ceremony.
3. The solemn atmosphere which must prevail.
4. The proper equipment for the production and distribution of kava —
a carved wooden kava bowl, a hibiscus strainer, a coconut cup, and
a certain type of kava.
5. The order of drinking — high chiefs first, talking chiefs second.
6. The pouring of a bit of kava from the cup onto the mat.
7. The concept of food for the kava.
8. The use of the term '■^Soifica."
9. The clapping of hands when the kava is ready.
10. The duty of talking chiefs to direct the kava ceremony.
The importance of the above is indicated by the fact that although short-
cuts are often taken in the modem kava ceremony the features listed are
seldom if ever altered.
109
Kava in contemporary Samoan society has been likened by Keesing (5) to
the European cocktail or highball, in that it produces a relaxed and friendly
atmosphere conducive to social cooperation.
Every chief is expected to keep a stock of dried kava on hand for his own
use and for the many demands made upon him by the protocol of hospitality.
Whenever any elite visitor enters the village, the welcoming ceremony re-
quires that each of the host chiefs present him with a dried kava root.
The kava ceremony is invariably the initial act of any meeting of the vil-
lage council (/(mo) , and is therefore a definite part of formal discussion and
decision making. It is also an essential part of all ceremonies associated with
births, marriages, deaths and title installations. No bonito canoe or house is
ever constructed without the labor being prefaced by the kava ceremony
wherein the carpenter is served first kava in the name of Sao (a name which
people claim was given to the first carpenter by the god Tagaloa) . The cere-
mony is said to insure successful work.
Kava drinking is without doubt the most important element of the aiavd,
the ceremony of greeting for visiting parties (m-alaga), and therefore carries
much of the biirden of Samoan hospitality.
In earlier, less peaceful days kava was consumed by warriors prior to battle.
On such occasions, the ceremony was referred to as ^ava mua au. Fe'epulea'i
Eipley (7) reported observing such a ceremony wherein the chiefs lined up
along each side of the road and set up the kava bowl in the middle of it.
Aside from its ceremonial use, kava is reported to have certain medicinal
uses. It is often consumed in an attempt to counteract the chills which ac-
ompany filariasis. Some Samoans believe that kava chewed in large quantities
will cause abortion. It is also claimed to be a cure for gonorrhea, and it is a
matter of record that German drug houses at one time imported small quan-
tities of the plant for this purpose.
Although the kava ceremony is considered the exclusive property of titled
men there are certain ceremonial occasions, such as the entertainment of a
visiting party, when the society of imtitled men (atomagra) or the wives of the
village chiefs (Woman's Committee) conduct their own social kava ritual.
On such occasions the order of drinking is determined by one's relationship
to the title holders of the village. Having a father or husband who is the vil-
lage paramount chief entitles one to be honored with first kava.
Some regional variations in kava rituai may be observed from village to
village, and even in a given village the ceremony is not always performed in
the same way. Certain parts may be abbreviated or eliminated altogether, and
perhaps the ceremony to be described in this paper is closer to the ideal than
to the real. However, all the steps described herein have been observed fre-
quently on occasions of high ceremony. Regional variations include differ-
ences in who may wring kava, the number of attendants involved in serving
the kava, and in some cases, the status and sex of those served. In some villages
only men are permitted to wring kava, but in others the ceremonial village
maiden (faupou) may do the honors. On the island of Tutuila it is not un-
common for women to hold matai titles and serve on the village council. They
are, therefore, as titled individuals, qualified to participate in the kava cere-
110
mony. In Manu'a women neither hold matai titles nor partake in the drinking
of kava at formal ceremonies where chiefs are present. The one exception to
this was the female sovereign Tuimanu'a Makelita.
The Modern Kava Ceremony
In preparing for the modern Manu'an kava ceremony the talking chief who
will later direct the kava distribution selects a piece of kava root. This part
of the kava plant is called the Brother Roots {''ava uso). The name drives
from a rajth. which recounts how two brothers, the sons of Tagaloa, found a
piece of floating wood while swimming west from the Manu'a Group. They
divided the wood and used the two pieces as floats. One of the brothers re-
turned to Fitiuta where many similar plants were observed to be growing
already, while the other brother swam on to Western Samoa where kava was
unknown. Here he planted his piece of wood and thereby introduced kava
drinking in this area.
After the initial selection of a piece of kava root, the society of untitled men
{amnaga) takes over and the root is cut into still smaller pieces by one of
their members. In this form kava is known as una o le V a sd, scales of the
sacred or forbidden fish. This term alludes the fact that like many other sacred
or taboo foods kava is reserved for the exclusive use of the chiefs.
Wliile the pieces of kava were formerly chewed, final processing today
involves pulverizing in a crude stone mortar (■tna'a tu''i''ava) . Other prepara-
tions for the ceremony include washing the kava bowl and bringing water in
coconut shell containers (sometimes a galvanized bucket is substituted today) .
A full inventory of the ceremonial paraphernalia includes a carved bowl,
eighteen inches in diameter, which traditionally had four legs but now may
have as many as twenty-four, a strainer made of shredded hibiscus bast, and
a polished coconut cup.
Village kava ceremonies are usually held in the house which serves as the
meeting place of the village council. As the chiefs enter the council house an
attitude of reverence prevails. Nothing may be worn above the waist, and body
ornaments of all types must be laid aside. The men speak in whispers and
refrain from smoking as the kava ceremony begins.
At a place near the back of the house three untitled men, members of the
village avmaga, station themselves at the kava bowl while a fourth remains
outside to clean the hibiscus strainer of kava fibers when it is periodically
thrown to him by the wringer. The man who is to wring the kava sits im-
mediately behind the bowl with a water pourer to his right, and to his left,
the man who will carry the cups of liquid to the assembled chiefs. Several
taboos must be observed by the wringer. These include never wearing a
flower necklace, a ring, a shirt or any other clothing except a wrap-aroimd
{lavalava) . Lavalavas of all untitled men involved in the ceremony must be
worn so they do not extend below the knees. The wringing of the kava must
be done correctly and with precision. Untitled men take pride in their ability
111
in tHs art. There are a nxunber of specific steps in the preparation of the
liquid, and each has a traditional name. They are :
1. Fa'apidcfu — Covering the kava in the bottom of the bowl with the
strainer.
2. Vau — Pressing down on the strainer with the heels of the hands and
with the fingers.
3. Aoga — (Collecting pieces of kava fiber in the strainer by drawing
it toward the back of the bowl.
4. Tatau — ^Wringing the kava. The strainer is lifted from the bowl and
wrung three times only. It is grasped in both hands like one would
grip a baseball bat. At the end of each wringing stroke the clenched
hands are bent forward so the liquid will not run down the arms.
5. Mapd — Cleaning the strainer. After the above steps have been car-
ried out three times the strainer is passed under the right knee of the
wringer and thrown back, with a side arm motion, to the untitled
person outside the house who catches it in his right hand and removes
the kava particles in it by snapping it three or four times. The
hibiscus strainer is then thrown back underhand and caught by the
wringer in his right hand.
The above process is continued until the bowl is free of pieces of kava root.
When this has been accomplished and the kava is ready for drinking, the
wringer wipes the rim of the bowl, cleans the strainer himself by snapping,
forms it into a ball, and plunges it into the kava, and lifts it above the
bowl with both hands, allowing the stream of liquid to fall into the bowl.
This final gesture, known as sila alofi, permits the chiefs to see whether the
kava requires more water. It is said that the correct mixture is judged by
the sound of the kava splashing into the bowl as well as by its color.
If the talking chief serving as kava announcer does not call for more
water the liibiscus strainer is wrung out and placed on the rim of the bowl.
The kava wringer then places his hands on the sides of the bowl, liis right
covering the strainer. He remains in that position until the kava has been
distributed.
It is the responsibility of the talking chief directing the ceremony to
watch the progress of the wringing from his position behind and to the right
of the bowl. Wlien the kava is nearly clear of fiber particles, he must com-
mence the verbal part of the ceremony with a poetic recitation (solo)
which recounts the mythical origin of the kava or particular kava cere-
monies of importance held by the ancient Samoan gods. A typical solo is as
follows :
Si'i le f aiva e to'alua
Papa ma Lotulotua
Aumai se i'a setasi
Le Manini mai le Sami
Telemu ma Telea'i
O mai lua te tauf etuli ile lagi
Fati mai se la tasi
Se la o le la 'avao tu felata' i
112
Gaugau ma sasa
Gaugau ma f alava
Translation
Two people went fishing
Papa and Lotulotua (members of the Tagaloa family)
They brought one fish
The Manini, from the sea.
Telemu and Telea'i (two brothers of the Tagaloa family)
Were sent to run to the heaven
To bring a branch of kava
They broke and hit the kava
They broke and hit the fierce kava
Many solos are traditional, but clever talking chiefs may and do compose
their own. It will be noted that the example given above is composed of
rhyming couplets. There is, however, little concern for rhythm. The solo is
timed to be finished the moment the kava is completely clear of fibers,
whereupon the kava announcer states, "Z7a usi le aloft'''' (The kava is already
cleaned). The color and consistency of the mixture is then analyzed and if
pronounced acceptable, the assembled chiefs respond by clapping their hands
several times. Informants state that this act of clapping corresponds to the
clapping of Pava when his sons was returned to life through the action of
Tagaloa Ui at the first kava ceremony.
The distribution of kava begins by calling the cup title of the high chieJ
who, because of his rank, is permitted to drink first. It must be understood
that the cup title is not the family title of the chief. For example, in Si'uf aga
village High Chief Lefiti (Lefiti is the family title) has the cup title
Lupe lele talitali lau ipu (The pigeon who flies, receive your cup). Only
high chiefs have cup titles. Talking chiefs receive their cup after the an-
nouncement of their family title and the words "Zaw ^ava'^ (your kava).
Chiefs of secondary rank receive the cup after their family title and the
yvord'^^ Taumafa'^ (drink) is pronounced.
The order of drinking is of the utmost importance as it signifies the rela-
tive rank of the drinker. The chief of highest rank in the village receives
first kava; the highest talking chief, second; second highest chief, third;
second highest talking chief, fourth; and so on down the ranks of chiefs
and talking chiefs. In some villages this procedure is altered, and certain
divisions of chiefs, or certain sections of the village, drink before others.
To drink last kava is as prestigef ul as to drink first.
Drinking etiquette, which varies according to rank, is as follows: When
the high chief receives the cup he does so with both hands. Before drinking
he pours a few drops onto the floor mat and says, "/a fa'atasi le Atua ma i
tatou i lenei aso^'' (May God be with us today) or '•'•la taHtaH le Atua i lenei
aso''' (May God be our leader for today) . Smith {8) records a typical prayer
as, "Let the god drink kava that this gathering may be pleasant."
113
Following this prayer the high chief raises his cup, says "Soifna'^ or
'■^Manuia,^'' and drinks what is contained in the cup. If the high chief says
'■^Soifua''^ the other chiefs respond with ^^Manuia.^^ If the latter word is
pronounced by the drinker the chiefs reply with '■'■Soifiiu.'''' Informants point
out the connection between this aspect of the modern kava ceremony and
the action of Tagaloa Ui in the first kava ceremony. The pouring of kava
onto the mat represents the pouring of the liquid onto the two parts of the
dead son of Pava, and the word "xS'o^/m," which may be translated "Life" or
"May you live," alludes to the command given by Tagaloa Ui when he
performed the miracle of returning the boy to life. The word '"''Manuia^''
may be translated "Blessings" or "May the gods bless you," and perhaps
relates to an expression of gratitude by Pava. It is also contended by in-
formants that the right of the high chief to drink first kava and to sit in
the end of the house is sanctioned by the Tagaloa Ui myth.
The drinking etiquette to be observed by a high talking chief varies some -
what in that he receives the kava cup with two hands if high chiefs are oc-
cupying both ends of the house, but if only one high chief is seated to the
high talking chief's right, the cup must be received with the left hand to
avoid showing the high chief the back of the hand. Of course the cup will be
taken with the right hand if the high chief is seated to the talking chief's
left. A high talking chief usually does not pour any kava onto the floor
mat although he may say "Soifua" or "Manuia" before drinking.
Chiefs and talking chiefs of secondary rank do not pour kava onto the
mat, nor do they say anything before drinking. Furthermore, they are not
expected to respect the position of the high chief by receiving the cup with
any particular hand.
Some Samoans do not care for kava and they "drink" symbolically by
merely touching the bottom of the cup as it is passed to them. The cup
may also be raised in a form of salutation and then returned to the cup
bearer, with the kava untouched. On rare occasions a chief may take the
liquid into his mouth, swish it about and then turn and spit it out onto the
apron of the house outside. All these actions represent acceptable etiquette for
the non-drinker.
When many chiefs are assembled there is often not enough kava to serve
everyone. In such cases it is important for the kava announcer to judge when
but a single cup of kava remains and then to announce rapidly the names
of those who are entitled to drink. Following the recitation of this list of
titles the announcer calls the cup title of the high chief who is then honored
by drinking last kava, and the final cup is served to him. When talking chiefs
of secondary rank are aware that there is not sufficient kava to go around
they will often interrupt the announcer and call, "I will drink with my chief."
When this occurs the lesser talking chief's title is not announced but the cup
is taken to him immediately after the high chief of his family has been
served.
Partially consumed kava must be cast away and the cup returned empty.
It may be handed or thrown back to the server. If the cup is thrown to the
server it is done to test his alertness.
114
Front
1 = Serving route to paramount high chief (PC); 2 = Serving route to high chief (HC)
3 = Serving route to talking chiefs (TC); 4 = Serving route to lesser chiefs and talking
chiefs (LC) ; 5= Serving route to high chief who will receive last kava (HC) ; + = Point
at which the kava server stops before approaching chiefs of high rank.
All aumaga members who expect to take part in the kava ceremonies must
master the etiquette of serving kava. Each rank of chief or talking chief must
be served in a special and distinct manner. Respect is paid to the half of the
house in which the paramount chief is seated, and the kava server must
walk in this area as little as possible in making his rounds to the drinkers.
When serving a high chief the kava distributor dips the coconut cup into
the kava and carries it with the thumbs and index fingers at the level of his
waist to the center of the house where he stops, raises it to his forehead and
walks in the direction of the high chief. About four feet from the chief,
the server lowers his right hand and with his left, places the cup on his
upturned right palm. The left hand is placed behind the back, and the cup
is handed to the high chief chest high. The young man then walks to the
115
center of the house where he stands at attention until the chief has finished
drinking.
Lower ranking chiefs are served kava with the right hand, but in the
case of these lesser personages the cup is held by the edge with the thumb in-
side, thus showing the palm of the hand to the chiefs as it is presented to
them.
In serving a high talking chief, the cup is held by the edge with the thumb,
index and middle finger of the right hand. As it is carried from the bowl
it is held just above the left shoulder. When in front of the high talking
chief, the kava server swings the cup forward and down, presenting it with
the back of his hand toward the talking chief. The kava cup for lower
ranking talking chiefs is carried in the right hand, waist high, but is
presented with the left. As in the case of high talking chiefs, the cup is
held by the edge and the back of the hand is shown to the drinker.
After delivering the kava the server returns to the center post of the
house and stands facing front while the kava is consumed. In rare cases he
may return to a position in front of the kava bowl and face the front
of the house.
When all of the assembled chiefs and talking chiefs have drunk or
have been acknowledged as having the right to drink, the kava announcer
concludes the ceremony with "Z7a moto le alofi''' (The kava is finished).
'•'•Ale le fau ma le ipu e tautau''^ (The bowl will hang with the fau (strainer)
and the cup). Perhaps a more traditional closing is that recorded by
Smith (9) as "Ze ^ava ^au motv}'' (The kava is broken off). "Z7a matefa le
fau^^ (The strainer is poor). "Z7a pa'u le aloP'' (The company of chiefs
has fallen down).
The assembled chiefs respond to these final words of the kava announcer
with an expression of thanks, "maZo fa^asoasoaP At the conclusion of
the kava drinking ceremony there is always the fono o le ''ava (food for
the kava ceremony). According to the Tagaloa Ui myth the food for the
first ceremony was the son of Pava and the food for the second was the
sacred fish Manini and tcdofa'afana (recooked taro). Today the Manini
and talofa'afana remain the traditional foods for the kava ceremony but
there are frequent substitutions of rice, tinned beef, or other prestige
foods.
The present day kava ceremony contains a number of elements which
can be traced to older religious concepts of Samoan culture. The pour-
ing of a bit of kava onto the mat not only relates to ancient mythology,
but a number of scholars feel that it is a ritual reenactment of an ancient
religious custom of pouring an evening oflFering to family or village gods.
Steubel records in Samoanische texte (1895) that the typical prayer
accompanying this act was "O the kava to drink of thy highness Sepo. Be
lovingly disposed. Bless this village." (Sepo was primarily a war god, but
in many villages served as a household god. )
Mead {8) suggested that the casting away of unconsumed kava may be
related to ancient ceremonies wherein kava was entreated to depart and
take all misfortune with it. On the other hand it may be related to precau-
116
tions about unconsumed food or drink which might be used for purposes
of sorcery. Certainly the sanctity of the mixing bowl and gear, the air of
solemnity and respect which accompany the entire ceremony, and the in-
clusion of poetic recitations which always allude to ancient Samoan gods,
testify to the religious nature of the ancient ceremony.
Although the kava ceremony contains these unmistakable references
to pre-Christian religion there seems to have been no great problem in
fitting it into the Christian context. Bits of Christian prayer frequently
accompany the pouring of kava onto the mat prior to drinking, and it is
not uncommon to see local pastors included in the kava circle. On such
occasions the village pastor {faife'au) drinks first kava, thus being ac-
corded honors even greater than those shown to the village paramount
chief. Since village pastors do not hold titles, their privileged position of
drinking indicates their exalted status within the social structure of the
village. Samoan medical practitioners and village school teachers are
accorded similar honor by being served kava second only to the highest
village chiefs.
Neither the church nor the American government has attempted to do
away with the kava ceremony, and it is not unusual to see chiefs partake
in a communion service in church, and then go home and conduct a kava
ceremony while waiting for the midday meal. All visiting dignitaries in
American Samoa, including President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, are
honored with a kava ceremony by the paramount chiefs of the territory.
It has been said that while other Polynesian people worshipped gods,
Samoans worshipped their village and social organization. The kava cere-
mony would seem to be a part of this veneration. The detailed etiquette
of serving, the prescribed order of drinking, the use of special honorific
cup names, and the insistence that the beverage be prepared and served
only by specially qualified persons, have been tremendously important in
dramatizing the whole system of Samoan rank and prestige. When the
kava ceremony is completed there is little doubt of the status of those
present and of the rights and privileges of their respective offices. Through
continual ceremonial exercise, social relationships are reiterated and
Samoan values are intensified. The result of this seems to be an unusual
stability and resistance to change which is found among few other Poly-
nesian peoples. In an attempt to explain this remarkable resistance to
change, John Copp has commented, "Samoan custom now serves as a
'refuge' from the conflict of choice and judgment resulting from Western
contacts." {11). Perhaps it has been the stabilizing influence of the kava
ceremony and other rituals that has allowed the Samoans to make satis-
factory adjustments to European influences. Traditional aspects of Samoan
culture such as the kava ceremony are, in a manner of speaking, bits of
solid ground on which to anchor in a changing world.
It is believed that the influence of the kava ceremony is one of the ex-
planations for the amazing stability of a people who, as Douglas Oliver
puts it, have survived "the strong impact of western civilization without
losing their numbers, their strength, their dignity, or their zest for a good
fight." (P).
117
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(/) AiTKEN, Robert T. "Ethnology of Tubuai." Honolulu, Bishop Museum Bulletin
No. 70, 1930.
(2) Barradale, V. A. "Pearls of the Pacific." London, London Missionary Society, 1907.
(3) Beaglehole, Ernest and Pearl. "Pangai : Village in Tonga." Wellington, Poly-
nesian Society, Memoir Vol. 18, 1941.
( 4 ) Buck, Sir Peter. "Samoan Material Culture." Honolulu, Bishop Museum Bulletin
No. 75, 1930.
(5) Keesing, Felix. "Elite Communication in Samoa." Stanford, Stanford University
Press, 1956.
(6) Kramer, Augustin. "Die Samoa-Inseln," Stuttgart, 1902.
(7) Leenhardt, Maurice. "Gens de la Grande Terre." Paris, 1937.
(8) Mead, Margaret. "Social Organization of Manua." Honolulu, Bishop Museum
Bulletin No. 76, 1930.
(9) Oliver, Douglas. "The Pacific Islands." Cambridge, Harvard University Press,
1951.
(10) Smith, S. Percy. "Kava Drinking Ceremonies among the Samoans and a Boat
Voyage round 'Opulu Island, Samoa." Journal of Polynesian Society Supple-
ment, 1920.
(11) Stanner, W. E. H. "The South Seas in Transition." Sydney, Australasian Pub-
lishing Co., 1953.
118
Recent Observations on the Use
of Kava in the New Hebrides
D. Carleton Gajdusek
National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, N.I.H.
Bethesda, Maryland
Of all the Pacific islands on which kava is still used today, Tongariki is the
one on whicji its use has attained maximum frequency and intensity. I have
had occasion to be resident, with Professors Jean Guiart and Robert Kirk,
on this small island of the Sandwich group in the New Hebrides, for several
weeks in two periods during the past three years, while working on an in-
tensive study of human adaptability in isolated populations. Quite apart
from our medical and genetic studies, we were soon aware that the entire
social life, mood and spirit of the island villages changed nightly at dusk to
a more subdued, Avhispering and cautious quiet than we had seen in native
villages elsewhere in the Pacific. This restrained atmosphere we found to be
caused by kava drinking : nightly, most of the men Avere drinking fresh kava.
Whereas on most Pacific islands kava prepared by the ancient technique of
premastication (particularly of the fresh, undried root) has been abandoned
in favor of a much less pharmacologically potent beverage made by grating
or pounding the root, usually dried, here on Tongariki the current extensive
nonceremonial drinking of kava makes use of the "green", freshly harvested,
locally-grown root and of mastication and salivary digestion of the pulp by
the adolescent and young men. Fresh cold water is used with hand mixing
and wringing through a sieve of cocoanut fiber to extract the active in-
gredients from the chewed pulp. The many variations of this procedure have
been described exhaustively since the earliest reports from Captain Cook's
voyages, and similarities in minute details of the kava ceremony have been
used to suggest affinities between peoples on different islands. On Tongariki
the procedures are now relatively unformalized and thus subject to consider-
able variation. Kava drinking on this island is unusual, furthermore, in that
its extent and pattern is a relatively recent phenomenon, and in that it has
reached faddish proportions in terms of the number of kava drinkers and
the frequency of their use of kava, which in both cases exceeds that of pre-
European contact.
This resurgence of kava drinking suggests the extensive revival of kava
usage on the southern New Hebridean island of Tanna in the early 1940's as
a ritual of a flourishing cargo cult which repudiated much of the missionary
teaching. Jean Guiart, in his study of this cargo cult, believed that the fierce
battle the Presbyterian Church had waged against kava drinking had focused
undue attention onto the traditional use of the beverage ; this served to endow
its new prohibition-defying use with such psychological import that the re-
newal of kava drinking became an important part of this anti-missionary
119
movement, which appeared on the island during World War II and has not
yet subsided. Early in the cargo movement (called the John Frum movement
after a neomythical man of that name) there was an anarchical use of the
drink, without respect for the ancient ceremonial and age-group restrictions
on its use; even adolescents drank it; the drinking took place in small in-
formal groups at odd times of the day and in unappointed places, as was
never permitted in pagan times.
Tongariki has a population of about 500 living in four small villages ; it
has not had a full-blown cargo cult or Messianic movement, but the resur-
gence of the use of kava has been associated with a reluctance to bojome
involved in Protestant mission or government -instigated activities, an in-
creased clannishness, and a withdrawal from outside contacts. No European
missionary has ever been resident on Tongariki, but native missionaries from
other islands have been sent there by the Presbyterian Church. In spite of
attempts to suppress it, the use of kava here was never fully stopped; in
recent years most adult male members of the population turn each night to
kava. Moreover, only the fresh root and not the dry variety is usually em-
ployed. The users still attend Sunday church services on the island, and do
not associate their use of kava with a revolt against the church such as
occurred on Tanna.
Kava drinking on Tongariki is a relatively relaxed and unceremonious
affair, without the strict adherence to prescribed etiquette characteristic of
kava drinking in much of the Pacific. It is prepared entirely by chewing,
never by the use of mortars, graters, or other mechanical aids. Boys from
pre-adolescent age to young adulthood usually do the chewing for their
kinsmen or guests, or out of courtesy for others. Older youths or young men
mix, wash, and wring the kava from the chewed pulp. Girls and women may
occasionally participate in the chewing, whereas this was not so in the past.
Adolescents and, more rarely, women may drink kava without censure. It is
drunk in various places within the village proper, usually in a quiet house,
and strict exclusion of children and women from the proximity and view of
the proceedings has lapsed. Thus, the current kava drinking on Tongariki is
more like that of the early John Frum movement on Tanna in its lack of
formality and restraints. On Tanna, however, by the 1950's kava usage had
returned essentially to the old traditional ceremonially controlled forms.
Usually, half of a cocoanut shell or a bowl of the same capacity is used to
prepare the kava and the full contents — about 100 ml. — drunk slowly in one
draught. Sometimes twice this quantity is drunk. A kava drinker usually
eats immediately after taking the kava; the kava is prepared while the
evening meal is being cooked. The effects come on in a half hour or less, and
the drinking is thus usually postponed until food is ready. Those who have
drunk the kava find a comfortable place to sit, often beside a dying fire in
the dark house, where they remain hunched over and avoiding light and
sound disturbances of all sorts. Conversation ceases, and slowly they fall
into a kava-induced stupor, which is not true sleep. This stage occurs about
an hour after drinking. From it they can be aroused by being addressed or
gently shaken, but this ruins the effect they are seeking from the kava. A
120
few hours after they have drunk kava they arise and walk to their own
houses to fall asleep promptly again; others remain where they have first
"fallen". In early morning they appear fresh and without any "hangover"-
like sequelae. Those whom we have seen walking a few hours after the drink-
ing are usually somewhat ataxic, photophobic, and slowed in their reactions.
A few who have had a higher dose are extremely ataxic and could return
to their homes only with assistance from the children or myself. There is
no belligerency or irritability — only a quiet and friendly somnolence asso-
ciated with the weakness of the lower limbs and the accompanying ataxia.
The drinkers reply rationally and are well oriented in time, place, and
person ; they respond intelligently, even sometimes quickly, to complex ques-
tions. Bright or moving lights, noise or other sound, touch, and even the
subdued bustle of nearby activity annoy them, and the villagers of all ages
have extreme respect for this. In discussions the kava users refer to a heavi-
ness and weakness of their extremities, particularly of the feet and legs, and
to an earlier paresthesia ascending from their feet to their trunk and described
with such words as "numbness", "tingling", and "coldness". They demon-
strate a tactful avoidance of the disturbance my questioning produces, a
very subdued annoyance at my "breaking" their kava. I have taken pulse
rates and blood pressure measurements on a number of kava drinkers at
varying intervals from one to three hours after drinking and found no
significant change in either from that observed on the same subjects during
examinations in the da3i:ime, when they had had no kava for the preceeding
eighteen hours or more. Respiration is shallow and regular; deep tendon
reflexes remain intact.
Of interest to us in our genetic studies has been the effects that kava might
have on fertility, since it is quite evident that kava drinkers rarely engage
in sexual activity on the nights when they drink. Interviews with the women
substantiate this. There is no dearth of children on Tongariki, but the popu-
lation is not increasing explosively as it is in some parts of the Pacific, and
kava drinking may serve as an interesting means of birth control for the
small island, which could be easily over-populated.
Dam-Bakker, DeGroot and Luyken have suspected the use of wati, as
kava is called in southwest New Guinea, as a possible cause of the infertility
in the Marind-Anim people. Their studies on chronic kava administration
to rats, however, failed to demonstrate any impaired fertility, but they admit
that they hardly reproduced essential features of kava use in the human
community in their rat experiments.
Jean Guiart and I have occasionally taken kava with the natives, and
have noticed subjectively little difference in the sequence of symptoms and
reactions from those reported by many Pacific voyagers since Captain
Cook's days. A few peculiar paresthesiae of the face, legs and arms — espe-
cially of the legs — a slight feeling of numbness, tingling, coldness and then
weakness, accompanied early by shorter flashes of warmth or flush, occurred
during the first half hour after ingestion. We have boorishly "broken" our
kava at times, and walked off to engage in other activities without noticeable
impairment of motor or sensory function. This has been after rather low
262-016 0-67— 10
121
doses. There is, with higher doses, a pleasant, relaxing, paresthesia-enjoying,
refreshing state of somnolence without mental dulling which eventually
leads to sleep. At times, members of our team have taken large doses — a
large cocoanut shell full — and real weakness, even a paresis making walking
impossible, has been present for several hours after ingestion. Such an over-
dose left one of us slightly ataxic with a persistent feeling of weakness in the
lower limbs on into the next morning.
Several recent accounts report little or no pharmacological action from
kava prepared from grated or pounded dried kava root and used socially
or ceremonially on Fiji and Samoa. My own experience in drinking such
kava in Fijian villages is the same lack of effect. It is this dried kava root
that has entered commerce, particularly on Fiji, and I wonder whether it is
not this product that has been used in the pharmacological and chemical
laboratories. The freshly harvested root, prepared by chewing, appears to
result in the more potent preparation, the effects of which I have described.
The stronger physiological actions of the kava used on Tongariki and Tanna
may well be from the use of freshly harvested root rather than dried root,
but there is also the possibility that the chewing and salivary digestion that
is used to break up the fibers and emulsify the ingredients may be responsible
for the pharmacologically more potent product. It is also likely that a higher
dose of active ingredients is taken on Tongariki, since a considerably more
concentrated extract appears to be prepared ; far more root is used per indi-
vidual drinker than on Fiji or Samoa.
APPENDIX
Historical and Ethnographic Accounts of Kava Usage
AiTKEN, R. T. "Ethnology of Tubuai." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 70, (Bayard
Dominick Expedition, publication no. 19), Honolulu, Hawaii, 42, 1930.
Beaglehole, E. and P. "Ethnology of Pukapuka." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 150,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 25, 1938.
Beabdmore, E. "The natives of Mowat, Daudai, New Guinea." Journal of the Anthropo-
logical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 19 : 460, 1889-90.
Bevan, T. F. "Toll, travel, and discovery in British New Guinea." London, 258, 1890.
BiEO, S. L. "Neu-Guinea (Astrolabe Bai)." Ethnograflsche Sammlung des Ungarischer
Museums, 3: (Budapest), 102, 1901.
BoUEGAKEL, A. "Des races de I'Oceanie Frangaise de celles de la Nouvelle-Calidonie.
In particnlier, seconde partie." Memoirs de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, 2 :
403, 1865.
Buck, P. H. "Samoan material culture." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii,
No. 75, 92, 140, 147-164, 545, 548, 641, 679, 1930.
"Ethnology of Tongareva." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 92, Honolulu, Hawaii,
81,119-121, (April) 1932.
"Ethnology of Manihiki-Rakanga." By Te Rangi Hiroa. Bernice P. Bishop,
Museum No. 99, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1932.
"Mangaian society." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 122, Honolulu, Hawaii,
1934.
"Ethnology of Mangareva." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 157, Honolulu, Hawaii,
1938.
"Arts and crafts of the Cook Islands." Bernice P. Bishop Museum No. 179,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 18-20, 1944.
122
BtiHLEB, A. "Versuch einer Bevolkerungs-und Kulturanalyse auf den Admiralitat-
sinseln." Zeitschrift fiir Bthnologie, 67 : 1-32, 1935.
Burrows, E. G. "Ethnology of Futuna." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 138, Honolulu,
Hawaii, 200-204, 1936.
■ "Ethnology of Uvea (Wallis Island)." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 145,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 75-76, 139-148, 1937.
Christian, F. W. "The Caroline Islands." London, 86, 87, 100, 188-193, 211, 1899.
Churchill, W. "Samoan kava custom." Holmes Anniversary Volume, Washington,
53-64, 1916.
Churchward, W. B. "My consulate in Samoa." London, 47-59, 313, 347, 348, 1887.
CoLLocoTT, E. E. V. "Kava ceremonial in Tonga." Journal of the Polynesian Society,
36 : 21-47, 1927.
Cook, J. "A voyage to the Pacific Ocean." 3 Volumes, London, vol. 2 ; 145, 155-56, 1784-
1785.
Cornet, B. C. "The quest and occupation of Tahiti by emissaries of Spain in 1772-76" ;
3 volumes. The Hakluyt Society, London. Second Series, Nos. 32, 36, 43. II : 85n, 130,
159, 168, 208, 218, 281, 472; III : 6, 51, 52, 59, 1913-19.
CUMMiNG, Constance F. G. "At home in Fiji." Edinburgh, 50-51, 1882.
D'Albertis, L. M. "New Guinea, what I did and what I saw." 2 volumes, London ; II :
197, 1880.
Dam-Bakker, a. W. I. VAN, DeGroot, a. p. and Luyken, R. "Influence of wati (Piper
methysticum) on the fertility of the male rats." Tropical and Geographical Medicine,
10 : 68-70, 1958.
Deihl, J. R. "Kava and kava-drinking." Primitive Man, 5 : 4, 61-68, 1932.
"Position of women in Samoan culture." Primitive Man, 5 : 2 and 3, 25, 1932.
DiLLiON, P. "Narrative of the discovery of the fate of La Perouse's expedition." 2 vol-
umes, London, II : 42-52, 1829.
DuBBAD, W. J. "Notes on Torres Islands." Oceania, 10 : 389-403, 1940.
EiLBRS, Anneliese. "luseln um Ponape." Ergebnisse der Sudsee Expedition 1908-10.
G. Thilenius, ed., Hamburg, Friederichsen, de Gruyter and Co., II, B-8, 103, 1934.
Ellis, W. "Polynesian researches." J. & J. Harper, New York, IV : 277-278, 1833.
Emerson, O. P. "The Awa habit of the Hawaiians." The Hawaiian Annual, Honolulu,
Hawaii, 130-140, 1903.
FiNSCH, O. "Samoafahrten." Leipzig, 61, 1888.
"Siidseearbeiten (Abhandlungen des Hambergischen Kolonialinstituts) ," 14:
1-605, Hamburg, 1914.
Firth, R. W. "Primitive economics of the New Zealand Maori." New York, E. P. Button,
1929.
FoRNANDER, A. "Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore." Editor T. G. Thrum, Memoirs of
the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, VI : 72, 110, 112, 258, 260, 405, 471,
505, 540, 1919-20.
Foster, G. A voyage round the world in his Britannic Majesty's sloop. Resolution. Two
volumes, London, 1777.
Fox, C. E. "The Threshold of the Pacific." London and New York, 44, 67, 216, 1924.
GiFFORD, E. W. "Tongan society." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 61, Honolulu, Hawaii,
156-170, 1929.
Guiart, J. "Un siecle et demi de Contacts Culturels a Tanna, Nouvelles-Hebrides."
Publication de la Soci^te des Oceanistes, No. 5. Musee de I'Homme, Paris 15-16, 246-
254, 1956.
Haddon, a. C. "Kava drinking in New Guinea." Man, 16: 145-152, (Oct.) 1916.
Hambruch, p. "Die Kawa auf Ponape." Studien und Forschungen zur Menschen- und
Volkerkunde, Stuttgart, 14 : 107-115, 1917.
Hambruch, P., and Filers, Annaliese. "Ponape." Ergebnisse der Siidsee Expedition
1908-10, 231-246, 1936.
Handy, E. S. C. "The native culture in the Marquesas." Bernice P. Bishop Museum,
No. 9 (Bayard Dominick Expedition, Publication No. 9), Honolulu, Hawaii, 202-203,
1923.
123
Handy, E. S. C. "Polynesian religion." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii,
No. 34, 46, 136, 162-163, 173, 219, 322, 327-328, 1927.
"History and culture in the Society Islands." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Hono-
lulu, Hawaii, No. 79, 20-21, 1930.
"History and culture in the Society Islands." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 79,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 1931.
Hawkesworth, J., Editor. "An account of the voyages undertaken by the Order of His
B. Majesty for discoveries," II : 200, 1773.
Henky, T. "Ancient Tahiti." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, No. 48, 531,
538, 539, 562, 583, 587, 1928.
HocAET, A. M. "Lau Islands, Fiji." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, No.
62, 59-70, 108, 1929.
Hough, W. "Kava drinking as practiced by the Papuans and Polynesians." Smithsonian
Miscellaneous Collection, 2 : 85-92 (Aug. 6), 1904, Quarterly Issue, Washington, D.C.,
1905.
Humphreys, C. B. "The southern New Hebrides. An ethnological record." Cambridge,
1926.
King, J. "A voyage to the Pacific Ocean." Second edition, 3 volumes, London, 3 : 126-127,
1785.
Kramer, A. "Die Samoa-Insel." Stuttgart, 1902.
Ledyasd, J. "John Ledyard's journal of Captain Cook's last voyage." Munford, J. K., ed.,
with introduction by Hitchings, S. H. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon,
August 1777, Customs of Otaheite, 51, 1963.
Lester, R. M. "Kava drinking in Yitilevu, Fiji." Oceania, 12:2, 97-121, 1&41; 12:3,
226-254, 1942.
Lewin, L. "Tiber Piper Methysticum (Kawa)." A. Hirschwald, Berlin, 60 pp., 1886.
"Phantastica : narcotic and stimulating drugs ; their use and abuse." K. Paul,
Trench, Trubner and Co., London, 215-225, 1931.
Ling Shun-sheng. "A comparative study of kava drinking in the Pacific regions." Bulle-
tin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, 5 : 77-96, 1958.
Linton, R. "The material culture of the Marquesas Islands." Memoirs of the Bernice P.
Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, VIII : 5, 366, 1923.
Lloyd, C. G. "The use of kava by the Samoan Islanders." Pharmaceutical Review,
18: (June), 261-266, 1900.
LoEB, E. M. "History and traditions of Nine." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 32,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 172, 1926.
MacGregor, G. "Ethnology of Tokelau." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 146, Honolulu,
Hawaii, 151, 1937.
MacGregor, W. "British New Guinea." Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great
Britain and Ireland, XXI : 76, 204, 1891-92.
"British New Guinea : country and people." London, 73, 75, 1897.
Mariner, W. "An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands." 2 Volumes, London, 1817.
McFarlane, S. "Among the cannibals of New Guinea." 126, 1888.
Melville, H. "TTPEE : a peep at Polynesian life. During a four months' residence in
a valley of the Marquesas." New York, 194-195, 1857.
Metraux, a. "Ethnology of Easter Island." Bernice P. Bishop Museum, No. 160, Hono-
lulu, Hawaii, 159, 1940.
Miklukho-Maclay, N. von. Bulletin of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society,
X: ii, 1874.
"Ethnologische Bemerkungen ueber die Papuas der Maclay-Kiiste in Neu-Guinea."
Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie, 35 : 71, 1875.
Nevermann, H. "Admiralitats-Inseln." Ergebnisse der Siidsee Expedition 1908-10, II-A3,
Hamburg, 40, 1934.
"Kawa auf Neuguinea." Ethnos, 3 : 179-192, 1938.
Parkinson, R. "Dreissig Jahre in der Siidsee." Stuttgart, 373, 1907.
124
Parkinson, S. "A journal of a voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's ship. The
Endeavour (1768)," London, 37, 1784.
Porter, D. "A voyage to the South Seas." London, 95, 1823.
Pratt, M. A. R. "A kava ceremony in Tonga." Journal of the Polynesian Society, 31 : 198-
201, 1922.
PuKui, Mary K. (Wiggin). Translations in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu,
Hawaii: 1) "Against Awa (Ka Blele)," 2) "The evils of Awa (Ke Au Okoa)," 3) "On
Awa drinking (Ko Hawaii Ponoi)."
RiESENBERG, S. H. "The cultural position of Ponape in Oceania." Dissertation for Ph. D.,
University of California, Berkeley, 1949.
"The Ponapean aboriginal political structure." Smithsonian Institution, Wash-
ington, D.C., 1967.
Rivers, W. H. R. "The history of Melanesian society." 2 Volumes, Cambridge, 1914.
Sarasin, F. "Ethnolgoie der Neu-Caledonier und Loyalty-Insulaner." 2 Volumes,
Miinchen, 1929.
Sarfbrt, E. "Kusaie." Ergebnisse der Siidsee Expedition 1908-10, Hamburg, II-B-XII,
410-412, 1919.
Smith, S. P. "Uea ; or Wallis Island and its people." Journal of the Polynesian Society,
Wellington, 1 : 112, 115, 116, 1892.
"Kava drinking ceremonies among the Samoans and a boat voyage round Opulu
Island, Samoa." Journal of the Polynesian Society, supplement, 1920.
Speiser, F. "Ethnographische Materialien aus den Neuen Hebriden und der Banks-
Inseln." Berlin, 162-164, 1923.
Steinmetz, E. F. "Piper methysticum : kava, kawa, yagona ; famous drug plant of the
South Sea islands. Amsterdam, 46 pp., 1960.
Thompson, Laura M. "Southern Lau, Fiji : an ethnography." Bernice P. Bishop Museum,
No. 162, Honolulu, Hawaii, 68-72, 97, 109, 168, 1940.
Thomson, B. "Savage Island, an account of a sojourn in Nine and Tonga." London, 95,
97, 1902.
"The Fijians : A study of the decay of custom." London, 1908.
TiTcoMB, Margaret. "Kava in Hawaii." Journal of the Polynesian Society, 57 : (June),
105-171, 1948.
True, R. H. "Kava-kava." Pharmaceutical Review, Milwaukee, 14 : 2, 28-32, 1896.
Tyebman, D. and Bennet, G. "Journal of voyages and travels (compiled by James Mont-
gomery)." 3 volumes, 2: 43, Boston, 1832 (from London edition 1831).
Vancouver, G. "A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world."
3 volumes, London, 1 : 116, 1798.
Williamson, R. W. and Piddington, R. "Essays in Polynesian ethnology." Cambridge,
1939.
125
Chemistry of Kava
MURLE W. KlOHS
Riker Laboratories, Northridge, California
Kava (/) is one of the popular names for the intoxicating drink prepared
from the roots of the plant Piper methystioum Forst. by the inhabitants of
the South Pacific Islands. The interesting tranquilizing properties ascribed
to this romantic brew has prompted numerous chemical investigations over
the last century, in the search for the physiologically active principles. These
investigations have resulted in the isolation of a series of closely related sub-
stituted 5,6-dihydro-a-py rones (Fig. 1), members of which have been shown
to possess some of the actions on the central nervous system exhibited by the
Kava extract, and a series of substituted a-pyrones (Figs. 2 and 3) which are
relatively inactive in the test system employed.
The first of the compounds to be isolated in the 5,6-dihydro-a-pyrone series,
methysticin, was reported by Cuzent in 1861, followed in turn by Winzhei-
mers isolation of dihydromethysticin in 1908. The most extensive investiga-
tion of this plant, however, was carried out by Borsche and coworkers, who
reported their findings in a series of fourteen papers published between 1914
and 1933. This work covered the isolation of Kawain and dihydrokawain,-
and their structural elucidation along with that of methysticin and dihydro-
methysticin. (Figure 1)
OCH3 OCH3
Kawain Dihydrokawain
Fig. 1
Yangonin (Figure 2) was isolated by Reidel in 1904, and the y-pyrone struc-
ture (I) was proposed by Borsche. This stood as the only naturally occurring
2-methoxy-y-pyrone derivative until 1958 when Chmielewska, on the basis
of spectral data, revised the structure to that of an a-pyrone (II). Secure
support for these spectroscopic deductions has now been established by the
unambiguous synthesis of yangonin by Bu'Lock and Smith.
126
Fig. 2
In more recent times subsequent investigators have added four new com-
pounds to the a-pyrone series, with the isolation of 5,6-dehydromethysticin,
desmethoxyyangonin, 11-methoxyyangonin and 11-methoxynoryangonin (^)
(Figure 3). The Structures of these compounds have been confirmed by
synthesis.
I l-Melhoxyyangonin I l-Mefhoxy-nor-yangonin
Fig. 3
With the structures of a physiologically active series of natural products
established and the synthesis of analogues feasible, it is only natural for the
medicinal chemist and pharmacologist to turn next to a molecular modifica-
tion program to seek an optimum relationship between structure and activity.
In studies with this objective in mind, which were carried out in our labora-
tory some twelve years ago, the physiological activities of the naturally
occurring compounds (Table I) that had been isolated at that time were
used as the base line for comparison with the activities of the synthetic ana-
127
logues. In these experiments the compounds were administered orally to mice
in a 10% Tween suspension, and screened initially for their effect on the cen-
tral nervous system as determined by their ability to antagonize strychnine
induced convulsions and death, cause fall out in the roller cage experiments,
and potentiate sodium pentobarbital induced sleeping time.
wOfnpouna
Roller
SIq ooin o
tifne
dose
doso
In %
ffifl / K a
fng / Kg
result
fftg / Kq
controls
Oihydrokowoin
340 (270-430)
300 no
effect
160
150
Yangonin
no protection ot
1,000
300 no
effect
160
150
Kawain
215 (160-290)
300 no
effect
160
235
Dcsmethoxy yangonin
no protection ot
200
300 no
effect
160
130
Methytticin
160 (110-232)
300 no
effect
160
250
Oihydromsthysticin
115 (97-152)
300 no
effect
60
413
Chloroform •itract
140 (121-162)
300 12/18
160
340
Ground root
1,700 (1,400-2.100)
10,000
12/16
10,000
400
Table I
On the basis of these results it can 'be seen that the crude extract, methy-
sticin and dihydromethysticin were particularly effective in affording pro-
tection against the lethal effects of strychnine. Using "fall-out" from revolv-
ing cages as an index, none of the crystalline compounds had significant
activity which is in sharp contrast to the ground root and the crude extract.
On the basis of this latter test it would seem reasonable to say that there are
compounds present in the extract possessing this activity which have not as
yet been isolated. Dihydromethysticin proved to be the most potent agent in
increasing the pentobarbital-induced sleeping time, showing good activity
at 60 mg/kg whereas the other compounds were only slightly or moderately
active at 160 mg/kg.
The physiological activity observed with methysticin and dihydromethy-
sticin as compared to yangonin and desmethoxy yangonin, indicated the
importance of the 5,6-dihydro-a-pyrone ring to overall activity, and this was
corroborated further by the complete loss of activity observed in the three
test systems on opening the lactone ring of methysticin to yield methysticic
acid (Figure 4).
With this knowledge on hand a number of Ce substituted 5,6-dihydro-a-
pyrone derivatives were prepared (3) by the Reformatsky condensation of the
appropriate aldehyde and methyl-y-bromo-/8-methoxycrotonate, using the
conditions as previously employed in our synthesis of dl-methysticin (Figure
5).
128
OCHj
dl — methytticin
KOH
(MeOH)
CH=CH — CH=CH — C=CH— COOH
I
OCH3
m«thysticic acid
Fig. 4
OCH1
CH-CH-CHO + BrCHg-C^CH — COOCH3
3, 4 — mefhylenedloxy
cinnomaldehyd*
"iT— bromo - /-msthoxy-
mathyicrotonata
THF -Zn ^
CH-CM-
=0
OCH,
dl — mtthyiticin
Fig. 5
In the first series of analogues (Table II) , the ethylene bridge of dihydro-
methysticin was omitted as represented by compound 2, and methoxyl groups
were substituted in place of the ethylenedioxy group as shown by compounds
3 and 4. These screening results would indicate that the methylenedioxy group
is the preferred substituent and that the loss of the ethylene group causes a
decrease in activity over dihydromethysticin as measured by its ability to
inhibit strychnine convulsions and potentiate barbiturate sleep time. There
is an indication, however, of activity in the roller cage where dihydromethy-
sticin is inactive.
The effect of varying the ethylene bridge on activity is shown in Table III.
The first and second compounds, where the bridge has been lengthened to
butylene and butadienyl respectively, showed little activity with the excep-
tion of sleep time potentiation with the butylene analogue. The third com-
129
Q
Strychnine
Roller
cage
Sleeping
time
ED5Q+ 95% C L
dose
dote
in %
T
fDQ / Kg
result
fng / Kg
controls
OCH3
1.
470 (375-590)
300
7/18
160
240
260 (210-320)
300
5/18
160
472
Cr
950 (680-1480)
300
5/18
160
152
H3CO
no protection
ot 500
300
3/18
160
165
0CH3
Table II
"1
0-
0CH3
Strychnine
mg/Kg
Roller
dose
nf>g/Kg
cage
result
Sleeping
dose
mg/Kg
time
in %
controls
P^(CH2)3-CH2-
no protection
at 500
300
1/18
160
536
j^^^^(CH=CH )2-
50% protection
at 500
300
0/18
160
115
no protection
300
3/18
20
283
60% protection
300
10/18
60
304
130
Table III
pound, in which a methyl group has been introduced on the carbon adjacent
to the pyrone ring of dihydromethysticin, gave no protection at 500 mg/kg
against strychnine, slight activity in the roller cage, and the highest activity
of all the compounds in the potentiation of sleep time. The last compound,
which is the corresponding analogue of methysticin, evidenced some activity
in protecting against the effects of strychnine at 500 mg/kg, but good activity
was observed in the roller cage and the potentiation of sleep time.
The last series of compounds (Table IV) represent a more radical depar-
ture from the structure of dihydromethysticin. In the first compound, where
R is 3,4-methylenedioxyphenylethyl and is methyl, there was no protection
obtained at 500 mg/kg against strychnine, moderate activity in the roller cage,
and activity exceeding that of dihydromethysticin in the potentiation of sleep
time. In the second compound where R is phenyl and R^ is methyl, there was
again no protection afforded against strychnine at 500 mg/kg, there was good
activity in the roller cage and moderate activity in sleep time potentiation.
In the last compound, where both R and R^ are phenyl, no significant activity
was observed in the first two tests and moderate activity was realized in the
potentiation of sleep time.
All of the above synthetic compounds including dl-methysticin and dl-
dihydromethysticin, with the exception of compounds 1 and 2 in Table III,
were then screened against supramaximal electroshock at an oral dose of 770
mg/kg. At this dose range only compound 1 in Table II, compounds 3 and 4
in Table III, and dl-methysticin and dl-dihydromethysticin, showed signifi-
cant activity, giving 50% protection or better.
On reviewing the structure activity relationship observed in this series of
compounds it is apparent that the 5,6-dihydro-4-methoxy-a-pyrone ring plays
0CH3
strychnine
mg/Kg
Roller cage
300 mg/Kg
Sleeping time
dote in %
mg/Kg control*
R
R"
-CO"-"""'
-CH3
no protection
at 500
5/18
20 250
. 0
-CH3
no protection
at 500
10/18
160 266
. 0
a
no protection
at 500
3/18
160 331
Table IV
131
a key role in the physiological activities as evidenced by the loss of activity
realized on opening of the lactone ring, or by the introduction of imsaturation
in the Cs-Ce position. Rigid overall specificity for drug receptor interaction
in this series is discounted, however, by the variations of substituents which
can be substituted at Ce while retaining activity in one or more of the test
systems employed.
REFERENCES
(1) References to the work covered in this paper may be found, unless otherwise cited,
in three recent reviews : (a) Keller, F., and M. W. Klohs, Lloydia, 26 : 1-15 (1963) ;
(b) Mors, W. B., M. T. Magalhaes and O. R. Gottlieb. In L. Zechmeister Progress
in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products, Vol. 20, Wien, Springer Verlag pp
131-164; (c) Hansel, R., Deut. Apoteka ztg. 104 (15) : 459-64 (1964) and 104 (16) :
496-501 (1964).
(2) Hansel, R., H. Saver and H. Rimplee, Arch. Pharm. 299 : 507-511 (1966) .
(3) Tanabe, M., J. BoLGEE, F. J. Petbacek, F. Kellee, M. W. Klohs and G. B. Ceonheim,
Unpublished work from these laboratories.
132
Pharmacology of Kava
Hans J. Meyer
Department of Pharmacology, University of Freiburg, Germany
Pursuant to a continuing study of the pharmacological properties ot
the Kava rhizome (Piper methysticum Forst), the six Ce-aryl-substituted
alpha-py rones kawain (K), dihydrokawain (DHK), methysticin (M),
dihydromethysticin (DHM), yangonin (Y), and desmethoxyyangonin
(DMY) isolated from the rootstock, were further investigated in attempts
to bring the central nervous and peripheral effects observed in man after
consumption of Kava preparations (Forbes 1875, Kesteven 1882, Thomson
1908, Deihl 1932, Leclerc 1937, Van Esveld 1937, Van Veen 1938, Titcomb
1948, Frater 1968) in relation to adequately characterized constituents of
the plant. Major interest Avas attributed to the question, in how far these
substances can be regarded as the active principles of the drug.
Because of low water solubility the pyrones were dissolved in peanut
oil for the intraperitoneal and oral route of application. For intravenous
injections and on isolated organs polyethylene glycol (Carbowax) 300 was
employed.
As is shown in FIG. 1, the absorption of K and DHK from the gas-
trointestinal tract was remarkably rapid. The time of peak effect in mice
100 r
z
0 10 20 30 60 90 120 180
TIME IN MINUTES
Fig. 1. — Duration of action of genuine Kava pyrones after oral administration in mice.
Prevention of the tonic extensor component of maximal electroshock seizure (MES
test). Corneal electrodes; square impulses of 50 mA, 60 Hz, 0.3 sec, 1 msec. Each point
represents the mean of 15 animals. Doses employed: 150 mg/kg of kawain (K) and
dihydrokawain (DHK), 70 mg/kg of methysticin (M) and dihydromethysticin (DHM) .
Notice the rapid onset of K and DHK action as compared to that of M and DHM,
the latter being about twice as effective when given orally.
133
proved to be 10 min as judged by the MES test. M and DHM have a longer
induction period (30^5 min) and an appreciably longer duration of action
in equieffective doses.
The most characteristic central nervous action of all Kava pyrones, in-
cluding Y and DMY, was shown to be their ability to produce a mephenesin-
like muscular relaxation in all species of laboratory animals. According to
Meyer and Kretzschmar (1966), who were the first to recognize this mecha-
nism of action, Kava pyrones represent a new group of potent centrally
acting skeletal muscle relaxants, the first of natural origin. Larger doses of
the pyrones, with the exception of Y and DMY, produce ataxia and an as-
cending paralysis without loss of consciousness, followed by complete re-
covery. Pyrones were most effective when given intravenously (10-30 mg/
kg) ; the oral median paralyzing dose is some 10 times higher. In doses
causing muscular relaxation and paralysis Kava pyrones did not possess a
curare-like action on the myoneural junction (Meyer 1966). Death after
large oral or intraperitoneal doses is the result of respiratory failure.
Kava pyrones were found to depress polysynaptic responses such as the
flexor, crossed extensor, skin twitch, pinna — prior to corneal — and linguo-
mandibular reflexes in unanaesthetized animals. Effective doses ranged from
20-40 mg/kg iv., whereas in anaesthetized animals corresponding doses were
fomid to be 5-10 times smaller. An example is presented in FIG. 2, show-
ing the depressant effect of 5 and 10 mg/kg of Y and DHM on the crossed
extensor reflex in the anaesthetized guinea-pig. The normal knee jerk was
aside from a transient increase in reflex magnitude little or not affected.
Most sensitive to the pyrones proved to be the tonic stretch reflex (Meyer
and Kretzschmar 1966). Thus, in unanaesthetized rabbits and guinea-pigs
the tonic responses of alpha montoneurons to muscle stretch were either
Fig. 2. — Effect of yangonin {Y) 5 and 10 mg/kg and dihydromethysticin {DHM) 6 mg/kg
on the crossed extensor reflex. Guinea-pig, male, 740g. Urethane 1.0 g/kg intraperitoneally .
Reflex elicited every 5 sec. Pyrones given intravenously in 30 sec. Stimulation of the
afferent stump of sciatic nerve: 5.4 mA, 1 msec duration. Notice equipotency of Y
and DHM relaxation of the quadriceps muscle indicated by the lowering of base line,
and slower onset of Y action compared to that of DHM. Mi=miction.
134
DHM K Meph
15 mg/kg 15 mg/kg 40 mg/kg
I — I — I — I i I I I — I 1 1 — I — I — I — I — I — I — I — I I I : I I I ' ■ ' r f
sec
Fig. 3. — Inhibition of the tonic stretch reflex by dihydromethysticin (DHM), kawain (K),
and mephenesin (Meph). Rabbit, male, 3.1 kg, unanaesthetized. Electromyograms of
the quadriceps muscle, before and 1, 5, 10, and 20 min after injection. The injections
were given intravenously with 2 hours interval. Time of stretch is indicated by points.
abolished or restricted to an initial phasic response by 15 mg/kg of K
or DHM intravenously. The action of mephenesin was about 3 times weaker
and much shorter in duration (FIG. 3). Doses which produce decrease
or block of spinal reflexes had little effect on the electroencephalogram
(FIG. 4), and left EEG arousal from stimulation of the midbrain reticular
formation unimpaired.
In protecting mice from convulsions and death caused by toxic doses of
strychnine Kava pyrones proved to be considerably more effective than
mephenesin. Thus, complete protection from 4 mg/kg strychnine sulf . sc. was
afforded by the intraperitoneal dose of 50 mg/kg of M, the most effec-
tive of the pyrones, whereas mephenesin was ineffective in antago-
nizing this degree of intoxication independent of the dose employed.
With high doses of the pyrones (from 120 mg/kg intraperitoneally up-
wards) there was a seizure syndrome of long periods of generalized clonic
convulsions (15-17/sec) similar to that observed after barbiturates or
meprobamate (Loewe 1958; Simon 1959). In addition, all six Kava pyrones
were effective in depressing or abolishing the maximal tonic seizure induced
by electroshock in mice. At the time of peak effect the following ED50 values
(in mg/kg) were found after oral administration: 70 K, 98 DHK, 44.5 M,
135
vor Jnjaktion
,\-^vnV'*V */i*:^'^r}^} ^«r^<^jA'^ .Vv*aU\vi^4-,V-'j^;\«'VwV/-^.^^ -.v
Jnjektion von 40 mg/kg DHM i.v.
3 min
10 min i , I ' I
30 min
90 min ill ""A^
Fig. 4. — Spontaneous cerebral cortex electrical activity in the unanaesthetized rabbit before
and after injection of Ifi mglkg of dihydromethysiicin (DHM) intravenously. Duration
of injection 100 sec. The dose produced complete paralysis. Bipolar electrodes on sen-
somotor cortex. The records cover experimental periods of 5 sec each, obtained 3, 10,
30, and 90 min after injection.
<
in
OS W 2J)
CONCENTRATION IN gV.
Fig. 5. — Local anaesthetic activity of genuine Kava pyrones. Mean effective concentrations
as established by the intracutaneous wheal method in guinea-pigs. The graph shows
the relation between the concentration of the various pyrones (abscissae, logarithmic
scale) and the average response from 6 animals for each concentration (ordinates).
The dose was always injected in 0.25 ml of peanut oil, which proved to be inert. The
response was tested 6 times in succession 1 min after injection.
136
50.5 DHM, 420 DMY, and 740 Y; by intravenous injection these figures
were: 6.0 K, 6.1 DHK, 6.2 M, 8.1 DHM, 6.25 DMY, 11.5 Y, respectively,
showing the striking difference in Y and DMY potency with the route
of administration. Pyrone anticonvulsant activity and time course of action
after intravenous administration were intermediate between mephenesin
and procaine HCl with maximum effects 1 min after injection, made in
15 sec. The effect produced by 10 mg/kg most commonly had worn off
after 20 min.
In addition to inducing changes in motor function, reflex irritability and
seizure threshold and pattern (Meyer 1964), Kava py rones reduced the
edema produced by formalin, serotonin, dextran, or carrageenin. Their anti-
pyretic action is mild. Contractions of isolated ileum or uterus produced by
histamine, barium, acetylcholine, bradykinin, 5-HT, or nicotine were in-
hibited by the pyrones in concentrations of 1 :1.000.000 to 1 :100.000. This ap-
plies to all pyrones, including DMY and Y. Kava pyrones posses local
anaesthetic properties. Median anaesthetic concentrations as established by
the intracutaneous wheal method in guinea-pigs (FIG. 5) increase in the
following sequence: K 0.36%, M 0.37%, DHK 0.50%, DHM 0.60%, DMY
1.0%, and Y>1.0%. Comparable values of procaine HCl, benzocaine and
mephenesin were found to be 0.10%, 0.34% and 0.36%, respectively. In sur-
face anaesthesia K was shown to be equipotent to cocaine HCl, when con-
centrations of 0.5% were employed. Its duration of action was markedly
longer than that of benzococaine (FIG. 6). Further details concerning the
antiinflammatory, spasmolytic and local anaesthetic properties of the Kava
pyrones were previously described (Meyer 1965a,b; Meyer and May 1964).
As can be seen in FIG. 7, rapid intravenous injection of 10-30 mg/kg
DHM causes a transient drop in blood pressure which depends on speed of
injection and which was stronger in anaesthetized than in unanaesthetized
rabbits. The mechanism underlying this action appears to be primarily the
result of peripheral vasodilatation. In intact cats, rabbits and mice the blood
pressure fall after DHM was followed by a characteristic bradycardia lasting
several hours with a maximum reduction of heart rate by 40%. This effect was
not observed in anaesthetized animals and was almost completely prevented
by previous injection of atropine or bilateral vagotomy. No intravascular
hemolysis was obtained in cats with solutions containing 20 mg/ml DHM
or pyrone mixture. Oral or intraperitoneal administration of Kava pyrones
had little or no effect on cardiovascular functions.
It has been established that Y and DMY possess only weak central nervous
activity when given orally or intraperitoneally. On intravenous injection and
in experiments on isolated organs, however, the potency of both pyrones
was shown to be of the same order of magnitude as observed with the other
pyrones of the kavaroot, indicating poor absorption from the gut resp.
peritoneum and/or rapid elimination of these materials. In further experi-
ments it was found that the activity of orally or intraperitoneally admin-
istered Y or DMY is markedly increased when given in combination with
other pyrones. Both Y and DMY proved to be synergistic with all other
262-016 0-67— 11
137
Kawain
-° Benzocaine
* Cocaine
30 AO 50 60
MINUTES
70
80
90
Fig. 6. — Surface anaesthetic action produced by kawain, benzocaine and cocaine HCl in
the cornea of the rabbit. Concentrations tested were 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0%, respectively.
Abscissa is time in minutes after instillation and ordinate is degree of anaesthesia in
the range between zero and maximum possible effect (=36). Each point represents the
mean of 6 animals. The corneal reflex was tested 6 times in succession at 5 min intervals
until anaesthesia had worn ofif. Kawain and benzocaine were instilled in 0.25 ml of
peanut oil, cocaine HCZ in saline.
300
250
150
<
UJ
m
100
HEART RATE
30 mg/kg DHM i.v.
15 20 25
MINUTES
(0
45
Fig. 7. — Responses of heart rate and femoral arterial pressure to the intravenous injection
of SO mg/kg dihydromethysticin (DHM). Rabbit, female, 2.7 kg, unanesthetized. The
injection was given in 30 sec. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure obtained before
injection are indicated throughout the whole experiment by the broken lines showing
the increment in amplitude under DHM.
138
mg/kg YAN60NIN i.p.
Fig. 8. — Isobologram of combined yangonin-pyrone mixture effects in protecting mice from
electrically induced convulsions {MES test). Abscissae: dose scale of yangonin (Yj,
ordinates: dose scale of pyrone mixture (PM) consisting of methysticin, dihydro-
methysticin, kawain, and dihydrokawain in equal parts. All injections were given
intraperitoneally, Y and PM at the same time. Ratios of PM:Y tested were 4 : 1 to
1: 6. Open circles indicate percentage of protected animals, triangles the mean effective
doses (ED50). The isobole of combined doses having the same anticonvulsant effect
(ED50) is represented by the line connecting the triangles. Rectilinear connection
between ED50 of PM (26 mg/kg) and ED50 of Y (1.000 mg/kg) == isobole of addition.
Y was without any effect when given alone in doses up to 300 mg/kg ip.
pyrones studied in producing muscular relaxation, hypothermia or prevent-
ing mice from MES (Meyer et al.) . This potentiation could be demonstrated
in isobolometric experiments; an example is presented in FIG. 8. The greatly
arcuate course of the isobole of median anticonvulsive doses running far
below the rectilinear isobole of addition is characteristic of an effect more
than additive. On the other hand, 5, 6-hydrogenated pyrones, behaved
additive when given in combination.
The experiments have shown that all the six known pyrones of the Kava
rootstock are pharmacologically effective, differences in action being largely
quantitative in nature. The finding that Y as well as DMY, contrary to all
previous reports on this matter since the beginning of Kava investigation,
represent biologically active principles especially on combined administra-
tion with the other pyrones, is of particular interest in view of the relatively
high amount of these two compounds in the kavaroot which is reported
to be one quarter to one third of total pyrone content (Hansel and Beiers-
dorff, 1959; Klohs et al., 1959). The synergism between Y and the other
pyrones may provide an explanation for the high activity of a chloroform
extract and of the crude root, reported by Klohs et al. (1959), which
according to the authors was not evidenced by any of the pure isolated ma-
139
terials. The central nervous and peripheral activities of the pyrones as re-
ported herein further substantiate the idea that the various etlinopharma-
cological phenomena ascribed to Piper methysticum are due to the pyrone
content of the plant.
REFERENCES
DiEHX, J. R. : Primitive Man, 5, 61 (1932) .
FoKBES, L. : "Two Years in Fiji," London 1875, p. 190-195, 235-236.
Featee, a. S. : Trans. Proc. Fiji Soc. Sci. Ind., 5, 81 (1958) .
Hansel, R., and Beiersdorff, H. U. : Arzneimittelforsch., 9, 581 (1959).
Kesteton, L. : Practitioner (London), 199-201 (1882).
Klohs, M. W., Kellee, F., Williams, R. E., Toekes, M. I., and Ceonheim, G E. :
J. med. pharmaceut. chem., 1, 95 (1959).
Leleec, H. : Presse medicale. No. 9, 164 (1937) .
LoEWE, S. : Arch. int. Pharmacodyn., 114, 451 (1958).
Meteb, H. J. : Arch. int. Pharmacodyn., 150, 118 (1964) .
Meteb, H. J., and May, H. U. : Klin. Wschr., 42, 407 (1964) .
Meyer, H. J. : Arch. int. Pharmacodyn., 154, 449 (196oa) .
Meter, H. J. : Klin. Wschr., 43, 469 (1965b).
Meyer, H. J. : "Pharmakologie der Kawa-Droge- Zugleich ein Beitrag zum Problem des
Kawa-Trinkens," HabUit, Schrif t, Freibui^ 1966.
Meyer, H. J., and Keetzschmah, R. : Klin. Wschr., 44, 902 (1966).
Meyer, H. J., et al. : In press.
Simon, I. : Proc. I. int. congr. neuropharmacol., Elsevier 1959, p. 414.
Thomson, B. : "The Fijians. A Study of the Decay of Custom," London 1908, p. 213,
341-351.
TiTCOMB, M. : J. Polynes, Soc., 57, 105 (1948).
Van Esveld, L. W. : Ned. T. Geneesk., Si, 3961 (1937) .
Van Veen, A. G. : Geneesk. T. Nederl. Ind., 78, 1941 (1938) .
140
Pharmacology of Kava'
Joseph P. Buckley, Angelo R. Furgiuele,
AND Maureen J. O'Hara
Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Piper methysticum Forst. (Piperaceae) is a perennial shrub indigenous
to many islands of the South Pacific. Roots of this plant have been used by
inhabitants of these islands to prepare a beverage known as Kava, Kawa,
or Awa, which has been reported to allay anxiety and reduce fatigue (i, 2) .
The pure crystalline alpha-pyrones, isolated from the roots of the plant
which possess sedative-type activity, are soluble in the usual fat solvents but
insoluble in water. Three of these, methysticin, dihydromethysticin, and
dihydrokawain, possess sedative activity similar to that of the whole root
{3^). Since Professor Meyer and his colleagues have worked extensively
on the pharmacology of these water-insoluble a-pyrones, this present report
will be concerned primarily with the pharmacological activity of water-
soluble fractions of Kava.
Experimental
The plant material used was obtained from S. B. Penick Company, New
York, New York, and consisted of finely pulverized root of P. methysticwn
(Piperaceae).
Steam Extraction
One hundred grams of the finely pulverized root was mixed with approxi-
mately 100 ml of distilled water giving a slurry having a volume of ap-
proximately 200 ml. The slurry was steam distilled and the first 100 ml of
distillate collected, filtered, and lyophilized. The yield for each extraction
was approximately 50 mg of a yellow- white powder designated LE-1. Wlien
this fraction was reconstituted in a cencentration of 10 mg/ml in distilled
water, some of the material was insoluble and formed a fine suspension.
Since preliminary studies on the spontaneous activity of mice indicated that
both the filtrate and suspension possessed depressant activity, the following
procedure was used to prepare subfractions. LE-1 was suspended in distilled
water in a concentration of 20 mg/ml, shaken for 3 minutes. The mixture was
then filtered through Whatman #1 filter paper, the filtrate shaken with
two equivalent volumes of chloroform, the remaining aqueous solution
lyophilized, and the resulting amorphous solid labeled Fj. The residue from
the initial filtration was washed from the filter paper and made up to 15 ml
1 This investigation was supported by a P.H.S. researcli grant MH-03029 from tlie National
Institute of Mental Health.
141
with distilled water, shaken for 3 minutes, and filtered. The filtrate was
collected and the remaining minute residue discarded. This filtrate was also
washed with two equivalent volumes of chloroform and the resulting aqueous
solution lyophilized and the amorphous solids labeled Fz.
Pharmacological Studies
Spontaneom and Forced Motor Activity Studies. — The effects of LE-1,
Fi, and Fj, on spontaneous motor activity of male albino Swiss-Webster
mice were evaluated in photocell activity cages as described by Furgiuele et
al. (7). Fifty to 60 minutes after receiving an intraperitoneal injection of
one of the fractions or saline, 1 hour prior to testing. Maximum per-
activity cages (Actophotometer, Metro Industries, New York) and a 15
minute count taken 10 minutes later. Each fraction was tested at 4 dose levels
using 4 to 6 groups of 5 mice per group. The effects of the fractions on
forced motor activity were investigated using the rotarod (^, 9). Each group
was trained to walk a 1.5 inch diameter hardwood rod rotating at 15 rpm or
a 1 inch diameter rod rotating at 29 rpm {10, 11). The mice were trained
to walk the rotating rod and on test days received i.p. injections of either
one of the fractions or saline, 1 hour prior to testing. Maximum per-
formance time was set at 120 seconds for the 1 inch rod and 180 seconds
for the 11/2 inch rod.
Septal Rats. — LE-1 was investigated for possible antagonism of the
exaggerated irritability and aggressiveness of rats having lesions in the
septal area {12). Three to four days following production of the lesions
behavioral abnormalities were scored as described by Schallek et al. {13).
This involved scoring the responses obtained by (a) a puff of air on the
back, (b) gently touching the whiskers with a probe, (c) gently prodding
the animal's back with a probe, and (d) approaching the rat with a gloved
hand. Each test was rated on a scale ranging from 0 for no response to 6
for the most violent response. Different groups of 5 rats were tested, 0.5, 1,
and 2 hours following intraperitoneal injection of fraction LE-1. Since
chlordiazepoxide has also been reported {12) to be particularly effective in
this preparation, it was compared to the activity of LE-1. The ED50 was
determined graphically using the method of Miller and Tainter (-?^).
Conditioned Avoidance Response. — The rat pole climbing procedure of
Cook and Weidley {16) was modified for these tests {10). Each cycle con-
sisted of 15 seconds of tone followed by a maximum of 30 seconds of shock,
at 2.75 minute intervals and the number of times the animal responded to
either tone or shock was recorded. Each animal was subjected to 2 to 3
ten-cycle training sessions. Trained groups of 6 male albino Wistar rats
received i.p. injections of either LE-1, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg; chlordia-
zepoxide, 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg; or saline, 0.1 ml, one hour prior to a 10
cycle session. The number of times that the rat failed to respond to tone
but did respond to shock was a measure of the inhibition of the conditioned
response.
142
Electroencephalographic Studies. — Cats with chronically implanted cor-
tical and subcortical electrodes were ^prepared as described by Horovitz and
Chow {16). Bipolar electrodes were implanted into the amygdala (AP=13,
L=9, H=5), hippocampus (AP=5, L=12.5, H=1.5), and pontine reticular
formation (AP = 35 mm anterior to F=0, L=0, H=32 mm at an angle
of 25 degrees) according to the atlas of Jasper and Ajmone-Mai-san {17)
and into the posterior hypothalamus (AP=9, L=0.5, H=2.5) according to
the atlas of Bleier {IS). Monopolar electrodes were placed over appropriate
cortical areas, 5 to 10 mm apart. Simultaneous recordings were obtained from
three different leads onto a Grass polygraph. A Grass square-wave stimulator
was used to stimulate the posterior hypothalamus or brain stem reticular
formation for a period of 15 seconds with pulses of 100 c.p.s. having a dura-
tion of 5 msec and at 0.5 to 8.5 volts. The animals were placed in a semi-
soimdproof constant environment chamber fitted with a one-way glass win-
dow and a small light. The animals were fed, placed into individual chambers,
and allowed a period of one hour to acclimatize. Control recordings were
obtained and the threshhold for EEG arousal determined following the
electrical, visual (blinking lights) or auditory (clap) stimulation. A desyn-
chronization of the resting EEG for a period of approximately twice the
duration of the stimulus or longer was taken as the arousal response. The pos-
terior hypothalamus of two cats and the brain stem reticular formation of two
other cats were stimulated and cortical and subcortical activity recorded.
After control recordings, the cats were removed from the chambers, and an
aqueous solution of either LE-1 or clilordiazepoxide administered intraperi-
toneally. The ejffects on spontaneous EEG activity and upon arousal were
observed 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes following administration. An interval
of at least 5 days was permitted between injections to insure recovery of
the test animals. At the termination of the study, the animals were sacrificed,
the brains perfused with 10% formalin and location of the electrodes verified.
Antiserotonin Activity . — A rat uterine horn obtained from virgin rats
(Wistar) in the estrus stage, as determined by microscopic examination of
vaginal smears, was suspended in a 10 ml tissue bath containing modified
deJ alon's solution ( 19) , containing calcium chloride, 20 mg/1, and oxygenated
with 95% O2 and 5% CO2 at a temperature of 37.5°. Uterine contractions
were recorded on a smoked kymograph drum via a muscle lever so that
the magnification was approximately 3X. All test substances were added
in volumes not exceeding 0.15 ml and the a-pyrones investigated were admin-
istered in a suspension of 1% methylcellulose, 1500 cps. Maximal contrac-
tion of the uterine horn was induced by serotonin creatinine sulfate, 0.5 to
1.0 mcg/10 ml bathing solution. The dose producing maximal contraction
was added to the bath every fourth minute; following the contraction the
tissue was washed Avith fresh deJalon's solution. After two equivalent re-
sponses to serotonin were obtained, a given quantity of one of the a-pyrones or
subfraction Fi or F2 was added to the bath, 30 seconds prior to the next
dose of serotonin. Additional doses of the antagonists were not added until
the serotonin response had returned to normal. Equivalent volumes of 1%
methylcellulose did not affect the response of the uterine horn to serotonin.
143
Effects on Brain Serotonin Content. — Dihydromethysticin, 100 mg/kg,
Fi, 100 mg/kg, F2, 100 mg/kg, chlordiazepoxide, 5 mg/kg, and reserpine
phosphate, 1.25 mg/kg were each administered to 5 mice. The animals were
sacrificed one hour following i.p. administration by stunning and exsangui-
nation. The brains were removed intact, weighed, and transferred to a
glass homogenization tube containing sufficient 0.1 N HCl to make a total
volume of 3.0 ml. The tissue was homogenized with a motor driven teflon
homogenizer and the homogenate rinsed with 7.0 ml of glass distilled water
and transferred to a 30 ml centrifuge tube containing 3.0 ml of borate
buffer. Serotonin was extracted using the method of Bogdanski et al. {20)
as modified by Aprison et al. {21) and serotonin concentration determined
with a Turner fluorometer {22).
Results
PhysicciL-Ghemical Characteristics of Subfractions Fi and F2. — Subfrac-
tion Fi was found to be 16 times more soluble in water than F2. The physical-
chemical characteristics and average yield of Fi and F2 are summarized in
Table 1. Nitrogen could not be detected in either fraction and aldehydes
and/or ketones were detected in F2 only.
Table 1. — Some -physical and chemical characteristics of subfractions Ft and Ft from the
lyophilized steam distillate of Kava
Property
F,
F2
Physical state
Amorphous solid
Amorphous solid
Color
Amber
Yellowish white
Odor
Aromatic
Aromatic
Sodium Fusion
Nitrogen absent
Nitrogen absent
Ignition
Burned with a sooty flame,
Burned with a sooty flame,
small residue
no residue
Solubility
8 mg/ml
0.5 mg/ml
Av. yield
60 mg/200 mg LE-1
18 mg/200 mg LE-1
2, 4-Dinitrophenylhy-
No dinitrophenylhydra-
Red needle shaped crystals
drazine
zone formed
of insoluble dinitrophenyl-
hydrazone formed
Sfontaneous and Forced Motor Activity. — The effects of the aqueous
fractions from Kava on spontaneous motor activity of mice are sum-
marized in Table 2. LE-1, Fi, and F2 depressed spontaneous motor activity
in a dose-related manner. The estimated ED50 for Fi being 31.6 mg/kg
and F2 6.4 mg/kg. Loss of righting reflex was not observed even at those doses
which almost completely abolished spontaneous motor activity. Doses of the
fractions showing marked inhibition of spontaneous motor activity did not
alter the forced motor activity of mice placed on the rotarod.
Septal Rats. — The effects of LE-1 and clilordiazepoxide on the hyper-
irritability of septal rats are summarized in Table 3. LE-1 was approxi-
144
Table 2. — Effects of lyophilized aqueous kava on spontaneous motor activity of mice
Fraction
I. P. Dose
(mg/kg)
l-J i 5 0 ^ 1 "1 4- Q f Y"fl
JT crCcll UdgC
Inhibition
Photocell
Activity
LE-1
42
6
67
84
6
77
1 OA
D
sy
240
0
yi
F,
5
4
14
10
4
28
OK
Jo
A
4
00
50
4
F2
5
4
47
10
4
59
25
4
84
50
4
92
» Number of groups, 5 mice/group.
mately one-tenth as effective as chlordiazepoxide in reducing the hyper-
irritability of these animals ; however, even the 50 mg/kg dose significantly
affected the experimental animals and ataxia was not observed in those
animals receiving doses as high as 200 mg/kg of LE-1 whereas moderate to
marked ataxia occurred at the 20 and 40 mg/kg doses of chlordiazepoxide.
Conditioned Avoidance Response. — LE-1 in doses ranging from 50 to 400
mg/kg i.p. produced a significant inhibition of the CAR which was dose de-
pendent. The ED50 for LE-1 was 82 mg/kg and for chlordiazepoxide 21 mg/
kg. (see table 4) . LE-1 did not inhibit the shock response whereas chlordiaz-
epoxide, 40 mg/kg, did produce a significant reduction in shock responses.
Electroencephalographic Studies. — The effects of LE-1 on the duration
of the arousal response after threshold stimulus are summarized in Table 5.
Table 3. — Effects of LE-1 and chlordiazepoxde on the rage score of septal rats
Drug
Dose (mg/kg,
i.p.)
Mean Score ± S.E.
ED JO ± percent
S.E. (mg/kg)
Control
20
62±3
LE-1
5
50
47±6b
5
100
37±6b
170±19
5
200
26±6''
Chlordiazepoxide
5
10
48±3b
5
20
26±12''
17±20
5
40
14±2b
» N, number of rats tested.
Significantly different from controls (p<0.05).
145
Table 4. — Effects of LE-1 and chlordiazepoxide on the rat conditioned avoidance response
(car)
i.p.
Percent
ICR 60 ±
Drug
(mg/kg)
Inhibition
percent S.E.
of CAR
(mg/kg)
Control
24
8
LE-1
6
50
MS
6
100
•> 65
82±31
6
200
b 70
6
400
'>92
Chlordiazepoxide
6
10
b 26
6
20
b 37
21 ±14
6
30
>'64
6
40
100
» N, number of rats tested.
^ Significantly different from controls (p<0.05).
Table 5. — Effects of LE-1 on duration of arousal following threshold stimulation in cats
Duration of Aroi sal, Seconds
Cat
i.p.
Area
Area
No.
(mg/kg)
Stimulated
Recorded
0 hr »
0.5 hr
1 hr
2 hr
3 hr
4
50
Ret. Form.
P. Sigmoid
32
20
15
30
A. Suprasyl.
32
20
15
30
P. Hypothal.
32
20
15
30
3
50
P. Hypothal.
P. Sigmoid
25
13
9
22
A. Suprasyl.
25
13
9
22
Amygdala
25
13
9
22
2
50
P. Hypothal.
A. Sigmoid
40
30
21
35
P. Sigmoid
40
30
24
35
Amygdala
40
30
21
35
1
100
Ret. Form
P. Sigmoid
29
0
0
16
22
A. Suprasyl.
29
0
0
16
22
P. Hypothal.
26
0
0
10
29
4
100
Ret. Form.
P. Sigmoid
42
10
0
0
36
A. Suprasyl.
42
10
0
0
39
P. Hypothal.
48
10
0
0
48
4
150
Ret. Form.
P. Sigmoid
60
0
0
0
bO
A. Suprasyl.
50
10
0
0
''37
P. Hypothal.
50
2
0
0
bO
2
150
P. Hypothal.
A. Sigmoid
37
(<=)
10
0
12
P. Sigmoid
37
(»)
10
0
11
Hippocampus
37
C)
10
0
12
* Predrug.
b Recovery in 4 hours.
" Unable to record.
146
The lowest dose of LE-1 shortened the duration of the arousal response for
approximately one hour. Although this effect was observed in recordings
from both cortical and subcortical sites, no significant changes in the EEG
activity were evident. The larger doses of 100 and 150 mg/kg effectively
blocked EEG arousal and caused a slowing of spontaneous cortical and sub-
cortical activity. Mild to marked ataxia occurred following the 100 and 150
mg/kg doses, respectively. The duration of the arousal response after audi-
tory stimulation was unaffected at the 50 mg/kg dose and shortened after
100 mg/kg and completely abolished following the 150 mg/kg dose of LE-1.
The EEG arousal induced by visual stimulation was unaffected at the 50 mg/
kg dose, shortened somewhat following 100 mg/kg, and blocked for more
than 2 hours following the 150 mg/kg administration of LE-1. Moderate
ataxia was observed in those cats receiving 150 mg/kg and was still evident
12 to 14 hours after drug administration.
Chlordiazepoxide effectively reduced cortical and subcortical arousal in
doses ranging from 5 to 15 mg/ kg, i.p. In two cats, chlordiazepoxide induced
a period of excitation of sufficient intensity that recording was prevented.
Antiserotonin Activity. — Desmethoxy-yangonin, dihydromethysticin, ka-
wain, and Fa antagonized the serotonin induced contractions of the isolated
rat uterus whereas Fi did not alter the serotonin activity in doses ranging
from 100 to 400 mcg/10 ml bath (Fig. 1). The ED50 (dose per 10 ml bathing
IOO;ig 5q;jg 25>jg
DMY DMY DWY
Fig. 1. — Kymograph tracings showing the effects of (a) desmethoxy-yangonin (DMY),
(b) Kawain (K) and (c) F, and Fj on serotonin induced contractions of the isolated
rat uterus (from O'Hara, M. J., Kinnard, W. J., and Buckley, J. P., J. Pharm. Sci.
54, 1021, (1965).
147
fluid inhibiting serotonin response by 50%) for desmethoxy-yangonin was 32
meg, kawain 100 meg, dihydromethysticin 75 meg, and F2 225 meg. This
antagonism of the a-pyrones to the serotonin induced contraction of the
isolated rat uterus appears to be specific since dihydromethysticin failed to
alter the contraction induced by either bradykinin or acetylcholine (see Table
6 and Fig. 2) .
Table 6. — Responses of an isolated rat uterus to dihydromethysticin showing specificity of
antagonism to serotonin
Serotonin
Acetylcholine
Bradykinin
DHM
Contraction
(meg/ 10 ml)
(mcg/10 ml)
(ng^/10 ml)
(mcg/10 ml)
(cm)
1. 0
0. 0
0
0
4 5
1. 0
0. 0
0
100
1. 4
0. 0
5. 0
0
0
7. 2
0. 0
5. 0
0
100
7. 2
0. 0
0. 0
400
0
7. 8
0. 0
0. 0
400
100
7. 8
" ng., nanogram.
Fig. 2. — Kymograph tracings showing the effects of dihydromethysticin (DHM) on (a)
serotonin, and (b) bradykinin (br) and acetylcholine (ac) induced contraction of the
isolated rat uterus (from O'Haj-a, M. J., Kinnard, W. J., and Buckley, J. P., J. Pharm.
Sci. 54, 1021, (1965).
Brain Serotonin. — Brain levels of endogenous serotonin were not altered
1 hour after the i.p. administration of dihydromethysticin, Fi, F2 and chlor-
diazepoxide. Reserpine reduced brain serotonium levels by 27%.
148
Discussion
LE-1, a lyophilized steam distillate of PJ,per methysticum Forst., and the
two water soluble apparently distinctive subfractions of the distillate pro-
duced marked depression of spontaneous motor activity of mice without
altering the rotarod performance. Chromatographic data indicated that the
pharmacological actions of this fraction were due to substances other than
the known a-pyrones {10) . LE-1 reduced the behavior abnormalities of septal
rats in a manner similar to that of chlordiazepoxide in doses which exerted a
specific blockade of the conditioned avoidance response. King and Meyer
{23) have postulated that in the rat the septal area normally acts to dampen
hypothalamic Output, associated with an emotional state, whereas the amyg-
dala may facilitate this hypothalamic activity. Destruction of the septal
areas should remove its restraining influence and result in a hyperirritable
animal. Schallek et al. {13) theorized that the reduced activity in the amyg-
dala is related to the psychodepressant effects of chlordiazepoxide.
LE-1 caused moderate slowing of cortical, hypothalamic, and hippo-
campal activity with concomitant ataxia and motor deficiency. After cortical
activity had returned to pretreatment levels, subcortical (hypothalamic and
hippocampal) activity was still reduced, evidenced by the absence of EEG
arousal. Although return of the arousal pattern generally marked the end
of an experiment, ataxia and uncoordinated movements were still present,
an indication that LE-1 was exerting a skeletal muscle relaxant effect. Ataxia
was one of the most consistent responses obtained with LE-1 in mice and rats
(with the exception of septal rats) also suggesting skeletal muscle relaxant
activity. A single intravenous dose of 20 mg/kg of LE-1 completely blocked
the flexor reflex for approximately 3 hours in two cats. It appears that at
least part of the altered behavioral effects observed in mice and rats as well
as cats could be due to blockade of the spinal interneurons, with progressive
weaker depressant effects on the reticular formation, subcortex, and cortex
respectively. Certain of the a-pyrones exhibited a dose-related antagonism of
the serotonin-induced contraction of the rat uterus and exhibited potency
comparable to N-(/3-dimethylaminoethyl) cinnamamide (^^). The a-pyrones
isolated from Kava possessing this antiserotonin activity have a cinnamoyl
moiety which may be responsible for this particular pharmacological action.
Antiserotonin studies further substantiated the difference in activity between
Fi and F2 in that Fi did not affect the serotonin response whereas F2 was
antagonistic to it. Subfraction Fj was a much weaker depressant on a weight-
weight basis than subfraction F2. Since thin-layer chromatograms demon-
strated that Fi is absolutely free of. known a-pyrones (Fig. 3) and since the
overall pharmacological profile may be quite different than that of F2, studies
are currently being undertaken to isolate the pharmacologically active con-
stituents in this more water soluble subfraction.
149
lOO^g
100 pg
100 yg
Fig. 3. — Thin layer chromatogram of certain aqueous fractions of Kava (from O'Hara,
M. J., Kinnard, W. J., and Buckley, J. P. J. Pharm. Sci. 54, 1021, (1965).
REFERENCES
( 1 ) ScHUBEL, K., J. Soc. Chem. Ind. 43, 766 ( 1924 ) .
(2) Van Veen, A. G., Rec. Trav. Chim. 58, 521 (1939).
(3) Van Veen, A. G., Tijdsehr. Nederland India 78, 1941 (1938).
(//) Klohs, M. W., Keller, F., Williams, R. E., Tokes, M. I., and Cronheim, G. E.,
J. Med. Pharm. Chem. 1, 95 (1959) .
(5) Meyer, H. J., Arch. Int. Pharmacodyn, 116, 45 (1958).
(6) Keller, F. and Klohs, M. W., Lloydia 26, 1 (1963) .
(7) Furgiuele, a. R., Kinnard, W. J., and Buckley, J. P., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therap.
137,356 (1962).
(8) Kinnard, W. J. and Carr, C. J., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therap. 121, 354 (1957).
(9) Watzman, N., Barry, H., Buckley, J. P., and Kinnard, W. J., J. Pharm, Sci. 53,
1429 (1964).
{10) Furgiuele, A. R., Kinnard, W. J., Aoeto, M. D., and Bucklet, J. P., J. Pharm. Sci.
54,247 (1965).
150
(11) O'Haea, M. J., KiNNARD, W. J. and Buckley, J. P., J. Pharm. Sci. 54, 1021 (1965).
(12) Randall, L. O., Schallek, W., Heise, G. A., Keith, E. F., and Bagdon, R. E., J.
Pharmacol. Exp. Therap. 129, 163 (1960).
(13) Schallek, W., Kuehn, D., and Jew, N., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 96, 303 (1962).
(J4) Miller, C. L. and Tainter, M. L., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 57, 261 (1944).
(15) Cook, L. and Weidley, E., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 66, 740 (1957).
(16) HoROviTZ, Z. P. and Chow, M., J. Pharm. Sci. 52, 198 (1963).
(17) Jasper, H. H. and Ajmone-Marsan, C, "A Stereotaxic Atlas of the Diencephalon
of the Cat", The National Research Council of Canada (1960).
(18) Bleter, R., "The Hypothalmus of the Cat", The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore
(1961).
(19) Burn, J. A., "Practical Pharmacology", Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford,
England, p. 13 (1952).
(20) BoGDANSKi, D. F., Pletscher, a., Brodie, B. B., and Udenfriend, S., J. Pharmacol.
Exp. Therap. 117, 82 (1956) .
(21) Aprison, M. H., Wolf, M. A., Poulos, G. L., and Folkerth, T. L., J. Neurochem. 9,
575 (1962).
(22) Udenfriend, S., Weissbach, H., and Brodie, B. B., "Methods of Biochemical An-
alyses", D. Click (ed.). Academic Press, Inc., New York, N.Y. p. 105 (1958).
(23) King, F. A. and Meyer, P. M., Science 128, 655 (1958) .
(24) DoMBRO, R. S. and Woolley, D. W., Biochem. Pharmacol. 13, 569 (1964).
151
Electropharmacological and
Behavioral Actions of Kava
Amedeo S. Marrazzi
Department of Pharmacology, University of Minnesota Medical School,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
This compound in interesting for its consistencies, and I also want to
make a point illustrating a concept of a potential mechanism of tranquilizer
action. We first got interested in 1959, because of the descriptions and because
of the confirmation of these descriptions by Dr. Franck of the American
Medical Association Editorial Staff.
I simply wanted to show you two slides, and I need to show you two
older slides for reference. (Fig. 1 )
Maximum
Effect
100 cps
Fig. 1
In the first of these slides showing evoked cortical potentials in a cat,
you see that a tranquilizer, in this case chlorpromazine (CPZ), prevents
(2nd column) the cerebral synaptic inhibitory effect of LSD (1st column).
It controls LSD. After the chlorpromazine has been dissipated, there is
recovery (3rd column) and LSD again produces its cerebral action. This
is one of the typical actions of a psychotogen, and we think that tran-
quilizers have a similar but weaker action. The data actually then lend them-
selves to the notion — and we have further data supporting it — that they
have the same kind of action as the psychotogens, illustrated by LSD, but
weaker, and therefore are able to compete for the same receptor.
It seemed interesting to see what Kava would do under similar circum-
stances. A preliminary water extract proved quite potent, and three-tenths
of a cc given intracarotidly, elicited an affect very similar to that of
LSD. {Fig. 2)
152
CONTROL MAXIMUM EFFECT RECOVERY
100 '\;
Fig. 2
Obviously we are interested in the relation of an electrical effect in anes-
thetized animals to the behavior that the nervous system controls. Fig. 3 is
interesting in this connection.
This happens to be a rat conditioned approach experiment, in which the
response latency to the signal tone is indicated by the length of the upright
lines. The effect of LSD is a prolongation of the response time. This would
be expected from the synaptic inhibitory action. Inhibition of inhibition,
i.e. disinhibition or a release phenomenon, occurs at smaller doses but is
here masked by the over-riding over- all inhibition. I Avon't go into the
chlorpromazine protection at the moment.
This {Fig. 4) is the same kind of an experiment with Kava. There is a
great prolongation in the response time. The sharp cut-off at the top is
simply because the equipment turns off after twenty seconds without a
response.
It then seems interesting, in the first place, that this material is quite active,
because that amount of synaptic inhibition is the equivalent of forty micro-
grams of serotonin.
in
■o
c
o
o
to
>-
o
Z
LJ
TIME 0
mm
CONTROL
CHLORPROMAZINE (CPZ)
0.030 mg/ko
n Ji,)k,ii,JnlH4u-^
,11 III .ll
I't 1 11 - '■ lH liJ '
IM, li
>j-ULJ4-i-a-Mt III- 1
llJ
CO
o
Q.
CO
UJ
q:
Rfl wards
TIME
mm
Rewards
TIME
mm
LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE (LSD-25)
0.10 mg/kg
llllillllli.l..l|H,.l..,l..l„l..l.„l I,,
0.030 mg/kj-
10 30 40
PROTECTION BY CPZ
CPZ LSD-25
0.10 mg/kg
Fig. 3
262-016 0-67—12
153
Fig. 4
In the second place, it acts like LSD on synaptic transmission and
behaviorally, and you heard rather an extensive follow-up from Dr. Buckley
and related data from Dr. Meyer.
The point that I was trying to bring out is the possibility that a tran-
quilizer is, in fact, a weak psychotogen, and this has very definite implica-
tions for the method of looking for new tranquilizers. Thank you.
154
Effect of Kava in Normal Subjects
and Patients
Carl C. Pfeiffer, Henry B. Murphree and Leonide Goldstein
Section on Neuropharmacology
New Jersey Institute, Princeton, New Jersey
Those of you who watched the television news last October saw that the
Samoans oflFered cups of Kava to President and Mrs. Johnson. The New
York Times (10-19-65) reported the incident as follows: (1)
Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson is the first woman ever offered the royal Kava drink, the
highest honor Samoan chiefs can bestow on a visitor. She drank it, too.
Samoans who turned out from every comer of the island to welcome the Johnsons
yesterday applauded delightedly as the First Lady sipped the bitter juice from a coco-
nut cup. The President only touched his lips to the cup.
Later Mrs. Johnson said the drink tasted a little like the milk of coconuts — watered
down — with a slightly medicinal taste.
Drinking the brew, made from the pulverized root of the Kava tree, bound Mrs.
Johnson in fellowship with the chiefs. Both she 'and her husband also made the tradi-
tional gesture of pouring a bit of the juice on the ground to get rid of evil spirits.
Subsequently President Johnson, the abstainer, needed two surgical opera-
tions while Mrs. Johnson's health has remained excellent ! What is in this
obviously marvelous brew made from the root of the Kava tree? This con-
ference allows us to review data on Kava gathered in animals and man over
the period 1954^1962. The data vary in their accuracy from global clinical
impressions to objective double blind studies using quantitative amplitude
analysis of the EEG.
In 1954 we made various extracts of the powdered Kava root and obtained
brown gums which, while insoluble in water, could be easily suspended in gum
tragacanth. The alcohol extracted gum appeared to be the most active in mice,
particularly against strychnine convulsions.
One of the active ingredients, dihydrokawain, was compared to mephenesin
and found to be effective but very fleeting in its anti-strychnine effect (2, 3)
Table 2. The testing in mice was perforce done in the first 30 minutes after
oral dosing in order to see the characteristic anti-strychnine effect. The very
short acting drug mephenesin had a comparable effect to that of dihydro-
kawain.
Our interest next turned to the two compounds which the Eiker Labora-
tory Scientists found to be very active in their animal tests {Ji). These were
dl-methysticin and dl-ethysticin. The methyl congener occurs in Kava while
the ethyl congener was prepared synthetically. Both compounds are optically
active so that synthesis provides the racemate while the natural compound is
an optically active enantiomer.
We studied in two groups of six normal subjects at the Atlanta Federal
Penitentiary both dl-ethysticin and dl-methysticin in single oral doses of
155
Table 1. — Anticonvulsant effect of Kava Kava in mice
[All tests at 1 hour after oral dose]
Metrazol ratio
Stryehnine ratio
FT
PC
PC
% Surv.
Crude Root
2. 0 gm
*1. 6
*1. 6
2. 1
50%
Hot Ale Extr.
150 mg
1. 4
1. 2
1. 7
28%
CH CI3 Ext.
150 mg
1. 2
1. 1
1. 8
35%
Ale. Extr.
150 mg
1. 5
1. 2
2. 2
32%
Control Mice
1. 0
1. 0
1. 0
0
FT=first twitch.
PC=persistent convulsion.
N = 14 mice/group.
*Read 1.6 times the control group of mice.
800 mgm. This dose was chosen because therapeutic trials in epileptics showed
some degree of seizure control. No significant changes in blood pressure, pulse
rate, grip strength, hand steadiness, or pupil size occurred. The subjective
responses were equally divided between stimulant, placebo and sedative re-
ports. We conclude that these two congeners were not sufficiently active to
be recognized by our crew of drug sophisticated tasters.
When the crude root was given to 9 selected, uncontrolled epileptics (6)
in doses up to 6 grams per day a better degree of seizure control was obtained.
The same degree of control was provided by an alcoholic extract of the root
in a dose of 1.0 gm/day. However, continued therapy for several weeks pro-
duced a lemon tinted skin and sclera which was apparently owing to a chemi-
cal pigment and is seen characteristically in the Samoans who take Kava
regularly. Because of this skin reaction the use of root and extract was dis-
continued in favor of the study of the pure, more active and uncolored prin-
ciples of the root.
Table 2. — Anticonvulsant effect of dihydrokawain
Metrazol
Dose
Test
Strychnine,
time
P.C.
F.T.
P.C.
DHDK
200
10"
*1.6
400
10"
1.5
1
1
2.0
400
30"
1.3
1
1
400
60"
1.1
0
9
1.1
Meph.
200
10"
1.2
400
10"
2.0
Min. Atax. Does=250 mg/kg.
F.T.=first twitch.
P.C. = persistent convulsion.
•Read 1.6 times the control group of mice. 12 mice/group.
156
Of the available congeners dl-dihydromethysticin is the most active in
animals. This compound became available for clinical trial in 1956 as Eiker
Laboratories #532, and was used in doses up to 1200 mgm/day to control
epileptic seizures. The anti-epileptic effect was characterized by fewer
grand mal seizures but no change in petit mal seizure activity. However,
after one month of continuous therapy some patients showed conjunctival
and circimaorbital erythema, vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms were
considered to be drug induced so that dl-dihydromethysticin was discon-
tinued.
Saunders and Kline (6) treated schizophrenics with this drug using
doses of 800 mgm/day. After 3 months, 14 or 15 patients developed typical
drug induced skin rashes of the groin and axillae. The reaction disappeared
10 to 20 days after the drug was stopped, but reappeared when the drug was
again given to selected patients. The drug had no antipsychotic effect in the
schizophrenic patients.
EFG Studies in Normal Vohmteers
The quantitative EEG technique provides an accurate method to measure
GNS stimulation, sedation or sleep. Quantitation of the EEG was performed
with an electronic integrator. This device, the operation of which has been
fully described elsewhere (7), transforms the complex EEG signals into
pulses inscribed directly and concomitantly with the direct tracings. The
number of pulses, for any given time period, is directly proportional to the
cumulated electrical energy. Calibration is by the application of known
energy constants. The values obtained therefore can be related to fixed stand-
ards. The basic time-unit chosen for data analysis was 20 seconds, that is, 2
pages of standard EEG recording. Thus any 10-minute recording run yielded
30 successive measurements.
All the corresponding values from each predrug and postdrug run, as
obtained from all the subjects involved in each particular study, were aver-
aged, and mean energy contents (MEC) for the group were thus determined.
The statistical significance of the changes was ascertained with the t-test.
Besides these measurements of the level of electrical energy, a careful
analysis of variability was performed for each time period. We find that this
parameter of quantitated EEG data is highly informative, not only for the
detection and characterization of drug effects, but also for baseline features.
For example, we have found that male schizophrenic patients have much
less EEG variability than nonpsychotics. In the Tables, the values of the
standard deviation are computed from the "between subjects, within drug"
covariance values. Statistical significance of the differences in variability was
based on F-ratios. For convenience, the covariance levels are expressed as
the coefficient of variation (CV). Table 3 summarizes our objective findings
using this technique.
The subjective reaction of these normal subjects was that the Kava
principles produced mild sedation or sleepiness. This would be in accord
with the quantitative EEG findings of the most effective congener, namely
157
Table 3. — Quantitative eledroencephalographic studies in normal volunteers given Kava
type chemicals
Drug
Oral
dose,
mgm
N
C
Hours following admin.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Dihydrokawain
zUU
r
0
105
101
99
112
117
114
yj V
90
20
22
20
19
19
16
dl-dihydromethy-
sticin
1 n
lUU
99
103
110
104
101
105
O V
27
31
30
17
23
25
d-dihydromethy-
sticin
1 fin
1 n
1 no
108
108
108
103
106
101
cv
21
26
26
28
*39
*40
*51
11
MEC
100
100
107
102
110
102
94
CV
20
20
19
19
20
20
20
Meprobamate
800
10
MEC
100
96
*71
*77
88
89
107
CV
19
*29
*32
*38
*46
*56
*39
•Significant at tlie 1 in 20 level of confidence.
160 mgm of d-dihydromethysticin. This is evident in the increase in the
coefficient of variation at the 4, 6 and 6th hours after the oral dose.
Computer analysis of the EEG after 160 mg of dl-dihydromethysticin
revealed that there were significant increases in total electrical energy with-
out significant increases in variability. These increases affected all frequen-
cies and were maximal two to three hours after dosage. The increases were
more evident in low-alpha records. When very prominent alpha was present,
little or no change occurred in total energy or in energy in the alpha band,
but significant increases occurred in the low frequency portion of the elec-
troencephalographic spectrum, again without any significant change in varia-
bility.
Discussion
We have found that dihydrokawain is very similar to mephenesin in its
effect on the strychnine thresholds of mice. Meyer (8) and Meyer and
Kretzschmar (9) find a close similarity in the pharmacological action of the
Kavapyrones and mephenesin when tested on the reflexes of guinea pigs.
The chemical structures are similar in that both can be described as blocking
compounds of simple oxygen functions.
If more were known about the physiological deposition of the Kava-
pyrones a second analogy might be made to the diketone griseofvlvin which
is also a mild CNS sedative, and is known to exert its antifungal effect by
deposition in the skin, hair, and nails. This fungicide however is well toler-
ated by the human skin while the Kava-pyrones are not. If Samoan groups
can be found who imbibe Kava only during a ceremonial week one would
expect to find some degree of yellow banding of their finger and toe nails
if the Kava-pyrones are deposited in keratin.
158
CH
OH OH /=\ P-C^
/ ^O-CHg-CH-CHg )>CH2-CH2
^ ' ^ ' ' 'OCH.
Mephenesin Dihydrokawain
0
Griseofulvin
Aspirin
Fig. 1. — The Kava ketopyrones are blocking compounds of three oxygen and a methyl
functional groups. Other molecules which have a similar sedative effect are griseofulvin
and aspirin.
Perhaps the simplest chemical which is a blocking compound containing
3 oxygens and a methyl functional group is aspirin. This has not been
studied in animals for its central relaxant action. Quite independently of
the Kava study we have determined recently the effect of aspirin and other
mild analgesics on the quantitative EEG of man. Aspirin is the only small
analgesic which has a typical sedative or antianxiety effect on the human
brain. One wonders then if aspirin is not a mild type of Kava which has
been developed in modern society and used without ceremony by the tons
(as long as the recommended dose on the label does not exceed two tablets) .
Table 4. — Comparison of meprobamate and buffered aspirin by the quantitative EEG
technique
Drug
Mgm
dose
N
c
1
2
3
4
5
6
Meprobamate
800
10
MEC
100
96
*71
*77
88
89
107
CV
19
*29
*32
*38
*46
*56
*39
Placebo
30
MEC
100
101
100
101
102
103
104
CV
19
20
17
17
26
18
19
Buffered asprin
1000
20
MEC
100
90
*83
*75
*85
*85
*83
CV
26
*37
*40
*42
*39
*40
*34
•Significant at the 1 in 20 level of confidence.
159
Conversely one might ask if the Samoans use Kava as a "pain-killer". I
have been told that the plains Indians have in times past used peyote as a
pain killing drug.
We have heard the chemists describe the active Kava-pyrones which can be
found in the Kava plant. We have studied one minor synthetic modification
of a Kava principle, namely Ethysticin. We have not had reported today any
serious attempt to synthesize more coniplex Kava pyrones with more ade-
quate blocking groups. Thus in dihydrokawain the synthesis of a methylene
bis compound would be of interest, as also would be a benzohydryl kawain.
One should keep in mind that as the molecule becomes larger and more effec-
tive as a blocking moiety, the structure and perhaps the pharmacological
effect will approach that of dihydrocannabinol another oxygen-containing
molecule. Also the main physical characteristic of these Kava principles, that
of poor water solubility and good lipid solubility, will always result in a
preponderance of pharmacological action on the brain and skin i.e. ectodermal
tissues. This selectivity should be put to good use in the transport of a prop-
erly tailored and more active molecule.
Finally the study of the Samoans and their Kava ceremony remains the
best and possibly the last area of scientific interest insofar as the intoxicating
effect of Kava is concerned.
Summary
We have studied in animals and man various extracts, extracted chemicals
and congeners of piper methysticum (Kava Kava). The main pharmaco-
logical action is like that of central relaxants of the mephenesin-type as shown
by a specific antagonism to strychnine infusion. Compared to modern syn-
thetic central relaxants all of the Kava congeners are relatively inactive. The
most active congener appears to be dihydromethysticin, but this compound
when given to man in the dosage range of 800 to 1200 mgm daily produces
side effects and allergic skin reactions. The crude root and extract produces
a yellowing of the skin similar to that reported in the Kava drinkers of
Samoa. From the data now available, further study of Kava as a modem
medicinal agent would not appear to be needed.
REFERENCES
(1 ) New York Times October 19, 1966.
(2) Orloff, M. J., Williams, H. L. and Pfeiffee, O. C. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. 70: 25 257
(1949). Timed Intravenous Infusion of Metrazol and Strychnine for testing anti-
convulsant drugs.
(3) JENNEY, E. H. and C. C. Pfeiffer. Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci., 64: 679-89 (1956). The
Predictable Value of Anticonvulsant Indices.
(4) Keller, F. and Klohs, M. W. Lloydia 26: 1-15 (1963). A Review of the Chemistry
and Pharmacology of the Constituents of Piper Methysticum.
(5) Pfeiffer, C. C. Unpublished data this laboratory.
(6) Cronheim, G. Report of N. Kline to Riker Labs.
(7) Pfeiffer, C. C, Goldstein, L., Murphree, H. B. and Jenney, E. H. Arch. Gen.
Psych. 10 : 446-i53 (1964). Electroencephalographic Assay of Anti-Anxiety Drugs.
160
(8) Meter, H. J. Arch. int. Pbarmacodyn. 150: 118-131 (1964). Untersochungen Uber
Den Antikonvulsiven Wirkungstyp Der Kawa-Pyrone Dihydromethysticin Mit
Hilf e Chemisch Induzierter Krampf e.
(5) Meter, H. J. and Kretzschmak. Klin. Woch. 44/15, 902-903, 1966. Kawa-Pyrone eine
nenartige substansgruppe zentraler Muskelrelaxantien vom Typ des Mephenesins.
161
Ethnographical Aspects of Kava
Clellan S. Ford
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
The Polynesian term kava is generally used in English to specify the shrub
Piper methysticum (Forster), its root, and a beverage made from it. With
slight variation, this is the term used in western Polynesia, including Tonga.
In Samoa the form is ''ava, in Tahiti ava. In Hawaii it is awa. The Maori
took with them to New Zealand tales concerning the use of kava but did not
find the plant in their new home. They found another plant, Piper excelsum,
which they did not make into a beverage, but which they named kaiodkawa.
The term kava or its equivalent in Polynesia is also an adjective designating
various properties of food and drink. In Hawaii it means bitter, sour, sharp,
pungent. In the Marquesas it signifies bitter, sour, sharp. In Tahiti the range
is broad, including bitter, sour, acid, acrid, salt, sharp, and pungent
(Churchill p. 56).
The use of Piper methysticxmi is not confined to Polynesia. In Micronesia
it is found in the Caroline Islands. It is found in many places in eastern
Melanesia: in New Britain, New Ireland, the Admiralties, the Banks and
Torres Islands, the New Hebrides, and in Fiji. In Melanesia its use is of spotty
distribution. In some instances islands only a few miles apart dilffer from
one another in regard to the use of kava. For example the people of Ambrym
in the New Hebrides look down upon their neighbors on Pentecost Island,
only seven miles away, because they drink the beverage. Sometimes, as in the
case of Tikopia (a Polynesian outlyer in Melanesia), betel chewing and kava
are found together. On Tikopia, interestingly enough, the beverage is not
drunk but is poured on the ground as a libation to the gods.
Since our personal experience with kava and its uses is for the most part
confined to Fiji and Tonga, the remainder of this discussion will relate to
those islands. My wife and I have visited most of the major islands in Tonga,
the islands of central and southern Lau, the Yasawas, Kandavu, Taveuni,
Ovalau, and a number of villages on Viti Levu and on Vanua Levu. In
practically all of these places we have participated in kava ceremonies of
one sort or another, and I must admit that this has been an enjoyable
experience.
The Fijian term for the plant, the root, and the beverage made from it is
Yaqona. This term is apparently without parallel outside the archipelago,
in either Melanesia or Polynesia. The word does not appear to be used in an
adjectival form. Lester, however, reports that a word Qona is used on the
northwest coast of Viti Levu to denote both "beverage" and "bitter." He
suggests that this may indicate that it was to this part of Fiji that kava was
first brought and that these were the people who supplied the name Yaqona,
which is now universally used throughout the archipelago. More commonly
in Fiji "bitter" is gaga^ which also means '■'■poisonous.''''
162
Our first introduction to kava was on the island of Naviti in the Yasawas
off the northwest coast of Viti Levu. We had been taken there by a small
copra vessel and dropped off on the reef in the early hours of the morning.
We were met by a number of Fijians who carried us and our luggage ashore
and who escorted us to the house of Koko, Katu Filimone Kama, in the
village of Kese.
It was, for us, an awkward situation. The Fijians on the island of Naviti
had an English vocabulary of scarcely more than "quite," "rather," and
"hello," and our Fijian was nil. We were in age approximately twenty-five
and quite unaccustomed to the South Pacific. Of course we had read a good
bit about the Fiji Islands and the indigenous customs, including kava drink-
ing. We had, for example, been able to read about kava in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica — you can still read it there — and I quote :
KAVA ... an intoxicating, but non alcoholic beverage, produced principally in the
islands of the south Pacific, from the roots of leaves of a variety of the pepper plant
{Piper latifoliuni or P. methpsticum) . The preparation is peculiar. The roots or leaves
are first chewed by young girls or boys, care being taken that only those possessing sound
teeth and excellent general health shall take part in this operation. The chewed material
is then placed in a bowl, and water or coco-nut milk is poured over it, the whole is well
stirred, and subsequently the woody matter is removed by an ingenious but simple
mechanical manipulation. The resulting liquid, which has a muddy or cafe-au-lait ap-
pearance or is of a greenish hue if made from leaves, is now ready for consumption. The
taste of the liquid is at first sweet, and then pungent and acrid. The usual dose corre-
sponds to about two mouthfuls of the root. Intoxication (but this apparently only applies
to those not inured to the use of the liquor) follows in about 20 minutes. The drunkenness
produced by kava is of a melancholy, silent and drowsy character. Excessive drinking is
said to lead to skin and other diseases, but per contra many medicinal virtues are ascribed
to the preparation. . . . [Anonymous].
We also had read various colorful reports about kava and its use written by
earlier visitors to Fiji, as in the following examples :
In their devotion they have a kind of sacrament, using the root called on the Sandwich
islands ava, but angooner in this country. In the first place they wash the root clean,
and then chew it, and put it into a large plantain leaf, which is as big as a small tea table,
which they lay in a hole in the ground, and then pour a small quantity of water to it, and
rinse the substance out. This liquor the Rombetty serves out in small plantain leaves to
his people, and as each one receives it, they all clap their hands and say mannor angooner,
which is returning thanks to God in their way. After partaking of this they think they are
bappy, its effect being similar to that of laudanum [Patterson p. 90] .
The great token of hospitality, when one enters a native house, and especially that of
a chief, is the preparing and presenting to the guests the native drink, called kava, an
article never lacking in tlpUng Fiji, as we were often convinced, to our sorrow. So we
are not surprised that Patioli should call for kava the moment the conversation waned.
In Samoa it is considered very rude to refuse to drink the beverage, but that is a punish-
ment we can hardly Inflict upon ourselves ; so we will allow some pressing engagement to
call us away. . . . Kava has medicinal qualities of not a little power. Drunk to excess,
it acts like opium, and the habit once formed cannot easily be broken. There are white
men, on some of the islands in the South Seas, who live almost entirely upon the baleful
preparation. To them it is as much a necessity as is the morning dram to an inebriate in
other lands. To the Inexperienced, the very thought of drinking the stuff is repelling, but
if he can summon courage to try it, he will find a cup of it refreshing and somewhat
nutritive. The natives very justly attribute some of their ailments to an inordinate use of
163
it. The liabitual kara drinker may be recognized by bis fishy-looking eyes and the scaly
appearance of his skin [Adams pp. 117-20] .
I had tasted it on several occasions, this kava of the other islands, without enjoyment.
But I recalled a warning from several old-timers I had met that one could not more
grievously offend a Fijian than by refusing this beverage, whose serving is everywhere
such a ceremonial, prescribed by such rigid custom. . . . "Will this go to my head?" I
asked Sakobi, remembering the waiting boat-
•'Xo. Xo go to head," he assured me. And Jcava, as a matter of fact, is not an alcoholic
intoxicant. Rather it might be described as a mildly stimulating drug. A brownish
murky fluid, slightly pungent and acrid, it is usually obnoxious to the novice,
but Europeans in the islands often acquire a taste for it, and business men
frequently keep it in the ofiBce for an occasional swig with their customers. Its
constant and immoderate use over a long period of years is sometimes injurious
to the eyes, so that old /i-ara-topers often become nearly blind, but taken moder-
ately or even in large quantity from time to time it is of acknowledged medicinal value,
to such extent that the most zealous missionaries do not combat the native custom. And.
not being an intoxicant, it does not go to one's head ; one can drink any amoimt of it and
remain clear minded. The funny thing about it, however, is that it does go to one's legs.
Sakobi, answering my query literally, had neglected to tell me this. But I discovered it
for myself when, bidding my hosts adieu at midnight, I felt my knees wobble and slid
like a fireman down the slippery pole that led across the moat. At the moment, I at-
tributed the mishap to the stiffness resultant from sitting cross-legged all evening in an
unaccustomed posture. But when we started out across the maze of roads and tracks
toward the wharf, where the skipper was conscientiously sounding the promised fog-horn
as a summons to hasten, there was no question but that something was wrong with the
legs themselves.
"Come here, Sakobi. Give me a hand."
He locked his arm through mine. But his legs were just as bad. For a quarter-mile we
made progress, leaning against each other as our feet gravitated toward the center. Then,
despite all efforts at control, his started for the left and mine for the right, and we both
sat down heavily [Foster pp. 238-^] .
These and many of the other early missionary and travel reports were
equally disturbing, and it was with no little apprehension that we sat in the
Roko's hut wliile the Yaqona was being prepared for our welcome reception.
To our relief, the root had been pulverized with a mortar and pestle rather
than chewed. But there were other sources of concern. We had been schooled
to beware of water unless it had been boiled. And here was a stalwart Fijian
plunging his brown hands and wrists into a wooden bowl to knead the mix-
ture while another poured water over the powdered root. "What risks were
we taking : drunkemiess, disease, polluted water, unclean hands ? The boat
had left, not to return for six months, and there was no other way off the
island, not even by outrigger. And the only medical assistance on the island
was said to be a Fijian "doctor" with one year's training in first aid. To
drink or not to drink was the question.
We had been told by Europeans in Suva that it was imperative that we
accept what we were offered, including kava, when we were in a Fijian
village. Furthermore, we had been told that the brew was not as bad as it
was made out to be and that the best thing to do was to drink it down
rapidly — that if we sipped it we Avould be lost and never finish the cupful,
which would be really bad mannered of us. So when the cupbearer, glistening
with coconut oil, brought a cupful to me and then to my wife we downed
it without hesitation. To me it tasted like the smell of a cedar lead pencil
164
when it is sharpened, and aside from a slight numbing sensation at the base
of the tongue and in the throat, there was nothing out of the ordinary about
the experience. In fact when we struck lights to our cigarettes after having
had our first taste of kava, they seemed to be especially satisfying.
During the year that we spent in Fiji on that field trip in 1935-36 we
drank a great deal of kava, probably as much if not more than many of the
Fijians. We became quite fond of it and never experienced, insofar as we
could detect, any of the ill effects attributed to the drink. Nor did we ever,
during that trip or subsequent shorter trips to the islands of the South
Pacific, see a native "drunk" from kava drinking. Exhausted, yes. Some of
the all-night three- and four-day-long festivities that we attended could
not fail to wear people out, but I am convinced that the kava did little to
cause what could more accurately be described as a state of being "punch-
drunk" with fatigue.
Apparently the early inhabitants of Fiji brought the kava plant with
them from Indonesia. From Fiji it was probably introduced somewhat
later to Tonga and to Samoa. In Fiji, as far as can be determined it appears
that the root was originally grated on mushroom coral or pounded with
stones before it was mixed with water to prepare the beverage. The practice
of chewing {mama) the root seems to have been introduced to Fiji by
Tongans or Samoans, although there is a possibility that it may have come
to them from other parts of Melanesia. The custom of chewing kava was
observed by early travelers and missionaries in the eastern islands of Lau
and in the coastal settlements on Viti Levu. Young men chewed the root and
deposited it in a bowl to form the basis of the kava mixture. But chewing
the root was never practiced in much of the interior of Viti Levu or Vanua
Levu. The church and the government discouraged the practice, and today
the root is either brayed between two stones or pulverized in a wooden
mortar with a pestle. An oft-repeated story justifying the discouragement
of chewing kava as a method of preparation relates that in the 1870s a Dr.
Macgregor weighed six ounces of the root, which was then chewed in the
usual manner. When deposited in the bowl it weighed seventeen ounces
(Gordon-Cumming p. 51) .
There is some evidence to indicate that the beverage was at one time
prepared in an earthen pit lined with leaves, constructed much like an earth
oven. The development of pottery in Fiji took place quite early, however,
and pottery bowls took precedence and were used in many parts of the
islands for kava mixing. Very crude wooden bowls resembling the pottery
ones were used elsewhere. At least four to five hundred years ago the modern
wooden bowls came into general use and for the most part replaced the
pottery bowls. As far as is known, these wooden bowls were made only on
Kambara in Lau, and were thence disseminated to the rest of Fiji and to
Tonga. Whether the design for the bowl originated in Kambara or was
introduced thare from Samoa and/or Tonga is not known, but since the
term by which the bowl is known in Fiji, tanoa^ is a Polynesian word, it
seems likely that the bowls are of Polynesian origin. In any case, the tanoa
has been in use throughout most of Fiji for the past few centuries.
165
The kava bowl varies in size and shape, but it is generally round, from
one to three feet in diameter, and with four legs (occasionally more) all
made from one piece of wood, vesi (Afselia Mjuga). The front of the bowl
has a triangular suspension lug with two holes, to which sennit braid is at-
tached to provide a means of hanging the bowl on the wall. Today all chiefly
kava bowls have white cowrie shells attached to the end of the cord. The lug
and its attached braid are important parts of the kava bowl and play a major
role in the kava ceremonial, as will be described below. The tanoa is never
used for any other purpose than that of mixing kava, and after a long
period of use its interior surface collects a blue-green patina.
The most usual cups for serving kava are the pointed halves of coconut
shells, scraped thin and highly polished. Most cups are about two inches in
diameter, but some are much larger. We have one that was presented to me
which measures six inches across and holds well over two cupfuls of liquid.
It is very old and, like the older kava bowls, it has an interior patina.
When the time comes for the kava to be mixed, the pounded or grated root
is placed in the bowl. To this is added water, which is kneaded together with
the powdered root. More water is added and the mixing progresses. A strainer
of vau (hibiscus fiber) is used at the end of the mixing to strain out the
woody particles from the drink. As the strainer collects fibers, it is wrung
out and taken out of the bowl so that the particles can be shaken out. This
process is repeated several times until the liquid is relatively clear. If the
mixture appears to be too concentrated, more water is added. Then the kava
is ready for serving.
It is believed that the kava ceremony in Fiji was formerly a predominately
religious rite, carried out by priests. The purpose was to establish communion
with the supernatural. Through the kava ceremony the priests were believed
to reach the gods and ensure their assistance in life here and hereafter,
Eivalry existed between these religious leaders and the political leaders.
As the latter grew in strength by virtue of consolidating more and more
territory under their control, they ousted the priestly class from their posi-
tion of power, Coincidentally, the missionaries came in to take over the all-
important function of cementing the relationship between the people and
the supernatural. The political leaders took over the kava ceremony, and
from that time on it has been more socio-political than religious, though
much of the ritual can be traced back to usages in the past that were strictly
religious in character. This change in emphasis apparently occurred early
in the eighteenth century, and the formal kava ceremony has remained much
the same ever since.
In placing the current kava ceremony in perspective it is important to
note that Fijian and Tongan society was and still is highly conscious of
differences in rank or status. Persons are arranged according to inheritance
in a hierarchy from kings to high chiefs, to lesser chiefs, and to commoners.
One of the major functions of the kava ceremony is clearly to reaffirm (or
establish) status. When visiting dignitaries arrive, this is the means by which
strangers are accorded their position in the village or district to which they
have come. Among a people whose inter-island and inter-district relationships
166
were more often than not of a warlike nature, this was a respected medium
through which rapport could be established, at least a temporary truce
declared, and a modicum of trade relations ensured.
Formal kava ceremonies, yaqona vakaturaga, are imbedded in a large
complex of activities. Much has to be done in preparation, for many days
in advance, Wlien the participants have gathered and are properly seated,
the ceremony begins with the formal presentation of offerings : kava roots,
whales' teeth,^ tobacco, food, and articles such as pandanus mats and tapa
cloth. Then comes the kava mixing and drinking. After this solemnity there
may be dances and songs. In any case there follows, perhaps an hour or
two later, the distribution of the feast foods and all those assembled proceed
to eat.
The seating of the participants during the presentation of offerings and
the kava ceremony is most important. The kava bowl is located in the middle
of the meeting place. Behind it is seated the kava mixer. At his side, both to
the right and the left are what might be termed helpers. Behind the kava
mixer and the bowl are seated a number of men who will form the chorus
for the chanting which accompanies various parts of the ritual. The wa ni
tanoa, the sennit braid with its white cowries, is stretched out directly away'
from the mixer pointing toward the most important personage present, the
chief of the district or a visiting dignitary. The first cup of kava will be
presented to him. To his left and slightly forward sits his talking chief. To
his right sit a selected number of lesser chiefs, all slightly forward toward
the bowl.
The significance in Tonga of the suspensary lug and its cord has been
vividly described by Sir Peter Buck, himself part Polynesian (Maori) :
The following incident illustrates the method of indirection dearly loved by the
Polynesians. After the death of the last Tui Tonga, two of the greatest supporting
chiefs of the Tui Tonga dynasty came to George Tuhou, who had been gathering the
reins of temporal power into his hands, and informed him that they wished to make
kava for him. They conducted him into the guest house and, seating themselves behind
the kava bowl, proceeded to prepare the kava. George Tubou sat down opposite and
waited. He looked casually across at his companions and saw what must have been a
soul-stirring sight. The suspensory lug of the bowl was pointing at him. The chiefs
had not spoken, but the speechless bowl was announcing a king [Buck p. 299].
The precise seating arrangement and the form of the ceremonial differs
slightly from one island and district to another, and there is no need to
describe these in detail here.
However, it may be useful to attempt a generalized description so that
some picture of such an occasion is before us. Imagine then, the chiefs sitting
1 The tabua, or whale's tooth, is the ceremonial currency of Fiji. Holes are bored in each end
of the tooth, to which is attached a cord of sennit braid or pandanus. A proper cord is made of
four-ply braid, known as sui ni gata or "bones of the snake." Interestingly enough, the tabua is
not just a whale's tooth ; it must be old, oiled and polished, and it must have an acceptable cord.
What was employed in its place before whales' teeth were available is not known. Stones shaped
much like whales' teeth have been found dating back to early times. Wooden tabuas have been
known to be used. A suggestion has been made that originally the human collar bone was used.
Be this as it may, for many generations the tabua has been the most important possession of any
Fijian, and generally speaking they are predominantly in the custody of high ranking chieftains.
With the presentation of a tabua at a proper kava ceremony, one may obtain from a chief almost
anything one is desirous of having.
167
facing the 'bowl and the proceedings about to begin. The occasion is that of a
visiting chief from, another village. All of the actual participants are in
colorful costume: some with yellow pandanus kilts, some with green leaf
sulus^ some garbed with colorful tapa, the native bark cloth. All are glistening
with coconut oil.
On both sides, at a short distance away from the circle of those participat-
ing, may be several hundred men, women, and children — observers only. Sud-
denly there is a hush of voices, and then complete silence. From this point
on none of the participants, seated cross-legged in fixed position, will make
any movement that is not a part of the prescribed ritual. There is no talking,
no smoking, no uncrossing of the legs, no extraneous movements of the arms
or head. All attention is focused on those who are performing their roles in
accordance with traditional rules.
The visit ing chief moves into the center of the circle, crawling on his knees.
He carries with him in his hands the root of the kava plant, or perhaps a
tabua. Now comes the presentation: ai sevu sevu. With cupped hands he
claps three times and addresses the host chief. He says then in effect "here
is a small offering ..." Tlie host's talking chief, or master of ceremonies
and the chief himself interrupt to say "a great thing, a great thing," and an
interchange of deprecatory remarks on the part of the visitor folloAved by
complimentary comments by the host continues for a short time. Finally
the master of ceremonies says "let it be presented." At this point the partici-
pants clap their hands in unison.
The master of ceremonies, with his hands lightly resting on the offering,
announces in stylized form the acceptance. This concluded, the kava mixer
tilts the bowl toward the host chief, to show him that the powdered root is
ready. In response, the master of ceremonies says "Zc>m&(x" which means
"proceed to mix." An attendant pours water in the bowl and the kneading
process takes place. After several minutes the kava mixer holds the strainer
above the bowl, allowing some of the beverage to pour into it. If the master
of ceremonies thinks the drink is too strong he calls out in effect "More
water!" Water is added and the procedure repeated until the master of
ceremonies, satisfied, says "Enough water, strain it." At this point the men
behind the bowl begin to chant, and this will continue until the kava is served
to the chief.
When the kava maker considers the beverage properly strained he strikes
a pose with hands together and, looking into the bowl, murmurs that "the
kava is ready to be served." Hearing this, the master of ceremonies says
loudly '■^Cobo — i.e. Clap," whereupon the kava mixer and his attendants, one
on either side of him, clap with cupped hands three times. The cupbearer,
whose face is usually blackened and whose arms and legs bear circlets of
leaves, appears at the bowl. The kava mixer lifts his strainer and allows the
beverage to trickle into the cup which the cupbearer holds out for him. In
time with the chanting the cupbearer, now partly upright with knees bent,
sways and moves forward in graceful movements until he is quite near the
chief. At this point the chanting stops. The cupbearer crouches down low,
holding his cupful of kava in both hands with arms outstretched toward the
168
chief. The master of ceremonies says "Go ahead, rise up" and the cupbearer
stands up and walks to the chief, to whom he gives the cup of kava. The
chief now drinks the kava. As soon as the master of ceremonies sees that
the chief has finished drinking (in some^ instances the chief may spin the
empty bowl in the center of the mat) he signals again for the participants
to clap three times.
The master of ceremonies receives a cup of kava from the cupbearer, and
perhaps the visiting chief and his talking chief. This ends the formal part
of the ceremony, and this is announced by the master of ceremonies who
proclaims that the "chiefly kava is dry." The wa ni tanoa is pulled back out
of sight. The kava mixer and his attendants clap three times. From then on
the formalities are slackened. It is now permissible to talk and to smoke
while the other chiefs are being served their kava. This may last from one
half hour to more than two hours, until the bowl is emptied. Never is a kava
bowl left containing unused beverage. Following this comes the division of
feast foods and then the feast itself.
Good descriptive accounts much more elaborate than the sketch provided
above are available in the literature (cf. Hocart, Lester, and Mariner). The
important things to note here are, first, that throughout the entire proceed-
ing the arrangement of participants and their behavior, including the chant-
ing and the movements of the cupbearer who serves the kava, are rigidly
prescribed by custom and, second, that the occasion is a very solemn affair.
In the not-too-distant past, the entire village was compelled to be silent while
kava was being prepared in formal fashion, and if anyone, even a child,
made any noticeable noise, he was clubbed. We have a recording of a formal
kava ceremony held at Naviti in the Yasawas in 1960 that was performed
especially for the purpose of getting it on record. The tape recorded the
ceremony clearly, and despite the fact that there was an audience of more
than two hundred men, women, and children, no noise extraneous to the
performance is to be heard except for the occasional cackling and crowing
of the native fowl.
Apart from the Yaqona vakaturaga^ the formal kava ceremony with which
we have been concerned, kava drinking takes place in Fiji quite infor-
mally. It is frequently drunk in casual fashion by all inhabitants, including
Europeans. Children do not drink kava, and at what age they begin to
participate is difficult to determine. In native schools they are taught the
ceremonial, using plain water as a substitute for kava and wooden tabuas.
In Suva, kava is available in most stores and shops for the customer who
wishes a cup. A large bowl of kava is always available at the Tourist
Bureau, Avhere, to please American tourists, there is usually a lump of ice
floating in the drink to keep it cool — to my taste, definitely not an im-
provement. Among the Fijians, kava seems to be holding its own against
the importation of alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. An interesting story
concerning Ratu Sekuna relates that upon going to Oxford for his LL.D.,
he was concerned that he would not find kava there. So he had many bowls
prepared, placed them in the sun, and took with him to Oxford the residue,
262-016 0-67— 13
169
"instant kava," which he could then simply mix with water when he
desired.
It is clear that after one gets used to its peculiar odor and flavor, kava
does provide a pleasurable sensation. Added to this fact is the long tradi-
tion of kava drinking as a part of a large and important complex of
activities, including gift exchange, chanting, dancing, and feasting.
Drinking kava is considered appropriate to a wide variety of occasions,
from birth through marriage and death. It is the only chiefly way to wel-
come an important visitor. Sharing a bowl of kava tends to foster socializ-
ing and friendship, and to the Fijian it is unthinkable that kava should
not be a part of commemorating any important event. Kava is never, to
my knowledge, drunk alone. The practice is solidly imbedded in social and
political context.
The complex of the customs surrounding kava, which has been briefly
described above, is unique to those islands in the South Pacific where it
has been traditional for generations. It is impossible to find precise paral-
lels in other parts of the world. On the other hand, if one concentrates
upon one particular aspect of the complex at a time, it is possible to ex-
amine somewhat similar phenomena for comparative purposes. It is im-
portant to remember, however, that such parallels as may exist in other
parts of the Avorld rarely imply any direct historical connection.
If one singles out the practice of chewing the root as a method of
preparing the beverage, which was widely practiced in western Polynesia,
one can find many parallels elsewhere. Throughout southern Asia there
are customs of premasticating rice or other grains to produce fermented
drinks or wines. South American cMcha. a fermented drink, is prepared
in similar fashion from premasticated maize or sweet cassava. Despite the
similarity between the preparation of these fermented drinks and the
method of preparing kava in some parts of the South Pacific, there seems
to be little justification for going further than to point out that premastica-
tion has its uses as a means of producing chemical changes in the substances
chewed. And the premastication of food by mothers to feed their infants
is such a universal custom that the probability of independent inventions
using this method for the preparation of beverages is extremely high.
There certainly does not appear to be any support for the notion, implied
by Ling Shun-sheng (pp. 84-86), for example, that there is a specific
historical connection between the practice of premasticating grains for
fermented beverages in Asia and in South America and the chewing of
kava in the South Pacific.
If one concentrates on kava itself, no direct equivalent is available. But
a related plant. Piper hetel, is used throughout a wide area to the west of
the kava drinkers, including western Melanesia, Indonesia, Formosa, and
much of Asia. In these areas, people chew a mixture of betel leaf or seed
together with lime and the nut of the areca or other palm tree. The effects
of chewing this mixture are said to be much like drinking kava, only more
so. Betel chewing has its social connotations, and in many places, sharing
the betel mixture, either before or after mastication, plays an important
170
role in establishing friendships, in courtship, and in marriage. But there
the resemblance to the kava complex comes to an end.
As to other aspects of the kava ceremonial and its associated practices,
there are many parallels elsewhere and many of these it might be interest-
ing to examine, but it does not seem appropriate to do so here. For example,
the attention paid to the precise seating arrangements has much in common
with formalized gatherings in most societies that are conscious of status
differences, including official dinners in Washingon, D.C. The sharing of
food and drink as a means of declaring a temporary truce or ensuring
protection through the establishment of a mutual bond has many parallels,
extending from "breaking bread" to the establishment of "blood brother-
hood." In its religious aspects, some of the rituals associated with kava
drinking have parallels that come readily to mind, including certain
aspects of Christian ritual.
Although certain aspects of the complex may be related functionally
to practices in other parts of the world, it is clear that the kava ceremony
and its associated practices as known in the South Pacific have become an
institution which is unique in the part it plays in the life of the people.
There still remains the basic question: To what can the all-pervasive
role of kava be attributed ? Is it due to the physiological effects of the bever-
age itself? Are these so powerful that they in a sense demand recognition
and that from this flows the development of the involved social, political,
and ceremonial practices which surround its usage? Are the accounts of
early travelers and missionaries to be trusted? If so, how is their evidence
to be reconciled with our experiences ?
It has been suggested that the accounts of the effects of drinking kava
are simply erroneous fabrications by the early missionaries, which have
been perpetuated throughout the decades (Churchill pp. 57-59). In this
connection it is interesting to note that some of the early descriptive phrases
continue to be repeated verbatim in later accounts, usually without any
reference to an earlier source. At the same time, it is difficult to dismiss
without consideration personal experiences reported by a trained observer,
such as that related by Hocart (p. 59), who writes:
The intoxication caused by kava is called mateni, meaning death from or illness
from. The expression mate ni ytmggona is also used. To recover is mbula (to live).
This intoxication dulls the countenance. As I experienced it, it gives a pleasant,
warm, and cheerful, but lazy feeling, sociable, though not hilarious or loquacious;
the reason is not obscured. In time a certain dullness settles on the company, in
which the kava and the late hour probably both have a part. Once after heavy
drinking I felt miserable and found it diflScult to walk straight; on turning into
bed, I felt sick and could not get to sleep. Such intoxication is rare because in Lau
the kava is so diluted and served in such small cups that many rounds can be
drunk with impunity. Habitual drinkers are said to become intoxicated more quickly
than occasional ones. Kava has no unpleasant reaction next morning, other than
indolence and lack of appetite. Habitual drinkers can be noted by their watery and
bleary eyes, their dull skins, which in bad cases become scaly.
On the other hand it will be noted that the latter part of his statement
carries the usual description of the effects of drinking kava without any
substantiation from personal experience. His illness might easily have
171
been from some other cause, since he does not indicate that on other
occasions he was similarly affected.
One matter which has not been stressed but which might conceivably
be important is that social kava drinking commonly takes place inside of
a hure, or native house. The drinking may last for hours. During this time
quantities of strong native tobacco are smoked. And if the doors are closed,
as is the case in relatively cool weather, the atmosphere can become pretty
thick with smoke. Several times this happened to us and the effects were
not pleasant. The atmosphere, coupled with sitting cross-legged for such a
long time, can easily produce some unsteadiness which, I suppose, could be
attributed to the drinking of kava if one were predisposed to think so.
Of course it is possible that the experiences we have had are not com-
parable to those of earlier times. The drink may have been much stronger
than that which we have been accustomed to. Kava prepared by pre-
mastication, which we have never had, may, through the action of saliva,
have quite different properties. However, those who have drunk both re-
mark merely that kava prepared by premastication is a smoother and more
pleasant drink than that prepared by pounding and grating.
With the evidence available, it seems that early reports on the phys-
iological effects of kava drinking were greatly exaggerated. That kava
does have some rather noticeable reactions, including the slight numbing
of the tongue and throat, is clear, and it is certain also that a desire for
the odor, taste, and sensation provided by drinking kava can be acquired.
But this seems hardly sufficient by itself to account for the part which kava
plays in the socio-political and ceremonial life of the people.
It seems more likely that in considerable measure the importance of kava
to the people of western Polynesia and Fiji is derived from the part it
plays in their life rather than frojm whatever physiological effects it may
have. Kava has become the focus of importance in so much of their life-
time activities that they have come to treasure it far more than seems
warranted by its intrinsic properties. Kava drinking has become part of
the traditional way of life. As the Fijian puts it kava is vaka viti —
Fijian custom.
REFERENCES
Adams, Emma H. "Jottings from the Pacific. Life and incidents in the Fijian and
Samoan islands." Oakland, Pacific Press Publishing Company, 1890.
Anonymous. "KAVA (Cava or Ava)." Encyclopaedia Britannica 13 : 299. Chicago,
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1944.
Buck, Peter H. "Vikings of the sunrise." New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1938.
Churchill, William. "Samoan kava custom." Holmes Anniversary Volume, pp. 56-66.
Washington, 1916.
Foster, Harkt L. "A vagabond in Fiji." New York, Dodd, Mead and Company, 1927.
GoRDON^UMMiNG, CONSTANCE Frederica. "At homc in Fiji." New York, A. C. Armstrong
and Son, 1882.
HooART, Arthur Maurice. "Lau Islands, Fiji." Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 62.
Honolulu, 1929.
Lester, R. H. "Kava drinking in Vitilevu, Fiji." Oceania 12 : 97-121, 226-254, 1941-1942.
Ling Shun-sheng. "A comparative study of kava-drinking in the Pacific regions (sum-
mary)." Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 5 : 77-96, 1958.
172
Mariner, William. "An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific
Ocean." Compiled and arranged from the extensive communications of Mr. William
Mariner, several years resident in the islands. By John Martin. 2 vols. London, printed
for the author, 1817.
Patterson, Samuel. Narrative of the adventures and sufferings of Samuel Patterson.
Compiled by Ezekiel Terry. Palmer, Mass., from the press in Palmer, 1817.
173
Discussion
Chairman — Georg E. Cronheim
Members of the Panel — JOSEPH P. Buckley
Clellan S. Ford
Carleton Gajdusek
Lowell D. Holmes
Murle W. Klohs
Hans J. Meyer
Carl C. Pfeiffer
Chairman Dr. Cronheim : Perhaps we can start with some of the written
questions. I also want to make it plain that if any participant wants to ask
a question of, please feel free to do so.
Here is a question that we may direct to either Dr. Holmes or Dr. Ford,
or to both of them, and it reads as follows : "Several of the speakers have
stated that, while Kava drinking produces ataxia and physical weakness,
it leaves the intellect clear. Is there any corroboration for this other than
introspective reports?"
Dr. Holmes : I might start with this. I would point out that much of the
analysis of Kava drinking that I have done has been after the fact. In other
words, this symposium came into view about two and a half years ago, and
by that time I had already made a study of Kava drinking. It is one of the
foremost institutions found in the area, and you can't help but notice it and
write down all of the details, but I don't have any quantitative data.
I do have a few ideas that might relate to this : For example, the drinking
of Kava by the young men very frequently is followed by very active dancing.
It is a very energetic and physical sort of dancing, and if there were any
problems with the legs I doubt if they could do it, because a lot of time it
involves going down very slowly, that is to say, bending the knees very
slowly until they almost touch the ground, and then raising up again. If
there were any muscular problems, I doubt if they could do this sort of
thing.
As far as keeping the intellect clear, I can recall one occasion when I Avas in
the islands by myself — my wife was on another island teaching nurses. I found
things kind of boring, having nobody to talk to for a portion of the day.
I would have the boys prepare Kava, and I would sit there and work up my
notes and drink Kava constantly.
I will admit I didn't get up very much. I was sitting there typing, but I
was thinking and reasoning out certain things that I had observed, and as
far as I am concerned, I did not experience any curtailment of intellectual
abilities, nor did I experience any emotional problems.
Dr. Ford: I might just add one observation. In Fiji they have meetings
of the men who sit around and discuss what the day's activities are going to
be, and what their long term, maybe two or three activities are going to be,
174
such as the building of a house, going on a fishing expedition, or whatever it
might be. These meetings are invariably accompanied by a good deal of
Kava drinking. It seemed to me that the Fijians were much sharper in their
decisions and thoughts how to proceed while they were having Kava, than
during other casual conversations.
I never noticed that drinking Kava made the men dull. If it were anything
it would be the reverse ; they would be more aware of what was going on after
having had Kava than before.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim : Maybe we can turn to a question on a com-
pletely different aspect. Here is a question directed to Dr. Pf eiffer : "Will
you please describe the effect of alcohol on the mean energy content and coef-
ficient of variance, and compare these effects with those of Kava Kava?"
Dr. Pfeiffer: The effect of alcohol in a relatviely low dose, that of an
ounce and a half of bourbon, or similarly diluted laboratory alcohol, is that
of an anti-anxiety drug, meaning a depression in mean energy content and
an increase in variability.
I would like to add that in the early days of mephenesin testing we had a
ten percent suspension of mephenesin; this could be ingested at about the
teaspoonful level and produce everything that has been described as hap-
pening with Kava. I wonder if there is any emulsifying agent in the natural
Kava that would suspend some of the substances that we consider not water
soluble but which have a definite effect ?
Chairman Dr. Cronheim : Does anybody Avant to comment on this last
question from Dr. Pfeiffer?
Mr. Klohs : I would suspect in regard to the compounds we worked with,
the d-pyrones, where water solubility is negligible, that mastication may
result in a sort of an emulsion being formed where the particles are sus-
pended in the water, and in that way you could get some of the physiological
effects. That is the only thing that I could suggest.
Dr. Ford : The Kava is stirred before each cup is provided.
Mr. Klohs : You would get suspended material here.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim: I have a question here for Dr. Gajdusek:
"What is the cargo cult," you spoke of ?
Dr. Gajdusek: Cargo cults form the subject of detailed studies by pro-
fessional anthropologists for each area in New Guinea or the Islands. In
the particular cult on Tanna, there was a gradual disenchantment of the
people on the Island with the European planters, and the missionary people.
There was a turning back to traditional ceremonies and the traditional way
of life, with the addition of many of new features taken from the missionary
teaching but re- interpreted in the way the people themselves wanted to inter-
pret them.
This was definitely associated with a request that all Europeans leave the
Island and that the Government not bother them. A great deal of mythology
sprang up around it. There is a whole French book on it, published in Paris,
devoted to the cults and myths associated with this movement, or "cargocult".
Kava came into the matter in that it became a part of the whole cult. Women
and children occasionally drank, but all of the adult males were drinking a
175
great deal of Kava made from the fresh root. It is only on Tanna that a fully
fledged cargo cult of that sort has developed in the New Hebrides.
Tongariki, where the observations I was reporting were made, is an isolated
island with a very clannish community that has never really accepted any
residents from Europe, British administrative people or missionaries on the
island. We have good evidence that our own sojourn was the first that had
been spent overnight.
Chaieman Dr. Cronheim: One question that I only want to mention
because there is apparently some misunderstanding, says : "Wliat is known
of the chemistry or pharmacology of Kava Kava as distinct from Kava?"
They are two terms for the same plant and the same material.
The next question is directed to Drs. Meyer, Pf eiffer and Buckley : "Dr.
Pfeiffer dound dl-dihydromethysticin effective for only major sezures. Dr.
Meyer, on the other hand, found it to behave like the diazopans, which are
more effective in all but major seizures ?"
Dr. Meyer: I think there must be a mistake here, since I never quoted
on the anticonvulsive effectiveness of the benzodiazepines which is indeed not
very strong, at any rate much weaker than is found with the Kava pyrones.
What I compared, however, was the muscular relaxant activity of both groups
of drugs which is produced likewise by a central, most likely supraspinal
mechanism of action.
Dr. Buckley : None of our work has been done on this problem, and the
only finding we have to corroborate the work of Dr. Meyer is that the water
soluble material that we are working with is a very potent muscle relaxant.
Dr. Pfeiffer : If one compares in animals the effect of chlordiazepoxide
against the Kava principles, the Kava has an anti-strychnine effect, and the
chlordiazepoxide is barbiturate-like and has an anti-Metrazol effect. One
can use both of them in epileptic seizures since the patients who are not re-
sponding to classical anti-epilepsy therapy have usually mixed epilepsy, and
one can get a variety of beneficial effects. Our sample was at the most twelve
patients. In these the predominant effect was a decrease of grand mal seizures
and no change in their minor seizures. Had we had a larger sample, and had
we done a careful comparison with chlordiazepoxide, we might have found
different results.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim : Here is another question : "Why is the char-
acteristic Easter Island wooden statue of a man called Moa Kava Kava?"
Maybe Dr. Holmstedt who sent in this question can provide also tlie answer.
Dr. Holmstedt: No.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim : The next question, which perhaps can be an-
swered by our anthropologist friends, who have seen the effects of Kava,
is as follows: "Are cola drinks adequate substitutes for Kava insofar as
claimed effects are concerned ? "
Dr. Ford : I suppose that by cola drink you mean soft drinks such as Coca
Cola or Pepsi Cola. All I can say is that in my experience with the Fiji
people, men particularly, would rather drink Kava than either a soft drink,
such as the colas, or beer. That does not mean to say that they won't drink
cola, but I am quite certain that there is a distinct preference for Kava, and
176
had if they had to choose one as opposed to the other, they would take their
own native drink.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim : The next question is to anyone on the panel :
"Is there any specific therapeutic use of Kava by natives, or does any occur
to you?" This can be answered by anyone on the panel. (No answer was
forthcoming.)
Dr. Pfeiffer : I have a question, and that is, since griseof ulvin is fungi-
cidal and deposits in the skin, I think it would be of interest to determine
if there is any fungicidal effect of any of these Kava principles, because
we know in this particular area of the world "jungle rot" or fungal infections
are very common, so that the incidence of fungal infections might be less
in the male than in the female.
I have already brought up the question of whether or not it is a pain killing
drug and the consensus seems to be that it is not a pain killing drug in general.
Dr. Holmes : I did mention this morning that it is often taken to relieve
the chills of filariasis, but other than that I know of no claims for Kava as
a therapeutic drug.
Dr. Buckley : I can mention that the preliminary data that we have on
the aqueous subfraction F-1 of Kava, indicated by the pharmacologic pro-
files, would suggest that if we are ever able to isolate the active constituent
that it has potential tranquilizing activity, if it is effective orally.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim: The next question is directed to Dr. Meyer
and Dr. Buckley : "Since Kava ingestion causes a soporific effect, coupled
with loss of muscle tone, have any studies been carried out relating the
active principles of Kava to the physiological mechanisms of sleep in general,
and to REM-sleep in particular ?"
Dr. Buckley: I will introduce the subject. Data that we have obtained
indicate that in the dosages used we get a very marked sedative effect, but not
an effect as far as inducing sleep. These animals are very alert, and it appears
that the reaction is at the subcortical level rather than the cortex. It is only
when we get up to the higher doses that we get a true effect on the spinal cord
and on the cerebral cortex.
Dr. Meyer : One of the most striking manifestations during sleep revealed
by electrophysiological recording is the reduction in the activity of skeletal
muscles. In our experiments with Kava constituents of the pyrone group,
we found a decrease of the tonic properties of the alpha motoneurones,
followed by a loss of muscle tone which may resemble in some respect the
reduced muscular activity observed in sleep.
On the other hand, there is no effect, no depressing effect, on the arousal
response of the cerebral cortex elicited by electrical stimulation of the mid-
brain reticular formation, which is in contrast to the depressant action of the
barbiturates on this system. We think that this is an appreciable difference
between hypnotics and soporific agents like the Kava pyrones, the action of
which are apparently more related to the physiological mechanisms of sleep.
Moreover, animals put into sleep by Kava pyrones, easily can be aroused at
any time of drug action.
177
Investigations with pyrones related to KEM-sleep have not been carried
out so far.
Chairman Dk. Ceonheim : I have a question here to Dr. Ford and the
rest of the panel: "Would you please expand on the comment you made
concerning possible enhancement of mental ability. Do any of the members
have anything to add on this subject ?"
Dr. Ford : Well, all I can say is what I said before, and this is, of course,
very tenuous judgment; but it did seem to me that the Fijians were just as
alert, if not more alert, while they were drinking Kava, than when they were
not.
It may be that other aspects of the situation account for part of this. For
example, decision-making and considering future plans of the villagers might
help to provide this alertness rather than the Kava itself.
From my own experience, and here again I think there might be individual
differences, I never felt that Kava affected my thinking. Our youngest son,
who was twenty-three years old at the time, came and spent two months with
us in Naviti. The young men of the village sort of challenged him to Kava
drinking bouts, much as beer drinking bouts might take place among such
young people here. He claims that during the first half hour of such a drinking
bout, during which he consumed maybe a quart or so of this diluted Kava,
he became quite drowsy and sleepy, but that after this period passed he was
well alert and wide awake enough to actually speak Fijian better than he
felt he had normally been able to do.
Dr. Gajdusek: I just never felt this drowsy feeling, and I don't know
what the answers to this might be. The Tongarikans obviously are not
drinking Kava socially. Often they are drinking alone. They are anxious to
get the expected effect, and therefore having taken a large dose and eaten,
and if they are not getting the effect, they often go back and have their boys
chew more. They are subjectively evaluating what is happening; and if a
sufficient reaction is not observed within the first half hour, they drink more ;
they raise the dose.
Those who are obviously casual drinkers, like myself, are likely to get a
half portion, they are a little stingy about the Kava, they don't want to waste
it on those who don't enjoy it, and with that half dose I could leave the area,
go back to whatever work I was going to do that evening without any notice-
able subjective impairment; and my colleagues do the same.
Wlien one pushes the point and tries several doses one does get an effect.
It is the effect I described : there is a market paresthesia of the lower ex-
tremities, numbness and cooling. It is not real anesthesia ; you can still feel
sensations with the extremities.
The men describe the same effect and they don't want to be disturbed as
they subjectively observe it. They like the feeling and they refer particularly
to numbness of their lower extremity up to the waist. They claim, and we
find this to certainly be the case, that when one takes enough and tries to
get up, one falls on one's face. They still have reflexes at this stage as I looked
at them, but there are plenty of men who leave for home at too early a stage.
178
and need assistance to go home. They fall off the trail, but these are people
who are concerned about their Kava and are drinking plenty of it.
Two other items which I think pharmacologically ought to be kept in
mind. There is a great deal of concern whose Kava one is using, what garden
plot it comes from, whether it is too dry, or if it is grown in the wrong soil
or in the wrong place. I wonder whether one may not have a variety, depend-
ing on growth and hvdration of the roots.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim: I have a short question to Dr. Pfeiffer, and
then one to the panel. The question to Dr. Pfeiffer is: "How would one
reconcile the arousal or excessive cerebral activity of schizophrenics with
the apparent decrease of synaptic transmission shown in the cat?"
Dr. Pfeiffer: This represents two different test preparations, one the
pentobarbitalized cat as a model on which to test hallucinogenic drugs. The
other represents the natural state of psychosis in unanaesthetized patients.
There is such a world of difference that I don't think one can compare the
two, except in an average overall sample of brain wave activity. The brain
wave of the schizophrenics are those of an over aroused or hyper- regulated
type.
In regard to the previous question on performance under Kava, which
asked if the mind was more clear, we know of many colleagues who are
constantly over-stimulated and do their best when they have a sedative
in them, whether it be meprobamate, chlordiazepoxide, or bourbon. I know
one very fine author who can only write a book consuming a case of bourbon
a week. It is a very fine book and this is the way the man works; he is
productive on whiskey but not otherwise productive.
Chairman Dr. Cronheim: I have two more questions, both pertaining
to the same subject, and I am going to read them and will add to these
questions one additional point, and then we will have to stop this discussion
because of the time factor.
One question reads : "Will one of the speakers trace the introduction and
migration of the beverage throughout the Pacific? Is it used throughout
the range of the plant? What cultural modification of the natural range
took place in the Pacific ?"
The other question reads : "Dr. Ford mentioned parallel distribution and
use of Betel and Kava, but cited as an example that in Tikopia, Betel was
chewed, whereas Kava was poured on the ground. Parallel distribution of
plants occurs in Micronesia, but usage is not parallel. Would Dr. Holmes
care to comment on this?" I think in line with this, perhaps the most
important, the most interesting question is a kind of summing-up question,
namely :
We have heard from Dr. Gajdusek some very definite experiences of Kava
effects that he has observed both on himself, on his associates, and also on
the natives in the Islands where he worked. We have heard from Dr. Ford
and Dr. Holmes that they did not see such effects or did not experience
them on themselves ; and so to relate it to the questions I just read to you,
can the three of you in some way point out the differences, either in the
time of the year or the type of the plant ? Is it really botanically the same
179
plant, or are there other differences, conceivably other than the question
of dosage that Dr. Ford already mentioned? Could you explain this very
apparent dichotomy ?
Dk. Holmes: I would like to answer that last question, because I would
hate to try and trace the distribution in the short time we have. We did
attempt to do a bit of this in our papers. But there are a couple of things
I would like to say about this last question: I think we ought to resolve
these problems, or at least attempt to do so. I would think that part of
the answer might rest in the amounts, or concentration. The Kava ceremony
that you observed in my film involved about as much Kava as would fill
my hand level. I have no measurements of this. It is a very rough estimate.
This would be placed in a fairly large bowl about sixteen inches across.
I imagine there would be close to a gallon of water in there, because some-
times as many as thirty Chiefs will be served a cup of Kava, and the cup
is pretty good sized. It might be that it is much more diluted in some places
than in others.
There is the possibility of the saliva factor, and I might comment on this.
The Kava that I have seen drunk and have drunk myself was not chewed
and therefore did not involve saliva. I did not mention this in my talk this
morning, but formerly Kava was prepared by chewing in Samoa also. How-
ever, all of my informants told me that the Kava chewers were trained not
to get saliva on the Kava. I don't know how you do this, but the attempt
was made not to get a big, messy cud and to keep the Kava as dry as possible.
Apparently, at least according to my informants, the attempt was made not
to get too much saliva in the mixture.
Dr. Ford: A relatively amusing thing happened back ui the early
1860's. The missionaries got disturbed about the fact that in parts of Fiji,
particularly along the coast, they chewed the Kava root in preparation, and
one fellow thought he had clinched things. What he did was to weigh pieces
of Kava root before they were chewed and then swipe them from the
chewer before he packed them back into the bowl; and from six ounces
of Kava root, it increased to seventeen ounces after having been chewed.
This was used as a stock example by everybody to justify stamping out this
horrible, detestable habit of pre-masticating Kava. I have never tasted Kava
that has been pre-masticated and this would seem to be one variable.
Another is the variable of the green versus the dry root.
Another is the variable of maybe different varieties in different soils, and
the final one is obviously the tremendous difference in the amount of
concentrate.
Dr. Gajdusek: The dosage matter is very important. The quantity of
Kava you are describing is less than is used in Tongariki for one man, let
alone for thirty Chiefs. A large quantity sufficient for six young men is
made, and I suspect this amount of root is more than you are using for
your whole ceremony. This is one person's production.
From the Floor: Did the chewers get a KaA^a effect?
Dr. Gajdttsek : The yomig men that are chewing the Kava have a thor-
oughly anaesthetized mouth. They claim that they cannot taste anything for
180
the rest of the evening. They also have a stiff mouth and claim they have
difficulty in articulating.
Dr. Leake : We should always remember that the active principles in any
plant vary enormously with respect to the soils in which they may grow.
This is well known with nicotine and tobacco, or ephedrine. This may be a
factor in the variation in Kava, since the soils in those areas do vary greatly.
Dr. Holder (from the floor) : I am an anthropologist from the Univer-
sity of Nebraska. In 1943 on the Northern New Hebrides Islands, I drank
Kava and helped prepare it, and in Dr. Gajdusek's comments and other
comments this might be worthwhile. The Kava was dried and smoked in
the roof timbers, and the preparation Avas made by taking a piece about
twice as large as your thumb and chewing it for about three to four minutes.
The natives themselves said it was necessary to get the saliva in to release
the active principle.
I had been chosen as a chewer and did chew on many occasions, and I got
anaesthetized tongue and the inner lining of my mouth was anaesthetized.
This chewed mass was mixed with water in cocoanut cups and from four to
five people drank; and it was chewed again. There was a marked diuretic
effect; everybody had to leave about every twenty minutes, as in drinking
beer. This was social, but the total effect was to loosen tongues and to talk
far into the night, and no hangover the next day. There was absolutely none
of this depression, and here again, these were small doses.
This was on the Island of Espiritu Santo on the southern slope of Mount
Santo, at a village called Batuito at about five thousand feet, and they told
me that in the past Kava had been used as part of the sexual ceremony,
which was jDOured over a stone phallus prior to being mixed and drunk.
Dr. Gajdtjsek : Jean Guiart, our colleague who worked both in Santo
and Malakoa, never himself experienced any reaction from the Kavas on
Malakoa.
Chairman Dr. CronhEiIm:: We have already exceeded by ten minutes
the time allotted to us, so it is witli great regret that I have to close the
discussion.
I want to thank all the participants for a most enlightening and most
stimulating panel.
181
SESSION in
MYRISTICA FRAGRANS (NUTMEG)
Edward B. Truitt, Jr., Chairman
Chairman's Introduction
Edward B. Truitt, Jr.
Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio
In this introduction, I would like to formulate several questions which I
believe are crucial for this section of the program. The presentations to fol-
low will likely answer very few of these questions. Rather, I think, the juxta-
position of these questions with the scanty information so far collected about
the physical and physiological actions of nutmeg will emphasize the real
need for further research into the dietary, ritualistic, and drug-seeking habits
of man with this spice, and their possible significance.
The uppermost question that plagues the conscious of an investigator in
this field is whether, by discussing publicly a substance with a potential for
abuse by the lay public, he is inadvertently opening another Pandora's box
of human ills. One answer to this question, in the case of nutmeg, appears
to be that this substance has enough unpleasant effects mixed with its cen-
trally stimulating actions to discourage misuse by any but the most reckless
psychodelic adventurers. This will certainly be borne out by the reports to
follow about the toxic effects of human overdose by ground nutmeg in the
crude drug form. Whether the same will be true of myristicin or other active
components of the volatile fraction will need to be learned, because experi-
ence with the purified products is quite meager. A lesson from LSD should
be applied here, so that the human risks of nutmeg derivatives, mental as
well as organic, will be carefully evaluated by clinical pharmacologists in
anticipation of the possibility of widespread misuse.
A second question might appraise the need for further investigation on
a substance which appears to be another stimulant to a central adrenergic
receptor already affected by mescaline, cocaine, the amphetamines, epine-
phrine, adrenochrome, and possibly by LSD and other tryptamine-like
hallucinogens. An answer to this question certainly lies in the importance
of the study of structure and activity variations. Pharmacologists and medi-
cinal chemists are strong advocates of the advisibility of characterizing drug
activity in terms of the effects of structural changes in the molecule. Thus,
we should look in the session to follow for those clues to variation in the
central activity produced by myristicin, which has a slightly different for-
mula from mescaline, as shown in Figure 1.
Myristicin is unique among psychotropic agents in that it lacks a nitrogen
atom. This unusual characteristic has led Dr. Shulgin to propose an inter-
esting hypothetical mechanism for its action which I am sure he will find
time to discuss.
Another question which can be asked is how the information to be presented
here on nutmeg and myristicin can be helpful to a better understanding of the
workings of the mind. Since a partial answer to the previous question ap-
pears to be that nutmeg intoxication is in some ways different from mescaline
262-016 0-67— 14
185
Mjrristicin (5-allyl-2,3 methylenedioxyphenylmethyl ether or
3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyallylbenzene)
CH3O
I
0— < ^ ^ ^CH;CH=CHi
I I
CH2-O
Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylethylaniine)
CH3O
I
CH3O— < >— CHjCHi— NH2
I
CH3O
FiGUKE 1. — Structural formulas of myristicin and mescaline.
and similar drugs, how does this difference contribute to better understand-
ing ? What is the relationship between the central feelings of anxiety, detach-
ment, and excitation with somatic effects such as tachycardia, xerostomia,
hypothermia, vasomotor lability, pupillary changes, and heaviness of the
limbs ? The marked degree and variety of peripheral effects prompts the ques-
tion as to how much of the psychic action is attributable to the centripetal
stimuli.
From a therapeutic viewpoint, one might ask whether some aspect of the
syndrome induced by nutmeg might have a therapeutic application. This is,
indeed, the most central question to the purposes of this conference. How-
ever, this goal has not yet been achieved for any of the drugs presently
labeled as hallucinogens. Another useful advantage of this discussion could
be the recognition of a means of treating nutmeg intoxication which occurs,
although infrequently, and may be expected to increase.
The program to follow cannot begin to treat all aspects of nutmeg
because extensive communication with other scientists and reviews of the
scattered literature did not lead to the finding of experts on the anthropogical
and other facets of the spice. It is perhaps appropriate that a pharmacologist,
such as myself, inherited the chairmanship of this section. The reason for
this is that three of the major early investigators, Arthur Cushny, Sir Henry
Dale and George Wallace were all pharmacologists, and venerable ones also.
The first speaker, Mr. Andrew T. Weil, has produced perhaps the most
detailed review of the nutmeg literature while essaying his honors thesis
in botany. (1) Following this introductory review. Dr. Alexander T. Shulgin
will describe research which already has put into practice one of the objec-
tives of this conference. Dr. Shulgin and his associates have used the em-
pirical observations of psychopharmacological activity in nutmeg and
mescaline as a starting basis for the synthesis and testing of newer, more
active and varied psycho-active drugs. Dr. Shulgin has also surpassed every-
one for continued interest and publications on myristicin {2-9). My OAvn
interest in the action of nutmeg emerged from Dr. John C. Krantz's scientific
curiosity in response to several cases of nutmeg poisoning referred to him
by graduates of the University of Maryland Medical School. {10) It was
186
also continued by the then-growing importance of norepinephrine and 5-
hydroxytamine in brain function. {11) The last speaker, Dr. Enoch Calla-
way, III, is an authority on nutmeg by reason of personal experience as well
as having conducted clinical experimentation with a purified myristicin-
containing fraction of oil of nutmeg. {10) I believe that his experience
with the drug, if widely known, should certainly dissuade public abuse of
nutmeg.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1) Weil, A. T. "Nutmeg as a Narcotic." Economic Botany, 19 : 194, 1965.
(2) Shulgin, a. T., S. Bunnell, and T. Sargent, III. "The Psychotomimetic Prop-
erties of 3, 4, 5-Trimethoxyamphetamines." Nature (Lond.), 189: 1011, 1961.
(3) Shulgin, A. T. "Composition of the Myristicin Fraction from Oil of Nutmeg."
Nature (Lond.), 197 : 379, 1963.
(Jf) Shulgin, A. T. "Psychotomimetic Agents Related to Mescaline." Experientia, 19:
127, 1963.
(5) Shulgin, A. T. "Concerning the Pharmacology of Nutmeg." Mind, 1: 299, 1963.
(6) Shulgin, A. T., and H. O. Kerlinger. "Isolation of Methoxyeugenol and Trans-
I'soelemicin from Oil of Nutmeg." Naturwissenschaften, 15 : 360, 1964.
(7) Shulgin, A. T. "3-Methoxy-4,5-Methylenedioxyamphetamine, A New Psychotomi-
metic Agent." Nature, 201 : 1120, 1964.
(8) Shulgin, A. T. "Psychotomimetic Amphetamines: Methoxy-3,4-Dialkoxy Amphet-
amines." Experientia, 20 : 366, 1964.
(9) Shulgin, A. T. "Possible Implication of Myristicin as a Psychotropic Substance."
Nature (Lond. ) , 210 : 380, 1966.
(JO) Truitt, E. B., Jr.. E. Callaway, III, M. C. Braude, and J. C. Krantz, Jr. "The
Pharmacology of Myristicin. A Contribution to the Psychopharmacology of
Nutmeg." Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 2 : 205, 1961.
(11) Truitt, E. B., Jr., G. Duritz, and E. M. Ebersberger. "Evidence of Monoamine
Oxidase Inhibition by Myristicin and Nutmeg." Proceedings of the Society for
Experimental Biology and Medicine, 112 : 647, 1963.
187
Nutmeg as a Psychoactive Drug
Andrew T. Weil
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Clearly, nutmeg is unique among the less familiar psychoactive drugs. It
is the only one widely known to millions of persons in all countries — albeit
for other-than-pharmacological purposes. It is also the only one whose use
as a drug may be on the verge of an enormous increase. The aim of this paper
is to review the botany, history, and commerce of nutmeg as well as to describe
the ways it is used for effects on consciousness.
Two spices — nutmeg and mace — come from the nutmeg tree, Myristica
fragrans (family Myristicaceae) , a handsome tropical tree native to the
Banda Islands and other islands of the East Indian archipelago. The genus
Myristica comprises about 100 species found throughout the torrid zone,
especially in the Malayan region; but of these M. fragrans alone contains
enough of an aromatic essential oil to make it worthy of cultivation. Usually
30 or 40 feet tall, the nutmeg tree has a dark gray bark, spreading branches,
and alternate, oblong-ovate leaves that are four inches long, leathery, and
glossy green. Normally, the species is dioecious. Flowers, male and female,
look like those of the lily-of-the- valley ; they are pale yellow, fleshy, and have
a strong scent of nutmeg. The fruit is a pendulous, fleshy drupe resembling an
apricot {1,2,3).
When ripe, the fleshy husk, or pericarp, of this fruit splits open into two
halves, revealing a shiny brown seedcoat, or testa. Inside this shell is the seed,
which is the nutmeg of commerce. Outside the shell, closely enwrapping it,
is a bright crimson network, or arillus, which is the mace. In preparing the
spices for export, fieldworkers first remove the pit with its mace from the
husk. The aril is then carefully peeled away from the seedcoat. Fresh arils
are brilliant red and leathery with a strong flavor of turpentine. The mace
may be kept in one piece (called "double blade" in the trade) or separated
into two halves ("single blade") before it is flattened by hand or between
boards. It is then dried thorouglily in the sun or by artificial heat; during
this process it gradually turns orange, then orange-yellow and acquires its
characteristic aroma (3, 4-) •
The nutmegs, still in their shells, are also dried, frequently over a smoulder-
ing fire. "Wlien completely dry, the seed rattles in the testa. Usually the shells
are then cracked by machine or with wooden mallets and the seeds are re-
moved for export. Sometimes, shelled nutmegs are treated with lime before
shipping to protect them from insects. They are then sorted by size and
packed. For the spice trade, nutmegs are valued according to size, smoothness,
and freedom from adulteration with wild seeds {2,4-)-
The nutmeg tree requires a hot, humid climate. It is widely cultivated in the
tropics, particularly on the Spice Islands (the Moluccas, an island group of
eastern Indonesia), on Penang and other islands of Malaysia, and in the
188
Caribbean, notably on Grenada. The tree is slow-growing, taking 15 years to
produce full yields. A good specimen produces 1,500-2,000 nuts annually — a
weight of ten pounds of nutmeg to one-half pound of mace. The finest mace
and the finest nutmegs come from Penang; because of their higher content of
volatile oil, the East Indian spices are preferred to the West Indian (4.) .
Products of M. Fragrans
Nutmeg HusJcs: The pericarp of the nutmeg fruit may be preserved in
sugar, salted and dried as a condiment, or made into jellies. All of these prepa-
rations have the flavor of nutmeg and all are reported to be delicious. But they
are unknown outside the regions in which the tree is grown {2,3).
Nutmeg: Whole nutmegs are oval and woody with a ridged or wrinkled,
light brown surface. Most are about an inch long, three-quarters of an inch
in diameter. On cross section they show a heavy network of dark brown
"veins." Ground nutmeg, the familiar kitchen spice is a granular, orange-
brown powder with characteristic aroma.
Depending on the variety, whole nutmeg contains from 5 to 15 per cent of
a volatile oil that accounts entirely for the aroma and flavor of the spice.
Ground nutmeg is subject to rather rapid losses of this component. In addi-
tion, dried nutmeg contains 25 to 40 per cent of fixed oil and 5 to 15 per cent
ashes. The remainder is moisture, fiber, and starch {5). In the calendar year
1965, the United States imported nearly 5,300,000 pounds of nutmeg worth
about $3,800,000. Of this total, nearly 72 per cent came from Indonesia, while
24 per cent came from the Caribbean, with the remainder from a number of
smaller ports. Imports over the past ten years have been fairly constant
(Table I), but there has been a change in the major source of this spice.
Until 1955, the U.S. obtained about half of its annual supply of both nutmeg
and mace from the West Indies. In that year, however, a hurricane devastated
the island of Grenada, and the nutmeg groves there have still not recovered
from the damage {6).
Mace: Mace, another popular spice, is a brownish-yellow or brownish-
orange granular powder with a strong aroma closely resembling that of nut-
meg. The flavor of mace is somewhat less sweet and less delicate than the
flavor of nutmeg. Whole mace contains from 4 to 14 percent of a volatile oil
very similar to that found in nutmeg, along with moisture, fat, starch, etc.
Table I. — U.S. imports of nutmeg and mace*
[pounds]
Average
Average
Average
1963
1964
1965
1950-54
1955-59
1960-64
Nutmeg
4, 852, 221
4, 141, 074
4, 151, 480
5, 124, 638
3, 505, 450
5, 271, 524
Mace
658, 193
549, 072
563, 874
558, 541
648, 900
619, 394
*Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census Compilation by American Spice Trade Association.
189
{5; 7, Vol V) . In 1965, the United States imported 619,000 pounds of mace
worth S750.000. Seventy-six percent came from Indonesia, the rest from
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and the Caribbean. As with nutmeg, imports
of mace have not varied much over the past ten years (Table I) .
Uses of Nutmeg and Mace: Both spices are classified as "baking spices"
since they are much used in foods like doughnuts and other sweet doughs.
Both have a warm, aromatic, slightly bitter taste. Xutmeg is commonly
added to custards, puddings, pies, and eggnog. Mace is used in soups, sauces,
and pastries, particularly pound cake. In addition, both spices are important
ingredients of frankfurters and other meat products, pickles, tomato ketchup,
and similar condiments. The American Spice Trade Association estimates
that 55 percent of nutmeg and mace imported into this country is sold
through retail stores to home consumers. The rest goes to institutions (hotels,
restaurants, bakeries, sausage manufacturers, and other bulk users). For-
merly, housewives bought whole nutmegs and grated them at home : today,
most of the nutmeg and all of the mace sold for home consumption is ground.
Fixed Oil of Xutmeg : Known also as "nutmeg butter," this vegetable fat
is obtained by exposing the nuts to hydraulic pressure and heat. At room
temperature, it is an orange, tallowy mass with a pronounced aroma of
nutmeg and the consistency of butter. Formerly used in medicine as an ex-
ternal application for rheumatism and sprains, it has some commercial im-
portance today as an ingredient of certain soaps, hair tonics, and perfiunes
{2,3,5).
Essentiol Oils of Nutmeg and Ma^e: The essential or volatile oils of nut-
meg and mace are obtained by steam distillation. Commercial oil of nutmeg
is a mobile, pale yelloAv liquid with an odor and flavor of nutmeg. It is not
satisfactory as a substitute for the spice in cooking because it does not
exactly reproduce the flavor of whole nutmeg. ("Essences" of ntttmeg and
mace sold by spice dealers are alcohol extracts not essential oils.) But oil of
nutmeg has been widely used in industry as a flavoring agent for perfumes
and dentifrices. Chemically, it is a complex mixture of alcohols, esters, and
organic acids, including about four percent myristicin, the main pharmaco-
logically active component (7. Vol V : <S : 5) .
History of Nutmeg
Xutmeg was unknown to the ancient Greeks aiad Romans, but probably,
Arabian tradei-s began importing it from the East Indies by the first centuries
A.D. No definite evidence of Myristica's appearance in Europe is recorded
imtil the 12th Century, and the source of nutmeg was not discovered by the
West until the Portuguese reached Banda in 1512. Portugal controlled trade
in nutmeof and mace from that vear until the beginning of the 17th Century,
when most of the Pacific spice-producing territories fell into the hands of
the Dutch. In order to keep prices of the spices very high, the Dutch tried
to limit cultivation of the nutmeg tree to two islands, but their monopoly
190
was eventually challenged successfully by the French and British. Gradually,
commercial development of M. fragrans spread throughout the world, reach-
ing Grenada, for example, in 1843 {3) .
Like most aromatics, nutmeg was as important in early medicine as it was
in cooking {10) . Its therapeutic applications were first catalogued by Arab
physicians as early as the 7th Century A.D. Originally, it seems to have been
a remedy for disorders of the digestive system, but before long it was con-
sidered beneficial in such diverse conditions as kidney disease, pain, and
lymphatic ailments ; it was even described as an aphrodisiac. Many of these
beliefs are preserved in contemporary Arab folk medicine ; in fact, Yemenite
men still consume it to increase virility.
Similarly, nutmeg was and is a significant item in the Hindu pharma-
copeia, where it has been prescribed for fever, consumption, asthma, and
heart disease. Traditional Malayan medicine designates nutmeg for madness
as well. According to an adviser in the Indian Ministry of Health, nutmeg
is still used as an analgesic and sedative by folk practitioners, and is given
in small quantities to induce hypnotic effect in irritable children.
Medieval European physicians, who generally followed the precepts of
their Arab colleagues, also prescribed nutmeg for a long list of ailments. By
the l700's the spice attained its greatest reputation ; thereafter, with the de-
velopment of modern pharmacy, its importance as a medicine gradually
subsided.
Curiously, nutmeg's popularity as a folk remedy had a brief, spectacular
resurgence less than one hundred years ago. Near the end of the 1800's, a
rumor spread among women in England and America that nutmeg could
bring on overdue menstruation and even induce abortion. The origin of this
mistaken belief is unclear, but its influence is well documented in dozens of
case reports of nutmeg poisoning published in British and American medi-
cal journals of the period {10). The idea has even persisted into our times:
Green in 1959 wrote of a 28-year-old Virginia woman who ate "18.3 Gm. of
finely ground nutmeg in an attempt to induce the menses, which had been
delayed two days ."
Reports of nutmeg poisoning date back to the late Middle Ages when
several early physicians first wrote down their observations on the stupor-
inducing powers of the spice. Doubtless, most of these intoxications resulted
from overdoses taken as remedies. A late example comes from A Treatise
on the Materia Medica written in 1789 by an English physician, William
CuUen. He wrote :
I have myself had an accidental occasion of observing its [nutmeg's] soporific and
stupefying power. A person by mistake took two drams or a little more of powdered
nutmeg ; he felt it warm in his stomach, without any uneasiness ; but in about an hour
after he had taken it, he was seized with a drowsiness, which gi'adually increased to
a complete stupor and insensibility ; and not long after, he was found fallen from his
chair, lying on the floor of his chamber in the state mentioned. Being laid abed he fell
asleep ; but waking a little from time to time, he was quite delirious : and he thus con-
tinued alternately sleeping and delirious for several hours. By degrees, however, both
these symptoms diminished, so that in about six hours from the time of taking the
191
nutmeg he was pretty well recovered from both. Although he still complained of head-
ache and some drowsiness, he slept naturally and quietly through the following night,
and next day was quite in his ordinary health.
There is no doubt that this was entirely the effect of the nutmeg. . . .
In 1829, the great physiologist J. E. Purkinje conducted self -experiments
with nutmeg. Following a dose of three whole nutmegs, he experienced
spatial and temporal disorientation similar to that of Camaabis intoxication.
He wrote {12):
At half-past six. when it was almost dark, I woke up in order to go to the Royal
Theatre at Brueder Street where I lived. The distance was long, but this time I thought
it had no end. My movements api)eared entirely adequate, but were lost momentarily in
dream pictures, from which I had to extricate myself with considerable force in order
to keep on walking. My feet did their duty and, since I had to stick to a straight road,
there was no danger of going astray. I went forward in this dream, for, if I attempted
to orient myself, I could not even recognize the cross streets. Time seemed long, but I
got to the opposite side of the place where I was going. During this time dreams and
physical activity battled one another. The return journey was good, and I slept well
that night and next day.
There is a similar, more dramatic report of mace intoxication from 1848
{13) . But as stated earlier, the greatest numbers of peo^^le poisoned by
Myristica have been English and American women of the late 19th and
early 20th Centuries. Summarizing many of these cases in 1962, McCord
wrote (14-) '■
. . . patients have consumed from 1 to 3 nutmegs and have experienced restlessness,
dizziness, fear of death, coldness of extremities, occasional nausea and vomiting,
abdominal pain, and precordial pain or oppression. These patients were found to be
extremely agitated, delirious, and dyspneic and have had weak, rapid pulses and de-
creased body temperature. On several occasions patients were found unconscious. Oc-
casionally there was flushing of the face while at other times pallor with cyanosis of
the lips and nails predominated.
He attributed these intoxications to "a central nervous system depressive
effect with periods of stimulation and associated respiratory and cardio-
vascular difficulties.""
Only one fatality has ever been ascribed to nutmeg ingestion: near the
begimiing of this century, an eight year old boy ate two whole nutmegs,
became comatose, and died less than 24 hours later (IS) .
Use of Nutmeg as an Intoxicant
The apparent epidemic of nutmeg intoxications aroiuid the turn of the cen-
tury subsided after the First "World "War. Cases since then have been rare.
In 1963, Payne presented one of the only published reports of deliberate
ingestion of Myristica for narcotic effects. He described two college students,
19 and 20 years old. Avho each consumed two tablespoonfuls (about 14 g.
or the equivalent of two whole seeds) of powdered nutmeg suspended in
milk {16). About five hotirs later
. . . each had the onset of a significant pharmacologic effect, heralded by a leaden
feeling in the extremities and a nonchalant, detached mental state described as 'un-
real' or 'dreamlike.' Rapid heart rates and palpitation were noted, and both complained
192
of dry mouth and thirst. Onlookers observed that one student became quite hyperactive
and agitated and talked incoherently. It was noted that the faces of both vyere as 'red as
beets.' Nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps were absent. . . . One described a sense
of impending doom, as if he were 'breaking up inside.'
Extreme drowsiness occurred about seven hours after these symptoms
began and continued for the next 24 hours. Recovery was complete, but "both
patients stated emphatically that a sense of unreality persisted for 48 to 60
hours from the time of one oral dose of nutmeg."
A history of the use of nutmeg for the express purpose of inducing these
bizarre physical and mental effects is hard to piece together simply because
reliable data on Myristica narcosis are not available. The medical literature
is of no help, for example, because nearly all the reported cases have resulted
from accidental ingestions or overdoses taken as remedies. Most of the in-
formation on nutmeg as a psychoactive drug is anecdotal, and it has been
most difficult to document the anecdotes.
Stories in circulation about nutmeg at the present time develop several
recurrent themes. One is that Myristica is used as an intoxicant in certain
parts of Asia. Another is that nutmeg is widely consumed by prison inmates
in this country. A third is that students and 'beatniks' have adopted the
the spice as a new hallucinogen.
For the first story little supporting evidence can be found. A suggestive
clue is one of the synonyms for nutmeg used in Ayurveda, an ancient Hindu
scripture. Here, nutmeg is called Mada shaunda meaning "narcotic fruit."
There is reason to believe that nutmeg is, in fact, eaten as an intoxicant even
today by some people in India who add it to betel chew. It may also be mixed
with tobacco and snuffed in this part of the world. Equally vague is a report
that nutmeg is taken as a stimulating snuff by natives in remote regions
of Indonesia. Still another unsubstantiated assertion is that nutmeg is often
substituted for hashish in Egypt when the hemp product is not available.
It is much easier to confirm rumors of nutmeg use by prison inmates,
despite denials by prison officials. One interesting reference occurs in
The AutoMography of Malcolm X (17), in which the late Black Muslim
leader describes his incarceration in a Boston prison in 1946. He was then
a user of marihuana and other drugs and found himself suddenly cut off
from them. He wrote :
I first got high in Charlestown [prison] on nutmeg. My cellmate was among at
least a hundred nutmeg men who, for money or cigarettes, bought from kitchen-
worker inmates penny matchboxes full of stolen nutmeg. I grabbed a box as though
it were a pound of heavy drugs. Stirred into a glass of cold water, a penny matchbox
full of nutmeg had the kick of three or four reefers.
A more recent but less accessible reference was a short article on page 22
of the Chicago Sun-Times for March 3, 1961. It told of the dismissal of a
Cook County Jail guard caught smuggling nutmeg and nose inhalers into
the jail.
An officer of the Federal Bureau of Prisons has written (18) :
We are aware of the narcotic reaction these spices may have when improperly
used, and, therefore, it is standard practice in the Federal prisons to maintain care-
ful control of both items [i.e., nutmeg and mace]. Due to this control and also to the
193
fact . . . that few people are aware of their stupor-inducing powers, we have no
problems with these items. I have read articles in various publications which imply
that the use of nutmeg and mace is widespread in prisons. However I do not know
of a single instance in the Federal Prison system where either spice was used by
inmates for its narcotic effect.
There is, hovrever, ample confirmation of this rumored use of nutmeg
in a study conducted hj Weiss at the Xew Jersey State Prison at Trenton
in 1960. Weiss wrote (i.9) :
It is widely believed by inmates of correctional institutions that the drug action
of nutmeg produces reactions similar to those of legally prohibited drugs which are
considered habit-forming and addicting. Although its illicit application is most cer-
tainly not widely known in the extra-mural setting, personal communications by
prisoners are to the effect that it is used, not only in the community [i.e., the
outside], but was also used in the armed forces in Europe in World "War II.
Weiss studied ten male inmates of the prison, most of whom had had
previous experiences with marihuana and other drugs. Six of them had
learned of the use of nutmeg during their imprisonment ; the others had
already known about it. The number of times these men had tried Myristica
was impressive. One had taken nutmeg on 10 different occasions, one 30,
one 52, and one 475. The minimum amount of ground nutmeg any man
ingested was 2 to 3 tablespoonfuls, and one had once taken two cups of
the spice as a single dose (apparently without untoward effects). The drug
was always taken orally, usually stirred into hot liquids.
Weiss noted no uniformity of time of onset of action, which ranged from
10 minutes to four hours. Duration of action ranged from four to 24 hours.
Most of the subjects compared nutmeg to marihuana, although some also
likened it to heroin, and alcohol. Most experienced a sense of being trans-
ported aloft, along with drowsiness in some cases and excitement in others.
In all instances tliirst was increased, but himger was not stimulated. Ee-
ported side effects included nausea, abdominal spasm, vomiting, constipa-
tion, tachycardia, insomnia, and drowsiness.
Two cases of acute brain syndrome, with psychotic reaction due to nutmeg intoxica-
tion, were reported. Each of the two subjects had chronically ingested powdered
nutmeg over a long period. . . . Aside from these cases of poisoning, the hallucino-
genic effects rei)orted were transitory and of brief duration.
Consumption of nutmeg was an important aspect of life in the prison.
Weiss has added (20) :
Inmates would carry little matchboxes in which they would store a supply of nut-
meg (equivalent to one dose). They could then take the dose along with them to the
shops in which they worked during the day. Users consider themselves to be more
lively and cheerful. Thus, they feel they have dispelled their inner gloom. However,
drug users seldom take nutmeg once they leave the prison since they consider its
effects to be inferior to those of heroin or marihuana, whatever may be the similarity
between them.
Shortly after Weiss's article appeared, nutmeg was banned from the Xew
Jersey State Prison kitchen.
I have received information from several former prison inmates, sug-
gesting the practice to be common. One correspondent writes : "During 16
months in a Massachusetts correctional institution, I knew three individ-
194
uals who on occasion did use nutmeg as a snuff for 'kicks.' It was done on
weekends and widely dispersed as to time." Another, from California,
writes : "I can tell you that nutmeg is a commonly used high within prison
walls — so much so that it is frequently locked up apart from the other
normally used spices. . . . Convicts, because of the nature of their environ-
ment, have rarely any alternative high."
A final reference is this line from William Burroughs's Naked Lunch
{21) : "Convicts and sailors sometimes have recourse to nutmeg. About
a tablespoon is swallowed with water. Result vaguely similar to mari-
huana with side effects of headache and nausea."
Like prisoners, jazz musicians are said to have long used nutmeg as a
substitute for other drugs, especially marihuana. Confirmation is hard to
come by. The only clear reference I have been able to find is a 1962 bio-
graphy of the late Charlie Parker, known as "Bird." The leader of the
band in which Parker made his recording debut in 1942 is quoted as
reminiscing {22) :
Bird introduced this nutmeg to the guys. It was a cheap and legal high. You
can take it in milk or Coca Cola. The grocer across the street came over to the club
owner and said, "I know you do all this baking because I sell from 8 to 10 nutmegs
a day." And the owner came back and looked at the bandstand and there was a
whole pile of nutmeg boxes.
To summarize thus far: The toxic properties of nutmeg have been
recognized for hundreds of years, probably ever since the spice was first
prescribed medicinally in large doses. Published reports of Mjj^ristica
narcosis were most frequent around the turn of the last century when many
women took nutmeg as an emmenagogue or abortifacient. Some evidence
suggests that nutmeg may have long been used as an intoxicant in certain
parts of Asia. In our century, for at least the past thirty years, prisoners,
jazz musicians, sailors, and probably others have used nutmeg as a sub-
stitute for marihuana or other drugs. They either eat or snuff it in variable
amounts and commonly experience symptoms much more like those of
the familiar hallucinogens than those described in the old reports of nut-
meg poisoning.
Use by Students
In our own society the fastest-growing group of drug-takers is not the
prison population or jazz world but rather students and "student-types."
I do not care to add another guess to the many published estimates of what
percentage of college youth experiments with hallucinogens. I will simply
point out that most observers find that significant numbers of students now
try marihuana and stronger drugs like LSD. It is especially noteworthy
that many of these people would never have indulged in such activities
even five years ago. I doubt, for example, that more than a handful of
law students, medical students, or divinity students had experienced the
effects of Cannabis before 1963, when hallucinogens first came to the full
attention of the national press. But today many occasional marihuana
195
smokers come from these groups. Students have also been the initiators
of drug fads in recent years. The flurry of excitement over morning-glory
seeds in 1963 and 1964 Avas generated largely by college undergraduates
and high school pupils. One would expect that nutmeg, because of its fre-
quent use by other groups as an alternative hallucinogen, might also be
included in the student's or beatnik's index of psychoactive substances.
I have been particularly interested in this possibility because I first
learned of Myristica's psychopharmacological potential through an invita-
tion to a "mace party" given by several undergraduates at Haverford
College near Philadelphia in 1961. The students said they and many of
their classmates had been introduced to the spice by a visiting beatnik
from Baltimore, who had sponsored several mace parties on campus.
Only one case of this sort has appeared in the medical literature —
Payne's report of 1963, mentioned earlier. His two students had gotten the
idea of taking nutmeg from a "beatnik acquaintance," who told them it
would provide "a mental state somewhat akin to ethanol intoxication with-
out requiring the use of alcohol" {16). I have been able to find only one
other published account — an article titled "Nutmeg Jag" in the sumimer,
1964 issue of a University of Mississippi student magazine. It described
a nutmeg party attended by eight persons. One participant — a young man
who consumed a whole standard-size can of the ground spice (nearly 40
g. or 1.5 oz.) — recalled afterward {23) :
I felt as if I were in an echo chamber . . . my voice sounded vague and dis-
tant ... it was like being drunk without the ordinary alcoholic effects. . . . Two
friends of mine had told me about the 30-cents, three-day drunk they had after
taking nutmeg, so I tried it out of sheer disbelief.
Over the past six months I have been in touch with officials of student
health services at representative universities throughout the countr^^ in an
attempt to collect additional reports of Myristica intoxications. Signifi-
cantly, most of the responding j)hysicians were unaware of nutmeg's non-
culinary uses. Only two university clinics had cases on record. Dr. Henry
B. Bruyn of the University of California at Berkeley student health serv-
ice notes two instances of intoxication. In October, 1963, two days after
an issue of the Ladies Home Journal appeared with a reference to nutmeg
in a story on hallucinogenic drugs, a 20-year-old female student was ad-
mitted to the hospital with a chief complaint of abdominal cramps. The
night before she had taken 4 teaspoons of ground nutmeg because a friend
had told her it would get her high. Her roommate joined her in this in-
gestion. The next morning she awoke drowsy and fainted in the bath-
room. Physical examination was normal except for orthostatic hypoten-
sion, and she was recoA'ered the day after admission. She told a phj'sician
she had taken the spice because she "felt she needed something to do."
In January, 1965, a second female Berkeley student was admitted, age
17, again with abdominal cramps. Four hours previously she ]iad eaten
21/2 teaspoons of nutmeg because she had heard it would give her hallucina-
tions. She, too, recovered quickly.
196
Dr. B. W. Murphy of the University of Maryland contributes one other
case. He writes that he knows of a male student who induces dreamy
hallucinatory states by ingesting a whole can of ground nutmeg.
Does the scarcity of reported cases indicate a low frequency of nutmeg
use by students? Probably not — just because students are reluctant to
present themselves for medical treatment of drug intoxications, even when
they suffer alarming symptoms. Relying solely on health services records,
one would conclude that marihuana is also very little used by college
students.
To get a more accurate idea of the extent of experimentation with nut-
meg on college campuses, I placed advertisements requesting information
on the spice in several student newspapers and also interviewed students
from many areas of the country. By these methods, I easily collected a
number of accounts of nutmeg narcosis. I have selected some of these to
illustrate typical patterns of use.
Case #1 (college sophomore) —
I heard about the effects of mace from a beatnik who visited our campus and induced
students to "turn on" with two teaspoons of this spice stirred into fruit juice. I didn't
try it at the time, but a few months later five of us held a mace party in my apartment.
To the disappointment of all, we felt just the same three hours after drinking down the
mace. Convinced that the alleged hallucinogenic properties of mace were imaginary, we
separated and I went to bed. I remember feeling somewhat lightheaded and having
vague stomach pains before falling asleep, but I had no other sjT)mtoms until I woke
up the next morning with a splitting headache, a burning thirst, and malaise. I later
learned the other four had felt much the same on arising.
Case #2 (college juniors) —
Five of us tried to get high by eating two whole nutmegs each. They are terrible
things to try to chew up and swallow. We all had warm feelings in our stomachs im-
mediately afterward and began sweating more than usual. One of us eventually had a
pronounced reaction, but the rest of us noticed nothing unusual and gave up after two
hours. The next morning we all had headaches, extreme dryness of mouth and throat,
creaking joints and dizziness.
One of us had a different experience. He went back to his room to read, and exactly
four hours after taking the nutmeg he was suddenly overcome by a drowsiness so pro-
found that he could hardly get up to turn off the light. As he fell into bed he had im-
pressions of 'strange shapes floating' around him. He then sank into a heavy sleep.
When he woke up seven hours later, he could barely move. He was very dizzy and
staggered when he tried to walk ; also, he could not see clearly for several minutes.
His mouth and throat were parched, and water did not relieve the dryness. Two hours
after he got up he again became drowsy and "sank into a sort of trance state." At this
time he had a vivid impression that he was floating with his limbs separated from
his body. Eight hours later he was fully recovered.
Case #3 (an ex-student in San Francisco) —
I have had completely negative results from nutmeg, perhaps partly precipitated by
the environment and definitely partly by the nauseating effects of the drug. I ate three
ounces, which may well have been too much. About two hours later I drank four beers.
Then about three-quarters of an hour after the beer I began noticing unusual effects. I
was in an unfamiliar night club and started to become disoriented. I talked continuously
and repetitively, but it seemed as though another person were talking. I seem to have
been wandering around in a daze, unaware of my surroundings. I was then ejected
197
from the club. Paranoid delusions set in. I believed the owners of the club had drugged
me. I forced my way back in, which resulted in my being jailed for drunk and disorderly
conduct. The day I spent in jail was one of total confusion. In fact, it was a full day
before I realized I was in jail. I was very belligerent, a condition apparently precipitated
by the belief that I was going to be executed. I became ill and vomited. I imagined the
other prisoners were Nazis who were guarding me. One day in jail finally restored my
reason, and I was released. No hallucinations occurred as far as I can recall.
Case #4 (college junior) —
I drank one ounce of nutmeg in water. Four hours later I began feeling feverish and
delirious. These sensations continued for several hours and left me with a bad hangover.
I would not repeat the experience.
Case #5 (21-year-old female secretary for a student newspaper) —
I took one teaspoon of nutmeg in water after reading about it in Malcolm X's auto-
biography. Nothing happened.
Case #6 (college junior) —
I took a whole can of nutmeg mixed with water. I had no effects at all from it.
Case #7 (medical student) —
When I was a junior in college at the University of Colorado, I got to know a group of
nutmeg-takers because the leader of it had been a close high-school friend. In 1963, I
went to his apartment for drinks, and he told me to take a matchboxful of ground nut-
meg, packed into gelatin capsules. The method of these people was to take the nutmeg
before they went to bed so that they would wake up high and avoid the nausea nutmeg
often caused. Most said the effects were different from both morning-glory seeds and
marihuana. Some experienced floating feelings. They took nutmeg occasionally for kicks,
but did not attach too much importance to it. I do not know where they first learned of
this habit, but my friend had worked as a volunteer in a prison before 1963 and may
have been told about it there.
Case #8 (college sophomore) —
One evening my roommate and I each took a tablespoon of nutmeg in water after
reading about it in Malcolm X's book. Nothing happened, so I went to bed. I woke up
the next morning with incredible malaise and tachycardia. These symptoms eventually
subsided but have recurred about once a week accompanied by severe anxiety for the
past year. This reaction occurs spontaneously but also is brought on by eating anything
containing more than a minute amount of nutmeg. One doctor has suggested that it may
be an allergic reaction. My roommate had no effects except that he still cannot eat any-
thing with nutmeg without experiencing an overpowering taste of the spice.
Case #9 (college junior) —
A friend told me about nutmeg and came over to show me how to do it. He mixed a
drink of about half coffee and half nutmeg, which my roommate and I drank. Nothing
happened to us in an hour, so we went to bed. Next morning I found myself on the
floor with the worst hangover of my life. My roommate felt as bad. To this day neither
of us can eat anything with nutmeg — we can't bear the taste.
Case #10 (a 42-year-old Berkeley woman who describes herself as "ec-
centric" with a "terrible fear of marihuana" and other drugs. After reading
of nutmeg in a "manual of hallucinogenic drugs" she decided to try it since
it was "cheap, legal, and available." She took nutmeg on several occasions and
wrote extensively about her experiences. Here is one description.) —
I drank about five grams of nutmeg in a glass of fruit juice at about 9 :30 a.m. An
hour later I felt a surge of happiness when a freight train whistled. I closed my eyes
198
in search of hallucinations, bat none came. A certain diuretic effect and pungent scent
in my urine were evidence that the drug had already taken effect. I read the morning
paper until 11 :30 when there came a pleasant drowsiness. I closed my eyes and saw :
silver spears of grass waving across an azure sky, silver waves of poplar trees swaying
and dancing in the sun. I arose to walk and staggered. The light was flickering and dim
as if I were partially blind, so I lay down on a couch in the kitchen. Closing my eyes
again, I was overwhelmed by visions : golden spangles and rings of light on moving
water, dancing moons and stars, everywhere a predominance of gold and silver
images. . . .
About 12 :30 I opened my eyes and noticed that the stove was far, far away ; the
very walls had receded ; the kitchen was cathedral-like in its dimensions. I stood up to
look at myself, and I was unusually tall. My feet were small and far away ; it was like
looking through the wrong end of binoculars. I thought to myself, "This must be what
marihuana is like."
The effect continued several hours until she fell asleep. There were no
aftereffects.
Conclusions
From these and other cases I draw the following conclusions :
1. Significant numbers of students and persons living in student communi-
ties attempt to induce hallucinations with Myristica.
2. Unlike prisoners or musicians, who resort to nutmeg when their sup-
plies of standard drugs are cut off, students often take nutmeg as a first
experience before they try Cannabis or other substances. Nutmeg and mace
are cheap, legal, and available at the nearest grocery store.
3. Typically, the young nutmeg-eater first learns of the spice's psycho-
activity from a friend or from a published reference.
4. Doses range from one teaspoon to a whole can of ground nutmeg. Almost
always, the spice is drunk in a glass of juice or water.
5. Onset of action is commonly 2 to 5 or more hours after ingestion. Most
neophytes are not aware of the delay. In a very common pattern of intoxica-
tion, a person takes an adequate dose of nutmeg in the evening, goes to bed
after several hours of waiting in vain for effects, and wakes up the next
morning with many of the physical symptoms of toxicity : malaise, headache,
dry mouth, tachycardia, dizziness.
6. Some of the reported reactions to nutmeg must be purely psychological.
A dose of one teaspoon is probably insufficient to cause true symptoms.
Similarly, hallucinations or mental changes that come on within thirty min-
utes of ingestion are likely to be factitious.
7. Reactions to nutmeg vary from no mental changes at all to full-blown
hallucinogenic experiences like those caused by hashish or LSD. There is no
apparent correlation between dose and psychoactive effect. Might this ex-
treme variability represent differences in pharmacological potency of differ-
ent batches of nutmeg? Or do people vary greatly in their sensitivity to the
active principle ?
8. Visual hallucinations are rather less frequent with nutmeg than with
drugs like LSD or mescaline, but distortions of time and space perception
199
with feelings of unreality are common, as with Cannabis. Sensations of float-
ing, being transported aloft, or having one's limbs separated from the body
are frequently reported.
9. Effects of a single dose of nutmeg usually subside within 12 to 48 hours
An intriguing aftereffect occasionally mentioned is persistent sensitization to
the taste of the spice.
10. Most young people who try nutmeg take it once or twice but do not use
it habitually. Those who regularly smoke marihuana regard nutmeg as an
inferior hallucinogen, largely because of the unpleasant side effects.
11. Ignorance of the psychoactive properties of nutmeg is unquestionably
the most important factor limiting extent of its use as a drug.
I want to emphasize the last point. I began this general review by indicat-
ing the differences between nutmeg and other hallucinogens. From a public
health viewpoint, the crucial difference is that most persons in the country
have not yet heard that nutmeg is intoxicating. Not only is nutmeg cheap,
legal, and available, it is also familiar, which makes it seem safe and inviting
to those looking for a first hallucinogenic experience. These considerations
lead to one inference : as publicity is accorded the psychopharmacological
properties of Myristica, use of nutmeg and mace as intoxicants will certainly
increase. Hopefully, we will soon have the knowledge to determine the dan-
gers and potential values of this modern use of an ancient spice.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1) Feegtjson, a. M. and J. Ferguson. "All About Spices." Colombo, Ceylon, 1889.
(2) Ridley, Henrt N. "Spices." London, 1912.
(3) Warburg O. "Die Muskatnuss." Leipzig, 1897.
(4) "What You Should Know About Nutmeg and Mace." New York, American Spice
Trade Association, 1966.
(5) Redgrove, H. Stanley. "Spices and Condiments." London, 1933.
(6) U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census figures complied by American
Spice Trade Association, New York.
(7) Guenther, E. "The Essential Oils." New York, 1952.
(8) "The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America." XV, Easton, Pa., 1955.
(9) Power, F. B. and A. H. Salway. "The constituents of the essential oil of nut-
me;." J. Chem. Soc, 91 : 2037-2058, 1907.
{10) Weil, Andrew T. "Nutmeg as a Narcotic." Econ. Bot., 19: 19^217, 1965.
(11) Green, Robert C, Jr. "Nutmeg Poisoning." J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 171: 1342-1344,
1959.
(12) PuRKiNJE, J. E. "Einige Beitraege zur physiologischen Pharmakologie." Neue
Breslauer Sammlungen aus dem Gebiete der Heilkunde. 1 : 423-443, 1829 ;
quoted in Hanzlik, "P. J. Purkinje's pioneer self-experiments in psychopharma-
cology." Calif, and Western Med., 49 : July and Aug., 1938.
(13) Watson, G. C. "Symptoms of poisoning after eating a quantity of mace." Prov.
Med. Surg. J., Jan. 26, 1&48.
(14) McCoRD, J. A. and L. P. Jeevey. "Nutmeg (myristicin) poisoning." J. S. Carolina
Med. Assoc., 58 : 436-438, 1962.
(15) CusHNY, A. R. "Nutmeg poisoning." Proc. Royal Soc. Med., 1908-1: 39.
(16) Payne, Robert B. "Nutmeg intoxication." New Eng. J. Med., 269 : 36-38, 1963.
(Mention of this article was made a few weeks later in the "Medicine" section
of TIME Magazine.)
200
(17) X, Malcolm with Alex Haley. "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." New York,
Grove Press, 1964.
(18) Alldkedge, Noah L., Deputy Assistant Director, U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Per-
sonal communication, April 6, 1964.
(19) Weiss, George. "Hallucinogenic and narcotic-like effects of powdered myristica
(nutmeg)." Psychiat. Quart., 34 : 346-356, 1960.
(20) Weiss, George. Personal communication, April 18, 1964.
(21) Burroughs, William. "Naked Lunch." New York, Grove Press, 1959.
(22) Reisner, Robert George. "Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker." New York,
Citadel Press, 1962.
(23) Andre, Sigeid. "Nutmeg jag." Mississippi Mag., 4: 18, 1964.
262-016 0-67—15
201
The Chemistry and Psychopharma-
cology of Nutmeg and of Several
Related Phenylisopropylamines
Alexander T. Shulgin
Department of Pharmacology, University of California
San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, California
Thornton Sargent* and Claudia Naranjo
Centro de Estudios de Antropologia Medica
Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Our report today has been divided into two separate portions. The discus-
sion of nutmeg and its composition, and of the possible involvement of its
chemical components. The psychotropic intoxication has a natural division
into two areas of presentation. The first is a brief description of the plant ; a
presentation of the methods and procedures for the isolation and the identifi-
cation of the many components in the oil from the plant, and a careful defini-
tion of those components that are most probably involved in the intoxicative
syndrome.
The extension of these components in to the corresponding amphetamines,
their effectiveness in humans, and the likelihood of their being an acceptable
explanation of the effects of the total nutmeg, will constitute the latter part
of this report. In the previous paper there was presented some of the history of
nutmeg, and a description of the style and extent of its usage in various cul-
tures. In the reports that will follow, specific descriptions of the human syn-
drome of intoxication, and some of the pharmacological ramifications of its
study, will be presented.
At this point we would like to present a factual description of the various
chemical materials that have been found to make up the volatile (and pre-
sumed active) fraction of nutmeg. On the hypothesis that one or more com-
ponents may be appropriately assigned the responsible role for the nutmeg
intoxication, there is a need for an exact chemical definition of nutmeg. But
even before this, we must define in botanical terms just what is meant by the
name nutmeg.
Properly the nutmeg tree is any plant found in the Genus Myristica. Two
species are known to be native to India. M. malabarica produces a seed some
four centimeters long and elliptically shaped, and M. canarica produces a
small spherical seed about two centimeters across. Both contain primarily
fats and myristic acid, and being virtually without odor or volatile oil have
achieved no position of importance. In the East Indies the seeds of M. suc-
cedanea^ known as "Pala Maba" in the Indonesian areas, are also small and
quite elongate in shape, but they have proven valuable as rich sources of the
nutmeg essential oils. Another species, M. argentea, has actually been used
•Present address : Donner Laboratory, University of CaHfornla, Berkeley, California.
202
in the spice trade under the name of "New Guinea Nutmegs" or "Long Nut-
megs". However the quantity and quality of the volatiles from its seeds are
quite low. The plant that has achieved the widest study and commercial
exploitation, and which is the subject of this portion of this symposium, is M.
fragrans. This species originated in the Mollucas and has been propagated
throughout the adjoining Indonesian islands, giving rise to the so-called
East Indian nutmeg of commerce.
A little over a hundred years ago, the tree was introduced into the Carri-
bean area and since the end of World War II has led to the establishment of
a major industry. Grenada, of the windward islands, now supplies a major
portion of the world's needs. The West Indian nutmeg is generally conceded as
being of a somewhat lower quality than its East Indian forebears; the best
grade of mace still comes from Asia.
The tree has also been translocated into Ceylon, and much of the early
analytical work on the composition of the natural extracts was conducted on
nutmegs from this source. It is no longer possible to obtain commercial sam-
ples with this designation however, and it must be assumed that any product
from this area has been absorbed into the East Indian category.
The three areas of the plant M. fragrans that have received any analytical
attention are the leaf, the arillode (which lies within the husk but outside
of the shell of the seed, and which is known as mace) , and the kernel of the
seed itself, the nutmeg. The leaves have received only a cursory examination,
which has indicated that although there is only a small amount of steam-
distillable material present (about 1.5% of the dry weight) its composition
is substantially the same as that of the plant parts associated with the seed
{1). The studies that concern the volatile oils of mace are best presented
later in direct comparison with the analysis of nutmeg itself. As it is only the
nutmegs that are invested with the reputation of psychotropic efficacy, they
have served as the primary focal point of our analysis.
The actual nutmeg, when removed from its hard brown shell or testa is a
spherical kernel that weighs about five grams. The thorough work of Power
and Salway {^) must serve as a definitive study of the composition of the
entire nutmeg. There are two classical ways of extracting the potentially
interesting materials from the whole fruit.
Figure 1 shows the approximate distribution to be expected with the em-
ployment of these methods. The process of expression, or the extraction with
an organic solvent, provides about a third of the total original weight. This
fraction is known as the fixed oils, and has also been called Nutmeg Butter
or "Oleum Myristicae expressum". This fraction is substantially free of vola-
tiles, and is composed primarily of triglycerides. Myristic acid is the prin-
ciple compound here, although both oleic acid and linoleic acid are also
found. This fraction has been used as a source of trimyristin {3). The small
non-fat remainder is composed of unsaponifiable compounds, primarily oxy-
genated polyterpenes and phytosterols.
The subjection of the total crushed seed to distillation with live steam
removes some 10 to 15% of the weight, known as the volatile oil fraction.
The small overlap that is shown with the expression fraction is due to the
203
CHEMICAL GROUP DISTRIBUTION IN NUTMEG
FIXED OILS
25- 40 7o
(NUTMEG BUTTER)
O
Ijj
— ^""'^'^^ UNKNOWN
>v OTHER GLYCERIDES
1 TRIMYRISTIN
•s.
^"-.^FATTY ACIDS
i 8-15% VOLATILE OILS
' ^^"-^ AROMATICS
80% ^
1 TERRENES
UJ
_l
o
X
^ 45 - 607o PULP
INERT
Fig. 1
fact that some of the volatile components are removed in the solvent extrac-
tion and are held tightly by the fixed components present. This volatile frac-
tion is composed primarily of terpenes, which make up some 80% of its total
weight. The remainder is the aromatic fraction, composed of ethers and
phenolic bodies.
The residue that remains after the expression of the solubles and the dis-
tillation of the volatiles constitutes some 50% of the original mass of the
nutmeg. It is presumably a cellulose-like pulp, and it remains totally unex-
plored as far as any chemical analysis is concerned.
It must be stated here, in anticipation of later discussions on the pharma-
cology of nutmeg, that no definitive evaluation of these fractions (fats and
pulp) have been made. It has, however, been generally accepted that it is the
volatile oil fraction to which one must look for the effective agents of nutmeg,
and it is this "Oil of Nutmeg" that has been admitted to the U.S. Pharmaco-
peia as a medicinal. This oil comprises between an eighth and a twelfth of
the entire fruit, and it serves as the object of the present study.
An exacting analysis of this volatile fraction has been performed. To this
end a five pound sample of West Indian Oil of Nutmeg (from the George
Lueders Company, New York) was subjected to fractional distillation em-
ploying a 70 tray Oldershaw column. Fractions were collected in a continuous
sequence and each of these was in turn analysed and further fractionated
employing a preparative gas liquid chromatographic procedure. Identity of
each component was established by direct isolation, (employing a Varian
A-700 Autoprep) and spectral comparison to reference samples (through
infra-red and high resolution mass spectroscopy). Quantitative measure-
ments were achieved employing a Varian Aerographer 1200 with a flame
detector, and peak areas were established with an Aerograph 475 Integration
System.
204
TOPOGRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF OIL OF NUTMEG
£a JO *e> j-o
''O' S>0' //O' /JO' /J-o' 7~^/^/'C/>/!l7-C/!C
c///'?o/V/^ri:^<:^/v^/='/^/'
Fig. 2
Figure 2 shows what might well be called a fingerprint of the oil of nutmeg.
On the z-axis is shown the results of the distillation. This was continued on
the 70 tray column at 15 mm/Hg until the aromatic fraction was reached.
Then the distillation was completed at 1 mm/Hg through a shorter column.
Although the actual fractions collected were not exactly of 25 grams as is
presented in the figure, the weights have been normalized to this amount,
and each horizontal line thus represents an equal weight of distillate.
The X-axis represents the progress of gas liquid chromatographic separa-
tion. The time required for desorbtion of each of the peaks is shown, and as
the system has been programmed for a rise of 2°/min., this also represents
the temperature of desorbtion.
The y-axis is peak height and, as it is characteristic of temperature pro-
grammed GLC spectra to display a constant peak half-width, this height
is proportional to peak area.
Several peaks (components) are obvious that would be superimposed by
one of the techniques alone (GLC or distillation), but are readily separated
by applying the other.
The long ridge down the left hand side of the presentation, parallel to
the z-axis, represents the similar terpenes a-pinene, sabinine, and dipentene,
and this is separated in a natural division from the second and smaller group,
the aromatics.
The preponderance of a-pinene has been mentioned, but both sabinine and
y-terpinene (1, i-menthadiene) warrant special note as neither has been
observed in nutmeg before. The terpenyl alcohols have been included in this
205
group as are the two aromatic hydrocarbons cymene and the previously
undetected toluene. On the other hand both cineole and camphor have been
recently reported to be present to the extent of a percent or two, and citro-
nellol and citronellal have been reported in trace amounts (4) ; none of these
were present in the sample we investigated. d-Borneol, Avhich had originally
been assigned to nutmeg on indirect evidence (5) was not present in our
sample.
The second and smaller group, the aromatic ether fraction, is the more
interesting and as will be shown later is the more likely to be implicated in
the psychopharmacology of nutmeg. In Table I are shown the nine aro-
matics that have definitely been established as being present in nutmeg, and it
also shows the extent of their contribution to the sample analysed.
The three major components, myristicin, elemicin, and safrole constitute
nearly 9/10 of the group. In the previously reported studies of nutmeg,
myristicin has always been recognized as a major component, and has thus
often been thought to be responsible for the psychopharmacological activity
of the total extract. In the thorough study conducted on the Ceylonese Oil of
Nutmeg (J) safrole was found only in very small quantities, but recently its
identity as a significant component of East Indian oils has been reported,
(6) although it appeared to be absent in the West Indian varieties.
COMPOSITION OF OIL OF NUTMEG
LUEDERS WEST INDIAN
TERPENIC FRACTION
%
AROMATIC FRACTION
%
o-PINENE
36.16
SAFROLE
1.29
/9-PINENE
6.16
METHYLEUGENOL
0.62
CAMPHENE
2.97
EUGENOL
0.17
SABINENE
12.75
METHYLISOEUGENOL
0.36
1,4-p-MENTHADIENE
3.47
ISOEUGENOL
0.19
l,4(8)-p-MENTHADIENE
1.12
MYRISTICIN
7.04
1,8-p-MENTHADIENE
12.78
ELEMICIN
2.36
TOLUENE
0.10
ISOELEMICIN
0.1!
p- CYMENE
1.82
METHOXYEUGENOL
0.25
I-MENTHENE-4-0L
I-MENTHENE-8-0L
2.93
0.4!
OTHERS
LINALOOL
0.15
MYRISTIC ACID
2.87
6ERANYL ACETATE
0.20
UNIDENTIFIED
3.72
Table I.
206
DISTRIBUTION OF THE PRINCIPLE AROMATICS IN
VARIOUS MYRISTICA OILS
L. Wl, F. W.I. L. E.I. F. E.I. D. ? L. ? F, E.I. D. ?
NUTMEG NUTMEG NUTMEG NUTMEG NUTMEG MACE MACE MACE
CH2CH=CH2
^■t!?0 ' SAFROLE
1.29 1.43 1.09 2.69 1.38 0 53 3 42 1 41
CH3O
^4/ \cH2CH=CH2 7.04 5.58 8.08 8 48 5.62 3 86 12.78 5.53
''■y?0 MYRISTICIN
CH3O
CH30-/^^CH2CH=CH2 ^ '^^ ° ° °" ^ °^ ° °^ °
CH30^^'^ ELEMICIN
X OF TOTAL OIL THAT
IS AROMATIC 12 7 7 5 10 7 12 5 8 2 7.2 18 2 8.1
•X OF TOTAL AROMATIC
THAT IS ACCOUNTED 8 4 94 9 0 9 0 9 4 9 0 89 9 5
FOR ABOVE
Table II.
We have made a comparative study of the aromatic fraction of several
samples of Oil of Nutmeg from different geographical origins, and of Oil of
Mace as well. These results are shown in Table II. Here the surprisingly wide
variation that can occur between these principle components is apparent. The
single consistent item is the presence of myristicin as a major component. In
the figure the F found at the heads of the columns represents the source,
Fritzsche Bros., New York. Similarly, L stands for Lueders Co. and D for
Dreyers Co. The WI represents West Indian sources, and EI East Indian.
The question marks refer to samples whose origin was undesignated. Safrole
has been found in both East and West Indian oils and appears, in this
analysis, to be present in an amount from 15-30% of the myristicin present.
The amount of elemicin present is most erratic. It has been found to vary
from over 2% in the Lueders West Indian Oil of Nutmeg, to only trace
amounts in the Fritzsche samples. The various oils of mace show neither
consistency nor correlation with the nutmeg samples, except that again,
myristicin appears as the principle component.
The assignment of the chemical structures of these compounds is a direct
and simple matter when compared to the task of assigning responsibility for
the intoxicating and psychotropic properties of nutmeg. The kernel itself is
the only component of the tree that is invested with the reputation for
biological activity. Further, it may be asserted that the psychoactive com-
pound or compounds probably reside in the volitale oil fraction of the nut-
meg, for this fraction has been shown in animal toxicology studies to carry
the effectiveness of the entire seed. Human experiments Avith ground nutmeg-
depleted of its volatiles have failed to show psychopharmacological responses
(7).
207
With the satisfactory assignment of the identities of the various conspicu-
ous components to be found in nutmeg, one must examine how each of these
individually, or more likely in concert, may achieve a role in a reasonable
explanation of the activity of the entire seed. Here there are two groups of
compounds to consider, the terpenes and the aromatic eithers. It is tempting
to dismiss the terpenes out of hand. Although they constitute by far the
larger portion of the volatile fraction, the terpene hydrocarbons are generally
held to be of biological effectiveness mainly as irritants. Turpentine has a
composition quite similar in make-up to this terpene fraction; it has been
widely used in many home remedies, but it has certainly not commanded
reputation as an intoxicant. It may, however, have some function in assisting
in the absorption of the various aromatic compounds through the gut.
The aromatic fraction, then, would seem to be the most likely source of
the psychotropic activity of nutmeg. Table III shows the structure of each of
the compounds we have found in the aromatic fraction. Also shown is the
amount in milligrams of each of these components that would be present in 20
g. of the whole nutmeg, 20 g. being assumed to be that required to produce
AROMATIC FRACTION OF OIL OF NUTMEG
STRUCTURE
NAME
AMOUNT TO BE FOUND IN
20 GRAMS TOTAL NUTMEG
(IN MILLIGRAMS)
H2c;-o
CH3O
CH3O
HO
CH3O
CH2CH=CH2
CH2CH=CH2
CH2CH=CH2
CH30-(^ y-CH=CHCH3
CH3O
CH-,0-f
HO
CH30'
H 2(^-0
CH3O
^3
CH30
CH30/
CH3O
CH3O
CH=CHCH3
CH2CH=CH2
CH2CH=CH2
CH=CHCH3
CH2CH=CH2
SAFROLE
METHYLEUGENOL
EUGENOL
METHYLISOEUGENOL
ISOEUGENOL
MYRISTICIN
ELEMICIN
ISOELEMICIN
METHOXYEUGENOL
39
18
210
70
Table III.
208
psychotropic effects. As stated earlier, saf role, myristicin, and elemicin ac-
count for some 84% of the aromatic fraction, and thus are the primary
materials that we will consider. The possibility must always be kept in mind
that one of the minor components could have an unusually high potency and
thus contribute to the activity.
Of the primary constitutents, myristicin is by far the most abundant, and
for this reason was tested specifically for psychotropic activity by Truitt,
et al (7). Doses of 400 mg. myristicin, almost twice the amount present in
20 g. of typical nutmeg, were given to human volunteers and the observed
symptoms were at least suggestive of psychotropic effects in 6 out of 10
subjects. It will be seen later that those effects which might be expected from
myristicin may be rather subtle, and so may require some synergistic activity
of some of the other aromatic compounds to produce the full nutmeg
syndrome.
Saf role is also a component of other natural oils and spices, the most notable
being the Oil of Sassafras which contains some 80%. Both the oil and the
derived sassafras tea have enjoyed wide use, modestly as a flavoring, and in
larger amounts as an internal medicament ; yet neither has a reputation for
psychotropic activity as does nutmeg.
Elemicin is unusual in that among the flavoring oils and spices, it occurs
in appreciable amounts only in nutmeg. Further, as mentioned earlier, even
in nutmeg the amount of elemicin is highly variable and depends upon the
source of the extract. It also occurs in several obscure essential oils, none of
which have been reported to have been used pharmacologically. It is, further,
not separable from myristicin by fractional distillation. The myristicin em-
ployed in all earlier pharmacology (including the human studies mentioned)
was obtained by distillation from oil of nutmeg, and was taken to be the single
substance myristicin. It thus may or may not have contained elemicin as well,
depending on the origin of the oil. The variability of elemicin may account for
the apparently highly variable degree of reported psychoactive effects of
nutmeg, which in turn implies that elemicin may indeed be an active com-
ponent. Of the aromatic components present in lesser amounts, only eugenol
and isoeugenol have found use either as flavoring agents or as medicinals.
They comprise about 80% of the Oil of Cloves for example, but again search
of the literature on such natural products for some reputation for abuse as
an intoxicant has been futile.
There are thus several possibilities by which one or more of the aromatic
components might be implicated as psychotropic agents ;
1. One of the compounds that is present only in very small amounts may
have unusually high potency,
2. Elemicin may be a maj or contributor of activity, or
3. A combination of two or more of the aromatics present may be involved.
The three most abundant ones, myristicin, elemicin and safrole may be suffi-
cient to account for the total activity.
It is worth noting that nutmeg is the only plant source within which these
three compounds have been reported as occuring together in any appreciable
209
quantity, and as will be seen later, each may contribute slightly different
aspects to the total psychotropic effect.
With the exception of myristicin none of the individual components of the
aromatic fraction have been evaluated specifically as to their psychological
effects. The ring substitution patterns of these compounds are notable in that
several of them, specifically myristicin, elemicin and safrole, are identical to
the ring structures of materials of established psychotogenic activity. The
allylic side chain is amenable to chemical modification, as shown is Fig. 3,
wliich could convert the naturally occuring compounds into ones of known
psychotropic activity. It has been suggested {8) that the in vivo addition
of ammonia to the olefinic site in either the allyl or the propenyl isomer would
yield amphetamines directly. To speak of amphetamines as a chemical class
is not strictly correct, but we use it to refer to variously methoxylated phenyl-
isopropylamines. The "EO" in the figure indicates the presence of any variety
of ether groups on the ring, and thus would include all of the aromatic
ethers in the oil of nutmeg and in many other natural oils as well. The pos-
sible mechanisms of such an in vivo transformation have been elaborated
upon, and are plausible to the extent that each of the reactions has been
achieved in vitro. Support for this transformation occurring in vivo has been
obtained by Barfknecht (9), who found evidence for the production of
amphetamine in rats after feeding them allylbenzene. This corresponds to
ammonia addition in Fig. 3 without the "RO" ether groups.
CONVERSION OF AROMATIC ESSENTIAL ETHERS
TO ALKOXYAMPHETAMINES
Fig. 3.
210
Throughout the general area of spices and of essential oils from plant
sources there is about a score of substituted phenylpropenes, all of which
are characterized by ring substitution of either methoxy groups or a methyl-
enedioxy group (or both) and by the allyl or the propenyl side chain men-
tioned above. Of these a total of eleven different ring substitution patterns
have been reported as occuring ; the balance of the twenty known aromatics
consists of isomeric variations of the side chain. The addition of an amine
to this olefinic system might be extremely sensitive to substitutions near it,
that is, whether the side chain be allyl, c/«-propenyl or ^mn^-propenyl.
It may thus be in turn a determining factor in the psychotropic activity of
any such substance under consideration.
In the preparation for the study of this possible in vivo amination of
these ring- substituted natural oils, a series of amphetamines that would be
the result of such an addition has been completed. These are tabulated in
Table IV, showing the principle natural source of each of the natural oils, the
common name as they occur in the allyl (A) or propenyl (P) form, the
orientation of the ring substituents, the code letter abbreviation of the result-
ing base, the cogent physical and chemical data, and the potency of the
compound in mescaline units. The latter measure is defined as the quotient
of the effective dose of mescaline (assumed to be 3.75 mg/Kg as the base)
divided by the effective dose of the substance in question, as determined by
human titration. This ratio permits a direct comparison of relative potencies,
based on mescaline equaling one. Mescaline has a ring substitution pattern
identical with number 6, TMA, except that the side chain has only two
carbons instead of three.
It will be noted that several of the possible amphetamine derivatives of
the components of the aromatic fraction of nutmeg do not appear here:
AMPHETAMINES RELATED TO THE NATURAL ESSENTIAL OILS
C \cH2CHNH2- HCl
R0^^=/ CH3
COMMON
NAME
PRINCIPLE
SOURCE
RING ORIENTATION
SYNTHETIC
CODE ROUTE M.RVC. mC POTENCY
MESCALINE ■!
1.
ESTRAGOLE (A|
0 OF
ANISE
4-OCH3
MA
A
211
60
?
2.
NOTHOSMYRNOL
(P) Q OF
N.JAPANICUM
2,4-(OCH3)
2,4 DMA
A
147
90
?
3.
METHYLEUGENOL (A) 0 OF
CITRONELLA
3,4-(OCH3)
DMA
A
147
76
7
4.
SAFROLE (A)
0 OF
SASSAFRAS
3,4-(OCH20)
MDA
A
186
29
2
5.
ASARONE (P)
0, OF
CALAMUS
2,4,5-(OCH3)
TMA-2
B
161
60
It
6.
ELEMICIN (A)
0 OF
ElEMI
3,4,5-(OCH3)
TMA
A
209
63
2
7.
CROWEACIN (A)
0. OF
E. CROWEI
2-OCH3-3,4-(OCH20)
MMDA-So
A
154
59
18
«.
MYRISTICIN (A)
0. OF
NUTMEG
3-0CH3-4,5-(0CH20)
MMDA
B
191
60
3
9.
(A)
0 OF
PARSLEY SEED
2,3,4,5-(OCH3)4
T.tro MA
C
136
13
7
10.
DILLAPIOLE (A)
0. OF
OILL
2,3-(OCH3)2-4,S-(OCH20)
DMMDA-2
C
130
94
?
IL
APIOLE (A)
0. OF
PARSLEY SEED
2,5-(OCH3)2-3,4-(OCH20)
DM MDA
B
175
64
?
A< ^ BENZALDEHVDE, NITROETHANE, LiAIH^.
&i CLAISEN (tE ARRANGEMENT, METHYLATION, ISOMERIZATION. CINOJ., LiAlH..
Ci ^ NATURAL ALLYL COMPOUND, ISOMERIZATION, C(NOj]^, LiAIH^.
Table IV.
211
namely those which contain an OH substituent in addition to the methoxyl
groups. These comprise some 5% of the aromatic fraction, and still remain
to be explored in the human subject, either as purified components them-
selves, or as their amphetamine extensions. Should the free hydroxyl group
of any of these several materials confer an unusually high psychotropic
potency on any of these compounds or on the corresponding amphetamines,
this would contribute to the nutmeg intoxication beyond the explanations
considered here. Eugenol itself has had some known medical uses however,
and it would seem reasonable to expect that its psychotropic activity would
have been noted had it existed.
Published detail has appeared on the psychotropic effects in normal human
subjects for the four compounds that are trisubstituted, numbers 5, 6, 7 and
8 {10) . In every case the compounds had a greater potency than that of the
reference substance mescaline.
The base that corresponds to safrole, number 4, is 3,4-methylenedioxyam-
phetamine, or MDA. This was first described pharmacologically by Gordon
Alles {11) who reported visual effects at some 120 mg. Subsequent experi-
ence {12) on a more extensive number of subjects has shown modest, if any,
distortion or change of either visual or auditory perception, but rather a
pronounced increase in emotional effect, which has proved to be of consid-
erable value in psychotherapy.
The base that would be the result of the addition of anunonia to myristicin,
number 8, is 3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyamphetamine, or MMDA. A
complete description of the animal and human pharmacology and psycho-
pharmacology of this compound is forthcoming {13). With regard to the
work mentioned earlier in which 400 mg. of myristicin was tested in human
subjects, the experience with MMDA indicates that the effects although
identifiable in a psychotherapeutic setting, or in subjects trained to identify
psychotropic effects, are rather subtle and may not have been detected by
the psychological tests used in the study. The psychotropic effects of MMDA
are rather similar to those of MDA, but in addition some 30% of the sub-
jects reported rather vivid and well structured visual images appearing
when the eyes are closed, although there are virtually no changes in eyes-open
perception. The possibility that myristicin in the amounts present in nutmeg
may contribute to the total effects of nutmeg, cannot at this point be
discarded.
The base that corresponds to number 6 is 3,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine,
TMA. This has been known as a psychotropic agent for some time (1^, 10a) .
It has variously been described as having potent hallucinatory effects and
as leading to apparently hostile reactions. More extensive appraisal of this
compound in psychotherapeutic settings has confirmed the eyes-opened dis-
tortions and occasional hallucinatory phenomena, and strongly suggests that
its characteristic property is one of causing projection, in the psychological
sense, by the subject. This can produce visual distortions, delusions (altera-
tions in social perceptions), and sometimes apparently hostile projections
which, however, have never led to any overt actions.
2X2
The analogous bases that correspond to the eugenols have not yet been
evaluated, and as mentioned earlier represent another group of compounds
that could contribute to the activity of nutmeg.
There are two ways in which further investigations might be pursued;
namely human evaluation of the individual compounds of the aromatic
fraction of the oil of nutmeg, preferably synthetically derived to avoid con-
tamination, and secondly, the further evaluation of the effects of the amine
derivitives. It is entirely possible that the combination of the amines deriv-
able from the essential oil aromatics could produce the psychological effects
of nutmeg, while the clearly toxic effects could be due to the terpene frac-
tion. Human evaluation of a mixture of these amines, in the proportions
found in nutmeg, would explore the possibility of any synergistic amplifica-
tion of the activity of these compounds. A corollary study would involve
the chemical investigation of the metabolic fate of both the essential oils and
the derived amines, on administration to human subjects, and may clarify
whether or not these oils are in fact converted to amines in vivo. From the
results of these studies, it is hoped that the interrelationship between the
complex composition, and the yet more complex psychopharmacological struc-
ture of nutmeg, can be resolved.
REFERENCES
(1) "Essential Oil from the Leaves of Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)", Th. M.
Meyer. Ing. Nederland.-Indie 8 No. 1 VH 7-8 (1941). (CA 35 : 4549*).
(2) "The Constituents of the Expressed Oil of Nutmeg", F. B. Power and A. H. Sal-
way, J. Chem. Soc, 93: 1653 (1908).
(3) "Trimyristin", O. D. Beal, Org. Syn., Coll. Vol. I., Second Edition p. 538 (1941).
(4) "Application of Gas Chromatography to a Study of Nutmeg Oil Flavor", G. D. Lee,
F. L. KaufEman, J. W. Harlan and W. Niezabitowski, Intern. Gas Chrom. Symp.,
I.S.A. Proc. 301 (1961).
(5) "The Constituents of the Essential Oil of Nutmeg", F. B. Power and A. W. Salway,
J. Chem. Soc, 91 : 2037 (1907).
(6) "Gas Chromatographic Analysis of Oil of Nutmeg", E. A. Bejnarowicz and E. F.
Kirch, J. Pharm. Sci., 53 : 988 (1963) .
(7) "The Pharmacology of Myristicin, A Contribution to the Psychopharmacology of
Nutmeg", E. B. Truitt, Jr., E. Callaway III, M. C. Braude, and J. C. Krantz, Jr.,
J. Neuropsych. 2 : 205 (1961) .
(8) "Possible Implication of Myristicin as a Psychotropic Substance", A. T. Shulgin,
Nature 210 : 380 (1966).
(5) C. F. Barfknecht, University of Idaho (personal communication).
{10) a. "The Psychotomimetic Properties of 3,4,5-Trimethoxyamphetamine", A. T.
Shulgin, S. Bunnell and T. Sargent, Nature, 189: 1011 (1961) ; 6. "3-Methoxy-4,
5-Methylenedioxyamphetamine, a New Psychotomimetic Agent", A. T. Shulgin,
Nature 201: 1120 (1964); c. "Psychotomimetic Amphetamines; Methoxy 3,4-
dialkoxyamphetamines", Experientia 20 : 366 (1964).
(11) "Some Relations between Chemical Structures and Physiological Action of Mes-
caline and Belated Compounds." G. A. AUes, in Neuropharmacology, The Josiah
Macy Jr. Foundation, Madison Printing Co., Inc., 1959.
(12) "The Psychological Effects of 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) Intoxi-
cation." C. Naranjo, T. Sargent and A. T. Shulgin (in preparation).
213
"The Chemistry and Pharmacology of 3-Methosy-4,5-methyleiiedioxyamphetamrne
(MMDA)." A Monograph. C. Xaranjo, T. Sargent and A. T. Shnlgin (in
preparation ) .
{14) "A New Hallucinogen : 3,4.5-Trimethoxyphenyl-(3-aminopropane, with notes on the
stroboscopic phenomenon." D. I. Peretz. J. R. Smythies and W. C. Gibson. J.
Mental Sci., 101: 316 (1955).
214
The Pharmacology of Myristicin
and Nutmeg
Edward B. Truitt, Jr.
Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio
The long history of observations concerning the pronounced psychotropic
effect of Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) has not gone unnoticed by many dis-
tinguished investigators, including some famous pharmacologists. A central
problem in the pharmacology of nutmeg has been identification of the active
component of the crude drug. As early as 1676, van Leeuwenhoek, the origi-
nal microscopist noted that a volatile component which evolved from pieces
of nutmeg in a glass tube repelled or killed mites. {1) Although Warburg,
as late as 1897, still expressed doubt {^) it was clear by then that the volatile
fraction, the oil of nutmeg, was more toxic than the crude drug. The well-
known English pharmacologist, Cushny, stated that the residue from which
the volatile oil has been removed has no effect upon animals. {3) In our early
studies at Maryland, we confirmed this observation by human testing of a
steam-distilled residue and noted only gastrointestinal effects. (^)
Another pharmacologist, George Wallace, used the highest distillate frac-
tion (149°C, 14 mm), which he found to be the most active and easily ad-
ministered component, and observed that the cat was the most susceptible
species among the mammalia to the toxic action of the drug. (5) Both Wal-
lace and, a year later, Jurss {6) correctly attributed the high toxicity to
hepatic fatty degeneration, but the cat is also most sensitive to the central
excitation, tremor, salivation, and stupor produced by oil of nutmeg. Sir
Henry Dale in 1907 most clearly differentiated the primary psychotropic
effect from the secondary hepatic coma causing death in cats. (7) AJthough
he noted, as others had, that the oil required a higher myristicin amount
than the crude drug in order to produce symptoms. Dale attributed this to
absorption difficulties with the purified product. Power and Salway, re-
examining the question in 1908, concurred that myristicin was probably re-
sponsible for the central effect, but was unfavorable for absorption in the
pure state. {8)
Pharmacologic interest in nutmeg then subsided for more than 50 years,
until renewed by the curiosity of Dr. John C. Krantz at the University of
Maryland who was consulted by several former students encountering cases
of nutmeg intoxication. {If) This study was conducted with a myristicin-
containing fraction distilled from oil of nutmeg at 145-155°C and 15 mm
Hg pressure. Subsequent gas-chromatographic studies by Shulgin have
shown this to be a mixture of myristicin with elemicin and perhaps a small
amount of methylisoeugenol. {9)
Initial studies on the pharmacologic action of myristicin and nutmeg
which were conducted at the University of Maryland sought to answer
215
a variety of questions. {4) Toxicity studies showed that the East Indian
spice was more toxic than a West Indian product. Animal toxicity deter-
minations before and after steam distillation also confirmed Cushny's origi-
nal observation that the volatile fraction was more toxic than the residue (3)
In planning for human administration of a dose of the myristicin-elemicin
fraction amounting to 400 mg per subject, a chronic study in rats was con-
ducted and showed no growth inhibition at a daily dose of 10 mg/kg.
A stimulant effect of myristicin was demonstrated by a shortening effect
of the oil fraction on barbiburate sleeping time. These data are shown in
Table 1.
Table 1. — The effect of myristicin on the sleeping time induced by phenobarbital in the rat
Group
Mean
sleeping
time
Standard
error
p value
Phenobarbital 120 mg/kg I. P
162 min
±5. 31
Phenobarbital 120 mg/kg I. P. plus 100 mg/kg
myristicin I. P _ _
144 min
±2. 27
<0. 01
The intravenous injection of large doses in the order 50-76 mg/kg to
dogs, monkeys, and cats confirmed the feline species toxicity and showed
clearly that tranquilization of wildness is not produced in the jungle-bred
monkey. It is of interest that the product was hypotensive in the dog as are
other monamine oxidase inhibitors. These intravenous injections were sus-
pensions of the oily substance in acacia solution. More recently a stable
emulsion has been achieved having the following composition:
Percent
Myristicin 1.0
Pluronic F-68 0.3
Dextrose 4.2
Ethyl alcohol 1.0
Distilled water qs 100.0
Using this formula, mice were injected into the dorsal tail vein with doses
of 100 mg/kg. Within 1 to 2 minutes, loss of righting reflex and apparent
sedation appeared.
One contribution to the metabolism of myristicin has recently evolved
from interest in its synergistic effect upon other insecticides. Casida and his
associates have shown that the methlyenedioxy bridge is the initial point of
metabolic attack by hepatic microsomes and requires NADPHo (10).
This reaction is shown in Figure 1. This metabolic transformation increases
the chemical similarity of myristicin to the catecholamines.
The structural resemblences of myristicin to mescaline and epinephrine
prompted studies directed at measuring competitive inhibition of myristicin
to other monoamine oxidase substrates. The method of Tedeschi et al, (11)
was employed for estimation of monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibition by
potentiation of the central convulsant action of tryptamine HCl. A 0.5%
216
/
CH2— CH—
microsomes
NAIPH2
CH2-CH=CH2
H
0
■i> HCOOH +
*
HO
/
H
,14
* C-"^ labeled
Fig. 1. — Major metabolic pathway for methylene dioxyphenyl labeled myristicin in
liver microsomal systems of the mouse. (Modified from Casida, et al. (10).)
solution was injected intravenously into 10 mice per dose level. Three seconds
or more of clonic jerking, tremors, and/or side-to-side head movements were
the endpoint criteria used to calculate the CD 50 from dose-response lines by
the method of Eubin et al. (13) in rats, scoring both eyes on a 5-point scale.
Cerebral 6-hydroxytryptamine was measured by the Mead and Finger modi-
fication {14-) of the method of Bogdanski et al. (15)
No apparent effect was evident from the drug vehicles on the CD 50 of
tryptamine (Table 2). When given orally 18 hours in advance. East Indian
ground nutmeg gave some evidence of tryptamine potentiation (Figure 2).
The optimum dose was 500 mg/kg. However, a much larger dose, 1000
mg/kg showed reversal of the activity.
Several samples of synthetic myristicin ^ were tested by the tryptamine po-
tentiation test 18 hours after their oral administration. These results are
shown in Figure 3. Both of these preparations showed considerable activity
when the sample was fresh and lemon yellow in color. Later tests (not shown)
after the liquid had turned to a light amber color consistently showed a con-
siderable decline in tryptamine potentiation. These deteriorated solutions
when studied by gas chromatography showed the appearance of an unknown
component in addition to the myristicin.
Tlie distilled concentrate of oil of nutmeg was much less active than the
synthetic myristicin and, like ground nutmeg, reversed its activity with a
1 Synthetic myristicin was kindly made available by Dr. Carl D. Lunsford, A. H. Robins Company,
Richmond, Virginia.
Results
262-016 0-67— 16
217
I
Table 2. — Tryptamine convulsion test for monoamine oxidase inhibition inv^o Summary
of control tests
Species
No.
Vehicle-18 hr
prior, cc/kg
CD50,
mg/kg
95 'J, confi-
denct limits,
mg,'kg
N^one
. yj
1 0 . 4— 4U . 0
( I
21
u
17.3
12.1-24.7
I i
28
Liq. pet.
24.5
19.9-30.1
it
38
28.0
18.4-42.6
tc
37
Acacia-2%
25.8
18.3-36.3
Avg
164
25.0
21.6-29.0
Rat
54
None
18.6
13.6-25.5
LOG DOSE - TRYPTAMINE, mg./kg.
Fig. 2. — Effect of ground nutmeg on tryptamine convulsive threshold in mice when
given orally in acacia suspension 18 hr before test: X X Control, CD50 mg/kg
(±95% confidence limits) 25.0 (15.2-41.0); Q 200 O 200 mg/kg nutmeg, 20.0
(14.2-28.2); H 500 h 500 mg/kg nutmeg, 14.0 (10.1-19.5); A 1000 A
1000 mg/kg nutmeg, 23.0 (16.1-32.9).
large dose (Figure 3). Gas-chromatographic analysis of this oil showed the
presence of volatile components similar to groimd nutmeg, but no increased
concentration of the myristicin, as expected from the selected distillation
temperature.-
- These analyses and supplies of ground nutmeg were kindly furnished by Dr. William K. Stahl,
McCormick and Company, Baltimore, Maryland.
218
LOG DOSE - TRYPTAMINE, ing./kg.
Fig. 3. — Effect of synthetic myristicin samples and oil of nutmeg concentrate on trypta-
mine convulsive threshold in mice when given orally in acacia suspension 18 hr before
test: X X Control, CD50 mg/kg (±95% confidence limits) 25.0 (15.2-41.0);
O O Myristicin sample 1 at 500 mg/kg, 8.7 (5.7-13.4); O — . . • O myristicin
sample 2 at 500 mg/kg, 14.0 (9.3-21.0); oil of nutmeg concentrate 500
mg/kg, 20.5 (14.5-28.9); H h oil of nutmeg concentrate — 1000 mg/kg, 27.0
(19.9-36.7).
In Figure 4 the slope and activity of the best tryptamine assay for myois-
bicin is compared to tranylcypromine and iproniazid. All three drugs were
administered orally 18 hours before the test. It may be seen that myristicin
is less potent but parallel to the comparative drugs. Saf role, isoborneol, and
geraniol, which are other volatile components of nutmeg, did not cause po-
tentiation of tryptamine in doses up to 1 g/kg despite obvious signs of hyper-
activity and excitement in the mice.
In Figure 5 the antagonism of reserpine ptosis in rats was used to study
variations in dose and time for myristicin activity. Myristicin appears
to be less active in the rat. Comparable activity to other MAO inhibitors was
obtained only with the largest dose 17 hours after oral administration.
Myristicin treatment of six rats increased brain 5 -hydroxy trptamine from
control values averaging 0.48 (± 0.05) Mg/g to 0.82 (± 0.03) /xg/g when
given in an oral dose of 1 g/kg; the difference was statistically significant
(p <0.001) . Lower doses were not significantly active.
A further test of an hypothesis of monoamine oxidase inhibition was con-
ducted using the kynuramine disappearance rate in brain homogenates as
219
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Fig. 4. — Effect of monoamine oxidase inhibitors and synthetic myristicin on tryptamine
convulsive thresholds in mice when given orally in acacia suspension 18 hr before
test: X X Control, CDjo mg/kg (±95% confidence limits) 25.0 (15.2-41.0);
O O 150 mg/kg iproniazid, 10.4 (8.8-12.2); A. . . .A 4 mg/kg tranyleypromine,
5.8 (4.4^7.7); +- . . . + 500 mg/kg, 8.7 (5.7-13.4).
described by Weissbach et al. {16) The results of this test are shown in
Table 3. Slight inhibition was found in the mouse but not in the rat-brain
preparation. One year after these data were obtained, the same ground-
nutmeg source was completely inactive in the mouse as well, and the declin-
ing activity was attributed to a loss of volatile components owing to a nearby
heater.
Discussion
Although the myristicin fraction from oil of nutmeg originally used in
these experiments might not represent 100 percent myristicin, both this and
elemicin most likely produce similar actions. The potency of myristicin is
not adequate in most of these tests to account for the full action of nutmeg.
The insufficiency is present with intravenous doses and therefore poor absorp-
tion is not a likely explanation. More rapid biodegradation of purified myris-
ticin in contrast to its slow release from nutmeg might suggest a greater
efficiency of the crude drug.
These data demonstrate a mild degree of monoamine oxidase inhibition by
a variety of tests. The low potency of myristicin in comparison to tranylcy-
promine, a potent inhibitor, is in keeping with the large doses required for
in vivo activity. The tryptamine potentiation test, although indirect, has been
220
shown to correlate with other in vivo assays. (17) It is quite likely that al-
though myristicin displaces kynuramine from MAO with difficulty, it still
may show inhibiting activity.
The main virtue of these data may be to reawaken interest in myristicin
and its activity. Low activity of a prolonged nature, such as that shown by
nutmeg, is sometimes a more useful drug attribute than high potency and
rapid onset. An important question remains to determine if the myristicin
stimulation is inevitably followed by depressed feelings, even upon continued
intake. Work is indicated to improve absorption, and further pharmacologic
studies are needed to define a proper course of treatment for nutmeg intoxi-
cation.
Summary
A myristicin-elemicin fraction of oil of nutmeg produces many of the
characteristics of crude ground nutmeg, but lacks adequate potency to ex-
plain the nutmeg intoxication syndrome on a quantitative basis. Nutmeg and
90-
80-
o
uj 60-
_j
m
^50
o
Q.
>M0H
J2 30
in
o
^ 20
10
0-"
MYBISTICIN-500m) /IJ 1 P
17 MRS PBIOB
PARNATE -4iHa nij ,1 P
^^B UHTREATEO IMP ^iSERPl
4
"7
24
HOURS AFTER TREATMENT
Fig. 5. — Effect of monoamine oxidase inhibitors and various schedules of myristicin on
reserpine ptosis in rats. Ptosis score: 0 = Eyelid fully open — 5 = Eyelid fully closed.
Maximum score = 10/rat (both eyes). Group ptosis score (%)
_No. rats/group X Max score/rat
Sum of group eyelid scores
X 100.
221
Table 3. — The effect of ground West Indian nutmeg on brain monoamine oxidase (MAO)
activity in mice and rats measured by the kynuramine (Kyn) method of Weissbach, etal.
{16)
Species
No.
juM-ynK/mg/hr X lO-^o
No.
Nutmeg treated
percent of control
Mouse
14
3. 64± 0.013
10
78. 0±4. 2%
Rat
6
4. 74±0. 18
5
104. 0±5. 5%
" Micromoles of kynuramine/mg of brain (wet weight) /hour x 10~3.
h 18 hours after 600 mg/kg— mice or 1000 mg/kg— rat, P.O.
the synthetically made myristicin demonstrate a mild degree of monoamine
oxidase inhibiting activity by in vitro and in vivo tests. Activity of this syn-
thetic product declines with aging accompanied by color change. Monoamine
oxidase inhibition and other actions of crude extracts depend upon the vola-
tile component.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1) Hanzlik, p. J., "Purkinje's Pioneer Self-experiments in Psychopharmacology,"
California and Western Medicine, 44 : 1, July-August, 1938.
(2) Waebukg, O. "Die Muskatnuss" Leipzig, 1897.
{3) CusHNY, A. R., "Nutmeg Poisoning." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine
39: 1(3), 1908.
(4) Tetjitt, E. B., Jr. E. Callaway, III, M. C. Braude, and J. C. Keantz Jr., Journal of
Neuropsychiatry, 2 : 205, 1961.
(5) Wallace, G. B., In Contributions to Medical Research, Vaughn, Ann Arbor, Mich-
igan, 1903, pp. 351-364.
(6) JuESS, F., "On Myristicin and Some Closely Related Substances," Berlchte, Schim-
mel & Company, Leipzig, 1904.
(7) Dale, H. H., Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 23 : 69, 1909.
(8) PowEE, F. B. and A. H. Sal way, American Journal of Pharmacology, 80, 563-580,
1908.
(5 ) Shulgin, a. T., Nature ( Lond. ) , 197 : 379, 1968.
(10) Casida, J. E., J. L. Engel, F. G. Esaac, F. X. Kamieuski, and Kxjwatsuda. Science,
153 : 1130-1133, 1966.
(11) Tedeschi, D. H., R. E. Tedeschi, E. J. Fellows, Journal Pharmacology and Ex-
perimental Therapeutics, 126 : 223, 1959.
(12) Litchfield, J. T., and F. Wilcoxon. ibid., 96 : 99, 1949.
(IS) Rubin, R., M. H. Malone, M. H. Waugh, and J. C. Bukke. 120: 125, 1957.
(H) Mead, J. A. R., and K. F. Fingee, Biochemical Pharmacology, 6 : 52, 1961.
(15) Bogdanski, D. F., a. Pletschee, B. B. Beodie, and S. Udenfriend. Journal of Phar-
macology and Experimental Therapeutics, 117 : 82, 1956.
(16) Weissbach, H. V. T. E. Smith, J. W. Daly, B. Witkop, and S. Udenfeiend. Journal
of Biological Chemistry, 235 : 1160-1163, 1950.
(11) Maxwell, D. R., W. R., Geay, and E. M. Tayloe. British Journal of Pharmacology,
17 : 310, 1961.
222
Discussion
Chairman — Edward B. Truitt, Jr.
Members of the Panel — Claudio Naranjo
Thornton Sargent
Alexander T. Shulgin
Andrer T. Weil
Chairman Dr. Truitt: "We might begin with a comment. One of the
guests found that there is a whole state in our fifty in the Union that has
a reputation for nutmeg, and perhaps he would like to make his comment
again, which was quite interesting : that of a psychotogenic substance identi-
fying a state.
Dr. Phillips (from the floor) : I am a psychiatrist. I understand that
Connecticut is known as the Nutmeg State, and I remember when I was in
college about twenty years ago there was some reference to the fact that
people in Connecticut acted awfully crazy, because they ate so much nutmeg.
Mr. Weil: I am afraid the origin of Connecticut's nickname is some-
what less romatic. In colonial times, Connecticut traders often palmed off
carved wooden nutmegs as the real thing. This practice was considered a
fine example of Yankee shrewness in business; consequently, Connecticut
acquired the name "Nutmeg State".
Chairman Dr. Truitt: I wonder if Dr. Naranjo would like to discuss
the activity of the compound he is engaged in testing ?
Dr. Naranjo: This amphetamine substituted with the methylenedioxy
group is the first that was tested. The subjective reactions had been de-
scribed by Gordon Alles from experimentation on himself. It was first used
in a group of subjects under the assumption that this would be a hallucinogen,
as suggested by Dr. Alles. This did not appear to be quite the case, for the
drug produced only enhancement in feelings. In the face of this, it was sug-
gested that it could be used as facilitating agent in psychotherapy. It is
not something to be used as an antidepressant, but only to increase com-
munication during a therapeutic session.
When we used this compound on patients with psychoneurotic symptoms,
we saw that the effects were sometimes very dramatic in an unexpected way.
I have tried several drugs to facilitate psychotherapy, including the more
widely known hallucinogens, and never as with this compound has there
been such a frequency of reminiscence of childhood events, in a very dramatic
and spontaneous way, completely unexpected by the subjects.
This has been described in therapy with LSD and mescaline, but in my
own experience has occurred spontaneously only once in approximately
fifty experiences with LSD (though I understand that if a therapist searches
for this, it could be precipitated). On the other hand, about half of the
persons who in a therapeutic setting took this compound, (MDA), had this
kind of experience an experience with almost no symbolic content, without
223
the aesthetic or mystical overtones that is so characteristic of most hallu-
cinogens.
This was quite rare and, in turn, there was the experience of reminiscence.
It is notable that in many of the subjects there was amnesia after it, and
this was very much like the similar events that take place sometimes in the
hypnotic trance. In two instances out of thirty, at least, the effects were
those of a delirium, and in one of these there was erratic behavior, none
of which was remembered afterwards.
Now with the trimethoxy substituted compound, which has been pre-
viously described as evoking hostile reactions when we used this in a thera-
peutic setting, this did not occur overtly ; but the compound was remarkable
in that the delusional content was more frequent that with any of the
others that I know. This delusional content was very often paranoid.
Chairman Dr. Trott : Could I ask if there were any color effects, which
are characteristic of mescaline, seen with it?
Dr. Naranjo: This produces the greatest incidence of color effects,
whereas the previously mentioned one, (MDA), is notable for the absence
of distortions and color effects.
The 3-methoxy-4,5 methylenedioxyamphetamine, (MMDA), has a meth-
ylenedioxy bridge in common with MDA, but has the oxygen substitution
pattern of TJMA. MMDA produces the qualities of both, and what is typical
of this substance is that the experience, which has mostly a personal quality,
enhancement of feeling, warmth, but very little symbolic content, makes
it different from mescaline.
Chairman Dr. Truitt: There is one point, I think, that many people
have possibly underestimated, and that is the theoretical importance
of this aspect, which is pointed out by one question from Dr. Waser : "What
is the evidence for direct amination of the olefinic side chain of myristicin
in the body?"
Dr. Shttlgin : Dr. Sargent mentioned one experiment where the forma-
tion of amphetamine in rats was actually observed. Administration of allyl-
benzene led to chromatographically distinct spots, with the strong impli-
cation that these spots were amphetamine. Although allylbenzene may be
converted to propenylbenzene first, the simple addition of ammonia to the
allyl double bond would be the most direct route. I don't know if it has
any validity.
Chairsian Dr. Truitt: We have a related question: "Could the
transformation of a non-saturated aromatic side chain to a carbonyl group
be possible?"
Dr. Shttlgin: I don't know of this specific transformation having
occurred. Certainly the double bond can participate in oxidation reactions,
and substitution isomers have been converted to their corresponding acids
in the body. Therefore the double bond is capable of being oxidized, or at
least partially oxidized.
Chairjian Dr. Truitt: We have two questions apparently directed to
Mr. Weil, and I wonder if he would like to read them and comment.
224
Mr. Weil, : The first one is, "What are the comparative psychoactivating
potencies of nutmeg and mace ?"
They are the same, but mystiques about the uses of the two spices have
sprung up. It is interesting, for example, that at Haverford College stu-
dents believed they could only get "high" with mace, even though they knew
nutmeg to be very similar in taste. Other groups use nutmeg only, aaid are
unaware of mace as an intoxicant.
The second question is, "Do other kitchen spices have any psychoactive
properties?"
Who knows? Perhaps in five years we will have a symposium just on
spices. I have received scattered reports on the use of cinnamon for these
effects : One bit of information is that cinnamon sticks are smoked by cer-
tain Indian tribes of Mexico. I have no documentation for this report.
People who are avid for experimenting with possibly active substances
often try spices. In fact, a distant friend writes that anything in the spice
cabinet except monosodium glutamate will get you "high". Ginger, paprika,
cinnamon and pepper have all been said to have effects on the mind, but
we have no reliable evidence on them.
Chairman Dr. Truitt : We really must resolve the action of somatic input
on the gastrointestinal tract, and other sources on the psychic effects before
we accept them, too.
I am a little chary of the next two questions. I have an antagonistic ques-
tion from Dr. Efron, and a protagonistic question from Dr. Kline.
Dr. Efron (from the floor) : Being a pharmacologist, I would like
to comment on the phannacology of the tested compounds. Dr. Truitt has
really done an excellent pharmacological job but I have some small objections.
First, in my opinion the psychopharmacology testing is such a difficult
one that we never can use one or two tests. One has to use a battery of tests,
and even then, often we are not sure what they mean.
In this case, you have put all your chips on the monoamine oxidase
inhibition. If this would be really the only action of these drugs, then we
should forget about them, because we have much more potent reversible and
irreversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors that we can use.
Further about the test that you used: the antagonism to reserpine, we
all now agree that it is not valid as an antidepressant activity measurement.
It was used for tricyclic types of drugs, and even then there was a. question
as to its validity. Is there a correlation between this test and the activity of
nutmeg ?
The other problem I would like to comment on is that I really don't know
why everybody is working with myristicin, the compound represented mostly
in this large mixture of compounds found in nutmeg extracts. There might
be a possibility that one of the other compounds present in a very small
amount may be much more potent.
The next thing that would be very interesting would be to elucidate for
structural-activity relationship, and to see the activity of all the compounds
in some battery of tests. Then we really could see how the location of one
225
methyl group, adding another methyl group or taking one off, affects the
activity of the compounds.
Chairman Dr. Truitt: Thank you very much, Dr. Efron. I fully agree
with your comments.
Dr. Kune: Dr. Efron's remarks are as a pharmacologist; mine are as a
psychiatrist.
The anti-reserpine part of the story is the one I am protagonizing for
you. A very curious cycle is involved, because every drug which has been
useful in the treatment of schizophrenia or the major psychoses has pro-
duced Parkinsonism as one of its side effects. Another part of the curious
business is that the monoamine oxidase inhibitors or other antidepressants,
if given in large enough doses, will produce hallucinations, delusions and
uncontrolled euphoria.
All this woiild seem to tie somewhere into the extrapyramidal system.
We reviewed this problem a few years ago with Mettler, and although there
is a lot of presumptive evidence, one cannot yet dra,w a comprehensive
picture. At a meeting which Dr. Efron chaired last year, it was pointed out
that tricyclic antidepressants reduce the frequency of extrapyramidal side
effects from phenothiazines and reserpine. The rats and mice who developed
reserpine depression were given much higher doses per kilogram than we
use on humans. When asked how one judges if depression is present in
rats and mice, the answer was that this is judged upon the basis of reduced
activity and reduced "sociability" ; i.e. they didn't go poking around at each
other. Then I asked: "What about Parkinsonism in the rats and mice?" —
and I discovered to my amazement that the animals were barely able to
move because they were so Parkinsonized. What was called depression might
simply be the fact that the animals couldn't get to sniff their neighbors. The
monoamine inhibitors, and perhaps the tricycle antidepressants, act as anti-
parkinsonian agents. Professor Holmstedt mentioned yesterday that Lewin
has found harmine, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, useful in the treatment
of Parkinsonism.
Chairman Dr. Truitt : I heartily agree with you. Dr. Kline, because you
recognize our problems in the laboratory. We have a great deal of difficulty
in defining these parameters, isolating them, and analyzing them. Cer-
tainly I would be the first to disclaim that we can extrapolate easily
this way from a test to the whole animal. When we speak of the
appearance of tremor and absence of tremor or antagonism of tremor, we
are dealing with a fairly precise parameter. Wlien we are speaking of emo-
tional effects rising and falling, we are speaking of a complex set of behavior
changes that we ha,ve a healthy respect for.
A couple of other related questions that might follow Dr. Kline's. This
is from Dr. Buckley: "Does myristicin have anticholinergic activity?"
Only in the respect that generally anticholinergic activity in the CNS is
in some ways similar to potentiation of adrenergic activity. We have not
specifically tested this in any respect.
"Does myristicin inhibit adrenergic reuptake of norepinephrine by the
nerve endings?"
226
This is postulated as the mechanism of action for the tricyclic antidepres-
sants. This hypothesis is too new for our consideration. If it is, perhaps a
combination of a weak monoamine oxidase inhibitor, such as nutmeg, and
the trycyclic agents, might be of interest.
Going to the more physical aspects, we have a question from Dr. Beavers,
concerning the effects of nutmeg on blood pressure in human subjects, and
asking whether we have any evidence of monoamine oxidase inhibitors either
increasing or decreasing effects of nutmeg in humans. We certainly need to
know more about this. Dr. Naranjo, have you done blood pressure examina-
tions with the compound ?
Dk. Naranjo: There is slight variation in blood pressure. There is occa-
sionally an increase but this is not consistent, and it is hard to evaluate
to what extent the observed changes are secondary to the emotional states,
for sometimes anxiety is a prominent component of the induced reaction.
No lowering of blood pressure has been observed. This is in contradiction to
the observations on some persons who experienced intoxication with nutmeg.
Chairman Dr. Trupit : Dr. Leake has a question.
Dr. Leake: I want to amplify a point made by Dr. Efron. This con-
cerns the systematic investigation of all of the phenyl amines. This actually
was Dr. Gordon Alles' undertaking, as you know. One extremely important
feature of it I would recommend to all workers in the field. It bears on some
of the reports that were made today. Even though chemical compounds in a
series are very close, insofar as their molecular weights are concerned, Gordon
Alles insisted on using equal molecular concentrations so as to compare each
drug with the other on a molecular basis. This is important, particular when
there is any significant difference in molecular weight.
Alles had an enormous amount of material that has never been published,
and I don't know whether it will be. He made a methylenedioxy derivative
of an amphetamine, in which he found extraordinary enhancement of audi-
tory sensation. This he did describe informally at one of the Macy Confer-
ences. This compound produced another remarkable effect: if he were to
strike his finger, he could see the strike, and feel it afterwards by a definitive
period of time.
Dr. Shtjlgin : That was the methylenedioxyamphetamine compound that
we called MDA earlier.
Dr. Leake : He made similar observations of this sort on other com-
pounds. Since he had them all on an equal molecular basis, and since he did
most of the experimentation on himself as one subject, at least his findings
had that comparative validity.
Dr. Marrazzi (from the floor) : In line with what is being said, and
the comparison with mescaline, I thought you might be interested in the
comparison that we have been making of methoxyphenylethyl amines, using
cortical synaptic inhibition. At the moment it looks like mescaline (a tri-
methoxy compound), would have a potency of 1, the dimethoxyphenylethyl-
amine of 1.8, while the demethylated or dihydroxyphenylethylamine, dopa-
mine, would have a potency of 10.
227
This is reminiscent of the old work of Gunn, which showed that the meth-
oxylation has a muzzeling action, decreasing activity. Apparently in pre-
liminary data it seems to decrease cortical inhibitory activity.
Chairman Dr. Trtjitt : How much do you think this variation in activity
is due to rate of transfer across the blood-brain-barrier, and how much to the
differences in actual potency ?
Dr. Marrazzi: I am not able to answer that. These are closearterial
injections, and the latency of beginning action is approximately the same.
It should be measured more carefully than I have done so far, but there is
no remarkable difference, which would suggest that it is not a difference in
passing through the blood-brain-barrier.
Chairman Dr. Trtjitt : We have a question directed to Dr. Shulgin and
Dr. Sargent: "Could you describe your human bioassay methods further?"
Dr. Shulgin : The human bioassay follows a preliminary pharma-
cological and pharmacodynamic analysis of the investigated material on
animals. Generally, three species, the mouse, the rat and the dog, are used.
Most of the cardiovascular work is done on the dog. The compounds were
then assayed within our experimental group. The human threshhold level
was established by successively increasing the dose in small increments until
this level was reached. This testing and the subsequent psychopharma-
cologic comparisons of the several compounds were done essentially by the
"double conscious" method of Alles. (see our reference 10) .
Dr. Sargent: I would like to comment on the remarks of Dr. Efron
and Dr. Leake, as far as the structure-activity relationship studies go.
Actually this was originally Dr. Shulgin's and my interest in investigating
these compounds, and we could perhaps elaborate a little bit on one of the
slides in which two other substituted phenylisopropylamines are mentioned,
the precursors of which are not present in nutmeg. They were tested speci-
fically to measure the effect of the orientation of these methoxy groups.
Our scale in mescaline units is the same as Dr. Leake's. However, we assign
some of the numbers a little differently from his. We grade LSD as 3000 in
mescaline units, the effect dose being a tenth of a milligram.
Dr. Leake : You understand that my grading was off the cuff.
Dr. Sargent: I might mention in regard to the previous discussion
of Parkinson effects of harmine and harmaline, these compounds are also
hallucinogenic. To get back to the structure- activity relationships of these
methoxy-substituted amphetamines, which are summarized in our figure 7,
note that when the structure of TMA with the 3,4,5-methoxy substitutions is
changed to 2,4,5-, or TMA-2, the activity in humans of the compounds is in-
creased tenfold. Again, when the structure of the 3-methoxy-4,5-methylene-
dioxy compound, MMDA, is changed to 2-methoxy-3,4-methylenedioxy or
MMDA-3a, the activity is again increased, this time by a factor of 6. In both
cases, the change of a methoxy group from a meta- to an ortho-position
markedly increased the potency of the compound. The more active compounds
are derived from croweacin and asarone, which occur in natural oils but not
oil of nutmeg.
228
Chairman Dr. Truitt: We have one last question that I would like to
direct to Mr. Weil: "What significance would you give to hypothermia
observed after nutmeg intake ? "
Mr. Weil: In the acute intoxications that have come to clinical atten-
tion — and there have been few — a number of symptoms suggestive of vasomo-
tor instability has been noted. I suspect that many of the constituents of nut-
meg might have effects on the autonomic nervous system and on general
homeostasis that we have not spelled out very well: possibly, this fall in
temperature is one of them.
Chairman Dr. Truitt: This is the end of our time for this afternoon.
I thank you again for your indulgence.
229
SESSION IV
SOUTH AMERICAN SNUFFS
Bo Holmstedt, Chairman
Anthropological Survey of the Use
of South American Snuffs
S, Henry Wassen
Gothenburg Ethnographic Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
Page
Early Reports and Archeological Evidence from the West Indies and the Continent 23S
Introductory Remarks 233
The Cohoba Sniifts and Its Paraphernalia 234
Further Details About the Cohoba Powder 237
Archeological Evidence for the Use of Snuff 243
Ethnographical Data About the Use of Snuffs in South America 262
Comparative Outlooks and Symbolism 274
Bibliography 286
Early Reports and Archeological Evidence from the
West Indies and the Contents
Introductory Remarks
The first contacts between Amerindians and Columbus and his men were
established in the West Indies. It is also from the Antilles and the surround-
ing mainland that we have our first information about the Indians' use of
what we now understand to have been a psychotomimetic snuff. Although
this early information is limited, and not until our days has it been really
considered to its full worth, it is of outstanding importance. Thus, at least
some evidence has been saved in the reports of the chroniclers from the
Circum-Caribbean culture area, for, as stated about the tribes referred to
as Circum-Caribbean, "whether insular or on the mainland, they were readily
accessible from the coast, and were quickly overrun by the Spanish con-
querors. The great majority of them have long been extinct culturally if not
racially." ^
The difficulty in defining what plant material an early description refers
to must be considered in any serious study. In my opinion we cannot, as
Jerome E. Brooks has done in his work on tobacco ( 1937) ,^ take it for granted
that observations by Amerigo Vespucci during his voyage with Alonso de
Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa (May, 1499-June, 1500), bear on tobacco chew-
ing- — even though many kinds of American tobacco later have been observed.
These observations related, supposedly, at least, to natives of Margarita
Island, off the coast of Venezuela.
According to Brooks (1937 : 189), Vespucci's notice in his letter of 1504
to his friend, Piero Soderini, "was the first published which relates to a
1 steward, Julian H. 1948 : 1.
2 Brooks, Jerome E. 1937 : 189.
233
262-016 O — 67 ^17
habit we know to have been tobacco chewing." I quote the following from
Vespucci's description in the rendering presented by Brooks :
The customs and manners of this tribe are of this sort : In looks and behavior they
were very repulsive, and each had his cheeks bulging with a certain green herb which
they chewed like cattle, so that they could scarcely speak, and each carried hanging
from his neck two dried gourds, one of which was full of the very herb he kept in his
mouth ; the other full of a certain white flour like powdered chalk. Frequently each put
a certain small stick (which had been moistened and chewed in his mouth) into the
gourd filled with flour. Each then drew it forth and put it in both sides of his cheeks,
thus mixing the flour with the herb which their mouths contained. This they did very
frequently a little at a time.
From the continuation of the description, we deduct that the European ob-
servers believed that the natives "carried the herb and flour in their mouths
in order to relieve their thirst", and, also, "that the women did not them-
selves indulge in the habit" (Brooks 1937: 191).
If we now should give a description of how e.g. the actual Kogi (or Ka-
gabba) Indians of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia use their 'po-
foro (bottle-shaped gourd for lime) and chew their coca {hayo)^ a process
that I myself have observed many times, we could word for word repeat the
description quoted from Vespucci. As a matter of fact his words can as
well refer to the habit of coca chewing. Such an eminent Americanist as Er-
land Nordenskiold of Gothenburg considered Vespucci's words as clearly
referring to coca,^ and Cooper (1949: 549) has included the Cumana area
of Venezuela among the regions from which "early historical sources report
coca chewing and/or ritual use of coca leaves as prevalent." To this must be
added also the observation by Vespucci that "the women did not themselves
indulge in the habit." No rule is without an exception, but just as an addition,
I wish to add that "more commonly, coca chewing is a masculine rather than
a feminine habit" (Cooper 1949: 552).
The Cohoba Snujf and Its Paraphernalia
The cohoba snuff used by the Taino of the West Indies has, as we know,
caused much discussion which I previously tried to summarize in two papers.*
"We must note that Columbus himself observed the use of a powder, though
he does not mention it by name. During his second voyage, 1493-1496,
Columbus not only commissioned the Friar Ramon Pane to undertake what
we now call anthropological field work among the aboriginal population
of Espanola ("to collect all their ceremonies and antiquities," Bourne
1906: 4), but he himself made valuable observations presented in his nar-
rative of the second voyage.^ As has been pointed out by Bourne, we possess
this narrative "only in the abridgment of Las Casas and Ferdinand Colum-
bus." The original is lost,'' but both Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus "in
3 Nordenskiold, Erland, 1919 : 14.
* Wass4n, S. Henry and Bo Holmstedt. 1963 : 27-35 ; Wass6n, S. Henry. 1964 : 97-120.
Bourne, Edward Gaylord. 1906 : 3, quite correctly has credited Christopher Columbus as the
person who "set on foot the first systematic study of American primitive custom, religion and
folklore ever undertaken."
» Bourne. 1906 : 4, "The original Spanish text of these documents Is no longer extant and, like
the Historie which contains them, they are known in full only in the Italian translation of that
work published In Venice in 1571 by Alfonso UUoa."
234
condensing the original, incorporated passages in the exact words of the
Admiral. It is from such a passage in Ferdinand's abridgment that we derive
the Admiral's account of the religion in primitive Hayti" (Bourne 1906 : 4) .
Ferdinand Columbus says that he recorded "the very words of the Admiral",
and we can now, in Bourne's translation (p. 4-6), find the following in-
formation of a powder which evidently must be the same as that mentioned
by Ramon Pane as cohoba:
I was able to discover neither idolatry nor any other sect among them, although all
their kings, who are many, not only in Espanola but also in all the other islands and
on the mainland,' each have a house apart from the village, in vi^hich there is nothing
except some wooden images carved in relief which are called cemis ; * nor is there
anything done in such a houae for any other object or service except for these cemis, by
means of a kind of ceremony and prayer which they go to make in it as we go to
churches. In this house they have a finely wrought table, round like a wooden dish in
which is some powder which is placed by them on the heads of these cemis in perform-
ing a certain ceremony ; then with a cane that has two branches which they place in
their nostrils, they snuft up this dust. The words that they say none of our people
understand. With this powder they lose consciousness and become like drunken men.
In addition to the secluded cemi houses for snuffing ceremonies, Columbus
mentions two paraphernalia, namely a "finely wrought table" for the powder,
and a "cane that has two branches" to snuff up this dust. Both are of im-
mediate interest.
In a paper from 1964 dealing with the Neo-Indian epoch, Irving Rouse
has referred to the statement that the Arawak in the West Indies placed
the powder on top of cemis, adding that "many of the statues found in
caves have a platform on top for this purpose." ^ In this connection Rouse
has republished the 66 cm. high wooden British Museum cemi, in the shape
of a bird standing on what seems to be a turtle. This figure, originally pub-
lished by Joyce,^" was republished also by Wassen 1965 : fig. 4. A kneeling
stone figure from Puerto Rico, published by Palmatary,^^ may also be taken
into account as such a West Indian cemi with platform on top. I have in
my work from 1966 (pp. 30-31, figs. 5 and 53) , pointed out that we still find
a South American ethnographic parallel to this in the ceremonially used
tabletops for snuff, and snuffing paraphernalia used among the tribes of the
rivers Branco and Colorado in western Brazil. These tabletops are carefully
made and polished, but according to Franz Caspar's observations among
the Tupari, the table has no special function beyond its mechanical use
during the snuffing seances.^^ We can observe that the snuffing ceremony
among the Tupari takes place inside the house. When used, the tabletop
is supported by three wooden legs on which it is loosely placed. The table-
tops are irregularly square-shaped and provided with a handle. They are
'' According to Bourne, Cuba, which Columbus believed to be the mainland.
* Bourne. 1906 : 5, footnote. "Ulloa in his Italian gives this word in various forms e.g. cemij
cimi, cimini and cimiche. The correct form is cemi, with the accent on the last syllable. Las Casas
says, "Estas — Uamaban cemi^ la ultima silaba luenga y aguda."
» Rouse, Irving. 1964 : 510-511.
"Joyce, Thomas A. 1916, pi. 21.
" Palmatary, Helen C. 1960, pi. 120 d, and text on p. 92.
" The photo published in Wassen, 1965, fig. 5, was taken by Dr. Franz Caspar among the Tupari,
during his second expedition to this tribe in 1955.
235
Fig. 1. — Y-shaped snufEng tube from Haiti. After Oviedo.
cut from the wood of flat supporting roots of a tree. Dr. Franz Caspar con-
siders them as particular for the tribes of the Branco and Colorado Rivers.
If we now turn to the "cane that has two branches", Columbus evidently
was observing the use of Y-shaped snulRng tubes, of which there were finely
worked ones used by the chiefs and principal men, and others made of
reeds for those who could not afford the finer ones. The "poor hermit"
Ramon Pane apparently does not refer to a forked tube when he says that
"the Gogioha is a certain powder which they take sometimes to purge
themselves, and for other effects which you will hear of later. They take
it with a cane about a foot long and put one end in the nose and the other
in the powder, and in this manner they draw it into themselves through
the nose and this purges them thoroughly" (Bourne 1906: 17; cf. Loven
1935: 393).
In Wassen 1964 (pp. 102-103), there is a discussion of the West Indian
snuffing instruments according to the sources, and I here again republish
the tube from Haiti (Fig. 1) which we find in the work by Oviedo," who
also has stated that it was the Y-shaped snuffing instrument, and not the
plant, which was called tabaco by the Indians (vol. I: 131). The famous
Bishop and Historian, Bartolome de las Casas, also described the West In-
dian snuffers, "made in the size of a small flute, all hollow as is a flute." To
make his readers understand the Y-shaped form of the instrmnent, he uses
the picture of the fingers in an out-stretched hand.^*
Even if we accept the occurrence in the West Indies of Y-shaped snuffing
tubes as an obvious parallel to tubes of the same type found in South America,
The original is found in volume I, pi. 1 : 7, of Oviedo's Historia general, etc. (1851). The
corresponding text on p. 130.
Las Casas, Bartolom6 de. 190!> : 445. ". . . ; la liechura de aquel instrumento era del tamafio
de una pequeiia flauta, de los tercios de la cual en adelante se abria per dos cafiutos huecos, de la
inanera que abrimos los dos dedos del medio, sacado el pulgar, cuando extendemos la mano."
236
we must also note the observation made by Loven (1935:393), that "the
Tainos differ from the whole South America in that their forked snuff-
tubes were not made from bones, and certainly not from those of birds, as
in the Orinoco and Cayary-Uaupes regions. Suitable bones for tubes were
not accessible on Espanola ; other material had to be sought there."
We find another parallel between Haiti and the northern South American
mainland, in the round trays for snuff now found among the Indians of the
Orinoco region (see Wassen 1965, fig. 1, p. 21), and the fine and polished
round trays described by Las Casas from the island. He says that the snuffing
instrument was made of the same kind of dark wood as the tray.^^
That the snuffing tubes of wood used on Haiti in some cases were fine
pieces of sculpture is clearly understood from the specimen found at La
Gonave (Fig. 2), first published in 1941 by Mangones and Maximilien, later
also by Rouse and Wassen." Dr. Grete Mostny of Santiago, Chile, has in a
paper from 1958 ^® compared the elaborate tube from Haiti with specimens
of finely sculptured straight snuffing tubes from the Atacaman region, where
the Y-shaped tubes do not seem to exist. As the description of the tube from
Haiti is very poor in the work by the two Haitian authors, it is fortunate
that Mostny has been able to quote a letter from Louis Maximilien (Febr.
11, 1956). In this, some particulars are given regarding the motif on the
specimen found in the Picmi cave on the island of Gonave, namely a kneeling
man crowned by a bird's head.
Further Details about the Cohoha Powder
At the end of his report from the second voyage, Christopher Columbus
refers to an account he had ordered from "one Friar Roman (Ramon) who
knew their language" (Bourne 1906: 6). As far as we know, through the
Admiral's son and other chroniclers, who know Pane's text, "to this day our
most authentic record of the religion and folk-lore of the long since extinct
Tainos, the aboriginal inhabitants of Hayti" (Bourne 1906: 4), we meet
in it not only the name of a certain powder they inhaled, but also most in-
teresting field observations on the psychotomimetic effects of the drug.
Friar Ramon Pane whose text is best read in the careful edition of
Bourne,^® uses two words, cohoha and cogiolja, for a snuff used for special
'5 For various types of South American snuffing tubes see Wassen, 1965.
^8 In tlie text of Las Casas, 1909 : 445, a snuff tray is described as follows : ". . . plato redondo, no
llano, sino un poco algo combado 6 hondo, hecho de madera, tan hermoso, liso y lindo, que no fuera
muy mds hermoso de oro 6 de plata ; era cuasi negro y lucio como de azabache."
"Rouse. 1964, fig. 18; Wassen. 1964, fig. 2, and 1965, fig. 51. The original in Mangones and
Maximilien, 1941, pi. 50.
18 Mostny, G. 1958 : 387-389. I quote from the text of the letter (p. 383) : "Les deux branches
sup§rieures du Calumet se terminaient par des bouts olivaires — afin de rendre aux marines un
contact doux — ; le point de jonction des trois branches porte le motif sculpts, reprSsentant un
homme agenouillS, les bras liSs derrifere le dos et la poitrine incline dans une attitude de priere ;
le tout surmontS d'une tete d'oiseau d'un haute relief."
1" Bourne. 1906 : 8-9. "To facilitate a study of this material in its earliest record I have trans-
lated Ramon's treatise from the Italian, excerpted and collated vyith it the epitomes of Peter
Martyr and Las Casas, and have prepared brief notes, the whole to form so far as may be a critical
working text of this source for the folklorist and student of Comparative Religion in America.
The proper names in each case are given as in the 1571 edition of the Historie." — "At best the
spelling of these names offers much perplexity. Ramon wrote down in Spanish the sounds he heard,
Ferdinand, unfamiliar with the sounds, copied the names and then still later Ulloa, equally un-
familiar with the originals, copied them into his Italian. In such a process there was inevitably
237
purposes. We have already referred to the text where it is said that "the
Gogioba is a certain powder which they take sometimes to purge themselves,"
etc. (Bourne 1906: 17). Later, in this text, we meet the word coJioha:
When one is ill they bring the Buhuitihu (Bohuti) to him as a physician. The physi-
cian is obliged to abstain from food like the sick man himself, to play the part of sick
man which is done in this way which you now will hear. He must needs purge himself
like the sick man, and to purge himself he takes a certain ixnvder called cohoia snuffing
it up his nose, which intoxicates them so that they do not know what they do, and in
this condition they speak many things incoherently, in which they say they are talking
with the cemis, and that by them they are informed how the sickness came upon him.
Further on (Bourne 1906 : 24), a description of great interest to the psy-
chotomimetic studies follows, which I quote:
And when they want to know if they will 'be victorious over their enemies they go
into a cabin into which no one else goes except the principal men ; and their chief is the
first who begins to make cogioba, and to make a noise ; and while he is making cogioba, no
one of them who is in the company says anything till the chief has finished ; but when
he has finished his prayer, he stands a while with his head turned (down) and his
arms on his knees; then he lifts his head up and looks towards the sky and speaks.
Then they all answer him with a loud voice, and when they have all spoken giving
thanks, he tells the vision that he has seen, intoxicated with the cogioba which he has
inhaled through his nose, which goes up to his head. And he says that he has talked
with the cemi and that they are to have a victory ; or that his enemies will fly ; or that
there shall be a great loss of life, or wars or famine, or some other such things which
occur to him who is intoxicated to say. Consider what a state their brains are in,
because they say the cabins seem to them to be turned upside down and that men
are walking with their feet in the air.
I have had in my hands photographic copies of some pages of ^^P.Martyris
Angli-mediolanensis opera Legatio habylonica Occeani decas Poemata
Efigranvmata^'' the Gothic edition from Seville 1511, of Peter Martyr's First
Decode. It is in this text (see Fig. 3, a-b), that the author, who never him-
self went to the New World, after having seen Pane's manuscript deals
with the cohoha powder. For a translation I follow MacNutt,^" however
with some corrections and notes.^^
Translation of the Latin text of 1511 (fvi r. and v) :
It is the augurs, called bovites, who encourage these superstitions. These men, who
are persistent liars, act as doctors for the ignorant people, which gives them a great
prestige, for it is believed that the zemes converse with them and reveal the future to
them.
If a sick man recovers the bovites persuade him that he owes his restoration to the
intervention of the zemes.
some confusion of u and n and u and v, (Spanish b). In the Italian text v is never used, it is
always u. In not a few cases the Latin of Peter Martyr and the Spanish of Las Casas give us forms
much nearer those used by Ramon than the Italian." It is now clear that both Las Casas and
Peter Martyr underestimated the Importance of Ramon Pane's worlt. For this see e.g. Bourne, p. 7.
""MacNutt, Francis Augustus. 1912. Vol. I: 172-174. As pointed out by Wass4n, 1964: 105,
Ramon Pane used buhuitihu and bohuti. This evidently Island-Arawak word has been latinized into
boitius (pi. boviti) by Pedro Martyr and is written buhuti by Ovledo, and bohique and behigue by
Las Casas. If we try to connect it with other known words, we are probably safe to do so with the
also Island-Arawak buMo, boMo, a common word in the Spanish reports for house but sometimes a
designation for special houses, very probably also those for medicine-men's cures.
^ The first printing of Decade One which was authorized by Martyr is that of 1516, in which
the plural boitii for medicine-men occurs.
238
Fig. 2. — Sculptured snuffing tube of wood from La Gonive, Haiti. L. 24 cm. Taino
Culture. After photographs published by Mangones and Maximilien.
When they undertake to cure a chief, the bovites begin by fasting and taking a purge.
There is an intoxicating herb which they pound up and drink," after which they are
seized with fury like the maenads, and declare that the zemes confide secrets to them.
They visit the sick man, carrying in their mouth a bone, a little stone, a stick, or a
piece of meat. After expelling every one save two or three persons designated by the
sick person^ the bovite begins by making wild gestures and passing his hands over
23 MacNutt translates drink. The Latin text has sorheo, absorb.
23 The Latin says : "from a semicircle," etc.
239
mcdiolanenlie oper$^
Fig. 3 a-b. — Title and text, fvi(r.), in Peter Martyr's work from Seville, 1511, in which
Ramon Pane's notices of cohoba snufRng first appeared. After a copy in "Arents To-
bacco Collection," The New York Public Library.
the face, lips, and nose, and breathing on the forehead, temples, and neck, and drawing
in the sick man's breach. Thus he pretends to seek the fever in the veins of the sufferer.
Afterwards he rubs the shoulders, the hips, and the legs, and opens the hands ; if
the hands are clenched he pulls them wide open, exposing the palm, shaking them
vigorously, after which he affirms that he has driven off the sickness and that the
Ijatient is out of danger. Finally he removes the piece of meat he was carrying in his
mouth like a juggler, and begins to cry, "This is what you have eaten in excess of
your wants ; now you will get well because I have relieved you of that which you ate."
If the doctor percieves that the patient gets worse, he ascribes this to the zemes,
who, he declares, are angry because they have not had a house constructed for them,
or have not been treated with proper respect, or have not received their share of
the products of the field. Should the sick man die, his relatives indulge in magical
incantations to make him declare whether he is the victim of fate or the careless-
ness of the doctor, who failed to fast properly or gave the wrong remedy. If the man died
through the fault of the doctor, the relatives take vengeance on the latter. Whenever
the women succeed in obtaining the piece of meat (erroneous transl.y* which the
bovites hold in their mouths, they wrap it with great respect in cloths and carefully
preserve it, esteeming it to be a talisman of great efficacy in time of childbirth, and
honouring it as though it were a zeme.
The islanders pay homage to numerous zemes, each person having his own. Some are
of wood, because it is amongst the trees and in the darkness of night they have received
the message of the gods."' Others, who have heard the voice amongst the rocks, make
their zemes of stone ; while others, who heard the revelation while they were cultivating
their ages — that kind of cereal I have already mentioned, — make theirs of root.'"
Perhaps they think that these last watch over their breadmaking. It was thus that the
ancients believed that the dryads, hamadryads, satyrs, pans, nereids, watched over
the fountains, forests, and seas, attributing to each force in nature a presiding divinity.
^ This passage has evidently been wrongly translated by MacNutt. The women could hardly keep
the pieces of meat. From the Latin, "de lapillis aut ossibus quos ore gestasse bouijtus aliqiiis
putatur: se Jemine," etc., it is clear that the women collected the stones and the pieces of bones for
the said purpose.
^ In the original visionibus, "visions", are mentioned.
^ "That kind of cereal" for genus panis has in the Argentine edition of 1944 been translated as
"clase de alimento." In the Latin text of 1516 it says genus eduUi.
240
fieri putc9:quibccilU0redtare cwCNcmt£liiintodnCK:fiws|pO0 iaie metu ta out
per Diucrfa fuilfe vagat06:x>cfereiam fame periitnnquia nolbibi fillat peocm aa
oebannl^incquonia acmi8\>2gQtnciinaD|Nnro;t0Domum puirarecepcrunrca3a#
bi.i.panan pocntes pinfo] auton in phmo igreDiaitan cofpuilFc ita acritcr fotun
vcilUertcmrpunero?mmnrnirgioiinmt}miit(era]8:quofa^i^
confibo acccpto laptDcaairo apotumeffcer cuius vlcere natam aiuntfbtuna5:qua
nuituo polKratresilUomnca vlifunnatc^ab ea feruntfiUosftUarq^gcnuinc. ju^
amoiu6aUuoaDucrtirop}incq>0iUu(faimiTic 2lntru5qtacaliuDiouanaboina no
minein cuiufoamreguU oiocdi:qui i)^ac^^ec|pvocatur.3D rebgiofuie q^co^in
tt^mquonDamautc^rTt>ammramc^ gredcolunt:acvaierannir:millevah)d ox
natum picnuie^n t>uiu0antn foiibusouoe |;>abentrculpt093ane8:quo?um vna
bintatteUenU]^aro|p>um alteram vocant/Corcama fpeoim coleraitpietate :infe
iTOgati:quiarolinDelunac0lumeo}bi p:ebioiri p?ooienint:grauiter Ktifyteq^nf^
ponDent./ConajrrationibU0antra vduti noe v>2bcm t baticanom no(lre rdigiois
capnt:auciCompo(leUam ^3t>aiiralem Domini fqMilcrani frequoitant. Subia#
cent a alteri fupoilidonum gaicri:mo;nio6 pucant noctu vagari:ac vefd guanua#
ba(fh)cmnobi6incognito)oxonoltmiU:leairq3inta'viuo8\>a:^
peitmubere8:rumptanamc^vinlifo2macoirex>dtevioentttna(lquomaoopu0^
uenimroianefcunt. Siquisauton apuofciacot moituumaliquanooruTpicatur
(quomquiD noui fenferitin lecto) vteri attraxationereoabiofolui balbuliir. /Cun#
aanaq^aiuntmo:tuo0po(rc|;Miinananianb2arulaperep^ fi vmbi
licoigimrmo^niumefTeDianordctacmdiUicorer^^ iri^
neribud p:edpue vi)Tc0 puolide) momioeooainm viuiscrebuntnncontra quos
fi viato; intrepiDue1laoinDiroluiffaniarma:nveropeitimdcan^ aoo?im
C)operterrenvcr€piu6eafb}nuDinemDUioebiUtaiiuracftupeae. JnioTogahano
fbleinfularee vnoeribicodritu6inane8tan$contagionan comparauerinna ma#
ionbus Ipereoirariod rcTponDencrirlpmirc^ aiiit vltra (^ninu memonanuifta c6#
fqtaqucncminem licctp:crcrr^lo}umHlio8eoocai:memoheilla comenoanr ne
q^enimlicterae vn(^^abuercoiebufcBf€(li8(alio pulfancepopulo ) canentes vehi
ti rolonniaracrap:eponunpin(lramenmm|?abentvmaimligneum:a}^
boanetanninv^cocunmrimpani^moK. l^illoeimbuunrfupcrftidonibueeo]!^
0Ugura0quo8boni)ta8\?ocannrantai|cmmeDtdqnip(cbecutermim infae mi#
IUaltrauncfrauoeo.iCttDerecoguntpUban aoguitscquiafunt apoo earn au^
ctoHt9ti0enmie)$5eme8ipro0aUoquannrfu(arac^pxDice^ aoueifaUi
bo»n0valitu{Hneconualuaic:reoono 5am8tDaireainimpcrruaDenr.3kiunio^
pQiigationireobUgantboui)K: q^aira50epnmar^ fumi^caUquo. l^crbamcK
inmumineb:iatequ2quompuluatamro?p(mt(vdutimoiaDe8)m
nmUa&a5emibU8anbureihumnunmt.^alimo(nariumaoeum^^
O0romptoautfhi(tailocarai8.Cir|;)cnucido drdnncomneapxtierpnumautouod
quoeipraiutdegmrXiraiicp2imanum booii'titdtcrautquacer : fadem:labiana
raq$Qtox|nen8feDi0gdlibu8:in frontsmHn tanpo:ann collum fuflar ernxxf ab^
rosboiaaatm : poft (^femoxbum q: labo»nfi8 venie Q:|;>aunreokit. ||^(;>u#
tncro0Odnoeacftmo2a a ouraegrocumfncanfficdneraaa peoiboe manns ceoa
dfattj^ncmanibue complcpeuio |?o(ttum psocmric apertum: oc inanoo cfcatit
241
The islanders of Hispaniola even believe that the zemes respond to their wishes when
they invoke them. When the cacique wish to consult the zemes, concerning the result
of a war, about the harvest, or their health, they enter the houses sacred to them and
there absorb the intoxicating herb called koho'h'ba, which is the same as that used by
the bovites to excite their frenzy.^ Almost immediately, they believe they see the room
turn upside down, and men walking with their heads downwards.
This kohobba powder is so strong that those who take it lose consciousness ; when
the stupefying actions of the powder begins to wane, the arms and hands become loose
and the head droops.^ After remaining for some time in this attitude, the cacique
raises his head, as though he were awakening from sleep, and, lifting his eyes to the
heavens, begins to stammer some incoherent words. His chief attendants gather round
him (for none of the common i)eople are admitted to these mysteries), raising their
voices in thanksgiving that he has so quickly left the zemes and returned to them.
They ask him what he has seen, and the cacique declares that he was in conversation
with the zemes during the whole time, and as though he were still in a prophetic delirium,
he prophesies victory or defeat, if a war is to be undertaken, or whether the crops will
be abundant, or the coming disaster, or the enjoyment of health, in a word, whatever
first occurs to him.
Bourne (1906: 20) accepted cohoba as a word for tobacco, and I have
previously (see Wassen, 1964: 102) been inclined to accept the explanation
by Friederici that the Taino word cohoha probably stood for tobacco,
while the word cogioha should stand for Piptadenia. Brooks (1937: 189),
however, has made it perfectly clear that "none of the early commenta-
tors on the custom says that the substance inhaled was derived from the
tobacco plant," and when taking into account all the forms of the word
oohoha, such as cohohha^ cahoha^ cojoia-cogioha, cojioha, oohiba, coiba,^° I
am now of the opinion that it is one and the same word, and that cohoba as
Brooks (1937 : 196) expresses it "was employed by the medicine-men chiefly
to induce a state of trance." We have every reason to believe that the cohoba
identification by E. W. Safford and other writers as a snuff prepared from
the seeds of Piptadenia peregrina is valid.^^ According to Brooks (1937 : 197)
"this plant, indigenous to certain parts of South America and to some places
in the Antilles (including Haiti), still bears the name cohoba." Here it is
interesting to add that Pittier (1926: 189) has found the word cojoba for
the tree used in northern Venezuela (cf. Rosenblat, 1965: 272, 344).
In this connection I wish once again to underline the statement of Dr. Siri
von Eeis Altschul in her botanical thesis of 1964 (p. 42) that the Indians of
the West Indies "may have found it easier to plant the trees than to maintain
communication with the mainland for their source of supply" (of cohoba).
It is interesting to add that Oviedo says that the snuff came from an herb
(hierva), which the Indians valued much, and kept it cultivated.^^ Las
Casas mentions that the Indians "had certain powders of certain herbs well
dried and finely ground and of the color of cinnamon or powdered henna,
^ The Latin text has it, and this is important, that the chohobha was absorbed per nares.
25 In the Latin edition of 1516 there is a small change in the text, ". . . insania Irachiis demisao
capite genua complectitur . . ."
29 Friederici, Georg. 1925.
=" Friederici, Georg. 1947 : 198.
=1 Already in 1898, Max Uhle (p. 9) draws the conclusion that "the extreme strength of the
powder as described by Petrus Martyr, exceeding that of tobacco, decides its different nature and Its
Piptadenia character."
^ Oviedo, Hiatoria, etc. 1851 : 131.
242
Fig. 4. — Archaeological bird-shaped pottery snuffers from Costa Rica. A, Guanacaste,
B-D, Lfnea Vieja. Coll. Gothenburg Ethnographic Museum, 64-16. Length of specimen
C, 9 cm.
etc.^" " With Brooks (p. 196) and others, we may assume that the "word
cohoba may have meant snuff as well as the act of snuffing any powder.
Pulverized tobacco seeds may have been mixed with the narcotic snuff inhaled
by the medicine-men, and only the nicotian ingredient of this compound
recognized by the Spanish observers." The Arawakan Jirara and Caquetio
in N.W. Venezuela, tribes which according to Steward (1948: 21) had
"certain specific resemblances to the Arawakan Taino of the Antilles," had
medicine-men who "practiced divination with tobacco ash and communed
with spirits while taking tobacco and a narcotic herb." The mixing of tobacco
and yopo has been reported from many S. American tribes.
Archaeological Evidence for the Use of Snuff
If we consider the South American origin of the West Indian tribes, it is
only natural that the close parallels referring to the snuffing complex in the
West Indes should be sought in South America. I believe, however, that also
the archaeologically found, often bird-shaped and bifurcated clay snuffers
from Costa Rica, (Fig. 4), should be taken into account.^* These small clay
snuffers with one or two tubes were, according to Doris Stone, "probably
used for cojoia (Piptadenia sp.) or tobacco." ^®
As always, the South American influence as far north as in Costa Eica
is worth studying. To a possible explanation of the bird motif in the clay
snuffers I will return later. Here I, want to refer to Fig. 5, where I, after
Dr. Otto Zerries, can show an old bifurcated and nicely carved bird-shaped
snuffing tube from South America. This highly interesting old specimen is
33 Las Casas. 1909 : 445.
34 See Wass^n and Holmstedt, 1963, fig. 6, and p. 24 ; also Wass^n, 1965, fig. 2, and pp. 25-26.
3= Stone, Doris. 1958 : 16. Her figures 19 a, 6. Stone counts "snuflSng and the playing of flutes by
medicine men" as "southern traits" in Costa Rica's cultures (p. 25).
3« See Wass^n and Holmstedt. 1963 : 24.
243
Fig. 5. — Bifurcated snuffing implement of wood. Coll. Mus. f. Vdlkerkunde, Mannheim,
"V. Am. No. 1894." According to Zerries, 1965, from BrazOian Guayana. Courtesy
Dr. Otto Zerries.
now in the Ethnographical Museum of Mannheim, Germany, where it has
been observed and studied by Dr. Zerries, who has attributed it to the region
of Brazilian Guyana.^^ The old snuffer in the German museum undoubtedly
points to a South American background also for the clay snuffers in Costa
Kica.
In spite of many omissions and too hastily drawn conclusions, the study of
Max Uhle of the bifurcated snuffing tube of bone that he found in 1895 at
Tiahuanaco seems to be one of the first of a comparative interest for the use
of snuffs among the South American Indians. A drawing after Uhle's illus-
tration of the tube he found is shown in Fig. 6. According to Uhle (1898 : 1) ,
"the tube consists of the wrist or leg bone {metacarjms or metatharsis) of a
Zerries, Otto. 1965: 185-193. In the same paper Zerries describes two more, richly decorated
wooden objects from the Ethnographical Museum in Mannheim (numbers Am. 1987 and 1988), in
the form of jaguars with bowls, which evidently have been receptacles for a powder. In the old
museum entry it says "Gerat zuni Schnupfen," 'snuffing implement.' Zerries seeks the origin for all
three in the lower R. Trombetas region.
244
young llama-like animal," . . . "and the bone has been cut off at each end,
and while at the upper end a part of the shaft has disappeared, at the lower
end, bifurcating naturally, only the distal articulations have been cut away
and each part bored, so as to communicate with the main tube. The caliber of
the former is and that of the latter 13/32 of an inch."
Uhle reported from Tiahuanaco. Following him it has only slowly and
after a long series of attempts at all sorts of more or less fanciful explana-
tions, become evident that the many finds in the region of the former
Atacameno in Argentina and Chile of wooden trays and their corresponding
tubes, must be classified as paraphernalia connected with the taking of some
kind of a snuff. Several earlier references have been mentioned in Wassen
1965 (pp. 34-36 and p. 78) as well as in Wassen and Holmstedt (1963: 24-
25) ; but I can perhaps best refer to the summary of the extensive literature
presented in the archaeological thesis by A. M. Salas.^^ For the understand-
^ Salas, Alberto Mario. 1945. Especially pp. 209-226, "Area de dispersi6n de tubos y tahletas."
Fig. 6. — Naturally bifurcated snuffing tube of bone from Tiahuanaco. Drawing after
Uhle's photographs in his publication from 1898.
245
ing of tlie snuffing complex in the Atacama region, important publications
have recently been published. I want particularly to refer to the classificatory
study by Lautaro Nunez,^® and the same author's references to the taking of
rape during successive cultural periods in northern Chile.*" A small but
interesting contribution is the paper by G. Mostny from 1956, in which she
also refers to the tube from La Gonave, Haiti. Her paper from 1952, in which
she offers a recapitulation of the various opinions regarding the finds of
tabletas and tubos in Chile and Argentina, is also of high interest for the
description (p. 8) of a grave find of a paricd tray with one sculptured and
one plain tube. The tray was protected by a surrounding leather wrapping,
which when taken away showed the handle in the form of a nicely carved
condor. The circumstances prove that the Indians had taken much care in
protecting this specimen when the owner got it with him in the grave. The
sculptured tube in the same find shows, according to Mostny's description
(p. 11) , a masked human being.
In a new work from 1965, Father Gustavo Le Paige is also writing about
several highly interesting finds of snuffing paraphernalia used in the Atacama
region.*^ The list could easily be made much longer, but it was neither here
nor in my study from 1965 my intention to present a complete catalogue
of all such finds from a given area. My intention has been to underline the
importance of archaeologically found snuffing paraphernalia in relation to
the etlinographically known details. Scientifically it must be of an over-
whelming importance to learn what kind of powder the Indians in the
Atacama regions used, and what we can deduct about the ceremonial im-
portance of the habit from the finds.*^ In Fig. 7-10 three wooden tablets
and a tube from Chiuchiu and Argentina are shown from material kept
in the Museum of the American Indian, New York City. Fig. 11, taken
from Fig. 57 in Casanova's paper of 1946, shows interesting Argentine
specimens with features often discussed in this work.
3» Nunez Atencio, Lautaro. 1963 : 148-168.
*i Xunez A., Lautaro. 1965. In this study the author has pointed out the use of snuffing tubes of
bone among groups with a knowledge of both agriculture and pottery in the period he calls Early
(0—700 A.D.), a period still without influence from the Tiahuanaco culture. During a Middle Period
(700—1000 A.D.) the snuffing paraphernalia are continuously used, and a strong Influence from
Tiahuanaco is observed. The use of snufiE trays and tubes continues during the Late Period
(1000-1450 A.D.), when several local cultures developed after the influence from Tiahuanaco.
" Le Paige, Gustavo. 1965. His work from 1964 has been quoted at the end of this paper.
" I am most thankful to Dr. Lautaro Nunez A., Director of the Department of Archaeology of
the Universidad de Chile, Zona Norte, Antofagasta, for his kindness in sending to me with a letter
of October 7, 1966, samples of snufE powder archaeologically found and associated with a snuff
tray from a pre-Incaic grave at the coast of Chile, near Iquique (Bajo MoUe) . The material has
been forwarded to Prof. Bo Holmstedt, Stockholm, for analysis. We certainly need qualified analyses
of archaeological snuff. Dr. Alberto Mario Salas (1945 : 222) indignantly criticizes Max Uhle, who
once found powder associated with a snuff tablet at Calama, and concluded he had found a narcotic
powder only from the fact that he and his assistant started sneezing after having blown the powder
into the nostrils. Ricardo E. Latcham (1938: 133-135), started a discussion on which type of
powder the AtacameSo could have been using. He suggested Piptadenia macrocarpa, "common in the
subtropical valleys of Tucumfln and in the Chaco, and also used by the Calehaqufes," but imme-
diately added that more probably it was some kind of tobacco. The Piptadenia macrocarpa should
be the same as the Peruvian vilca. Latcham rejected the idea, suggested by Dr. A. Oyarziin, that
Piptadenia peregrina had been used by the Atacameno.
246
Fig. 8. — Wooden snuff tray with human and feline motifs. Argentina. 3%" x 7)2", speci-
men No. 15/1489. Photograph courtesy of Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation.
248
Fig. 9. — SnufiF tube from Argentina. Sculptured motif seems to show a man holding a
tube. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
Specimen No. 15/2407.
249
262-016 0-67— 18
Fig. 10. — Wooden snuff tray, 2>i'
Handle probably personification of deity.
Chiuchiu, ChUe. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation. Specimen No. 14/3741.
250
Fig. 11. — SnufEng paraphernalia, tablets and tube of wood decorated with zoomorphic
and anthropomorphic figures. After fig. 57 in Casanova, 1946. Originals in Buenos
Aires.
In 1885, the Brazilian archaeologist Ladislau Netto when commenting
upon the zoomorphic stone figures (often bird-shaped) found in the sam-
haguis (shell middens) of Santa Catarina, Brazil, was long ahead of his
time. With reference to the cavities observed in these figures (see Fig. 12),
he took them to have served as a deposit for a vegetal powder, of exciting
quality and ascribed with supernatural virtues.*^ This aspect is interesting
and I must dedicate some time to it.
The so-cajled antropolito de Mercedes^ a stone figure from Uruguay in
the shape of a human being with a rectangular cavity on its front side (in
the style of the Mexican Chacmool figures) has been labeled by Serrano
(1939) as a tableta. This stone figure can be seen as Fig. 4 in the posthumous
work by J. I. Munoa about the prehistoric peoples of Uruguay. The author
" Netto, Ladislau. 1885 : 516-517. "Uma advertencia cabe-me aqui interpor sobre a palavra vaso
que tenho dado a estes ambuletos. Alguns, na verdade, p6dem ter este nome, nao outros, por^m, que
sao, a bem dizer, fetiches zoomorphos com uma peqflena e mal distincta cavidade no dorso, no ventre
ou no flanco, onde' ao que presumo, o p6 vegetal excitante, a que attrlbuiam virtudes sobrenaturaes,
era deposltado e sorvido. Quanto aos vasos fetiches ou zoomorphos, muito 6 de crer que n'elles
fossem deposltadas substancias varias com attribuigao de eguaes preconceitos, ou que servissem
para pulverisar as folhas de alguma planta sagrada ou qualquer outra materia destinada a cere-
monias religiosas."
251
Fig. 12. — Bird-shaped so-called zoolithos from sambaqms in Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Drawings after pi. VI in Netto's publication of 1885.
252
shows how the nicely sculptured stone specimens (Utos) in animal form,
and often birds {'"'■que -figwan comv/nmente aues") belong to a stone- working
culture of the (later) Tupi-Guara,ni region of southern Brazil (Santa Ga-
tarina and Rio Grande do Sul) and the eastern parts of Uruguay.**
These special stone figures in human or animal form (birds, fishes, etc.)
with cavities have been classified by Munoa (p. 16) as '■Hahletas shamdnicas
para aspirar parica'\ and included in what Serrano used to call the Guayana
Culture, which also goes under the name of the Rio Grande Culture. The
Guayana, according to Metraux (1946: 445), should be counted with the
Caingang, a designation for several "non-Guarani Indians of the States of
Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, Avho previously
were known as Guayana, Coroado, Bugre, Shokleng, Tupi, Botocudo, etc.,
but who are all linguistically and culturally related to one another and
form the southern branch of the Ge family." Nothing, however, seems to
indicate that the Caingang were the masters of the stone objects mentioned
here. On "Narcotics", Metraux (1946: 469) says only that "a great many
stone pipes have been found in the Caingang area — ^a puzzling fact since
smoking has not been observed among the Indians." This, however, was
contradicted on the following page, where he says that "the Caingang
shaman consults spirits at night, puffing his pipe until he is surrounded by
a cloud of smoke."
But, as these litos evidently are of interest as possible ceremonial receptacles
for snuff, to which culture do they really belong? The question seems open to
discussion. Munoa assigned them to a first wave of Indians in Uruguay, the
Sambaguianos. Serrano placed the Utos in a pre-Tiahuanaco period or
Middle Samtiqui phase.*^ The culture is said to have come from the north.
Vidart has on p. 61 of his edition of Munoa 's work dated the culture which
left the shamanistic stone tablets {Has tabletas shamdnicas en piedra'"') at
3.000 B.C., but no reasons for this very early dating have been given. For my
own part I should prefer to consider the litos in southern Brazil and eastern
Uruguay in. some way related to the finds from the Amazon region (the
Gontas^ muiraquitas, etc. of the "Rio Trombetas," see Wassen, 1965 : 34) , per-
haps so that a specialization in a craftsmanship connected with a ceremonial
use of psychotomimetics has some center of origin until now unknown ; how-
ever, within the Amazon region.
In Wassen, 1965 : 34, the Mercedes figure from Uruguay has already been
mentioned following a presentation of the '"''idolo'''' or '•'•conta)'' from the Rio
Trombetas region with its "Alter ego" motrf, and its carefully hollowed
out cavity on its back (Fig. 13) as having been used for holding some kind
of a psychotomimetic snuff. When publishing this specimen from the Gothen-
burg Ethnographic Museum, I saw its "beautiful craftsmanship reflected in
the snuff boards with animal motifs used by the Cashuena, and earlier also by
«MuSoa, Juan Ignacio. 1965 : 14—19 (edition and notes by Daniel Vidart). I liave not said that
the Tupi used snuff of the kind discussed here. Alfred Metraux (1948 a: 127) has not mentioned
the use of paricA, but that of tobacco smoking, "one of the favorite pastimes in daily life as well as
on ceremonial occasions." He also points out that "stone pipes, found in several points of the
Brazilian coast, perhaps belong to another culture anterior to that of the TupJ."
« Munoa, ed. by Vidart. 1965. P. 16 and map on p. 12.
253
Fig. 13.- — Stone figure with cavity. Sucuruju, R. Trombetas, Brazil. Gothenburg Ethno-
graphic Museum, Coll. No. 25.12.1. Height 17.5 cm.
other Amazonian tribes." I could in 1965 also show a direct parallel to its
artistic motif, a man being dominated by a jaguar on his back, when referring
to a detail of a snufiing tube from Puna de Jujuy published by Ambrosetti in
1908 (see Wassen, 1965, Fig. 7, and this work Fig. 14) . The figure shown in
Fig. 14 is by no means a single example. In Fig. 15 we see the same motif, that
is a jaguar dominating and above a human representation, on a fragment of a
wooden snuffing tube found together with a tray ^vith handles in the form of
two human figures in an excavation in the Antigal de Cienega Grande of the
Puna de Jujuy, Argentina, and published by Salas. (1945: 205-208, Figs.
86-89).
As mentioned in Wassen 1965 : 36, Dr. A. A. Gerbrands in 1955 related the
carved stone objects from lower R. Trombetas to the Maue Indian sculpture
in wood. We can safely connect the paHcd trays with two human figures
found in Argentina and Chile, with the beautiful Tucano parted tray in the
Oslo University's Ethnographical Museum analyzed in 1965.*^
The Jaguar, as a powerful and dangerous animal, has certainly always
played a very important part in Indian beliefs as reflected in their ceremonial-
'0 Wassen. 1965 : 68-80, and figs. 31-36 and 38-39.
254
ism. It is thus not without reason that we in the American Museum of Nat-
ural History, New York, find the Jaguar repeatedly represented in a series of
snuff tablets and tubes originating from the "Gentilar de Caspana", north
Chile.
In one special case, the comparison that can be made between ethnogra-
phically known snuff tablets in the Amazon region and a wooden snuff tray
with feline head archaeologically found in Atacama, Chile, is absolutely
surprising. For this I refer to Fig. 22 in this work, with kind permission
published from a photo received from the Museo de Arte Precolomhino in
255
Fig. 15. — Section of snuff tube from Cienega Grande, Puna de Jujuy, Argentina. After
Salas.
Montevideo.*^ I am in this case nearly prepared to accept the Atacaman tray
as a direct trade piece from the Amazon region. The late Dr. Stig Ryden, in
his work on the archaeology of the Rio Loa region, was specifically interested
in the trade relations between the Atacameno and the lowlands in the east.**
If we now look for other archaeological finds of snuffing paraphernalia in
South America, the snuff tablet and its tube reported by Dr. J. B. Bird from
near the Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley, Peru, is the most interesting, as it
appears in a very old culture sequence.*® According to information received
from Dr. Bird following my visit to New York in September, 1966, it is the
question of a "snuff tablet of whalebone, Chicama Valley, Peru, near the
Huaca Prieta. Test 4, House 3, associated with skeleton 99.1/880, the snuff
tube 41.2/4722 a, b., and a broken jet mirror. The burial was made during
the period when Guanape pottery was in use. (The oldest pottery known in
this area). Estimated Age, c. 1200 B.C.; oldest known tablet (as of 1966)."
(Letter of Nov. 2, 1966). See Fig. 23 for this specimen.
Dr. Bird has also had the kindness to inform me about a find of a snuff
tray of wood collected by Mr. G. S. Vescelius in 1959, "from a Late Inter-
" See plate 38 in "Arte PrecolomMno, Coleccidn Matto," Museo de Arte Precolombino, Montevideo,
1948.
" Ryd^n, Stlg. 1944. See his summary, pp. 20&-212, also the discussion of the origin of the
material of a leather cuirass made of the skins of alligator and monkey (pp. 115-116). According
to Wendell C. Bennett (1946 : 603) the "AtacameQo were great traders."
" Bird, Junius B. 1948 : 21-28. Also Wass^n and Holmstedt, 1963 : 25, and Wass^n, 1965 : 79-80.
256
Fig. 16. — Snuff tray with feline motif and corresponding tube. Atacama. Specimen
courtesy of the Museo de Arte Precolombino, Montevideo.
Fig. 17. — Both sides of whalebone snuff tablet and its corresponding tube. Specimens
discovered by Dr. Junius B. Bird near the Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley, Peru. Oldest
known tablet (as of 1966). Coll. and courtesy of the American Museum of Natural
History, New York. Specimen 41.2/4721 (tray), 41.2./4722 a, b, bird and fox bone
snuff tube, found with the tray.
257
mediate burial at Santa Maria Miramar, a site near Mejia, on the Peruvian
coast about 20 kilometers south of Mollendo. There are tvro phases (one Inca,
the other immediately pre-Inca) represented at this site. The burial dates
from the earlier, pre-Inca phase. Associated with the snuff tray in the grave
were a miniature raft with its paddle, a bagfull of model harpoon f oreshafts,
and a spindle with rectangular whorl."' Various specimens in the collections
of the American Museum of Natural History, N.Y., are shown in Figs. 16-21.
Fig. 18. — Both sides of four snuff tablets of wood in the American Museum of Natural
History, New York. Photographs courtesy of A.M.N.H. A, 41.0/8754, Cemetery at
Chiuchiu, Chuquicamata, ChOe; B, 41.0/8746, same data; C, 41.0/8911, Grave site
near San Pedro, Chuquicamata region. North Chile; D, 41.0/8912, same data as C.
258
Fig. 19. — Nine snuff trays of wood from Chile. Coll. and courtesy of the Americarx
Museum of Natural History, New York. Eight specimens from Cemetery at Chiuchiu,
one from Puntas Tetas near Antofagasta (bottom row, third from left).
Fig. 20. — Four snuff tablets of wood from Chile. Coll. and courtesy of the American
Museum of Natural History, New York. From left: 41.0/8750, Cemetery at Chiuchiu:
B/9568, "Taken from child's grave," Juan Lopez Bay, near Antofagasta; 41.0/8964,
Cemetery about 3 km. from Chiuchiu, and 41.0/8751, Cemetery at Chiuchiu, Chu-
quicamata.
259
Fig. 21. — Snuff tubes of bird bone and bone and wood. Chile. Coll. and courtesy of the
American Museum of Natural History, New York. These specimens come from Chiu-
chiu, Cobija and Lasana ruin, near Chuquicamata.
From the Huaca Prieta find, it is evident that snuffing paraphernalia were
in early use in the Peruvian high culture area. I have in my book from 1965
(p. 80) referred to W. von Hagen's statement that "there is no doubt that
the coastal yuncas, as their contemporaries, the Andean dwellers, had a wide
knowledge of drug-yielding plants." Specific trade routes were mentioned :
"Huancabamba had extensive trade alliances with the coast people. It was
also a trade-axis for the jungle; a route less than sixty miles ran from the
mountains about Huancabamba down to Jaen, near to the Rio Maranon, one
of the tributaries of the Amazon rivers system." ^° It was, according to von
Hagen, the milieu of the widely spread and trading Shuara (or Jlvaro).
Among various articles traded by these Indians, von Hagen (p. 150) espe-
cially mentions several narcotics, among them ^^niopo snuff (which was in-
haled into the nose through the shank bone of the Oil-bird.") In this con-
nection it is tempting to refer to a painting on a Mochica vessel from Period
V (c. 600-700 A.D.) published by Alan R. Sawyer." The vessel, which
belongs to the Nathan Cummings Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, shows according to Sawyer an "ornately caparisoned war-
60 Hagen, Victor W. von. 1965 : 149.
M Sawyer, Alan R. 1966 : 46.
260
rior-bird" which is "collecting the narcotic fruit of the uUvhclio tree, which
grows in the highlands."
Following my publication of the claysnuffers from Costa Rica, Doctors
Clifford Evans and Betty J. Meggers of the U.S. National Museum in a letter
of March 24, 1966, raised the question if the so-called "pottery spoons from
Marajoara Phase" published by them as plate 81 in Bulletin 167 of the
Bureau of American Ethnology might be a snuff device. "These were ruled
out as smoking pipes because of two factors; one, was position of the hole
in all but one, and in that one, there was no indication whatsoever that it
had been used for a pipe. Since they don't occur in the culture we use the
term that has been used by others, namely pottery spoons. If they are actually
used in snuff taking it would move the distribution down to the mouth of the
Amazon and at a earlier time zone than the rest of your region." (Letter of
March 24, 1966). The possibility that these objects served as some kind of
snuffing paraphernalia should perhaps be taken into account. In the general
form these clay specimens very much resemble the mortars of fruit shell
used for preparing the paricd snuff in parts of the Amazon region.^^
■^^ Comp. for instance the object, pi. Sib, in the publication by Meggers and Evans (1957) with
the mortar, fig. 25 (p. 60) in Wass^n 1965.
A B C D E: F 6
Fig. 22. — SnufT tubes from Chile. Coll. and courtesy of the Museum of Natural History,
New York. A, B/4452, bone and wood, Arica; B, 41.0/8742, wood, Cemetery at Chiu-
chiu; C, 41.0./8994, wood, Chiuchiu; D, 41.0./3415, wood, Chiuchiu; E, 41.0.8739,
wood. Cemetery at Chiuchiu; F, 41.0.8740, wood, metal at nd, Cemetery at Chiuchiu;
G, 41.0.8741, wood. Cemetery at Chiuchiu.
261
Fig. 23. — SnufF tube and thorn bundles from snuff tubes. Coll. and courtesy of the
American ^Museum of Natural History, New York. The tube, 41.0/1713 J, from Chiu-
chiu, Chile. The bundle of seven thorns beside the tube was|found in the tube. Wrap-
ping is sinew. The other thorns belong to 41.0/8662, all unassociated with original tubes.
Cemetery at Chiuchiu, Chuquicamata, Chile.
The map in Fig. 24 shows the distribution of archaeological finds which
definitely, or in some cases possibly, should be related to the taking of psy-
chotomimetic snuffs.
Ethnographical Data About the Use of Snuffs
in South America
The first thing prepared for this chapter has been the distribution map
in fig. 25 with its legend. In this map tribal names and data about the snuff-
ing of paricd or yopo as well as epena snuffs as presented in Zerries (1964,
map 10, text pp. 85-93) have been incorporated with the ethnographic in-
formation presented in the map in "Wassen, 1965, p. 13. The data given by
Cooper (1949, map 10, pp. 536-537) have also been used, as have some of the
information from Colombia presented in the paper by Xestor Uscategui M.
(1959). As far as I understand the final result must give a fairly complete
picture of the distribution of psychotomimetic snuffing among the South
American Indians according to published reports.
262
Fig. 24. — Distribution of Archaeological Finds. See Legend.
Legend to Map in Figure 24-
1. Haiti. Finds connected with the use of cohoba.
2. Puerto Rico. Stone cemi with platform on top.
3. Finds of clay snuffers in Costa Rica.
4. Mochica Culture, N. Peru. Painted motif on a pottery vessel supposed to show the
collecting of the narcotic fruit of the ullucho tree (?) .
5. Whalebone snuff tablet and bone tube. Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley. Fig. 17.
6. Uhle's snuffing tube of bone from Tiahuanaco. Fig. 6.
7. Pre-Inca phase wooden snuff tray from Santa Maria Miramar, south of Mollendo.
8. Finds of snuffing paraphernalia at Chiuchiu, Chile.
9. Finds from the Changos, Coast of Antofagasta, Chile.
10. Finds from the Atacama region.
11. Finds from the Puna de Jujuy, Argentina.
12. Province of C6rdoba, Argentina.
13. Stone figure (17.5 cm. high) with cavity on its back. Sucuruju, R. Trombetas, Brazil.
Gothenburg Ethnographic Museum, Coll. 25.12.1.
14. So-called pottery spoons from the Marajoara Phase. (?)
15. Zoomorphic stone figures {litos) from S. Catarina and R. Grande do Sul, Brazil. Fig.
12.
16.
17.
Finds of litos in Eastern Uruguay.
The antropolito de Mercedes, Uruguay.
263
264
Legend to Map in Figure 25.
1. Highland Chibcha and Tunebo, Chibcha neighbors on the east. Piptadenia snufiF, see
Cooper, 1949:536. According to Oviedo, Historia etc., vol. IV: 607 (Madrid 1855),
yop was a "yerba de adivinacion, usada por los mojas 6 sacer dotes del sol en las voiles de
Tunja y Bogota. {Lengua de Nueva Granada) ." A reduced number of Tunebo are still
found in "the humid jungle regions in the southwestern part of the Comisaria de
Arauaca," Colombia (Uscategui, 1959:298-299). Same author, p. 299: "The custom
of snuffing yopo was acquired probably from their Arawak neighbors in Venezuela
and Colombia." A knowledge of nutmeg (at least for trade purposes) existed among
the Tunebo of the early 18th century. According to Gumilla (1744:307) "el Padre
Pompeo Carcacio, que fu6 Missionero de los Tunevos muchos anos, nos assegur6, que
en su tiempo traian aquellos Indios Nuez moscada, tan parecida en todo d la que traen
del Oriente, que no se podian distinguir unas nueces de otras; pero yo no la he visto,
ni s6 que oy la saquen."
2-3. Caquetio and Jirajara, extinct tribes. The medicine-men took tobacco and a nar-
cotic herb when they practised divination and communed with the spirits. Cf . Wass6n,
1965:105. Probably Piptadenia snuffers.
4. Inyeri, Arawak Indians of Trinidad, yopo snuffers (Zerries, 1964:88, and Cooper,
1949:536, "early Contact Indians of Trinidad." Castellanos, 1950:93: (in "canto
cuarto") , " t/no toma tabaco y otro yopa para poder saber lo venidero."
5. Palenque and Piritil. Two Carib tribes (Zerries, 1964:88). According to Herndndez
de Alba, 1948:411, "the Palenque, Piritil and Sdliva shamans also used "yopa" for
divination."
6. Waica, Samatari, Surdra, Sanemd and Pakiddi, subgroups of the Yanoama, southern
Venezuela. These Indians use snuff piepared from Virola sp., the snuff now inter-
nationally known as epena (the Waica name). See information and references in
Wass6n and Holmstedt, 1963:8, and Wassen, 1965:98-99. Also, Holmstedt, 1965.
According to Zerries, 1964:85, the Waica should also use Piptadenia peregrina.
7. Karime (or Shudri), Indians culturally related to the Waica. According to G. Salath6,
quoted in Wassen, 1965:99, and in Wassen and Holmstedt, 1963:14, these Indians
prepare a snuff made of leaves from a small plant called kokoime. A 30 cm. long
straight tube is used. Another person blows into the nostrils.
8. Araraibo, Indians at the upper Cauaburi River, an affluent of R. Negro, border
region between Venezuela and Brazil. Visited by Georg J. Seitz, see his book from
1960. Information on the powder prepared of material from Virola sp. has been
summarized in Zerries, 1964:85-86. Evidently closely related to the Samatari (Seitz,
1960:306, has published a short "Araraibo-Xamatari Word List"), or a Waica group.
9. Paravilhana, Carib Indians. Martins, 1867:631, has reported the use of paricd powder
from Mimosa acacioides. Cf. Zerries, 1964:87.
10. Yecuand-Makiritare, Carib Indians of southern Venezuela. See the translation of
Th. Koch-Grtinberg's description of the use of the hakudufha, a "bark of tree"-powder
from these Indians in Schultes, 1954:245, also quoted in Wassen, 1965:97. According
to Schultes, an identification of the unusual narcotic Virola-snuS with the powder
mentioned by Koch-Grunberg seems almost certain. Dr. Helmuth Fuchs (letter of
March 9, 1962, quoted in Wass6n, 1965:97), has described a'ku:duwha as a snuff
powder with ingredients which botanically can be shown to have come from Pipta-
denia peregrina, or another Piptadenia. There are also other ingredients from a tree,
probably Virola sp. See also discussion in Wassen and Holmstedt, 1963:10-12. Cf.
Zerries, 1964:87-88. Cf. No. 24.
11. Yabarana. Carib Indians, related to the Makiritare. Johannes Wilbert, 1963:133,
mentions the use of tobacco, yopo, and cdpi among the Yabarana (Wassen, 1965:20).
Zerries, 1964:88, quoting a paper by Wilbert from 1959, mentions that the Yabarana
should obtain their yopo from a liana (?), and a tablet and Y-formed snuff t\ibe
are used.
12. Piaroa, Indians of the Salivan Family, Orinoco- Ventuari territory, see Wass6n,
1965:103. According to Wilbert they use yopo, a strong "tabaco-rape," prepared
from the seeds of Piptadenia sp. The powder is passed around in a round tray with
265
262-012 0-67— 19
Legend to Map in Figure 25 — Continued
handle in the form of a fin (of a fish) and Y-shaped tubes of bird bone are used. Ac-
cording to J. J. Wurdack, bark of Lecythidaceae is burned and the ash added to the
yopo of Piptadenia seeds. Quotation in Wassen, 1965:103.
13. Puinave. Indians at the lower Infrida River, southeast Colombia and adjacent terri-
tory of Venezuela. Several quotations in Wassen, 1965:99-100. Dr. R. E. Schultes,
1954:248, has repeatedly observed the preparation of "a violently toxic snuff" among
the Puinave. This snuff is prepared from an exudation of Virola calophylla and Virola
calophylloidea.
14. Kuripako, Arawak Indians of the Guainfa River. Schultes has described a narcotic
snuff prepared of Virola sp. Quotations in Wassen, 1965: 100.
15. Achagua, once widely distributed Arawak-speaking Indians in Venezuela and eastern
Colombia. Herndndez de Alba, 1948:409, says that "the Achagua used a snuff made
of the narcotic powder of certain leaves called "niopa" or "yopa." Two Indians took
this snuff simultaneously; with two crossed bird bones, each blew it into the other's
nose." Cf. No. 19 in this list. Also Zerries, 1964 :89. Sven Lov4n, 1935:387, says that
yopa "is an Achaguan name." For a full quotation of the prognostication combined
with the taking of yopo powder from the relation written by the Jesuit missionary
Juan Rivero in 1736, I refer to Wassen, 1965 : 19. "A nasal secretion from the right
nostril signified success, from the left meant failure, and from both was an indetermi-
nate sign."
16. Guahibo, Chiricoa, Saliva. Several references to these Colombian- Venezuelan Llanos
tribes in Wass4n, 1965:104. The Guahibo and Chiricoa men "invariably carried a
shell or a jaguar bone containing parica. These tribes were said to carry the habit
of parica snuffing to extremes not found among the neighboring tribes" (Kirchhoflf,
1948:455). Cf. Zerries, 1964:89.
17. Piapoco, snuffers of Piptadenia. See Cooper, 1949:536.
18. Guaupe and Sde, Arawak Indians. Zerries, 1964:89, has quoted Kirchhofif's article
on these Indians in vol. 4 of the Handbook of South American Indians (Washington:
1948), p. 385-391, about the taking of "coca (yupa), and tobacco." The probably
Arawak Indians once lived "in the southernmost section of the Venezuelan-Colombian
llanos," the Guayup6 "also in large parts also inhabited the dense rain forests of the
Andean sloops" (Kirchhoff, p. 385.)
19. "Ouitoto" Indians of the upper Yapurd River. See Zerries, 1964:91, and the discus-
sion of the crossed tubes for snuffing among the "Ouitotos" of Dr. Crevaux in Wassen,
1965:87-90. It is a possibility that herndndez de Alba when formulating the state-
ment about the Achagua (see No. 15 in this list) has been influenced by the drawing
and text in the work of Crevaux. No source is given for the statement about the
Achagua. Until such a reliable source has been presented, I prefer to consider the
often published drawing in the publications of Dr. Crevaux of two Indians using
crossed snuffing tubes, as dubious.
20. Taiwano. Indians of the R. Kananari, Comisaria del Uaup^s, Colombia (Cerro
Isibukurf). According to Schultes, 1954:242, they use a narcotic snuff of Virola.
21. Otomac. Tribe in the Venezuelan Llanos, between Orinoco, the Apure, and the Meta
Rivers. According to Paul Kirchhofif's paper on these Indians in vol. 4 of the Handbook
of South American Indians, pp. 439-444 (Washington, 1948), "Otomac shamans,
under the influence of nope, predicted the future." Humbolt was a witness of Otomac
snuffing the powder of Acacia niopo seeds with lime as an ingredient. As he is one of
the very few who really gives a description of the preparing of the snuff, I quote
from the "Personal Narrative" (Humbolt and Bonpland, 1818-1929, vol. V: 66 1-663):
"The Otomacs are a restless turbulent people, with unbridled passions. They are not
only fond to excess of the fermented liquors from cassava and maize, and of the palm
wine, but they throw themselves into a peculiar state of intoxication, we might almost
say of madness, by the use of the pwoder of niopo. They gather the long pods of
mimosacea, which we have made known by the name of acacia niopo, cut them into
pieces, moisten them, and cause them to ferment. When the softened seeds begin to
grow black, they are kneaded like a paste, mixed with some flour of cassava and lime
266
Legend to Map in Figure 25 — Continued
procured from the shell of a helix, and the whole mass is exposed to a very brisk fire,
on a grate of hard wood. The hardened paste takes the form of small cakes. When
it is to be used, it is reduced to a fine powder, and placed on a disk five or six inches
wide. The Otomac holds this disk, which has a handle, in his right hand, while he
inhales the niopo by the nose, through a forked bone of a bird, the two extremities
of which are applied to the nostrils. This bone, without which the Otomac believes
that he could not take this kind of snuff, is seven inches long: it appeared to me to
be the leg bone of a large sort of the plover (ichassier). 1 sent the niopo, and all this
singular apparatus, to Mr. de Foucroy at Paris." According to Rosenblat, (1965:272)
nothing of all this is now remembered among the Llanero population said to be de-
scendants of the Otomac. Also, their language has gone.
22. Cashuena. Indians of the Carib Family on the Casuro (Cashorro) River, a tributary of
the middle Trombetas River, Brazil. From this tribe Protdtasio Frikel has described
a mori snuff, which can be made "simply of tobacco" or of other ingredients among
which paricd is mentioned. A full quotation is found in Wass6n, 1965 : 103, and also in
Wassgn and Holmstedt, 1963:21-23. The snuff mentioned by Mr. Gottfried Poly-
krates seems to originate from Piptadenia seeds. Details in Wass6n, 1965:103.
23. Tuyuca and Bar a, Tucanoan tribes on the upper Tiqui6 River. As quoted in Wassen,
1965: 100, the use of paricd or niopo has been mentioned by Whiffen from the Tuyuca,
and Zerries, 1964:90, refers to Koch-Griinberg's statement about the use of a snuff
from Mimosa acacioides Benth. among both tribes.
24. Cuheo, one of the Eastern Tucanoan tribes at a section of the Uaup6s River. Schultes,
1954:242, describes the Cubeo as users of Virola snuff. Of. Wass6n, 1965, about their
use of Banisteriopsis caapi. According to Goldman, 1948:796, "the shamanistic
novice spends a month learning the art from at least two professionals. He obtains
tree resin, dupa (Tucano), and inhales it in a powdered form for 4 days." Bodiger,
1965:151, refers this to the Cubeo novices, and mentions also Koch-Griinberg's ex-
planation of the word dupa as meaning small white stones used for sorcery. In the
meaning tree resin which is inhaled as a powder, the word is of direct interest through
the term hakudufha, offered us by Koch-Grunberg from a linguistically mixed region
with contact zones between several language families.
25. Tucano. In this word an important group of Indians of the Uaup6s and Papuri Rivers
are included. Schultes has in 1954 reported the use of Virola snuff, and Uscategui
has in 1959 mentioned a mixture of Virola and Theobroma subincanum powders.
Mr. Georg J. Seitz has photographed a Tucano medicine man grinding the dry crust
of evaporated Virola calophylloidea exudation to snuff powder with a stone. The
photos were taken by him at Tapuruquara, upper R. Negro, Brazil, in 1965 (see
Wassen, 1965:100-101, also p. 73). In Wassen, 1965:68-76, it has been demonstrated
that the Tucano used very fine sculptured snuff trays in earlier days. Uscategui,
1959:294, remarks that the Tucano commonly use the Tupl-Guarani loan-word
pa-ree-kd (paricd) for the snuff prepared from "the blood-red resin of certain species
of the myristicaceous tree, Virola, especially V. calaphylla and V. calophylloidea."
26. Barasana, Makuna, Yahuna, Yabahana, Menimehe. Zerries, 1964:90-91, has men-
tioned that Koch-Grunberg found the same snuffing pa^apherna'ia among the Tu-
canoan tribes (or groups) Makuna, Yabahana and Yahuna at the lower Apaporis
River, as he had found among the Tuyuca and Bard (No.23) at the upper Tiquie
River. Schultes found Barasana and Makuna Indians living together at the R.
Piraparand, both tribes snuffers of Virola (see Wassen, 1965:101). This drug seems
also to be used among the Yakuna and Yabahana. Whiffen has listed the Arawak
Menimehe at the Yapurd River as users of a narcotic snuff. See Zerries, 1964:91.
27. Pase, Juri and Uainuma, once important Arawak tribes south of the Yapurd River,
noted as paricd snuffers and also listed among such tribes by Zerries, 1964: 91, as
also by Wassen, 1965:66, according to Metraux. The Pas6 have been mentioned in
Wassen, 1965:68, as one of the Brazilian tribes called "black-faces," as they used
a special tribal identification, the so-called malhas. They have been reported as
excellent wood-carvers.
267
Legend to Map in Figure 25 — Continued
28. Omagua. In Wass^n, 1965 : 83, there is a detailed description of this Tupf tribe through
Father Samuel Fritz, who in 1701 had to calm an uprising in the Settlement of San
Pablo. Pots with powdered curupd were found, "with which to deprive themselves
of their senses, so as to carry out any evil deed without compunction." This ma-
terial was all consumed with fire upon orders given by Father Fritz after his Mass.
Metraux has stated that both the Omagua and Cocama, also a Tupf tribe further
west, "inhaled powdered curupa leaves (Mimosa acacioides) , to which they ascribed
great therapeutic and magical powers." According to Metraux, the curupd "was
blown into the nose through Y-shaped tubes or, with the help of small rubber sy-
ringes, administered as a clyster which provoked agreeable visions." Quotations in
Wass6n, 1965:83. Zerries, 1964:92, seems to doubt the use among the Cocama.
According to La Condamim's Relation, etc. from 1778 (quoted in Wass4n, 1965:84)
the word curupd for Piptadenia should originate from the language of the Omagua.
Monteiro de Noronha, writing in 1768 about the Omagua, which he calls Umaud or
Cambebas, "Flat Heads," criticizes La Condamine for his statement that the curupd
intoxication should last 24 hours, and corrects it to "apenas dura tres horas" (Mon-
teiro de Noronha, 1862:58). The same author adds that the Cambebas used the
juice from the bark of the manacd, which has been identified with Brunfelsia hopeana
Benth. of the Solanaceae family.
29. Tucuna. As follows from the analysis in Wassen, 1965:82-83, these Indians who
now only snuff tobacco, are known to have been using paricd snuff in earlier days
for their ceremonial snuff called ka'jvi. The very important snuff tray found in the
Oslo University's Ethnographical Museum and published in Wassen, 1965, fig. 41,
has by an ethnographical analysis been shown to come from the Tucuna, and to
represent the prego monkey demon. See Wassen, 1965:80-86.
30. Piro. One of the Arawakan-speaking tribes of the headwaters of the Ucayali and
Madeira Rivers, by Julian H. Steward and Alfred Metraux counted as a primitive
Montana subgroup. The use of the seeds of Acacia niopo has been reported among
the Piro by William Curtis Farabee in 1922. For the hunter and his dog, see Wass6n
1965:94. Cf. No. 31 in this list.
31. Catawishi, Indians of the river Puriis. Spruce has in 1874 reported from these Indians
that they used to absorb paricd through a bent tube, and also that they administered
an injection of paricd to dogs, thus a confirmation of that stated from the Piro. Full
quotation in Wassen, 1965:96. See also Cooper, 1949:547.
32. Mura. For the once much feared Mura Indians of the Madeira River the use of
paricd must have been of outstanding importance. This is clearly demonstrated in
the descriptions quoted in Wassen, 1965:37. The roasted seeds of the paricd tree
were taken either as a snuff or an enema. The snuff was blown into the nostrils by
means of bone tubes. The effects of the drug consumption in this tribe have been
drastically described. Schultes has warned that we cannot be absolutely sure that
the snuff used by the Mura and Mau6 was prepared from Piptadenia, as a botanical
consideration must be kept in mind. Cf. Wass6n, 1965:23.
33. Maue. These Central Tupi Indians were formerly famous for their paricd, which they
do not use any more (see Nunes Pereira, 1954:71). Mimosa acacioides is given as the
source. They have also been carving very nice specimens of snuff trays, now kept in
several museums. See the description in Wassen, 1965:39-63.
34. Mataco. Indians of the Gran Chaco, among whom the shamans have been reported to
use snuff from the seeds of cebil, that is Piptadenia macrocarpa. Information collected
by Metraux has been quoted in Wassen, 1965:29.
35. Lule. Extinct Indians in western Chaco, Argentina. Metraux has mentioned the Lule
together with the Mataco. An old information from the Lule comes from Pedro
Lozano (1733), who states that cevil was blown into the nostrils by a small tube in
order to provoke rain when necessary for their cultivations. Full quotation in Wassen,
1965:11-12.
36. Comechingones. Cooper, 1949:536, has listed the extinct 16th-century Indians
around C6rdoba, Argentina, among those taking Piptadenia powder. See Zerries,
268
Legend to Map in Figure 25 — Continued
1964:93, for further references to the use of cehil and/or wilca in the southern region,
where also the Zanavirones are reported to have used it. Max Uhle, 1898:9, has quoted
vol. II of the "Relaciones Geogrdficas de Indias, Peru", p. 152, from a report dealing
with "la Ciudad de C6rdoba," where the Indians spoke comechingona and zanavirona:
"Toman por las narices el sebil, ques una fruia como vilca; hdcenla polvos y hibenla por
las narices." Uhle comments (p. 9): "The curious expression, they drink the powder
with the nostrils, means without doubt that the Indians took the powder by means of
an instrument like a tube. Concerning the word sebil, Napp (The Argentine Republic,
1876, p. 114) tells us that sebil is in Argentine the name of the Acacias. Now, the fact
that Humboldt originally pointed out the niopo tree as a species of Acacia by mistake
and von Martius called it Mimosa acacioides proves that Piptadenias and Acacias
have sometimes been confounded. We know, further, that Piptadenia trees of the
variety niopo are also common in eastern Bolivia and the Argentine (for instance
Piptadenia macrocarpa, in the province of Tucuman) . As the bark of the curupau tree,
which from its name and general description may be a niopo tree, serves, according
to Cardus, to tan hides in eastern Bolivia, so in like manner the bark of sebil is used
to tan hides, as I noted, in the environs of Tucuman. All this leads to the conclusion
that the tree, from whose seeds the powder was made, is related to niopo, and a sci-
entific determination may perhaps show it identical with niopo. The custom of snuff-
ing sebil in the environs of Cdrdoba was, therefore, derived from another part of the
continent, where snuffing niopo was practiced." The conclusion by Uhle must be con-
sidered as very important also when we take the distribution of paraphernalia into
account.
37. Tupari, Guaratdgaje, Amniapd, and other tribes in western Brazil, in the R. Branco
region and on the Mequens River, affluents of the Guapore River. Cooper, 1949 : 536,
refers to "the upper Guapor6 tribes." Zerries, 1964:91, has, according to a report of
Dr. Etta Becker-Donner, Vienna, added the Aikand or Hauri, as their medicine-men
use a snuff of Piptadenia peregrina mixed with bark ashes. Dr. Becker-Donner has
also reported the use of such powder among the Salamay in the same region, as
quoted by Zerries, 1964:91. The most valuable information from the whole Guapore
region as regards snuffing has been given by Dr. Franz Caspar from the Tupari. I
refer to his book from 1952, and his manuscript from 1953, both quoted in Wass6n,
1965:102, and as regards the snuffing tubes, especially pp. 24-28.
38. Quichua. See Discussion in Zerries, 1964:92, for the use of wilca (or vilca) snufif
among the Andean Quichua, according to data given by Safford in 1916 and by O. F.
Cook in 1915. Cooper mentions the Highland Quechua of Peru among the consumers
of Piptadenia, and this is also fully reflected in his Map 10 in his work for the Hand-
book (1949), where a solid black covers most of the central part of the western
Highland.
39. Aymara. Zerries, 1964:95, has listed the Aymara, Tiahuanaco, as yopo snuffers and
mentions the word coro as probably =curupa = yopo. His text seems to indicate
that the yopo powder should have been known among the Aymara through the old
tribes in northwest Argentina. La Barre, however, does not mention yopo among
the narcotics in his work from 1948, but he has the information from Bertonio,
" Sincantatha: Tomar tabaco por las narizes. Thusa thusa es el tabaco" (La Barre,
1948:66).
Max Uhle (1898) was the first to take up a serious discussion about what kind of
snufi really was used in the Highlands. Garcilasso de la Vega's information is clear
and refers to tobacco: "The Indians made great use of the herb of plants which
they call Sayri, and the Spaniards called tobacco. They applied the powder to their
noses to clear the head" (Markham, 1869:188). According to Uhle, we learn from
this source "that the practice of snuffing must have been nearly general in the High-
lands of middle and southern Peru," . . . Uhle here refers only to the snuffing of
tobacco.
It is in one of the sources known to him, namely a report from La Paz found in
the "Relaciones Geogrdficas de Indias, Peru," vol. II, p. 76 (Madrid, 1885) that we
269
Legend to Map in Figure 25 — Continued
find the word coro. "Hay tambien entre los indios tahaco, que ellos le llaman sayre, de
que los negros usan mucho, y los indios de la ralz que llaman coro, y se purgan con ello
y lo toman en polvos." Uhle (1898 : 17) comments: "There is nothing published which
points to the practice of snuffing the powder of niopo in Peru, if not in the report of
the province of La Paz. In this province two powders were used as snuff — tobacco
and coro. This coro, without any hesitancy, should be declared to be curupa, if it
had not been reported as being a root. But the use of niopo being confirmed from the
region of C6rdoba, it seems more reasonable to suppose that the writer of the report
was mistaken than that there existed a third powder, never elsewhere reported, with
a name similar to that of niopo, which was taken as snuff in the environs of La Paz."
40. Desano and Tariano. Two Arawak tribes along the lower part of the Colombian
course of the Uaupes River. According to Uscategui, 1959 : 295, they know "and
employ paricd or Virola-simS as do their Tukanoan neighbors." Paricd (pa-ree-kd)
is a loan-word from the Tucano but of Tupi-Guaranl origin (cf. No. 25). The tribes
are also called Desana and Tariana.
41. Kuiva, Amorua, Sikuani, and
42. Guayaberos. "Various tribes," according to Uscategui, 1959:299, "located between
the Meta and Inirida Rivers, most of which belong to the Arawak and Guahibo
linguistic families." He has for these tribes or tribal groups received personal com-
munications from Medcn and Schultes. Other tribes mentioned by Uscategui in this
context are the Puinave, Piapoco, Saliva, and Kuripako, which already have been
listed separately:
"All of these use or were formerly acquainted with yopo, especially for purposes
of magic. Yopo, prepared from the toasted and pulverized seeds of Piptadenia pere-
grina, is normally taken only by men, for there exists a certain taboo which, however,
seems no longer so strict as it cnce was. In the most acculturated of these people,
both sexes take it. Snuffing of this violent intoxicant, which looks rather like ground
coffee, is carried out with very different kinds of instruments, the most generally
used of which is a double Y-shaped tube of bird bones (the arms of the Y being sol-
dered into place with pitch) ending in two hollowed palm-nuts. These nuts are placed
at the opening of the nostrils, and the powder is inhaled from the palm of the hand.
Another kind is the long V-shaped snuffing tube, one leg of which is inserted into
a nostril, the other into the mouth, thus making self-administration possible. There
are additional types of snuffing-tubes as well, both of bone and of small bamboo-like
grasses. One other primitive type is made of a palm-leaf: the apex of the leaf is cut
off truncated, and this funnel-shaped end is placed over the snuff, while the snufifer
draws in strongly through the petiole which is bound into a tube. Generally, some
kind of wooden mortar and pestle is used to grind the Piptadenia-seeds which have
previously been roasted in the fire. The powder is kept in a case made of the leg-bone
of the jaguar, partly closed with wax and adorned with feathers. The addition of an
alkaline admixture may or may not be the practice." This long quotation with its
excellent description to which practically nothing could be added has been taken
from Uscategui, 1959:299-300.
43. Caripuna. A Panoan-speaking tribe referred to by the Austrian naturalist Johann
Natterer as having snuffing implements. Natterer himself encountered a Caripuna
subgroup, probably the Sinabo, at the Madeira River (quotation from Metraux in
Wassen, 1965:47). According to Metraux "the Caripuna provoke a state of trance
by taking paricd (Piptadenia sp.) in the form of clysters they administer to each
other with rubber syringes provided with a bone tube."
The distribution of tobacco snuffing (and. other ways of taking tobacco
as chewing, drinking, and licking) in many cases covers the same areas (see
map 10 in Cooper, 1949, and maps 11-12 in Zerries, 1964) . These data, how-
ever, have not been considered here, as I have had to limit myself to special
270
powders.^^ The legend to the map in fig. 25 gives the available information in
a concentrated form.
What we learn from the map in Fig. 25 is the concentration of the use of
psychotomimetic snuff drugs to certain regions of South America with a
western and northw^estern dominance, if we consider still remaining tribes
or such extinct or no longer snuffing tribes from which data have been
recorded. What we do not learn from the map, but perhaps may recognize
by reading the legend, is how very few good observations there are. This
fact is deplorable, as it is obvious that we now face in the Uaupes region a
strongly disappearing usage (cf. Wassen, 1965 : 16-17) .
A scattered information on the use of paricd or yopo, by which words
mostly a snuff prepared from Piptadenia seeds seems to be understood, has
been saved. When we turn to other kinds of psychoactive drugs such as the
snuff prepared of exudates of Virola species, the available data is sparse
indeed. It is only through the intensive field work of such an eminent
botanist as Richard Evans Schultes, the repeated collecting and observations
among the Waica of Mr. George J. Seitz of Rio de Janeiro, and scientific
research by Prof. Bo Holmstedt, that we now are able to fully grasp the
outstanding importance of this drug.
It is in our days mostly impossible to find out merely from vague ethno-
graphical descriptions, which kind of snuff many tribes have been using;
if a pure powder or a mixture, and in the latter case which ingredients. It
was only through a chain of lucky detective work in the documented museum
material in Gothenburg, that I was able to trace back to the Tucuna
Indians the perfect and unusual snuff tablet No. 1219 in an 100-year old
Brazilian museum collection in Oslo (see Fig. 26, and Wassen, 1965: 80-86
with illustrations). It has also only been possible to consider another of
the three snuff trays in Oslo (No. 1169) as probably Tucanoan (see Wassen,
1965: 68-80), through an ethnographical comparative ornamental study
in several museum collections. It is this unique specimen with its double
human figures as handles (Fig. 27) which especially leads us to look for
an origin in the Amazon region also for the snuff trays among the Atacameno.
There are many tablets in the Atacaman collections with two human figures
as handles, but I use this opportunity to refer specially to a specimen from
Calama, Antofagasta, Chile (fig. 27) , now in the collection of the Field
Museum of Natural History, Chicago. Dr. Carl Schuster of Woodstock,
N.Y., who takes an extreme interest in all double-headed figures, writes
to me (May 9, 1966) that "the fact that the two-headed snuff tray as a
type occurs in N.W. Brazil, N.W. Argentina and Chile is very interesting.
Double-headed human figures begin in South America archeologically
very early — with the Valdivia Culture in Ecuador; and I know of some
ethnological specimens (Caduveo, Mato Grosso), etc."
As already declared, this study is not dealing with the snuffing of tobacco.
Such a study has, however, been undertaken by Zerries in his Waika-hook
(1964: 93-95, map 11). Naturally, this Americanist when trying to sum-
For the rap6 dos indios from the Olmediopereiea sclerophylla tree, see Schultes, R. E. 1963 : 26.
271
marize the details of both distributions, had the same difficulties everyone
must find in the sources, namely that many times we cannot differentiate the
two kinds of snuff when reading the reports. For instance, the Guapore tribes
are mixing yofo and tobacco powders, and many tribes use both powders.
Zerries (1964 : 95) exemplifies the latter cases with Waica, Piro, Tupari, etc.
Fig. 26. — Wooden snuff tray representing the prego monkey demon of the Tucuna
Indians. Length 25 cm. Coll. and courtesy of the Oslo Univ. Ethnogr. Museum. Spec-
imen No. 1219.
272
Fig. 27. — A, Wooden -paricd tray, length 20 cm. Probably Tucano. Specimen No. 1169
in the Oslo Univ. Ethnogr. Museum. B, Snuff tray of wood, archaeological find from
Calama, Antofagasta, Chile. Length 15 cm. Coll. Field Museum of Natural History,
Chicago.
The distribution of the snuff taking indicates that we have to look upon
northern and northwestern South America as the origin area for both
powders. Zerries also stresses this fact and points out that we, with such
an important exception as the Maue, generally do not find the habit of
snuffing among the Central Tupi tribes. According to Zerries (p. 95) Eastern
Brazil should not be taken into account at all, as the only statement is
dubious. I translate the following from Zerries work (1964 : 92) : "When Uhle
(1898, p. 163/4), following Martyr, wants to credit the Tupi of Eastern
Brazil for snuffing paricd, this seems unlikely.^'' He supports this state-
ment with the information that such a specialist on the Tupi-Guaranl
peoples as A. Metraux does not say anything about such a habit among
them. This is perfectly correct, and as has been conclusively shown by
Metraux in his work on the religion of the Tupinamba (1928: 88), these
Indians were blowing smoke of the petun plant (tobacco) from a tube for
273
magic and healing purposes. On the other hand an examination of the
text in Uhle's paper shows that he (dealing with the parted snuffing) uses
the phrase ". . . and has been occasionally ascribed to the Tupis of Eastern
Brazil." The reference given by Uhle is the small paper by A. Ernst (1889) ,
but Zerries had been misreading and found the name of Martyr on the line
just above. The old chronicler should be omitted in this case, and Ernst
on page 135 of his paper, to which Uhle refers, is only mentioning an Old
Guarani word petycui which has been translated with '■'■po (powder) de
tahaco para ser aspirado.^''
Leaving the Eastern Tupi aside we must, however, keep in mind that
the very words curupd and paricd for the snuff of Piptadenia originate
in the Tupi-Guarani languages, and were spread through the Lingua geral
(Friederici, 1947: 229). Esteban Pinto has written in a paper on the medi-
cine-men among the Tupinamba, that they, in order to get in a state of
ecstacy, used '■Hlmogenicos o estupefacientes^ indicados genericamente con
el nombre de Kurupd (Pardal)." This plant he identifies with Piptadenia
species. As a source for the information he gives only '■''algv/nos testinwnios.''^ ^*
With the Tupi word curupd in mind, we must realize that snuff taking
does not always follow the language families. Zerries has found how, for
instance, several Arawakan tribes north of the Amazon are yopa snuffers,
while other tribes of the same language stock south of the river take tobacco
snuff. Most probably the botanists would be the best equipped to find if
such a varying use has its explanation in the distribution of the botanical
species. In the following chapter, I am suggesting that the old word cohoha
from the West Indies and a word khoba, now used in the Atacameno region,
should be the same, and have spread south via the Arawak and the Andes.
This finds a support in the observations by Zerries that we should ascribe the
very habit of snuff taking to a sub-Andean stratum of tribes. Here the sub-
Andean Arawakan tribes fit, and Zerries finds it probable that the clue
to the snuffing should be found among the Arawak, and that the use of yopo
should be considered as the oldest of the two main classes of snuff.
In my work from 1965 I have treated the same prc^blems, pointing to "a
common old tradition in the Amazonian and sub-Andean regions" ; equally,
I have stressed the fact of "an obvious northern Arawak influence far
south into northwestern Argentina" ( Wassen, 1965 : 77-78) .
Comparative Outlooks and Symbolism
Certain living and extinct tribes and certain archaeological and ethno -
graphical objects have been mentioned in this paper in regard to their im-
portance for the whole study. We have first the ceremonially used cemi-&gures
of wood and stone in the West Indies, with platforms on top for the placing
of cohoha. A mainland ethnographic equivalent to these Antillean cohoha
"platforms" are the table tops used by the Tupari in Brazil when snuffing
ceremonially.
" Pinto, Esteban. 1944 : 324.
274
We have through Oviedo's drawing, the descriptions in words and the
find in the La Gonave cave, a fairly good knowledge of the more simple and
the more elaborated snuff tubes of wood on the Islands. These specimen
have their counterparts in the Y-shaped tubes used among many mainland
tribes. We recognize the round snuff trays, which Las Casas describes from
the Antilles as perfectly made pieces, when we see the generally much simpler
round trays used by the Llanos tribes of northern South America, and cer-
tainly also the more unusual round snuff trays found archaelogically in the
marginal Atacamefio region. For the latter I refer for instance to plate 34
in Le Paige's description of San Pedro de Atacama (1965) , where the author
refers to a grave for 25 adults, a child's offering and also the offering of
snuff trays. Finally, we are certain to look for the origin of the cohoha drug
itself in the now more and more studied species of plants which botanically
belong to the South American mainland. But the very word cohoha! Would
it be possible to trace it back to some actual situation and still find it used
on the mainland? It looks as if it should be possible, and I will return to
this problem later in this chapter. I have already mentioned that the word
Gojoha occurs in northern Venezuela.
In this paper I have repeated my opinion from 1965, that the elaborate
stone figure from the R. Trombetas region shown in Fig. 13 has been espe-
cially sculptured and used to hold a psychotomimetic snuff. The whole char-
acter of this famous piece is ceremonial, and we meet in the sculpture a very
important South American combination of man and jaguar. It is therefore
a small but important piece of information that we have from Dr. Schultes,
when he tells us that the Inga and Kamsa Indians in the Valley of Sibundoy,
Colombia, called a narcotic prepared from the leaves of Methysticodendron
Amesianwni, mits-hway horrachero, or the "intoxicant of the jaguar." Even
if no further explanation has been given as to the nature of the relationship
jaguar — intoxicant — ^we have at least an indication of a connection between
the feline and an intoxicant with certain properties for the users. May we
guess that the jaguar is thought of as the "owner" of the drug?
The alter-ego sculpture in Fig. 13 is of stone. When we try to get a picture
of the archaelogical distribution of snuflang paraphernalia in the Amazon
region, we must take into account that very little of perishable material, such
as wood, has been saved to our days. As pointed out in Wassen, 1965 : 77, an
origin in the Highland Tiahuanaco has often been considered for the trays
and other snuffing paraphernalia now found in northern Chile and north-
western Argentina. Apart from the fact that snuffing paraphernalia now
have been dated in Chile to an earlier epoch than that with an influence from
Tiahuanaco, I have for ethnographical reasons considered an origin of the
marginal Atacameno snuffing material in the Amazonian and sub-Andean
region. I have later found that Rene Naville, in an article published in
Switzerland in 1959, more or less has been of the same opinion ; that is, that
we should look for the origin of the snuff ceremonialism in the Amazon re-
gion, possibly among the Arawak Indians; but that later a cult associated
65 Schultes, R. C. 1955 : 10.
275
with it in the Atacama region and manifested in human offering, had an
Andean origin. Mr. Naville's contribution to the whole problem is valuable,
and I prefer to quote him here in his language, French :
On peut conclure en disant que si I'absorption d'un narcotique au moyen de tubes et de
tablettes semble etre originaire d'Amazonie, peut-etre arawak, son usage rituel et son
association avec le culte rendu a une divinite accompagne de sacrifices humains est
tres probablement d'origine andine. II est done possible que ses deux pratiques se soient
conjointes dans le Nord du Cbili et le Nord-Ouest de 1' Argentine, points d'intersections
des grands courants culturels venus du Nord et de I'Est, pour donner naissanee aux
pifeces decrites plus haut.™
From what already has been stated in this work, it is with full evidence
clear that wooden tablets and tubes for the taking of some kind of a snuff
must have been of outstanding importance in the now marginal region where
once the Atacameno dominated. According to Bennett ( 1946 : 599) , "the term
Atacameno {Atacama, Kunza) refers to a people, with a distinctive language
and culture, who once occupied the northern Chilean provinces of Tacna,
Arica, Tarapaca, Antofagasta, and Atacama, and much of the Northwest
Argentine provinces of Los Andes, Salta, and Jujuy." "Today, the few re-
maining Atacameno are located in isolated sections of Chile and the Puna de
Jujuy, but culturally and linguistically they have been absorbed by Ayrroara
or Spanish."
One may ask if in such a region anything is remembered about the ancient
me of snwffing paraphernalia among the modem mestizo population?
As the Atacameno were basically agriculturists and herders, my question
came after I had read two special articles both dealing with the actual culture
of typical parts of the old region.^"^ Both authors, Horst Nachtigall (1965)
and Ana Maria Mariscotti (1966) underline the importance of traditionally
old offering ceremonies to Pachamama, so-called senaladas, during which
the offers of llama animals (or part of them) , alcohol, chicha, coca leaves, etc.
are obligatory and important.
The cultural correspondence with the samiri concept among the Aymara
and Chipaya Indians of the Highland as studied by the late Alfred Metraux
during his expedition in 1930 seems important for a very special reason,
namely that it has been suggested by Sven Loven that we consider the Taino
word cemi as related to Samiri, because of certain facts, among them that
the Arawak had asserted themselves also in the western Highland.^®
On my written question to authors Nachtigall and Mariscotti both declare
that the former use of the tabletas de rape, tubes, etc. now is absolutely un-
known to anybody in the actual rural population.^®
K> Naville, Ren6. 1959 : 3.
5' Nachtigall, Horst. 1965. Mariscotti, Ana Maria. 1966.
^ Wass^n, H. 1934 : 633. "Dr. Sven Lov4n, at the museum of Gothenburg, has mentioned for me
that he for certain reasons — among these the fact that the Arawaks have asserted themselves also
in the western highland — considers the constituent sami of the word samiri to be the same as the
Tainan zeml."
™ Mrs. Mariscotti, after four different periods of investigation in the Quebrada de Huamahuaca
and Puna de Jujuy can assure "that the use of the tabletas de rap6 which with such frequency
are embodied in the "Puna Complex" of Bennett, is absolutely unljnown." (Letter, November 16,
1966).
276
If we now return to the senaladas^ both Nachtigall (1965 : 216) and Mari-
scotti (1966 : 74) report the 'burning of leaves of khoa or khoha, an aromatic
plant for which they botanically refer to Mentha pulegnmv (of the Family
Labiatae). This is said by La Barre to be used also amongst the Highland
Aymara.'"' With a letter of December 5th, 1966, Mrs. Ana M. Mariscotti has
had the kindness to send me a botanical sample of khoha collected during her
latest trip to Puna de Jujuy. This botanical sample has been examined by
the botanist, Dr. Bo Peterson, chief of the Museum of the Gothenburg
University's Botanical Institution. According to Dr. Peterson it is not at
all the question of a genus of the Labiatae Family, but instead a genus of
the Family Gompositae, namely Lepidophyllum quadrangulare. Reference
has been given to Angel Lulio Cabrera's '"''Sinopsm del genero Lepidophyllura
{C ompositaey in the Boletm de la Sociedad Argentina de Botanica (vol.
I: 48-58, La Plata, 1945), where the author also gives the popular names
chacha and coba for this plant.
In accordance with what has been said above regarding a possible rela-
tion between the word samiri and the Island Arawak cem^, it is also inter-
esting to suggest a relationship between the Island Arawak (Taino) word
Gohoba and the khoba for an aromatic herb in the former Aracameho region
with its influence from the Highland and its trade relations. I would like
to suggest that cohoba and khoba are the same words, even if they now refer
to different plant material and are used in two widely separated geographic
areas. The word we still meet so far south in the form khoba should in that
case belong to an old stratum of Arawak influence. Professor Nils M. Holmer,
specialist on Amerindian languages, write to me (November 17, 1966) that
he is sure that an Andean khowa {khoa) with a strongly aspirated kh-^ may
have been heard as cohoba.
The senaladas among the present rural mestizo population in Puna de
Atacama and Pune de Jujuy represent offshoots of an old Highland tra-
dition with offering to a deity (Pachamama) principally ruling the agricul-
tural cycle. To the Indians, gods, or spirits, were benevolent or ill-disposed,
and the medicine-men or other important tribal functionaries had to face
a situation which I described in 1965 as influencing the benevolent ones and
to weaken or if possible destroy the ill-disposed ones. I have also said that
"we are in our full rig'ht to believe that such important goals have been
reflected also in the art of the Indians, even if we now mostly lack the
mythological or other information explaining the connections" (Wassen,
1965 : 38) . As the psychotomimetic snuffs must be considered as a means of
contact with the spirit world, it is consequently fully understandable that
we find Indian representations of their supernatural beings expressed in the
art concerning the snuffing paraphernalia. We can, as an example, mention
the ja-guar motif in the sculpture on ethnographically known snuff trays
from the Cashuena Indians of the Trombetas and Cachorro Rivers, Brazil.*'^
*° La Barre, Weston, 1948 : 184. "The leaves and stems of qoa (Mentha pulegium Linnaeus) are
burned in the fields "to malce a good harvest," but it is uncertain if this is done for magical reasons,
or for the same sound fertilizing reasons with which they place animal manueres on the field."
Cf. same author, p. 56, about the use of Mentha pulegium, as a condiment.
" See Frikel, 1961, describing the moH feast. Quoted in Wass6n and Holmstedt, 1963 : 21-23.
277
As the illustration on page 8 in Frikel's paper of 1961 on the nwri feast
among the Cachuena unfortunately is very unsharp, I am glad that, thanks
to my friend Dr. Carl Schuster of Woodstock, N.Y., I can publish two
photos here (Figs. 28 and 29) of the Cashuena specimens. Fig. 28 corre-
sponds to the illustration on page 8 in Frikel's paper. Among the implement
for snufSng mori^ the "shovel" or tray at the right has two confronted
jaguars on its haaidle. Frikel calls the snuff tray yard-kukuru^ which in
Cashuena means "figure of the mythological onga (jaguar) yara^\ The
yara are '■'■hichos do fvm,do, da agua^'' "water- jaguars", conceived as a pair,
male and female,''^ a fact also of interest for the principle found in Amazonas
that "magical substances are always in pairs, male and female" as discussed
in Wassen 1965 (p. 76) in regard to the double-headed paricd tray of Tu-
canoan origin. The Cashuena used to have special songs, iwarawd-yorenmru^
62 Frikel. 1961 : 7-8.
Fig. 28. — Cashuena Indian snuffing paraphernalia for t,he morl feast. Mythological
'water-jaguars' form the handle of the tray. Photo courtesy Dr. Carl Schuster, Wood-
stock, N.Y. Collection in Brazil.
278
Fig. 29. — Pair of jaguars, one, as of 1954, "three or four generations old" handle of a
Cashuena snuff tray. Coll. in Brazil. Photo courtesy Dr. Carl Schuster.
for their snuffing boards. It is deeply regretted that they now are lost (Frikel,
1961: 9) as they probably could have helped to explain the symbolism of
the carved motives. As regards the Maue we have the statement by Pereira
(1954: 68) that their medicine-men {pages) used the paricd to get in trance
and be able to contact their gods of the waters and the jungle. We are
probably save to assume that the "water-jaguars" of the Cashuena stand
for such deities or spirits.
Dr. Carl Schuster took his photo in Fig. 28 in the Convento dos Francis-
canos in Santarem, and the objects were then said to be kept in a Franciscan
museum at Ipauarana, Paraiba State. At the same time (November 1954)
Schuster also copied a photo of an handle of aji old snuff tray from the
Cashuena, said to be 3 or 4 generations old, c. 80-100 years. This handle
(Fig. 29) has been published in a drawing on page 7 in Frikel's paper from
1961. We see a pair of jaguars, originally with beads in their eyes. Father
Frikel informed Dr. Schuster at the time, that a complete tray which he
wanted was buried with a shaman. This information confirms my statement
from 1965 : "If also in former days the carved and ceremonially used snuff
trays were placed with the dead this could very well explain their scarcity
in collections.^^
For the tribes of the Uaupes-Caqueta region, Groldman has informed us
that "the shaman in the area is generally referred to as a jaguar, and com-
bines the functions of medicine-man and sorcerer. Older shamans assume
the guise of the jaguar and are particularly feared. Every jaguar who at-
tacks human beings is assumed to be a shaman, and a shaman who is sup-
pected of such an attack is not infrequently put to death. As the spirit of a
murdered shaman enters another jaguar, however, little relief is expected
from killing them" (Goldman, 1948: 796). Bodiger (1965: 150) has shown
how the names for jaguar and shaman are similar or identical in many of the
tribal languages, and how the shaman through this identity in name is con-
sidered to have the power of transforming himself into a jaguar — this in a
detailed investigation of the Tucano religion.
Again and again we come back to the importance of the jaguar motif
for paraphernalia related to snuffing. It is most likely that tribes using
jaguar leg-bones as snuff containers do this out of some magical reasons
related to the real and magical power of the animal. And, when we find a
" Wass^n. 1965 : 74.
279
4 cm. long puma, figure of stone dominating the snuff tray No. 10718 from
Tiahuanaco in the Ethnographical Museum of Buenos Aires (Coll. De-
benedetti, 1911), it is really not surprising (Fig. 30).*^ In the tabletas de
rape of the Atacameno, the jaguar is seen as a mighty god. Also for this a
highly interesting parallel with pure Amazonian ethnographical material
can be presented.
In the Ethnographical Museum at Munich we find the so-called Erlangen
ceremonial staff, an object wMch has been studied by Zerries and by him
found to be a medicine-man's staff, probably from the Carib Warikyana
or Arikiena of the Kachuru (Cachorro) River. Frikel considers the
Cashuena, often mentioned in this work, as descendants of the old Warikyana
(see Wassen, 1965 : 33), and consequently every old piece of art from that
tribe or region must to be of immediate interest also for a study of cere-
monially used snuff trays. Zerries found on the Erlangen staff the super-
natural vulture, the medicine-man's most important helper, and the figure
of a jaguar, "the werwolf of the South American shamans."^ An ajithro-
pomorphic jaguar (or "werwolf" figures) is now seen in Fig. 31 from photos
Photo kindly supplied by Dr. Carl Schuster.
"5 See complete description in Zerries, 1962, and his photo on p. 615.
Fig. 30. — Snuff tray with 4 cm. long puma of stone. Tiahuanaco. Coll. No. 10718 (De-
benedetti, 1911), Museo Etnogrdfico, Buenos Aires. Photo courtesy Dr. Carl Schuster.
280
Fig. 31. — Ornamental detail, anthropomorphic jaguar on a trumpet of hard red wood.
Old specimen in the Pitts Rivers Museum (No. 130, J. 44), without provenience but
certainly from the Lower Amazon Region, probably the old Warlkyana. Photographs
courtesy of Mr. Jeremy P. S. Montagu, London.
which have been kindly supplied by Mr. Jeremy P. S. Montagu, London.
The figure shows a "side-blast trumpet made of two semicylindrical pieces
of hard red wood." This specimen, now in the Pitt Rivers Museum (entry
130.J.44) came from "the Bodleian" to the University Museum in Oxford,
presumably, then transferred to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1886." It is
an old piece of Indian art for which the provenience is lacking, but as far
as I imderstand it should be referred to the same region as the Erlangen
staff, that is, the Lower Amazon region and from the old Warikyana in the
art center of the Rio das contas (cf . Wassen, 1965 : 34) . A similar 123 cm. long-
trumpet with jaguar motif (his tail curled down) from an old collection
262-016 0-67— 20
281
Fig. 32.— Snufif tray from "Quitor 5", San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Dominating an-
thropomorphic feline god. Drawing after photographic illustration in Le Paige, 1964.
and the Amazon is found in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Ley den.
It belonged originally to "Het Kon. Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden."
An important detail in this jaguar-man on a trumpet is the tail, which
goes up on the back and ends in a characteristic curl. The reason I find it
important might be understood from Fig. 32, in which the figure on a snuff
tray found in "Quitor 5" in the region of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, by
Gustavo Le Paige, has been copied from plate 125 in Le Paige's work of 1964.
The snuff tray from Chile is an expression of the same idea of a jaguar (or
puma) -man-deity as found on the old trumpet, and the tail is a characteristic
of both figures. To me these specimens form another link in a chain of evi-
dence for an early Amazon cultural influence on the Atacaman region.
Thanks to a numerous series of snuff tray finds in the dry region. Father Le
Paige has been able to demonstrate specific manifestations of magico-reli-
gious art in which the taking of a man's head is involved. In snuffing para-
phernalia which he found, he can follow a complete series of ceremonies, from
the presentation of a condemned man with backbound hands and the execu-
tioner with his attribute, an axe, to the priest carrying the head of the vic-
tim — in that important moment imitating the sacred puma god by walking on
all fours and carrying a puma mask and the wings of a condor.*''
°« Le Paige, Gustavo. 1964: 61. Mostny (1964) has been able to show such ceremonialism also
in the petroglyphs of Angostura, Prov. of Antofagasta, Chile.
282
Gustavo Le Paige and other archaeologists working in the Atacaman re-
gion find this richness of evidence thanks to a dry climate. What the anthro-
pologists have found, or may expect to find, in the eternally wet Amazon
region, are just a few fragments of a formerly rich ceremonialism in which
the taking of psychotomimetic drugs seems to have been integrated.
A group of snuff trays from the Amazon region with an obviously im-
portant zoomorphic motif are the Maue specimens said to depict caymans or
snakes. Several of these old fine Maue wooden trays have fortunately been
saved in museum collections.^^ The specimen in Oslo is shown also here (Fig.
33) . Typical for most of the Maue trays, is the fact that they are rectangular
in form and have a finely polished depository for the snuff, open on the edge
of the board. The other edge of the tray ends in an animal's head, often
with an accentuated tongue, a trait typical for representations of snakes but
hardly for caymans in which the tongue is not easily observable. It is true
that a Maue Indian has once stated that a paricd tray owned by him repre-
sented a yacare, but as I have said, this label can not be stamped on all snuff
trays from this tribe.''^ Anthropological colleagues such as Etta Becker-Don-
ner in Vienna, and Antonio Serrano in Argentina, as well as Otto Zerries in
Munich, seem to favor the idea of snakes."^ The Atacama specimen published
in Fig. 22 has, however, a feline head. As this archaeological specimen is
much older than the 19th century ethnographical objects from the Maue, it
is of interest also for the discussion of the Maue pieces. As a matter of fact,
some of the Maue tray handles in the form of animal heads may be con-
ceived as conventionalized feline heads, perhaps with some idea of "water-
jaguars" behind as in the case with the Cashuena. The outstreatched tongue
is accentuated in the feline powder cup published as Fig. 5 in Zerries : 1965.
A most interesting snuff tray with two feline heads found in a grave at the
Pucara de Lasana (Rio Loa, Chile) has been published by Spahni (1964,
Fig. 5). His Fig. 4, showing a snuff tray from another grave said to repre-
sent an armadillo, most probably also depicts a feline.
Another group of animals which in a particular symbolic and magic way
seem to be connected with the use of drugs are birds with very good eyesight,
such as eagles, vultures, very often condors, and also such good night -hunting
birds as owls (the Cashuena snuff tray in Fig. 28) . I have treated this in
detail in my work from 1965 (pp. 24-29), and I can reiterate here, that we
are entitled to consider birds as patrons for ecstatic intoxication in several
Indian societies. I refer, for instance, to snuff trays with condors, bird-shaped
snuffers, snuffing tubes which terminate in hollow nuts, often shaped like
a bird's head (Fig. 34), and also, to direct explanations by medicine-men
that they use feather crowns, etc. so that they may see better into the world
of spirits. This connection between the shamans as users of drugs and the
world of bird-spirits is a fact. The reason for it is probably to be found in
«7 See figs. 8, 10, 11, 12 and 15 in Wass6n 1965.
«8 Wass6n. 1965 : 43.
89 Wass6n. 1965 : 43 and 50.
283
Fig. 34. — Snuff tubes from the Guapore Territory. A, Monde Indians, after photo by
Caspar; B, Salamay Indians, coll. Mus. f. Volkerkunde der Univ., Zurich, No. 11307;
C-D, Tupari Indians, coll. Dr. Franz Caspar in the Mus. f. Volkerkunde, Basel, No.
IV C 9052, length 88 cm. (photo and drawing of the same tube).
285
the drugs/" and I point, in passing, to the complex of Siberian shamans being
described as of bird-type, who visit the spirits up in the air. This, inci-
dentally, is a contrast to the other type of Siberian shamans, who have their
contacts in the world belowJ^ The ideas among the Koryak about the Big-
Raven and the fly-agaric give a good illustration of this.''^ I hope that later
a common component will be found in all this, through the analytical work
by experts on the drugs involved.
No specific search has been performed for this paper regarding the pos-
sible use of snuff tubes outside America, where they seem to be autoch-
thonous." Br. Gordon Willey (1966: 22), has counted "the chewing of lime
or ashes with some kind of a narcotic" as one of the very ancient traits, pos-
sibly the survival of a Palaeolithic heritage, which "are shared by Asia and
the New World." Willey naturally refers to the use of betel-nut in Asia and
the coca leaf in South America, and he finds a considerable age for the trait
in the Americas.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bennett, Wendell C. (1&46). "The Atacameuo." Handb. of S. Amer. Indians, 2 : 599-
618. Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
BiED, Junius B. (1948). "Preceramic Cultures in Chicama and Virii." Pp. 21-28 in
Wendell C. Bennett : A Reappraisal of Peruvian Archaeology. Mem. of the Soc. for
Amer. Arch. No. 4, Suppl. to Amer. Antiquity 13 : 4, pt 2. Menasha, Wise.
BoDiGER, Ute. (1965). "Die Religion der Tukano." Kolner Ethnol. Mitteilungen 3.
Cologne.
BouKNE, Edward Gaylord. (1906). "Columbus, Ramon Pane and the Beginnings of
American Anthropology." Reprinted from the Proc. of the Amer. Ant. Soc, Worcester,
Mass.
Brooks, Jerome E. (1987). "Tobacco." Its History illustrated by the Books, Manu-
scripts and Engravings in the Library of George Arents, Jr. Vol. I, 1507-1615. New
York, The Rosenbach Company.
Casanova, Eduabdo. (1946). "The Cultures of the Puna and the Quebrada of Huma-
huaca." Handb. of S. Amer. Indians, 2: 619-631. Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143.
Washington.
Caspar, Franz. (1952). "Tupari." Unter Indios im Urwald Brasiliens. Braunschweig.
Caspar, Franz. (1953). MS. "Ein Kulturareal ini Hinterland der Fliisse Guapor^ und
Machado (Westbrasilien), dargestellt nach unveroffentlichten und anderen wenig
bekannten Quellen, mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Nahrungs- und Genussmittel."
(Dissertation). Hamburg.
Castellanos, Juan de. (1850). "Elegias de Varones Ilustres de Indias." 2nd ed. Bibl.
de Autores Espanoles, t. IV. Madrid.
'0 Wassfin. 1965 : 29. I can add that the sensation of being airborne through the taking of
ayahuasca has been described from the Zaparo already by Manuel Vlllavicencio in 1858 (p. 372) :"
Su accion parece dirijirse a escitar el sistema nervioso ; todos los sentidos se avxvan i todas las
facultades se despiertan ; sienten vahldos i rodeos de cabeza, luego la sensaci6n de elevarse al aire i
comenzar un viaje a^reo ; . . ."
" La Barre, Weston. 1964 : 121. "En Slb^rle, peuve 6tre distingu^s deux types de chamans : le
chaman-oiseau qui vislte les esprlts dans les airs et rggne sur le temps qu'il fait, et le chaman-renne
qui visite le monde souterraln et rggne sur les esprits des vivants et de morts."
" Jochelsen, Waldemar. 1905 : 120.
" Prof. B. Holmstedt has drawn my attention to a paper by Chinachoti and Tangchai (1957 : 689),
where the U-shaped metal tubes used in Thailand for the nasal absorbtion of a mixed tobacco
powder has been treated. A pair of such tubes with the commercial packages of such ingredients
aa tobacco, quicklime and perfume, are found In the Gothenburg Ethnographic Museum (Coll.
64.25.97-102).
286
Chinaohoti, Ninaet and Pbasan Tangchai. (1957). "Pulmonary Alveolar Microlithiasis
Associated witli the Inhalation of Snufe in Thailand." Diseases of the Chest, vol. 32,
No. 1, pp. 687-689.
Cooper, John M. (1949). "Stimulants and Narcotics." Handb. of S. Amer. Indians,
5 : 525^558. Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
Eenst, a. (1889). "On the etymology of the Avord tobacco." The Amer. Anthropologist,
2 : 2, pp. 133-142. Washington.
Feiederici, Geoeg. (1925). (Review). "Sven Lov^n, Ueber die Wurzeln der Tainischen
Kultur." Gottingisehe Gelehrte Anzeigen, 187. Jahrg., pp. 32-43. Berlin.
Feiederici, Geoeg. (1947). Amerikanistisches Worterbuch, Hamburg.
Frikeil, Protasio. (1961). "Mori— A Festa de Rap6." Boletim do Museu Paraense
Emilio Goeldi, Antropologia No. 12, Bel6m, ParS.
Goldman, Irving. (1948). "Tribes of the Uaup^s-Caquetii Region." Handb. of S. Amer.
Indians, 3 : 763-798. Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
Gumilla, Joseph. (1744). "El Orinoco Ilustrado, y defendido." Historia Natural,
Civil, y Geographica de este gran Rio, etc., tomo I. Madrid.
Hagen, Victor W. von. (1965). "The Desert Kingdoms of Peru." New York Graphic
Soc. publ., Ltd. Greenwich, Conn.
Harrison, D. F. N. (1964). "Snuff— Its Use and Abuse." British Medical Journal,
1964, 2, 1649-1651.
Hernandez de Alba, Gregorio. (1948). "The Achagua and their neighbors." Handb. of
S. Amer. Indians, 4 : 399-412. Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
HoLMSTEDT, B. (1965). "Tryptamine derivatives in epena, an intoxicating snuff used
by some South American Indian tribes." Arch. int. Pharmacodyn., 1965, 156, No.
2 : 285-305. Brussells, Belgium.
HoLMSTEDT, B. (1966). "Gas Chromatographic Analysis of Some Psychoactive Indole
Bases." Amines and Schizophrenia, Pergamon Press, Oxford «& Now York, 1966, pp.
151-166.
Humboldt, Alexander von and Aimt Bonpland. (1818-1829), Personal Narrative of
Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the years 1799-1804,
translated by Helen Maria Williams. 7 vols. London.
Jochelsen, Waldemar. (1905). "Religion and Myths of the Koryak." Mem. of the Amer.
Mus. of Nat. Hist. X. New York.
Joyce, Thomas A. (1916). Central American and West Indian Archaeology, London.
KiRCHHOFF, Paul. (1948). "Food-Gathering Tribes of the Venezuelan Llanos." Handb.
of S. Amer. Indians, 4 : 445^68. Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
La Barre, Weston. (1948). "The Aymara Indians of the Lake Titicaca Plateau, Bolivia."
Mem. Series of the Amer. Anthrop. Ass., No. 68. Amer. Anthrop., Vol. 50 : 1, pt. 2.
Menasha, Wise.
La Barre, Weston. (1964). "Le complexe narcotique de I'Amerique Autochtone." Dio-
g^ne 48 : 120-134. Paris.
Las Casas, Bartolom^ de. (1909). "Apologetica historia de las Indias." Historiadores
de Indias, I, M. Serrano y Sanz, Ed., Madrid.
Latcham, Ricardo E. (1938). "Arqueologia de la Region Atacamena." Prensas de la
Univ. de Chile.
Le Paige, Gustavo. (1964). "El precer^mico en la Cordillera Atacamena y los cemente-
rios del periodo agro-alfarero de San Pedro de Atacama." Anales de la Univ. del Nort,
Antofagasta : 3. Antofagasta.
Le Paige, Gustavo. (1965). "San Pedro de Atacama y su zona." Anales de la Univ. del
Norte, Antofagasta : 4. Antofagasta.
Lov£n, Sven. (1935). Origins of the Tainan Culture, West Indies. Goteborg.
MacNutt, Francis Augustus. (1912). "De Orbe Novo. The Eight Decades of Peter
Martyr d'Anghera." Transl. from Latin with Notes and Introduction. 1-2. New York
and London.
Mangones, Edmond and Louis Maximilien. (1941). L'Art Precolombien d'Hai'ti. Port-
au-Prince, Haiti.
287
Maekham, Clements R. (1869). First part of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas by
the Tnca Garcilasso de la Vega. Vol. I. Works issued by the Hakluyt Soc. London.
Mabiscotti, Ana MAsfA. (1966). "Algunas supervivencias del culto a la Pachamama."
El complejo ceremonial del 1°. de Agosto en Jujuy (NO. Argentine) y sus vinculaciones.
Zeitschrift f. Ethnologie 91 : 1, pp. 68-99. Braunschweig.
Maetie de ANGLEEiA, Pedeo. (1944). "Decadas del Nuevo Mundo." Editorial Bajel. Bue-
nos Aires.
Mabtius, Gael Fe. v. (1867). Beitrage zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's
zumal BrasiUens. I. Zur Ethnographie. Leipzig.
Matto, Feancisco. (1964). "Arte Preeolombino." Coleccion Matto. Museo de Arte Pre-
colombino. Montevideo.
Meggees, Betty J. and Cliffoed Evans. (1957). "Archaeological Investigations at the
Mouth of the Amazon." Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 167. Washington.
Meteaux, a. (1928). La Religion des Tupinamba et ses rapports avec celle des autres
tribus tupi-guarani.* Paris.
M^;teatjx, a. (1946). "The Caingang." Handb. of S. Amer. Indians, 1: 445^76. Bur. of
Amer. Ethn., BuU. 143. Washington.
Meteaux, A. (1948). "The Guarani." Handb. of S. Amer. Indians, 3 : 69-94. Bur. of Amer.
Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
M£teatjx, a. (1948 a). "The Tupinamba." Handb. of S. Amer. Indians, 3 : 95-134. Bur.
of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
Monteieo de Noeonha, Jos£. (1862). Roteiro da viagem da Cidade do Para, ate as
ultimas colonias do Sertao da Provincia. Para.
Mostnt, G. (1952). "Una tumba de Chiuchiu." Bol. del Museo Nacional de Hist. Nat.
26 : 1. Santiago de Chile.
MosTNY, G. (1958). "Mascaras, tubos y tabletas para rape y cabezas trofeos entre los
atacamenos." Miscellanea Paul Rivet Octogenario Dicata, Vol. II : 379-392. Mexico.
MosTNY, G. (1964). "Petroglifos de Angostura." Zeitschrift f. Ethnologie, 89: 1, pp. 51-
70. Braunschweig.
MtmoA, JtJAN Ignacio. (1965). "Los pueblos prehistoricos del Territorio Uruguayo." Ed.
Daniel Vidart. Amerindia 3. Montevideo.
Nachtigall, Hoest. (1965). "Beitrage zur Kultur der India nischen Lamaziichter der
Puna de Atacama (Nordwest-Argentiniens)." Zeitschrift f. Ethnologie 90: 2, pp. 184^
218. Braunschweig.
Naville, Ren£. (1959). "Tablettes et tubes a aspirer du rSpe." Bulletin No. 17, Soc.
Suisse des Americanistes. Geneva.
Netto, Ladislatt. (1885), "Investigagoes sobre a Archeologia Brazileira." Arch, do Museu
Nacional, VI : 257-554. Rio de Janeiro.
Noedenskiold, Eeland. (1919). "Sydamerika." Kampen om guld och silver 1498-1600.
Uppsala.
Nunez A., Lautaeo. (1963). "Problemas en tomo a la tableta rape." Anales de la Univ.
del Norte, Antofagasta : 2. Antof agasta.
Nunez A., Lautaeo. (1965). "DesarroUo cultural prehispdnico del Norte de Chile."
Estudios Arqueologicos No. 1 : 37-115. Univ. de Chile, Antofagasta. Antofagasta.
Oviedo, Gonzalo, Feenandez de. (1851-1855). "Historia general y natural de las Indias,
Islas y Tierra-Firma del Mar Oceano." Vols. 1-4, Real Acad, de Hist., Madrid.
Paxmataey, Helen C. (1960). "The Archaeology of the Lower Tapaj<3s Valley, Brazil."
Transactions of the Amer. Philosophical Soc, n.s. 50 : 3. Philadelphia, Pa.
Peeeiea, Nunes. (1954). "Os Indios Man^s." Cole^ao "Rex". Rio de Janeiro.
Pinto, Esteban. (1944). "La extraua flgura del page tupinamba." Actas Ciba 11, La
medicina de los tupi-guaranfes, pp. 319-328. Buenos Aires.
PiTTiEE, H. (1926). Manual de las plantas usuales de Venezuela. Caracas.
Reis Altschul, Siei von. (1964). "A Taxonomic Study of the Genus Anadenanthera."
Contr. from the Gray Herbarium of Harv. Univ., No. 193. Cambridge, Mass.
RosENBLAT, Angel. (1965). "Los Otomacos y Taparitas de los Llanos de Venezuela."
Anuario I., 1964 : 227-377. Instituto de Antropologia e Historia. Caracas.
288
Rouse, Irving. (1964). "Prehistory of the West Indies." Science, vol. 144 : 499-513.
Washington, D.G., May 1, 1964.
Ryden, Stig. (1944). Contributions to the Archaeology of the Rio Loa Region, Goteborg.
Salas, Albeeto Mabio. (1945). "El antigal de Ci^nega Grande (Quebrada de Purma-
marca, Prov. de Jujuy)." (Publ. del Mus. Etnografico de la Fac. de Fil. y Letras, Serie
A V. Buenos Aires.
Sawyer, Alan R. (1966). Ancient Peruvian Ceramics. The Nathan Cummings Collec-
tion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York.
ScHtTLTES, Richard Evans. (1954). A new narcotic snuff from the Northwest Amazon.
Bot. Mus. Leaflets, Harv. Univ., vol. 16 : 9, pp. 241-266. Cambridge, Mass.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. (1955). A new narcotic genus from the Amazon slope of
the Colombian Andes'. Bot. Mus. Leaflets, Harv. Univ., vol. 17 : 1, pp. 1-11. Cam-
bridge, Mass.
ScHULTES, Richard Evans. (1963). "Hallucinogenic Plants of the New World." The
Harvard Review, 1 : 4, pp. 18-32. Cambridge, Mass.
Seitz, Georg. (1960). "Hinter dem griinen Vorhang." Fahrt zu den nackten Indianern
an der Grenze Brasiliens. F. A. Brockhaus, Wiesbaden.
Serrano, Antonio. (1939). "Las tabletas para "parica" del Museo Nacional de Rio
de Janeiro." La Nacion, June 4, 1939. Buenos Aires.
Spahni, Jean-Christian. (1964). "Le cimetifere atacamenien du Pucara de Lasana,
Valine du Rio Loa (Chili)." Joum. de la Soei6t6 des Am^ricanistes, vol. 53: 147-179.
Paris.
Steward, Julian H. (1948). "The Circum-Caribbean Tribes: An Introduction." Handb.
of S. Amer. Indians, 4 : 1^1. Bur. of Amer. Ethn., Bull. 143. Washington.
Stone, Doris. (1958). Introduction to the Archaeology of Costa Rica. San Jose, C.R.
Uhle, Max. (1898). "A Snuffing Tube from Tiahuanaco." Bull, of the Mus. of Science
and Art, Univ. of Penna., Vol. 1 : 4. Phila., Pa.
Uscategui, M., Nestor. (1959). "The present distribution of narcotics and stimulants
amongst the Indian tribes of Colombia." Bot. Mus. Leaflets, Harv. Univ., vol. 18 : 6,
pp. 273-304. Cambridge, Mass.
Wassen, Henry. (1934). "The Frog in Indian Mythology and Imaginative World."
Anthropos 29 : 613-658. St. Gabriel-Modling at Vienna.
Wass£;n, S. Henry. (1964). "Some General Viewpoints in the Study of Native Drugs
Especially from the West Indies and South America." Ethnos 1964 : 1-2, pp. 97-120.
Stockholm.
Wassen, S. Henry. (1965). "The Use of Some Specific Kinds of South American Indian
SnufE and Related Paraphernalia." Etnologiska Studier 28: 1-116. Goteberg, Etno-
grafiska Museet.
Wassen, S. Henry and Bo Holmstedt. (1963). "The Use of Parica, an Ethnological
and Pharmacological Review." Ethnos 1963 : 1, pp. 5-45. Stockholm.
Villavicencio, Manuel. (1858). Geografia de la Repiiblica del Ecuador. New York.
WiLBERT, Johannes. (1963). "Indios de la Region Orinoco-Ventuari." Monografia No.
8, Fundaci6n La Salle de Ciencias Naturales. Caracas.
Willey, Gordon. (1966). An Introduction to American Archaeology. Vol. I, North and
Middle America. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Zerries, Otto. (1962). "Der Zeremonialstab der Erlanger Sammlung aus Brasilien in
Staatlichen Mus. f. Volkerkunde" in Miinchen. Akten der 34. Internat. Amer. Kongr.,
Vienna, 1960, pp. 613-620. Vienna.
Zerries, Otto. (1964). "Waika." Die kulturgeschichtliche Stellung der Waikaindianer
des oberen Orinoco im Rahmen der Volkerkunde Siidamerikas. Klaus Renner Verlag,
Munich.
Zerries, Otto. (1965). "Drei unbekannte Holzschnitzarbeiten aus Brasilianisch-Guayana
im Museum fiir Volkerkunde zu Mannheim." Tribus 14 : 185-193. Stuttgart.
289
The Botanical Origins of
South American Snuffs
Richard Evans Schultes
Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Page
I. Introduction 291
II. Princii)al Sources of South American Snuffs 292
III. Sources of Snuffs of Lesser Importance 302
IV. Final Query 304
V. Bibliography 305
Introduction
Man in primitive societies the world around has found the most ingenious
Avays of administering narcotics. Intoxicating plants, or products from them,
have been chewed in crude form or variously elaborated and consumed. They
have been drunk as decoctions or infusions. A few have been prepared in the
form of thick syrups or pastes that are licked or smeared on the tongue or
gums. Some have been smoked directly, as in pipes, cigars or cigarettes, or
the fumes of them have been inhaled in sundry ways. There are those that
have been applied to the skin or membranes in the form of ointments or
unguents. Several are known to have been taken as an enema. Snuffing has
been the preferred method of using a niunber of these agents.
The verb to snuff (and the corresponding German schupfen and Skandina-
vian srmsa) , stems, of course, from the same Germanic root that has given us
the English word to sniff. There is a significant difference between the two
actions. Whereas one sniffs an odour or fragrance — that is, a substance such
as an essential oil, smoke or ethereal component of the atmosphere — one snuffs
actually solid substances variously inserted or drawn into the nostrils.
The snuffing of plant materials for narcotic, especially for hallucinogenic,
effects seems to be peculiarly New World. To be sure, sternutation induced
by various means is a recognized therapeutic practice in many cultures. In
the Middle Ages, European medicine recommended sternutation to draw
off bad humours. Hellebore, the German Niesicurz and English sneezewort,
was one of the most favoured therapeutic sternutatory powders taken into
the nostrils together with marjoram and other plants to cleanse the brain
through sneezing. Sternutation was used even for prophesying and in super-
stition and magic. A person who sneezed on New Year's morning, for example,
would not die during the year. Snuffing now refers usually to the use of to-
bacco. This is true in languages other than English. The German schupfen,
for example, has been more or less restricted to the snuffing of tobacco and
other stimulants since the 17th Century.
291
It does seem probable, however, that the use of narcotics as snuffs is of
American origin and that it went to the Old World with tobacco. The custom
of snuffing tobacco, widespread apparently in pre-Conquest America, became
common and accepted as a recreational practice devoid of therapeutic intent
in Spain during the first quarter of the l7th Century. There is evidence that
it was imported directly from the New World and that tobacco snuffing,
as well as chewiag and smoking, represents one of the most significant cul-
ture traits passed on to the western civilisation from the American aborigines.
Principal Sources of South American Snuffs
Undoubtedly the most important snuffing material in pre-Conquest Amer-
ica was tobacco. At least two species of tobacco, possibly several additional
ones, are known to have been employed as a narcotic {4-) . These two are Nico-
tiana Tdbacum and N. rustica. Nicotiana Tabacum, from which comes most of
the tobacco that is smoked, snuffed and chewed at the present time, was like-
wise the source of most of the narcotic in pre-Conquest South America, Middle
America and the West Indies. Originally a tropical species, it has been
cultivated so long that it is not known in the truly wild state. Nicotiana rus-
tica^ native to North America, where it is still wild in some localities, is a
hardier species thought to have originated in Mexico. It is this species that
was smoked and probably snuffed by Indians of Mexico and North America
before the arrival of the European. Europeans introduced Nicotiana Tdbacum
from the Old World to North America long after the Conquest, and imtil
this introduction, it was apparently unknown in most of the territory now
included in the United States and Canada {9) .
Although there are indirect evidences that tobacco may have been taken
as snuff in Mexico and other parts of North America, there can be no doubt
that in much of South America this was the most widespread method of
utilizing the narcotic, especially in the wet, tropical lowland areas, such as
the Amazon Valley. So nfany observations attest to this fact that there would
seem to be little if any need for a discussion of the custom, were it not that
perhaps confusion as to the source of a number of snuff preparations may
have led to the assumption that tobacco snuffing, though widespread, might
have been even more widespread than it actually was. Yet botanists and
anthropologists have consistently warned against such generalisations. Mason,
for example, stated {13) that "the snuff taken throughout . . . most of the
Amazon and West Indies ... is more frequently made from other plants
than toibacco." And Cooper owned (^) that "tdbacco snuffing . . ." is "not
always distinguishable in our sources from Piptadenia snuffing."
Garcilaso de la Vega {8) reported that the Inca did not cultivate tobacco
or sayri, but they are thought to have utilised several varieties native to
the Andes, the roots of which were pulverised and used medicinally and as
a snuff {To) .
Botanists are understandably wont to be somewhat more conservative
in ethnobotanical generalisations than are anthropologists. Goodspeed, for
292
example, in his classic work (9) on the genus Nicotiana, wrote that "pre-
sumably N. tabacttm was in pre-Columbian use, doubtless often in cultiva-
tion, in the West Indies, much of Mexico, Central America, Colombia,
Venezuela, the Guianas and Brazil. Spinden . . . apparently would extend
this range to Peru, Boliva, Chile and Argentina, since tubes 'for taking
snuff, presumably of tobacco, occur far and Avide* in those areas ....
There is, however, considerable doubt that the material snuffed in the tubes
so familiar in remains of certain ancient civilisations in the Americas was
'tobacco' obtained either from early races of N. tabacum or from progenitors
of the species of Nicotiana which today are native in the regions concerned.
In other words, there is little evidence that N. Tabacum was in pre-Colum-
bian use in western North America or in lower South America."
Tobacco in snuffing — whether the source of the snuff be Nicotiana Tabacum
or some other species of the genus — seems quite generally to have been
used alone, although there are occasional reports that it is sometimes mixed
with Anadenanthera. Amongst the tribes of the Guapore Eiver in Amazonian
Brazil, tobacco snuff was mixed with "crushed angico leaves [angico refers
to leguminous trees, especially to Anadenantheral and ashes of a certain
bark" (12). During my years of field work amongst the Indians of the
northwestern Amazon, I witnessed the preparation of tobacco snuff on many
occasions and actually employed the snuff myself instead of smoking. The
species used was Nicotiana Tabacum, and with two exceptions, I never saw
the admixture of any other plant to the snuff — ^that is, other than ashes.
These two exceptions were with the Witotos of the Rio Igaraparana and the
Yukunas of the Rio Miritiparana of Colombia, where powdered coca {Ery-
throxylon Coca) is added to the tobacco. It is my belief that the ashes (usually
from bark of TJieobromxi or leaves of Cecropia) serve mainly or wholly a
physical function to help keep the finely pulverised and sifted tobacco
particle from absorbing humidity from the excessively wet atmosphere and
lumping so that the material could not be used as a snuff.
South America boasts a wide variety of containers and implements for
the administration and self -administration of snuffs. Since there is normally,
I believe, no relationship between these paraphernalia and the botanical
source of the snuffs, I need not here discuss this intricate topic which
has already been thoroughly investigated by a more competent specialist {27) .
A critical survey of tobacco snuffing in South America, incorporating
all of the extensive literature interpreted against the background of inten-
sive field observations, is overdue. I venture to predict that, as such a study
unravels the enigmas, we shall see other narcotic snuffs assume greater
roles and tobacco find a progresively less important role than it has been
given in our ethnobotanical evaluation.
One of the most interesting and enigmatic snuffs of South America
is yopo or niopo, prepared from the beans of the leguminous tree Anaden-
anthera peregrina. During its botanical history, this plant has been placed
in the related genera Acacia and Mimosa. It is perhaps best known under
the binomial Piptadenia peregrina, but recent studies have indicated that
it is most appropriately accommodated within Anadenanthera (1 ) .
293
Fig. 1. — Use of the straight bird-bone snuffing-tube for administration of the tobbaco-
coca snuff of the Yukuna Indians, Rio Miritiparand, Amazonas, Colombia. Photograph
by R. E. Schultes.
Of possible significance is the curious fact that Anadenanthera peregrina
is or has been employed not only in northern South America but probably
in the Antilles as well. Tobacco snuffing was a well established custom in
the "West Indian islands long 'before the arrival of Europeans, and the
snuffing in Hispaniola of a narcotic, vision-producing powder called cohoba
was no cause for intellectual curiosity, since most early writers assumed that
cohoba was merely another tobacco snuff. It was the American enthno-
botanist Safford who first identified, quite correctly, I believe, the West
Indian cohoba snuff with the yopo of the Orinoco basin of Venezuela and
Colombia {16) .
There were a number of reports in the literature ascribing the sources
294
of Amazonian snuffs to various leguminous trees, and its was Bentham who
"came to the conclusion that all South American trees . . . referred to as
the source of narcotic snuff were probably one species and were identical
with Linnaeus' Mimosa peregrina, which Avas first described in 1737 from a
seedling growing in the celebrated Clifford Garden in Holland" {16). It
seems that one of the most extraordinarily mistaken generalisations in
etlmobotany — that all of the narcotic snuffs of the Amazon that were not
obviously tobacco must have been prepared from Anadenanthera peregrina —
has stemmed from Benthem's conclusions. This generalisation, of course,
has not been without influence, judging from the state of confusion and
lack of clarity encountered in many of the earliest reports of "smoking"
and "snuffing." We have no clear distinction, in many early instances, as
to whether tobacco or cohoba represented the plant the use of which was
being described, since tobacco was snuffed in the Caribbean area at the
time of the arrival of the Spaniards.
Fig. 2. — Tanimuka Indian administering tobacco-coca snuff with the V-shaped bird-bone
snuffing tube employed for self -administration. Rfo Miritiparand, Amazonas, Colombia.
Photograph by R. E. Schultes.
295
Fig. 3.— Yukuna Indian pouring out into the hand from a snail-shell case a quantity of
tobacco-coca snuff for insertion into the bird-bone snuffing tube. Rio Miritiparana,
Amazonas, Colombia. Photograph by R. E. Schultes.
A recently published map {4), sliowng the distribution of snuffs made
from Anadenanthera^ includes the entire Orinoco basin and adjacent areas
of southern Venezuela to the east; westward across the northern Colombian
Andes, much of the Magdalena Valley ; down the Andes through Columbia,
Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia; the coastal region of Peru, and scattered iso-
lated areas in northern Argentina, and the central and western Amazon
Valley. One must remember that this map refers not to one species but to
a genus — and there have been suggestions that species other than Anaden-
anthera peregrina have entered the South American snuff making picture.
Furthermore, one must recall that Cooper himself cautioned that "our
tribal records on which the . . . distribution map ... is based are prob-
ably very incomplete. On the other hand, some of the attributions may not
be correct, since in some cases the lack of exact botanical identification makes
296
it doubtful whether we have to do with Piptadenia snuff, tobacco snuff or
snuff from some other plant . . . ."
When I first went to the northwesternmost Amazon in Colombia — a region
the flora of which I investigated in the field from 1941 to 1953—1 fully ex-
pected to meet with the use of yopo snuff. One of my reasons for choosing
this geographcal area for my studies was our knowledge that here the
aborigines were reported to be using more kinds of narcotic preparations
than in any comparable region of the world. Consultation with the sparse
literature for this part of the Amazon basin led me to believe that yopo snuff
from Anadenanthera peregrina was known and employed throughout the
area. True, amongst the Witotos, Kubeos, Yukunas, Tanimukas, Tukanos,
Makunas and other native groups, I met with the use, oftentimes excessive
use, of tobacco snuff. I never met with anything called yopo or niopo, and
what was more confusing to me as a botanist was my failure to encounter,
wild or cultivated, a single tree of Anadenanthera peregrina. This species
grows cultivated in the Llanos of Colombia — the Orinoco drainage area of
Colombia, northerly adjacent to its Amazon area. Furthermore, from the
writings of Spruce (^^) and other earlier travellers, as well as from reports
of missionaries of the present day, we know that this hallucinating snuff was
and is employed extensively and in large amounts by the naitves of the Llanos.
My later explorations and researches in the Colombian Amazon convinced me
that generalisation from reports in the available literature had led to gross
error; that, in effect, yopo snuff not only is not used but is actually unknown,
and that the tree does not occur, at least in the northwesternmost Amazon.
Furthermore, since I was resident for three years in country of the Tikuna
Indians of the uppermost Amazon Eiver at the point where Brazil, Colombia
and Peru join, I was especially interested in the assmnption that these natives
formerly made snuff from Anadenanthera (3) . Inasmuch as I met no tree
of this species in the area nor did I see the Tikunas (who do make tobacco
snuff) prepare snuff from leguminous seeds, I must conclude that this
specific instance is also one of the numerous erroneous generalisations.
How can we assume, or justify an assumption, that natives over such
a vast area as the Amazon make a snuff from a plant that they do not know,
that does not grow in their region, wild or cultivated, the seeds of which they
would have to import for many, in some cases, for several thousand miles ?
Let us contemplate what is known of the distribution of Anadenanthera
peregrina. Safford, who apparently concurred with the ideas that such widely
scattered Amazonian peoples as the Omaguas of Amazonian Peru and the
Murus of the Rio Negro of Brazil prepared snuff from this leguminous tree,
truthfully wrote that Anadenanthera peregrina "has a most appropriate
specific name, for it has a wide geographical range." He further pointed out
that its range had "undoubtedly been increased by human agency." But, when
Safford cites for Anadenanthera peregrina a range comprising Hispaniola
and Puerto Rico, Venezuela, northeastern Peru, southern Peru, Argentina,
Guiana and "many parts" of Brazil, he was including with Anadenanthera
peregrina two other species of the genus which he presumed to be employed
as the source of making snuff. He cites no herbarium voucher specimens,
297
262-016 0-67— 21
Fig. 4. — Anadenanthera peregrina (Piptadenia peregrina) .
instead giving references to the use of snuffs in the literature and assuming
that they did refer actually to snuffs from Anadenanthera.
Fortunately, we have several botanical studies of monographic nature
that shed light on the distribution of Anadenanthera peregrina. It is these
data, not "interpreted" literature reports, that must guide any definitive
generalisations. Ducke, renowned Brazilian botanist who spent more than
half a century studying the Amazon flora in field and laboratory, specialised
in the Leguminosae. In his "Leguminosas da Amazonia", he (5) cites all
known collections of Anadenanthera peregrma (under Piptadenia pere-
grina) . If the species had been much commoner in the Amazon, Ducke would
have made more collections than those that he cited. More recently, Altschul,
in her studies of the genus of the yopo snuff (i, £6) , has treated Anadenan-
thera monographically, citing only collections, wild or cultivated, from South
America. Thus, we know that, at least in the present century, Anadenanthera
peregrina is far from common in the Amazon basin.
It is, therefore, somewhat exaggerated to expect us to conclude that many
tribes are preparing an important hallucinogenic snuff, and a product often
taken in excessive amounts, from a tree that is uncommon or even not found
in their environment. Trees of this species are reported in Venezuela as "being
forest dominants, belonging to secondary forests, inhibiting savannas, light
forests and riversides," in British Guiana confined to "savannas and riverside
forests," while in Brazil represented mostly in the campos or savamias {1,6).
The distribution of Anadenanthera peregrina in the Amazonas of Brazil is,
significantly, confined to savanna-like areas, usually in or near the lower Eio
Madeira and the Rio Branco basins — significantly, I say, because the Maue
and other tribes of the Madeira area have, probably correctly, been reported
as using snuff from Anadenanthera. I have seen excellent specimens of Ana-
denoMhera peregrina recently collected by Mr. Georg Seitz along the Rio
Negro, in the vicinity of the mouth of the Rio Branco, in Amazonian Brazil ;
these were undoubtedly cultivated from material brought in from the sa-
vannas of the Rio Branco.
Now, let us contemplate the problems that arise. If Anadenanthera pere-
grine is not the source of a snuff employed over wide areas in the Amazon,
what are the sources of the numerous snuff preparations that we know are
or have been prepared in isolated localities from the mountains of Venezuela
and the Guianas south to the Argentine and from the eastern slopes of the
Andes to the Atlantic Ocean? We cannot fully answer this query at the
present time, but we can offer several tentative approaches towards a solution.
To begin with, it is very probable that several, if not many, different plants
formed the basis for the snuffs employed similarly and for similar purposes
over such a vast area. We know very definitely that this is true. We do not,
to be sure, know all of the plants involved in this complicated enigma, but
we know enough to arrive at an overall picture to guide future research.
It was apparently Safford {16) who first suggested that species of Anaden-
anthera other than peregrina may be the source of narcotic snuffs in South
America. He identified the vilca or huUca of southern Peru and Bolivia, and
299
tlie cebil of northern Argentina, with seeds of what he called PipUidenia
macrocarpa, now correctly referred to as Anadenanthera colubrina var.
Cebil. Although the evidence is, in my opinion, rather weak, several other
species and varieties may have been employed in isolated localities in south-
em South America. Inasmuch, however, as a paper in the series is devoted
precisely to the problem at hand, I shall refrain from considering it at
greater length.
When I first went to the northwesternmost Amazon in Colombia, I heard
numerous reports of a strongly hallucinogenic snuff made from the bark of
forest trees. Known in the area as yakee or paricd^ it was obviously not
tobacco snuff nor was it prepared from seeds of Anadenanthera.
After eight years of search, I discovered that yakee was prepared from
several species of Virola, V. calophylla, V. calophylloidea and, perhaps, V.
elongata of the Myristicaceae (17, 18) . The natives strip bark from the trunks
before the sun has risen high enough to heat up the forest. A blood-red resin
oozes from the inner surface of the bark. It is scraped off with a machete or
knife and boiled in an earthen pot for hours, until a thick paste is left. This
paste is allowed to dry and is then pulverized, sifted through a fine cloth,
and finally added to an equal amount of ashes of the stems of a wild cacao
species. The ashes give the snuff consistency to withstand the excessive damp-
ness of the air which might otherwise quickly "melt" the powdered resin-
paste to a solid lump.
Fig. 5. — Leaves and flowers of Virola calophijlloidea, one of the species of Virola from
which a strongly hallucinogenic snufT is prepared. Mitu, Vaup6s, Colombia. Photograph
by R. E. Schultes.
300
Fig. 6. — Puinave Indian preparing yakee-snuff from the red resinous exudate from the
bark of Virola-trees. Rio Apaporis, Vaupes, Colombia. Photograph by R. E. Schultes.
At the beginning of this century, the German ethnologist Koch-Griinberg
mentioned (11) an intoxicating snuff prepared from the bark of an unidenti-
fied tree by the Yekwana Indians of the headwaters of the Orinoco in Vene-
zuela. There seems to be every reason to believe that this snuff was made from
a species of Virola. Seitz {23) has identified the epend snuff of the Waika
Indians (who now live in the Rio Negro basin of Brazil, but who have mi-
grated from the headwaters of the Orinoco) as representing Virola calo-
'phylloidea.
At one time, I presumed that the active principle in this myristicaceous
snuff must be the same essential oil — myristicine — that is common through-
out the family and that has been thought to make nutmeg a dangerous nar-
cotic in appropriate amounts. Myristicine may have some effect, but Holm-
stedt has recently isolated tryptamine derivatives from Virola, — snuff which
itself could account for the hallucinogenic properties of the powder {10).
301
It may be interesting to append a few observations which I made person-
ally after taking yakee {17) . I took about one-third of a teaspoonful in two
inhalations, using the characteristic V-shaped bird-bone snuflSng tube. This
represents about one-quarter the dose that a diagnosing medicine man will
take to bring on an eventual state of unconsciousness.
The dose was snuffed at five o'clock one afternoon. Within fifteen minutes,
a drawing sensation was felt over the eyes, followed very shortly by a strong
tingling in fingers and toes. The drawing sensation in the forehead gave way
to a strong and constant headache. Within a half hour, the feet and hands
were numb and sensitivity of the fingertips had disappeared ; walking was
possible with difficulty, as with beri-beri. I felt nauseated until eight o'clock,
and experienced lassitude and uneasiness. Shortly after eight, I lay down
in my hammock, overcome with a drowsiness, which, however, seemed to be
accompanied by a muscular excitation except in the hands and feet. At about
nine-thirty, I fell into a fitful sleep which continued, with frequent awaken-
ings, until morning. The strong headache lasted until noon. A profuse sweat-
ing and what was probably a slight fever persisted throughout the night.
The pupils were strongly dilated during the first few hours of the intoxica-
tion.
Though performed under primitive conditions in the jungle by myself,
this experiment does, I think, indicate the great strength of the snuff as a
psychotropic agent. The witch doctors see visions in color, but I was able to
experience neither visual hallucinations nor color sensations. The large dose
used by the witch doctor is enough to put him into a deep but disturbed
sleep, during which he sees visions and has dreams which, through the wild
shouts emitted in liis delirium, are interpreted by an assistant. That it is a
dangerous practice is acknowledged by the witch doctors themselves. They
report the death, about 15 years ago, of one of their number from the Puinave
tribe during a yakee-intoxication.
Sources of Snuffs of Lesser Importance
We are aware from the literature of references to narcotic snuffs in South
America the botanical identities of which are still uncertain or unknown.
A most mysterious snuff of which we still know almost nothing is said to be
prepared from the fruits of the gigantic moraceous jungle tree Olmedi-
operebea sclerophylla [19). It is reputedly employed in the central part of
Brazil, especially along the upper Xingu, but is known only by the general
Portuguese term rape dos indios ("Indian snuff") . So far as I have been able
to ascertain, chemical examination of the fruits of this tree has not yielded
substance with psychotomimetic effects.
It would be satisfying to know the plant source of the clear amber-coloured
and aromatic resin that is procured from a large forest tree, and that forms
part of the sacred accoutrements of every medicine man of the Tukanoan
tribes in the Apaporis and Vaupes Rivers of Amazonian Colombia (17, 22).
302
In particularly difficult cases of diagnosis of disease, divination or other
magic practice, minute amounts of this resin, powdered, are snuffed. Al-
though it is said to induce dizziness, it is not reputed to have hallucinogenic
properties. Nevertheless, botanical identification and chemical study of this
resin-snuff should be made, if only because of the intriguing fact that it is
quite generally referred to as paricd, the same name that is applied to the
highly hallucinogenic snuff prepared from the blood-red resin of the inner
bark of several species of the myristicaceous tree-genus Virola, by the same
people in the same part of the Amazon.
A number of years ago, a missionary working in the headwaters of the
Orinoco in Venezuela handed me a partially rotted, matted roll of plant
material which he said was the source of one of the narcotic snuffs of the
Waika Indians. The condition of the material was very poor, but it seemed
to represent a species of J^isticia. This identification was tentatively corrobo-
rated by Dr. E. C. Leonard, the American specialist on the Acanthaceae.
I have never been able to visit this region to investigate the problem per-
sonally. With the unsatisfactory preservation of the material and the failure
of other botanists who had visited the general region to report it {31), I
more or less dismissed -«/'W,?^2(?/a as a serious contender for inclusion in our
list of hallucinogens. I am now, however, convinced that this problem must
be investigated thoroughly in the field, for recently, the Brazilian botanist.
Prof. J oao MurQa Pires, informed me personally that the Waikas do indeed
employ a species of Justicia, a species close apparently to /. pectoralis, in the
preparation of a vision-producing snuff. We know that alkaloids have been
reported from several species of Justica, and there has been some question
of synonymy of Jvstica with Adhatoda, which is known to contain harman-
type alkaloids. Several other genera of the Acanthaceae have been reported as
alkaloidal, and this family might well bear an intensive phytochemical study.
In this connexion, I might report here that one of the minor fish poisons
that I found in use amongst the Taiwanos of the Eio Kananari of Colombian
Vaupes is the root of an acanthaceous shrub, the genus of which is as yet
phytochemically wholly unknown : Mendoncia aspera {22) .
There is, apparently, a fertile field for the study of narcotic snuff prepara-
tions in the general area of the headwaters of the Orinoco. In fact, this part
of South America would seem perhaps to represent the centre of com-
plexity of this curious culture trait.
The Waikas of. the upper Orinoco basin have been reported to prepare
their yopo snuff from three plants {27). One source enumerates hisioma,
Anadenanthera peregHna, as one ingredient; a second is called masho-hara
or yauardi-Jierm, and is said to be a piperaceous species ; a third is a powder
known as l)olek-hena. It is a temptation to wonder whether or not this bolek-
hena or "leaves of the spirit of death" might be a Jmticia. Other sources
23, 27, 32) assert that the snuff of the Waikas and of a related tribe, the
Samatari, Avas prepared from the bast of a tree called epena-hesi (referrible
probably to Virola) ; the ashes of the outer bark of ama-asita, which has
been identified in the literature as an Acacia; and the powder of masM-Mri,
a plant of about one foot in height which might conceivably also represent
303
Justicia. The Surara and Pakidai make their snuff {30) from seeds of
Anadenanthem peregrina, ashes of hehurahihend, the bark of a tree of un-
certain identity but possibly representing also this same species, a piperaceous
species, maxarahd. The Karime, culturally related to and neighbours of the
Waikas, eleborate a snuff powder {30) from leaves of "a small plant called
TiohoimeP Again, are we warranted in suspecting that kokoime might be
The Kashuena of the Rio Trombetas in Amazonian Brazil, are reported
by one source to have several kinds of snuff in addition to that made "simply
of tobacco" (7) . One is prepared by "blending the dried and powdered bark
of a tree and a quantity of parica with other substances taken from kernels
or seeds of a variety of wild fruits." A third comprises a mixture of these
two kinds of snuff. We are left in the dark about the species of tree from
which the bark is taken, although it may possibly be referrible to an Anade-
nanthera, and the "wild fruits" remain imidentified. Could one be the fruits
of Olmedioperebea sclerophylla?
Final Query
The several attempts to synthesise and summarise our knowledge of the
precise botanical identification of plants entering into the preparation of
South American snuffs {26, 28) have met with the same difficulties that I
find in trying to discuss this topic here. Because of similarities in the tools
and methods of snuffing, and especially as a result of the lack of voucher
botanical specimens, we are too often reduced to conjecture as to the plants
involved. In view of the importance of snuffing in many cultures — past and
present — and of the possibility that a number of plants hitherto unknown
as ingredients of narcotic snuffs might be uncovered, further field investiga-
tion of snuffs in South America is clearly indicated.
In connexion with the possibility of finding new plants as sources of nar-
cotic snuffs, there is one point that has disturbed me for a long time. Why
should only several of the narcotic plants be administered as snuff ? Snuffing
is a widespread New World culture trait. It is a relatively easy method of
self-intoxication. It lends itself easily to ritual or ceremonial use. Snuffs
usually tend to keep over longer periods, especially in the humid tropics, than
infusions or decoctions. Why then are not more narcotics taken in this form ?
One limiting factor, to be sure, would be the requirements that the activite
principle must be absorbable through the membranes to enter directly into
the blood stream and be active. Nicotine, of course, answers these reqirements.
Obviously, the active principles of the snuffs from Anadenanthera peregrina
and Virola also satisfy these requirements. But would not the active constitu-
ents of other narcotics likewise follow this pattern ? Why, for example, have
we never found the sundry species of Datura powdered and employed as
snuffs ?
Would snuffs prepared from the bark of Banisteriopsis provide the de-
sired psychotropic effects? And what about the narcotic properties of Ei^y-
304
throxylon Coca — would they be lost if the powdered leaves were introduced
into the nostrils as a snuff ? The rich variety of toxic plants in the flora of
South America — would not many of these species have psychotomimetic ef-
fects which would be more controllable or perhaps less dangerous as snuffs
then decoctions or infusions of the same plants? All of this leads to two ques-
tions that I would leave with you : Was not the snuffing of narcotic powders
much more widely practiced in South America than it is at present? Was and
is not the number and variety of plants snuffed for their peculiar physiologi-
cal properties greater than we at present believe ? The answer to both ques-
tions, I suspect, is "Yes." But only more intensive and extensive search and
interpretation of the literature, and more immediate and insistent ethno-
botanical field studies can provide us with answers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Altschul, Siei von Reis. "A taxonomlc study of the genus Anadenanthera."
Contrib. Gray Herb., Harvard Univ. 193 (1964), 1.
Babkeb, James. "Memoria sobre la cultura de los guaika." Bol. Indig. Ven. 1
(1953), 433.
Bates, Henry W. "The naturalist on the River Amazons," (1863). John Murray,
London.
CJooPEE, John M. "Stimulants and narcotics" in Handbook of South American
Indians, Bull. No. 143, Vol. 5, Bur. Am. Ethnol. (1949), 525.
DucKE, Adolpho. "As leguminosas da Amazonia brasileira." Bol. Teen. Inst. Agron.
Norte 18 (1949).
DucKE, Adolpho and George A. Black. "Phytogeographical notes on the Brazilian
Amazon." An. Acad. Bras. 25 (1953) , 1.
Friekel, ProtXsio. "Mori — a festa do rape (indios kachiryana, rio Trombetas)."
Bol. Mus. Para. Emilio Goeldi, n.s., Anthrop. 12 (1961), 1.
Garcilaso de la Vega, (El Inca) "Primera parte' de los commentaries reales. . .
Pt. 1, Book 2 (1723) , Chapt. 25.
Goodspeed, Thomas Harper. "The genus Nicotiana" (1954), Chronica Botanica
Co., Waltham, Mass.
HoLMSTEDT, Bo. "Tryptamine derivatives in epena, an intoxicating snuff used by
some South American Indian tribes." Arch. Int. Pharmacodyn. Therap. 156
(1965), 285.
Kooh-Grunberg, Theodor. "Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern." 1 (1909) 298. Ernst
Wasmuth A.-G., Berlin.
Levi-Stratjss, Claude. "Tribes of the right bank of the Guapore River" in Hand-
book of South American Indians, Bull. 143, Vol. 3, Bur. Am. Ethnol. (1948), 378.
Mason, J. Alden. "Use of tobacco in Mexico and South America." Field Mus. Nat.
Hist. Anthrop. Leafl. 16 (1924) .
NiMUENDAjt;, Curt (Ed. R. H. Lowie). "The Tukuna" Univ. Oal. Publ. Am. Arch.
Ethnol. 45 (1952).
Rowe, John Hovtland. "Inca culture at the time of the Spanish Conquest" in
Handbook of South American Indians, Bull. 143, Vol. 2, Bur. Am. Ethnol. (1946),
292.
Safford, Willlam Edwin. "Identity of cohoba, the narcotic snuff of ancient Haiti."
Joum. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6 (1916) , 548.
Schultes, Richard Evans. "A new narcotic snuff from the northwest Amazon."
Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 16 (1954) , 241.
— ' . "Un nouveau tabac h. priser de I'Amazone du nord-ouest." Journ. Agric.
Trop. Bot. Appl. 1 (1954) , 298.
305
{19) ScHULTES, RiCHAED EvANs. "Native narcotics of the New World." Texas Journ.
Phann.2 (1961)', 141.
{20) . "Hallucinogenic plants of the New World." Harvard Rev. 1 (1963), 18.
(21) . "Ein halbes Jahrhundert Ethnobotanik amerikanischer Halluzinogene."
Planta Medica 13 (1965) , 124.
{22) . "The search for new natural hullucinogens." Lloydia 29 (1966), 293.
{23) Seitz, Geoeg. "Einige Bemerkungen zur Anwendung and Wirkungsweise des
Epend — Schnupfpulvers der Waika — Indianer." Ethnolog. Studier No. 28 (1965),
117.
(2^) Spktjce, Richabd (Ed. A. R. Wallace). "Notes of a botanist on the Amazon and
Andes." 2 (1908) , 426. Macmlllan & Co., Ltd., London.
(25) voN Reis, Siri S. P. "The genus Anadenanthera : a taxomomic and ethnobotanical
study." Ph. D. Thesis (ined.) (1961), Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass.
{26) Wassen, S. Heney. "Some general viewpoints in the study of native drugs, espe-
cially from the West Indies and South America." Ethnos 29 (1964), 97.
(27) . "The use of some specific kinds of South American Indian snuff and related
paraphernalia." Ethnolog. Stud. 28 (1965).
(28) . "Sydamerikanska snusdroger." Nytt och Nyttigt, No. 1 (1966), 1.
(29) and Bo Holmstedt. "The use of parica, an ethnological and pharmacological
review." Ethnos 28 (1963) , 5.
{30) WiLBEET, Johannes. "Indies de la regidn Orinoco — Ventuari." Monografia No. 8,
Fundaci6n La Salle de Ciencias Naturales, Caracas (1963) .
{31) WuKDACK, John. "Indian narcotics in southern Venezuela." Gard. Journ. 8 (1958),
116.
{32) Zeeeies, Otto. "Das Lasha — Fe^t der Waika — Indianer." Di Umshau 21 (1955),
662. Frankfurt-am-Main.
306
Vilca and its Use
SiRi VON Reis Altschul
Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
It generally has been assumed that the Peruvian substance known as
Vilca is, or was, a snuff made from a Piptadenia in the family Leffuminosae
(Safford, 1916; and later authors). However, there is evidence in the litera-
ture and in unpublished materials that Vilca may involve other plants as
well, and that it may have been used in forms different from snuff. I would
like to examine this evidence with a view to opening new areas in the search
for psycho-active drugs.
The discussion which follows is based in part on research in the ethno-
botany of the strictly New World genus Anadenanthera, which formerly
was considered as section Niopa of the genus Piptadenia and is known com-
monly as the source of some hallucinogenic snuffs. The genus Anadenan-
thera contains two very similar species which have not been shown to differ
significantly with respect to their psycho- activity, and which may have been
used interchangeably. One species is Anadenanthera colubHna., found in
southern Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil.
The other species is A. peregrina, ranging from southeastern Brazil to the
Greater Antilles, (von Reis, 1961 ; von Reis Altschul, 1964) .
The discussion also will make use of information which recently has be-
come available. This information has been selected from nearly 6,000 field
notes from a search of almost 2,500,000 herbarium specimens at Harvard
University (von Reis, 1962). Dr. Richard Evans Schultes and I have just
completed this project and intend to publish our data as soon as it is feasible.^
Let us look first at the earliest references to Vilca, which are to be found not
in the herbarium but in the post-conquest literature of Peru. Around 1571,
Polo de Ondegardo reported that the witch doctors of the Incas ' foretold
the future by speaking with the devil in some dark place by means of various
ceremonies, for which office they intoxicated themselves with an herb called
Villca, pouring its juice into chicha or taking it another way. The reporter
stated that, although only old women were reputed to practice this craft, in
fact its use was widespread but concealed among men and boys, as well. In
1695, Santa Cruz Pachacuti spoke of a medicine called villca which was the
seed of a tree. Two years later, Gonzalez Holguin said that Villca referred to
a tree with a purgative fruit. An early report by Falcon (1946 ed. ; in Yacov-
leff & Herrera, 1935) indicated that the Indians took a purge called Vilcas
^This project was carried out through the sponsorship of The Botanical Museum of Harvard
University. It was supported by Smith, Kline & French Laboratories ; the National Institute of
Mental Health ; and the Lilly Research Laboratories. We are very grateful to the staffs of the Gray
Herbarium and Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, especially to Professors Reed C. Rollins
and Richard A. Howard, respective directors, for generous permission to use their facilities and
herbarium materials.
^Murdock's Outline of South American Cultures (1951) has been used for classifying all the
Indian cultures dealt with in this paper.
307
(or elilcas) which was beneficial to those who worked too hard. In 1629,
Vasquez de Espinosa said that the pods of the vilca tree had small, round
seeds which were the common purge of the Indians for all sorts of humors.
Some years later, in 1653, Bemabe Cobo stated that the Indians used a de-
coction of the roots of a Polypodium. fern with two or three Yilca. seeds to
remove phlegm and choler without pain or nausea. He gave a fair, but not
diagnostically adequate, description of the tree called Vilca, and maintained
that the Indians cured a variety of illnesses with the purgative seeds taken
in cMcha. These seeds were said to be both laxative and emetic and to dis-
pel melancholy. Cooked and drunk in honey, they cleared the chest, stimu-
lated urination and made women fruitful.
Modern writers usually identify the name Vilca with the species here
called Anadenanthera colvhrina (Herrera, 1934; Lastres, 1951). In 1916,
Safford stated that seeds labelled Huillca and secured from an Indian drug
vender in southern Peru had been identified as belonging to Anadenanthera.
Herrera reported in 1940 that the seeds of Huillca [Herrera 3210) are a
narcotic-cathartic element in the indigenous pharmacopoeia. Yacovleff &
Herrera (1935) have said that the seeds are sold as purgatives in the local
markets. Recently, Vargas confirmed in a letter (1966) from Cuzco that herb
doctors in that vicinity continue to use the seeds for this purpose. Cardenas
has stated from Bolivia that the same species, known as Willca, is used as a
stimulant and aphrodisiac by the callahuayos (1943), or itiaerant medicine
men who travel today between Chile and Mexico (H. C. Cutler in conversa-
tion, 1966) . The seeds also have been used in our time as charms or fetishes
by the Quechua Indians of northwest Bolivia. At the market in La Paz one
may buy, among other goods for similar purposes, seeds of A. colubrina and
of other leguminous species in the genus Ormosia. These seeds and other
items are buried, for magical purposes, under houses in the process of con-
struction (Nordenskiold, 1907; Pardal, 1937).
In the course of the herbarium search mentioned above, we found two
specimens labelled Vilca. Both belonged to Anadenanthera colubrina. One
was from southern Peru (Departamento de Huancaveiica, Weherbav^r 6605) .
The other was from east of La Paz, Bolivia (Canamina, White 25 Ji). These
data indicate that A. colubrina indeed is identifiable with Vilca, but they do
not insure that Vilca is referable exclusively to this plant.
For one thing, it is especially difficult to establish botanical identifications
in the early literature. Apparent inconsistencies or omissions in plant descrip-
tions, and the lack of voucher specimens require that we habitually entertain
the possibility of altogether new interpretations, particularly among groups
like the legiunes, where many similar species may be mistaken one for another.
In fact, the widespread representation of the Leguminosae in native medi-
cine suggests that a pharmacological screening of its New World genera for
psycho-active compounds might be a worthwhile undertaking.
In conjunction with our herbarium search at Harvard, we found three
species with common names similar to Vilca but from families other than the
legumes. These were a Peruvian specimen of Banisteria leiocarpa {Mal-
pighiaceae, Vargas WW) labelled Vilca bejuco, or climbing Vilca; a Vene-
308
zuelan specimen of Virola sebifera (Myristicaceae, Steyermark 60758a)
labelled toircaweijek, whose inner bark is said to be dried and smoked by witcli
doctors to cure fevers; and a Peruvian specimen of Baccharis floribunda
{Ovmpositae, West 3735) labelled UllccocMlca, a species also reputedly cura-
tive {Macbride & Featherstone 1631 )
In addition to these interesting attributions, our herbarium search re-
vealed information which does not relate directly to Vilca but which I will
present here because it very much bears upon the search for psychoactive
drugs. This information consists of common names of Anadenanthera species
which have come to light in connection with new plants. The accompanying
map (Fig. 1) shows the distribution of the conunon names of Anadenanthera
species in South America, based upon labels of specimens examined. With
these names and their locations in mind, I would suggest that the following
species be examined chemically for possible pharmacological activity : in the
Asclepiadaceae^ Asdepias curupi (Balansa 1361) from Paraguay, labelled
Curwpi, the powdered leaves and a decoction of the plant said to be applied to
snake bite; in the Euphorhiaceae, three species of Sapium from Uruguay,
labelled Curupi (S. gibertii, Lomhardo 301/3 ; S. haematospermum, Lombardo
30Jf,7 ; S. linearifolium, Lombardo 33Ji.Ii.) ; in the Rubiaceae^ Guettarda vibur-
noides from Brazil, labelled Angico {Mexia 5583) ; and in the Leguminosae
from Brazil an undetermined Pithecellobium {Krukoff 1887), Piptadenia
contorta {Mexia ^28), both labelled Angico Branco; and Mimosa malaco-
centra {Mexia 56£4-) labelled Angiguin, whose leaves are used to make a tea
for pain.
Further afield from Anadenanthera but pertinent to the objectives of the
conference are a few surprising new combinations : in the C onvolvulaceae :
two species of Ipomoea {I. denticulata, I. tiliacea, W. H. & B. T. Hodge
3323, 3318, respectively) from the island of Dominica, West Indies, labelled
Gaapi; in the Leguminosae, Calliandra calothyrsis {Standley 238^6) and
Leucaena guatemalensis {Standley 7 3562) , both from Guatemala and labelled
Yaje; in the Compositae, Trichocline incana {Meyer 3982) from Argentina,
labelled Coro and said to be smoked with tobacco. The word Coro has ap-
peared now and then in the early chronicles and has been linked previously
with Anadenanthera and (the root of) wild tobacco (Cobo, 1890-93 ed. ;
Uhle, 1898) but never, to my knowledge, with this plant : According to Cobo,
Coro powder was drunk in water for detention of urine, or taken as snuff
for headache and to clear the vision.
I would like to return now to Vilca and to review some of the botanical
common names similar to it in the published literature. The species ascribed
to these names perhaps should receive critical attention, too. Vilcardn has
been associated with Piptadenia rigida (Burkart, 1949) in Argentina. Vil-
caparu is a word for yellow maize (Gonzalez Holguin, 1607) from Bolivia
(A. Grobman in conversation, 1961) . HuiUTco means species of Ipomoea and
' Any pharmacological research on these and other species cited in this paper should be preceded
by a verification, by a competent botanist, of the correct identification of the specimens cited.
The research should be based on the specimen cited, as designated by the collector's name and field
number. All specimens are in the collections of the Arnold Arboretum and Gray Herbarium of
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
309
Fig. 1
the Nyctaginaceous genus Mirabilis (Herrera, 1934). Tara Huillca has been
identified, as Anadenanthera colubrina (Yacovleff & Herrera, 1935), but
Tara, alone, refers to another legume, Oaesalpinia tinctoria (Herrera, 1934) .
Wilca Tarwi has been assoicated with the leguminous genus Lupinm (Lastres,
1941) . The chronicler Poma de Ayala (1936 ed. ; Lastres, 1941) reported that
the Indians purged themselves once a month with liilca tauri, made from
some kind of seeds ground into a liquid, half of which was drunk and half
of which was taken as an enema which was said to give the Incas strength,
health and a 200 years life span. At the time of the conquest, the word
Vilcu referred in Aymara to a plant with yellow, bird-like flowers (Gobo,
310
1890 ed., Vol. I). It also meant ivy (Villcu) Gonzalez Holgrnn, 1607). Our
herbariiim search unearthed two specimens of the climbing Compositae,
Mikania cordifolia {Mexia 801^2) from Peru labelled Huaco verde, and M.
Jumstoniana {Gaec. et Ed. Seler 51^75 (396)) from the ruins of Palenque,
Mexico. Villca or Huacca both meant idol (Gonzalez Holguin, 1607) or
something sacred to the Incas. Hence, the possibility that Mikania species
might have been ritual plants deserves a thought.
One might sum up what generally has been known of the role of Vilca
in Peru at the time of the conquest by saying that it seemed to be confined
mostly to simple folk-medicine, its divinatory aspects divorced from formal-
ized religion. Eowe has stated (in Steward, 1946) that narcotics were im-
important to the Inca culture and that none was taken expressly to obtain
visions; the strongest substances reputedly used were coca, tobacco and
Vilca. The main curatives were Ghicha, Vilca and tobacco (Fornee, 1885 ed.) ,
and Peruvian medicine consisted primarily in blood-letting, purging with
Vilca, and in taking tobacco {sayri) snuff (Garcilaso de la Vega, 1688 ed.).
Besides its occurrence with reference to medical botany, the term Vilca
appears so frequently and in such a variety of contexts in the historical nar-
ratives of Peru that one is led to suspect that it may have had a great
antiquity and that plants passing under its name may have had greater
ritual importance in earlier times than at the time of the conquest. Various
forms of the word meant enema or clyster {Vilca or Vilcas in Gonzalez
Holguln, 1607; Vilca Tarvi or Vilcatauri in Lastres, 1941; Vilcachima in
Lastres, 1951; Vilcana in Gonzalez Holguin, 1607, Lavoreria, 1902, Mossi,
1860) ; the giving of an enema (Vilcani in D'Harcourt, 1939, Gonzalez Hol-
guin, 1607, Mossi, 1860, Lavoreria, 1902) ; a syringe (Vilcana in Mossi,
1860; uilcachina in Poma de Ayala, 1936 ed., Lastres, 1951) ; or a small
stick commonly used to clean the rectum in the Cuzco area (Vilcachina in
Lastres, 1951). The same root is found in the words for doctor or surgeon
(Vilca-Oama in Velasco, 1840 ed.) ; priest or informant {V iliac in Lastres,
1951) ; and ostrich-like chief (Surivilca in Lastres, 1941) ; and in designa-
tions of familial relationships (Vilca or Vilcay in Gonzalez Holguln, 1607,
in Mossi, 1857, 1860) . In 1671, Ogilby stated that in the Chilean language
Vilca meant mother-in-law ; " Hilca meant one-eyed person. Among the
Araucanians, a pivillca was a flute (Medina, 1882) . In the area of the Dia-
guita culture, Vilka is today a surname of Quechua or Calchaqui origin
(Ambrosetti, 1917) .
Essentially, however, Vilca was one of the two names mentioned earlier
by which the Peruvian Indians called their idols or gods. It was used
to describe whatever was first, original or important (Lastres, 1941), and
to refer to any sacred place or thing (Cobo, 1890-93 ed.; Garcilaso de la
Vega, 1688 ed., 1941^ ed.; Gonzalez Holguin, 1607; Mossi, 1860). These
include words for an idol (Huacavilca in Lastres, 1941), a temple (Hvxi-
rivilca in Cieza de Leon, 1864 ed.), a town or village (Vilca or Vilcas in
Cobo, 1890-93 ed.), bodies of water (Vilca or Vilcas, a river in Garcilaso de
la Vega, 1688 ed. ; Vilca-Mayo, a river in St. Cricq, 1873-74 ed. Vilca-cocha,
a lake which flows into the Vilca-Mayo in St. Cricq, 1873-74 ed.), a valley
311
called the Paradise of Peru {Vilca-Mayo in Cieza de Leon, 1864 ed.), a
mountain peak {Vilcanota in Garcilaso de la Vega, 1688 ed., 1941-i4 ed. ;
Hucmca Vilca in Lastres, 1941; Vilcaconga in Cobo, 1890-93 ed.) or a sierra
{Vilca or Vilcas, Vilcanota in Cobo 1890-93 ed.), a province (Vilca Pampa
in Cobo, 1890-93 ed., Garcilaso de la Vega, 1688 ed., 1941-44 ed. ; Vilca or
Vilcas in Cobo, 1890-93 ed., Cieza de Leon, 1864 ed.) or a people {Vilca or
Vilcas in Garcilaso de la Vega, 1688 ed., 1941-44 ed. ; Chumbivilcas in Cobo,
1890-93 ed., Garcilaso de la Vega, 1688 ed., 1941-44 ed. ; Huancamlca in
Cieza de Leon, 1864 ed.) .
Among the ritual paraphernalia which seem to relate to Vilca are the vilca
ronco (Gonzalez Holguin, 1607) , small coca- filled baskets which were thrown
into the fire at animal sacrifices in Cuzco. One might mention, also, the vilques,
earthenware jugs with which the Indians toasted their dead, after which
the chicha contained in them was poured over a round stone which they
worshipped in the middle of a plaza (Cobo, 1890-93 ed.). The chronicler
Acosta (1584, folio 104) relates that the Spanish conquerors ordered the
Incas to stop worshipping the sun, moon and so on, ". . . ni tengays villcas,
ni guacas, ni figura de hombre, . . ."
An Incaic version of the origin of the medicinal Vilca (Santa Cruz
Pachacuti, 1927 ed. ; Yacovleff & Herrera, 1935) states that an Inca captain
named Villcaquire^ being struck down in war by his nation's enemies, the
Chanca, requested that he be buried in the trunk of a nearby tree which,
he foretold, would produce villca seeds, io dispell all bad humors and choler
from his people. The story takes place above a river on the Aporima road.
Specimens of Anadenanthera colubrina {West 3679, 38Jfo) have been iden-
tified from the Department of Apurimac. I would not be surprised to
learn that the story was a relatively modern one which served the needs
of the Incas to attribute to their own invention something which had its
origins in much earlier times. It is tempting to wonder whether the medicinal
Vilca had had an important role among the people named Vilca, who were
numbered among the Chanca (Garcilaso de la Vega, 1688 ed.). Legend
has associated the Vilca with edifices whose art and grandeur, built cen-
turies before the Inca monarchy, was much admired and emulated by the
Inca culture (Cobo, 1890-93 ed.) .
Modern archaeology has cast doubt as to the veracity of some of the his-
tories in the early narratives, and, geographically, it is not easy to locate
many of the places referred to in the sixteenth and seventeenth century
writings on Peru. However, a number of names incorporating the term
Vilca can be found today on a map of southern Peru, correlating in general
with the distribution of Anadenanthera in that country.
Archaeological data suggest that the use of enemas was more widespread
in pre-conquest times than it was when the Spaniards arrived (Heizer, 1944 ;
Nordenskiold, 1930; Velez-Lopez, 1930). What was used in these enemas
and in the tubes and tablets of the neighboring regions has not been deter-
mined, to my knowledge. Anadenanthera seeds have not been foimd at any
Peruvian sites, as far as I know. The Getil snuffs used at the time of contact
among the Mataco and Vilela cultures of northern Argentina appear to
312
have been Anadenanthera-deTiyed. But tlie use of this genus further south
beyond its natural distribution is less likely. Yet there, further south, the
Comechingon Indians took something called Sehil through the nose (Sotelo
Narvaez, 1915 ed.), and the Huarpe Indians chewed a substance called Gibil
for endurance (Ovalle, 1703). Perhaps one even should ask whether the
monumental weeping god with the tear-streaked cheeks at Tiahuanaco m
Bolivia might be depicted in a state of intoxication from a powerful snuff
or emetic.
This paper has posed many more questions than it has attempted to
answer, but it has been instrumental in pointing out some unusual approaches
to a better knowledge of Vilca, which could serve as a model for studies
on other little known so-called narcotics. The facts gathered here suggest
that a number of hitherto unsuspected species should be analyzed for psycho-
activity, and that the drug plants used by man in the New World may
prove to constitute a richer and more elaborate complex than we yet have
been led to believe. The early writings deserve to be read again, and her-
barium information should be sought more assiduously.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AcosTA, J. DE. Doctrina Christiana y Catecismo para instruccion de los Indies. Lima,
1584.
Ambkosetti, J. B. Supersticiones y Leyendas. Buenos Aires, 1917.
BXJBKAKT, A. "Leguminosas Nuevas O Criticas, III." Darwiniana, 9 : 63-96, 1949.
OXkdenas, M. Notas Preliminares sobre la materia medica Boliviana. Ck)chabamba, Im-
prenta Universitaria, 1943.
GiEZA DE Le6n, p. de. The Travels of Pedro de Cieza de Ledn, A.D. 1532-1550. London,
1864 ed.
CoBO, B. Historia del Nuevo Mimdo. Sevilla, 1890-93 ed.
D'Haecourt, R. La medicine dans I'ancien Perou. Paris, 1939.
FALcdN, F. "Daiios que hacen a los indios." Pequenos Grandes Libros de Historia
Americana Ser. 1, 10 : 141. Lima, 1946 ed.
Foen£e, D. N. ed. "Descripcidn del Corregimiento de Abancay ... In Jimenez de la Es-
pada, M." Relaciones Geograficas de Indias, II : 218. Madrid, 1885 ed.
GABcfLASO DE LA Vega. The Royal Ck>mmentaries of Peru. London, 1688 ed.
GAKCiLASO DE LA Vega. Los Comentarios Reales de los Incas. Lima, 1941^4 ed.
GonzAlez HoLGUiN, D. Vocabulario Qquichua, que es la lengua general de todo el Piru.
Lima, 1607.
Heizeb, R. F. "The use of the enema among the aboriginal American Indians." Ciba Sym-
posia 5 : 1686-1693, 1944.
Heerbra, F. L. "Botanica Etnologica," Filologica Quechua III. Rev. Mus. Nac. Lima 3 :
39-62, 1934.
Heeeeeba, F. L. "Plantas que curan y plantas que matan de la flora del Cuzco." Rev. Mus.
Nac. Lima 9 : 73-127, 1940.
Lastees, J. B. "La medicina en la obra de Guamdn Poma de Ayala." Rev. Mus. Nac. Lima
10 : 113-164, 1941.
Lastees, J. B. Historia de la Medicina Peruana, I. Lima, 1951.
LAVoBEEfA, D. E. "El arte de curar entre los antiguos peruanos." An. Univ. Mayor San
Marcos de Lima 29 : 159-263, 1902.
Medina, J. T. Los aborigines de Chile. Santiago, 1882.
Mossi, F. H. Ensayo sobre las Escelencias y Perfecdon del Idioma Llamado comunmente
Quichua. Sucre, 1857.
262-016 0-67— 22
313
Mossi, F. H. Diccionarlo Quichua-Castellano. Sucre, 1860.
NoEDENSKiOLD, E. "Rccettes magicLues et m^dicales de P6rou et Bollvie." Jour. Soc. Am.
Paris Nouv. S§r. 4 : 153-174, 1907.
NoEDENSKiOLD, E. "The use of enema tubes and enema syringes among Indians." Compar.
Bthnogr. Stud. 8 : 184-195, 1930.
Ogilbt, J. America : Being the Latest and Most Accurate Description of ttie New
World. London, 1671.
OvAiiE, A. DE. "An Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Chile." In Churchill, A. & J.
Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1703.
Paedal, R. Medicina Aborigen Americana. Buenos Aires, 1937.
Polo de Ondegaedo, J. Informaciones, acerca de la Religion y Gobierno de las Incas. In
Urteaga, H. H. CoUecci6n de Libros y Documentos referentes a la Historia del PerU
(Lima) 3:29-30, 1916 ed.
PoMA D0 Ayala, F. G. "Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno." Trav. et M4m. I'lnst. d'Ethnol.
Paris 23 : 71, 1936 ed.
Rets, S. von. The genus Anadenanthera: a tasonomic and ethnobotanical study. Part II.
Unpublished Ph.D. thesis ms., Radcliffe College, 1961.
Reis, S. von. "Herbaria : sources of medicinal folklore." Economic Botany 16, 4 : 283-287,
1962.
Reis Altschul, S. von. "A taxonomic study of the genus Anadenanthera." Contr. Gray
Herb., 193 : 3-65, 1964.
Saffoed, W. E. "Ethnobotany— Identity of Cohoba." Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6 : 547-562,
1916.
Saint-Ceicq, L. (Maecoy, P.) A Journey across South America. I-IV. London, 1873-34
ed.
Santa Cel'z Pachacuti, J. de. "Historia de los Incas y Relacion de su Gobierno." In
Urteaga, H. H. Colecci6n de Libros y Documentos referentes a la Historia del Peril
(Lima) 2, 9 : 180, 1927 ed.
S6TEL0 Nabvaez, p. "Relaci6n de las Provincias Tucuman. In Freyre, J. El Tucuman
Colonial 1 : 97-98. Buenos Aires, 1915 ed.
Stewaed, J. H., Editor. Handbook of South American Indians, I-II. U.S. Govt. Print.
Off., 1946.
Uhle, M. "A snufflng-tube from Tiahuanaco." Bull. Free Mus. Sci. Art 1 : 158-177, 1898.
Vaegas, O. Personal communication, Nov. 10, 1966.
Vasquez de Espinosa, a. "Compendium and Description of the West Indies." Smith. Misc.
Coll. 102 : 1-862, 1942 ed.
Velasco, J. DE. Histoire du Royaume de Quito 1 : 164. Paris, 1840 ed.
■V£lez-L6pez, L. "El cllster en el antiguo Peru." Proc. Intern. Congr. Am. 23 : 296-297,
1930.
Yacovleff, E. & Heebeea, F. L. "El mundo vegetal de los antiguos peruanos." Rev. Mus.
Nac. 4: 31-102, 1935.
314
Epena, the Intoxicating Snuff
Powder of the Waika Indians
and the Tucano Medicine
Man, Agostino '
George J. Seitz
Koln-Lindenthal, Diirenerstrasse 175, Germany
The WAIKA Indians belong to an isolated group of natives called YANO-
AMA or YANONAMI. They live in the triangle formed by the Eio Brarico
in the southeast, the Uraricuera and Upper Orinoco Eivers in the north and
the Rio Negro in the southwest. This territory lies on both sides of the bound-
ary between Brazil and Venezuela.
During the last ten years, my wife and I made six expeditions to several
WAIKA tribes in the region of the Upper Rio Negro, that is the southwest-
ern part of that habitat, situated in the Brazilian Territory near the Vene-
zuelan boundary. We found these tribes
(1) near the TUCANO IGARAPfi, one of the headwaters of the Caua-
bori River,
(2) on the Maturaca Channel, in the south of the Fall of HUA,
( 3 ) on the Marauia River, near the Igarape IRAPIRAPl and
(4) on the Upper Maia River, a branch of the Cauabori River.
These Indians are nomads. We had a lot of difficulties in finding them and
their primitive villages, called "SHABONO". They are always rather dis-
tant from the rivers, and we had to march hours and hours through the thick
jungle to reach them.
Without the assistance and the experience of a Catholic priest — the only
Avhite man who had made contact with the WAIKA Indians before — our
expeditions scarcely would have been successful.
The name WAIKA means KILLER — a nice, gentle sort of name. Un-
doubtedly, the group is one of the most primitive in South America. They
have never found out how to make a boat or a raft. As nomads, these Indians
make pots ; they do not know anything about alcoholic drinks, or mandioc,
the most important vegetable of the southern Hemisphere besides corn.
In a region where the rivers provide the most important traffic routes, they
have never found out how to make a boat or a raft. As nomads, these Indians
wander about the jimgle. They live in primitive, wall-less, palm-thatched
huts only as long as the food lasts in the neighborhood. When they eat up
aU the food around, they go to another village with huts just as primitive.
They are a restless people that live off the land. And they live in a period
that for us is prehistoric.
^The presentation of this paper was given In conjunction with the showing of an excellent,
Informative film. The photographs In this paper come from this film. (Editor)
315
They have never learned anything from their more advanced neighbors,
the ARUAK group, represented by the TUCANO and BANIVA tribes.
The existence of these WAIKA Indians has been known for more than a
hundred years. However, explorers of the region — Humboldt, and at the be-
ginning of our century, Koch-Griinberg and Hamilton Eice — gave only brief
reports about the WAIKAS. They had only occasional meetings with a few
Indians from this group. These quick meetings did not give any basis for
more than superficial notes.
In general, the explorers knew about the WAIKAS from the stories of
other Indians, who described the Indians as terrible enemies, who used their
poisoned arrows to keep out trespassers.
In the Brazilian territory, the WAIKAS made their first mark in modern
history in 1929, when they attacked the settlements of rubber-tappers in the
area between the Imeri Range and the Upper Rio Negro — along the Demiti,
Cauabori, Marauia and Padauirl Rivers. The Indians attacked suddenly,
killed the men and carried off the women and children. The survivors fled to
the Rio Negro. For 25 years, until 1954, everybody kept away from the area
for fear of the Indians. In 1954, a Catholic priest of the Salesian mission in
Tapuruquara, Rev. Antonio Goes, entered the territory, went up the Caua-
bori River by boat and made the first peaceable contact with a tribe of the
WAIKAS.
We met the priest in 1955 when we went through Tapuruquara on an expe-
dition to the Colombian frontier. One year later, in 1956, we went with him
to the WAIKA village situated near the headwaters of the Cauabori River,
a few miles from the Venezuelan boundary.
It was the priest's third visit to the tribe, where we found about 200 In-
dians in their original, primitive state. They never had any previous contact
with civilized people other than the priest and then, ourselves.
In two later visits, we were able to observe and to film their daily village
life, but we saw nothing of the snuff. We saw them dancing under the in-
fluence of the EPfiNA, but we were not able to see the snuff prepared. When
we asked, they told us that the ingredients did not grow nearby.
Our relations improved with the repeated visits. On our fourth trip in 1960,
we were received like old friends. We were shown the ingredients. We saw
that they were neither seeds of PIPTADENIA PEREGRINA nor of any
other tree. Tliey turned out to be two kinds of bark and the leaves of a small
plant. For the first time, we Avere able to get some of the snuff by exchanging
gifts. It was the same powder that I sent to Professor Holmstedt, who
analysed it. He found tryptamine derivatives to be the active components.
In 1965, finally, we had a chance to film the snuff-making process.
The Preparation of the Epena Snuff-Powder
We could observe and film the whole process of the EPfiNA preparation
on the Upper Marauia River in the village of the KARAUETARI tribe.
First we looked, in the company of two Indians, for a tree of the species
316
Fig. 1.— a sapling of "EPENA."
VmOLA CALLOPHYLLOIDEA, Markgraf, called by the Indians
EPfiNA.
We had started in the early morning because the Indians said that the
bark has to be stripped in the early hours of the day for the snuff powder to be
good. The EPfiNA trees did not exist in any quantity. We marched three
days through the jungle to find a group of them.
When the bark is stripped it appears white on its inner-side, but only a
few seconds later a red brownish resin like liquid begins to exude in drops.
The Indians told us that this "bleeding" is more intensive before the heat
of the tropical sun begins to penetrate the forest.
The inner-side of the bark consists in a soft fibre-like layer that the Indians
scrape off with a knife. These scrapings — moistened by the red brownish
liquid — are collected on a palm-leaf and carried to the village for drying.
317
Th.e drying process begins very slowly. The scrapings are fastened on a
twisted disk which will be put approximately four feet above a slow fire, and
there remain till the next morning. Then comes the second phase of the
drying, more intensive, directly over the fire.
In this state the scrapings are stored till the second ingredient of the
snuff -powder, called AMA ASITA, is ready. AMA ASITA is a tall tree that
was not possible to classify as yet. But it seems to be a TEICHILIA species.
Also, this tree seems to be scarce.
Before stripping the Indians looked for a specimen with smooth bark.
They took only strips of bark whose outside was entirely perfect. This
outside is important. It is the only part used. It was separated from the inner
side of the bark immediately after the stripping and carried to the village.
There these outside strips of the bark were cut in pieces and put in a fire.
As soon as they began to glow, the Indians took them out of the fire and let
them burn to ashes separately. They watched carefully, to see that no piece
of any other wood or bark might be mixed with them.
Fig. 2.— Stripping of the "EPfiNA" bark.
318
Fig. 3. — Only a few seconds after the stripping the red-brownish liquid begins to exude
in drops and tinges the clearsighted wood of the trunk and the inner side of the bark.
These ashes of the AMA ASITA-bark are called by the WAIKA-Indians,
"YUPU USHI".
While the bark was burning separately, our Indian began to rub down
the dried EPfiNA scrapings with his hands. He did it sitting on the ground
and pressing his knees against his hands.
After reducing the EPfiNA scrapings to a crumbled dust, the Indian
roasted it for a short time over the fire. Then he mixed it with the ashes of
AMA ASITA. The proportion of the mixture was 50 : 50. As it is measured
by sight, the snuff-powders of the different manufacturers never have the
same tone of colour.
The snuff was not yet sufficiently uniform and refined. It contained little
spelts and crumbs that had to be eliminated. This was done in a little basket
such as each WAIKA household owned. The Indian beat the basket gently,
and the resulting dust was the final snuff -powder. It was kept in a bamboo-
tube, the usual storage box of the WAIKAS. Four or five of these tubes are
stuck between the palm-tree-leaves of each hut. The smaller tubes are usually
used for snuff-powder, and the bigger ones for keeping feathers, arrow-heads
and pigment for painting the body.
319
Fig. 4. — The inner side of the bark consists in a soft fibre-like layer that the Indians
scrape off with a knife.
320
Fig. 5.— a branch of AMA ASITA.
321
Fig. 6. — -The AMA ASITA bark is stripped. Note that the wood of the trunk remains
clear-sighted.
322
Fig. 7. — The outside of the bark is separated from its inner side.
323
Fig. 9. — The dried "EPENA" scrapings are rubbed down with the hands.
325
In another WAIKA-village, near the Maturaca-channel, we saw that a
third ingredient was added : the little leaves of a HEEBACEUS-plant, called
MASHI HIEI, like the EPfiNA -scrapings dried and powdered. These leaves,
however, have no intoxicating effect. The Indians say they are merely
aromatic. I don't know why the KAKAUETARY didn't use the plant.
Perhaps it was not available at the moment, or the Indians in the MA-
RAUIA-Eiver like another flavour.^
1 There is also used another snuff powder which contains, besides the above mentioned three
Ingredients, the other vegetables :
(1) The leaves of a plant called POSCHI-HAVE-MOSCHI-Hena ("hena" means "leaf")
(2) The leaves of another vegetable called AI-AMO-Hena.
In the villages we visited, the Indians either could not or did not want to show us these two plants.
They always said that they only grew In the higher region of the mountains, and not nearby. For
this reason the powder compound of the five ingredients was not on hand.
In my opinion it is the same compound whose snuffing we saw in our first expedition, and whose
effect was discribed as noxious for health. (People of the rain forest, page 167.) I cannot at the
moment say more about this powder. Neither the missionary with whom I am corresponding and
who lives in continued contact with several tribes, nor myself, saw in our other expeditions a
similar effect again. And in no other visited tribe were we able to get this powder.
Fig. 10. — The Indian sifts the "EPfiNA" in order to eliminate spelts and crumbs.
326
Fig. 11. — The final snufif powder is stored in a bamboo tube.
Some Remarks on the Use of Epena
We watched the use of EPfiNA in four WAIKA- villages : (1) near the
Upper Cauabori River ; (2) near the Upper Maia River ; (3) near the Upper
Marauia River, and (4) near the Maturaca Channel.
Firstly: The snuff was never inhaled in the morning. At this time, we
saw some of the corresponding preparations, such as painting the face and
the upper part of the body. Another Indian helped to paint the back and
legs. The feather ornament is tied on the upper arm. All in all a certain
festive preparation is part of the ceremony.
Secondly, The snuff-Inhaling ceremony generally began in the early after-
noon ; rarely in the evening.
Thirdly : Once, we saw two Indians blow snuff into each other's noses. Gen-
erally, only one person inhaled the EPfiNA.
327
Fourthly: Only adult men, but not women, took part in the ceremony.
Fifthly : The blowpipe, 23 to 28 inches in length, was used for inhalation
with one exception. We did not see any other inhalation instrument.
Sixthly : Only once did we see an Indian inhale snuff without the aid of
another man, and without instrument. (See also footnote Nr. 4) . He poured
the snuff from the bamboo tube into his open hand, lifted his hand to his
nose and inhaled the powder simply and neatly.
Seventhly : When we became able to distinguish one Indian from another,
we saw that there is no system for the snuff ceremony. For example : There
were Indians who took EPfiNA powder every day at any time in the after-
noon; there were others who practiced the ceremony only once in a fort-
night. Seldom did we see any formal motive for taking the snuff, such as
curing a sick person, invoking success in the'hunt or thanksgiving for a suc-
cessful hunt.
Only for the first motive, we saw snuff taking a few times. One or two men
took snuff to bring about the curing of a sick child. So did the child's father,
but not at the same time. I had the impression that in most cases, snuff was
taken without any profound meaning — such as treating the ill, exorcism, con-
tact with the HAKULA spirits, cult. There seemed to be only a sort of
swagger — an attempt to show "What a great guy I am !"
Otherwise how can we explain the fact that a great number of the Indians
did not take any notice of the ceremony in the village square. Or that a
dancer's girl friend sitting in her hammock, proudly watched the man
stamping and yelling in front of the hut? Moreover, the interpreters occa-
sionally burst out laughing at the dancer's movements and words. These
words did not always seem to make sense.
The dose for inhaling in each nostril was a coffee-spoon full. The Indians
usually take two doses. Only once, in the KARAUETAEI-village near the
Marauia River, did we see an Indian take four doses, one after another.
Administration
The inhalation was practiced in general in the following manner: (with
one exception observed in the KAUARETARI-village) : At first the snuff
power of one or two bamboo tubes was poured on a little board or plate, and
the little crumbs — caused by the high humidity of the air — were carefully
pinched between the fingers.
Then the two Indians, the carefully painted and adorned one as well as
the "blower" cowered under the roof of a hut, one opposite the other. The
"blower" filled a dose of powder with his fingers in the blowpipe, which the
other Indian kept on his right nostril. With a forceful blow the powder
entered the nose. The receiver immediately let fall the blow-pipe and held
the back of his head with both hands.
Our interpreter, a Portuguese speaking Indian, explained that he would
feel in this moment a violent headache. Not seldom, the Indian curved him-
self, probably because of this headache. Saliva ran out his mouth and he
vomited.
328
Fig. 12. — With a forceful blow the powder entered the nose.
After about 3 or 4 minutes it seemed that the first effect passed, and he
took again the blow-pipe, which the other Indian, the "blower", had again
filled up. The Indian now put the blow-pipe on the left nostril and got the
second dose. The immediate consequences like headache, salivation and vom-
iting were repeated, however, not always so strongly.
Effect
After inhaling the two doses of EPENA, the usual quantity of snuff
powder at the beginning of the ceremony, the Indian continued for about two
or three minutes in his cowered position. Then he stood up and walked
swaying like a drunkard. On his way his walk became faster and steadier.
His stare became fixed and he experienced a violent perspiration. In a few
minutes his face and body were completely wet.
Then his steps changed into a stamping that generally was adapted to a
certain rhythm: three or four steps forward, one step on the same place.
This "dance" the man accompanied with a recitative, monotonous singing,
which was relieved about every five to eight minutes by a terrible yell. During
329
262-016 0-67— 23
Fig. 13. — Saliva ran out of his mouth and he vomited.
this yelling the man generally stopped his "dance," and turned himself with
high lifted or spread arms to the mountain-range that elevates itself, steep
in the sky, a few miles to the north of the villages.^- ^
After about half an hour of stamping and singing and yelling an interval
took place in most of the observed cases. The Indian stood some minutes
with straddled legs, the upper part of his body bowed forward, nearly the
position which we took as children for playing leap frog. After this interval,
either the singing and stamping continued or the Indian — still singing and
2 In some of the cases observed by us, this yelling toward the mountain range certainly was a
threat against another tribe, living In hostility against our Indians. Some weeks ago they had
killed two members of that tribe and expected now the requital attack.
1 see in these yelllngs against the mountains where the other tribe was living, no Invitation to
the HAKULA spirits for help, but translate them more In this way :
"Come on over when you get up the courage ! — We will make hash of you !" Conclusion : Nothing
but boasting, in consequence of the macropsla provoked by the EP£!NA. Certainly, this makes the
dancer think he Is physically superior.
2 In the cases when they had inhaled EPfiNA to cure a sick child, the dance was stopped in front
of the child's hammock, and the Indian accompanied his yells with the vehement movements of
his arms, or the softly passing of his hands over the child's body. So, he tried to take out the Illness
of the patient's body.
.330
stamping — fetched from his hut some arrows, and continued dancing with
these.*
The snuff powder EPfiNA provokes a strong intoxication but by no means
an entire state of trance. Otherwise the man would not be able during his
"dance" to find with sure hand the arrows in the hut or — as it had happened
with me when I had gone with the camera in spite of warning — would have
« The Indian of the KARAUETARI tribe who Inhaled the powder without the assistance of
another man, snuffing the EPENA by himself from his open hand, was the only one whose "dances"
differed from the general manner :
(1) The phases of his "dance" lasted not more than 15 minutes, (2) In the Intervals of his
"dance" he inhaled some further doses of EPfiNA. He was the only one we saw snuffing during
the Intoxicating state and not only hefore It.
It Is possible that In his case the Initial doses, Inhaled without the powerful blow of another man,
had not provoked the common intoxicating effect. So he was forced to snuff again.
Fig. 14.— The "dance" under the effect of "EPENA."
331
Fig. 15. — . . . turned himself with high lifted arms to the mountain-range.
been able to threaten to throw a poisoned arrow at me, if I had not disap-
peared. My interpreter, who liad understood these words — in contrast to
me — had hastened to fetch me back to the hut and translated the threat.
The "dances", the movements of the arms in the normal intoxication
state — as such it could be said — were very different from those seen on our
first expedition, in the few minutes when the two young men were dancing
on the square under the effect of the other snuff powder, mentioned in foot-
note 1. These Indians doubtless had lost consciousness.
332
Fig. 1 6. — Typical face expression during the intoxication.
333
We talked with a young Indian of the KAUARETARI-tribe who had
learned Portuguese in the mission-school in Tapuruquara. We gathered some
explanations about the ceremony from this conversation :
We asked, "Do you snuff EPfiNA?" He answered, "No, I am not allowed
to. I am not grown up yet !"
"When will you grow up ?", we then asked.
"I don't know", he said, "but I think it will be soon."
Next question : "Who decides when you are grown up ? "
"My father. He shows me how to make the EPfiNA powder, and tells me
what happens when I sniff it."
Question : "What will happen then?"
Answer : "Then I will see the HAKULA, who are big men living there
above in big huts." — He pointed to the sky and continued : "The EPfiNA
makes me so big that I can see them and talk with them !"
Another Indian named Daniel, who had lived in the Tapuruquara-mission
for some years before returning to the tribe and marrying, told me that he
had seen " ANGELS" while under the effect of the EPfiNA. And that
he had talked with them !
This one Indian tells us that he will see "big men". Another says that he
saw "angels". This shows that the EPfiNA has two effects :
First : The real effect well-known from the experiments of Doctor Becher
and Doctor Richard E. Schultes. The Indian feels that he is a giant; every-
thing around him takes enormous and magnificant forms. In the midst of
a super-dimensional world, he feels like a superman ! Consequently his move-
ments correspond to this state of excitation. These are braggart's gestures.
These symptoms are accompanied by profuse salivation, a bad headache, a
fixed stare and heavy perspiration. The symptoms reveal a state of strong
intoxication.
The second effect is imagined. The Indian sees things he has been taught
to see. One sees "big men" because his father has told him that he Avould. The
other saw "angels" because he had been taught in the mission that they are
more powerful than HAKULA-spirits !
It can "be assumed that these Indians think about the HAKULA spirits
and want to speak with them to cure a sickness or succeed in hunting. But
my general impression is that many Indians take snuff only for kicks — to
experience a bigger world.
After about an hour, the effects of the snuff diminish. The dancer slows, and
goes to his hut to lie down in his hammock, where he apparently falls asleep.
Several Indians who had taken snuff and danced early in the afternoon, were
seen in the evening at about eight o'clock seated around the fire as if nothing
had happened. The duration of the snuff effects is comparatively short. One
of our interpreters said to me that they don't like to take snuff in the evening
because they can't sleep afterward. We can conclude from this that perhaps
the apparent sleep in the hammock after the dance is not . really sleep but
exhaustion, or the need to rest an aching head.
It is certain, however, that the violent headaches and nausea are caused
by the way that the snuff is taken — blown into the nostrils — that the head-
334
ache is temporarily relieved by the drug. Otherwise, the Indian would not
be able to behave so violently in the square. After about an hour, the exilarat-
ing, euphoric effect of the snuff backfires and turns into a hangover.
The "Parica" of the Tucano-Medicine Man Agostino
Most of the Indians who live in the village of Tapuruquara on the Upper
Eio Negro are TUCANOS, who abandoned their old tribe territory on the
PAPURf River. Agostino is the "Page", the medicine man, in this village,
and he still uses "PARICA", a snuff that he prepared in our presence. He
uses the same raw-material as the WAIKA Indians — ^the inner layer of the
bark from VIROLA CALOPHYLLOIDEA, Markgraf , but he prepared
the powder in a very different manner.
With his knife he scraped off the inner layer of the bark moistened by the
red-brown liquid. Then he threw these scrapings into a pot partly filled with
water. In this water they were thoroughly kneaded, and squeezed so that
the water turned muddy and took a reddish-brown colour. Then this muddy
liquid was set to evaporate over a slow fire.
Fig. 17. — The reddish-brown liquid was set to evaporate over a slow fire.
335
"It should not boil very rapidly", explained Agostino. And, indeed, three
hours passed before the quart of liquid had become a hard, dark crust on the
bottom of the bowl. From time to time a dirty foam rose to the surface, and
the "Page" Agostino removed it with a little branch. Also, other impurities
like fibres of the bark rose up with the bubbling and were eliminated in the
same way. Finally nothing remained except a thick, dark brown syrup with
a strong smell. Now, Agostino lowered the fire still more. The final drying
was done very slowly, probably to prevent burning.
The residue was a hard crust that was scraped off with a knife. It was the
concentrate of that red-brown liquid that had begun to exude from the inner
side of the bark, as well as from the trunk of VIKOLA CALOPHYLLOI-
DEA, Markgraf. The scraped residue was ground into a fine powder with
a smooth stone.
With this process the "parica" was ready as Agostino said. It was not
mixed with ashes or other ingredients. He explained that he, the medicine
man, is the only one allowed to inhale the snuff powder.
We didn't see the intoxicating effect, here, but it was confirmed by inhabi-
tants of the village that it is very strong. Therefore Agostino can snuff his
"PARICA" only twice a month at the most. He inhales the "PARICA", as
he told us, before diagnosing the trouble with his patients. In the intoxicated
state he stammers confused words which are interpreted by his brother. Later
on he tries to cure the patient, using for the treatment the rattle "NASH
SA" and the quartz crystal "MARIA PIRI".
Fig. 18. — Finally nothing remained except a thick, dark-brown syrup.
336
Fig. 19. — The residue was ground into a fine powder with a smooth stone.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bechlek, H. "Die Surira and Pakidai, zwei Yanonami-Stamme in Nordwestbrasilien."
Hamburg, Cram, De Gruyter & Co. 1960, 133 pp.
HoLMSTEDT, B. "Tryptamine Derivatives in Bpena, An Intoxicating Snuff used by some
South American Indian Tribes." Arch. int. Pharmacodyn. 156 : 2, p. 285-305. 1965
KocH-GRiJNBERG, Th. "Vom Roroima zum Orinoco, Erletnissc ciner Reise in Nord-
brasilien und Venezuela 1911-1913," Stgt. Band III (1923 ) 386 pp.
SCHULTES, R. E. "A new narcotic snuff from the Northwest Amazon." Bot. Museum
Leaflets, Harvard Univ. 16 (1954), 297-316.
ScHULTES, R. E. "Ethnobotanili amerikanischer Halluzinogene," Planta Medica, 13.
Jahrgang, Heft 2, Mai 1965, Hippokrates, Stgt.
Seitz, G. J. People of the rain forest, Heinemanu, London, 1962
Wassen, S. H. "The Use of Some Specific Kinds of South American Indian Snuff and
Related Paraphernalia," Etnologiska Studier, vol. 28, G<5teborg 1965
Wassen, S. H., and Holmstedt, B. "The use of parica, an ethnological and pharmaco-
logical review," Bthnos 28, 5-45, 1963
Zeeries, O. "Medizinmannwesen und Geisterglauben der Waika-Indianer des Oberen
Orinoco," Ethnologica 2, Koln, E. I. Bill ( 1960) , 487-507.
337
Zeeries, O. "Waika, Die kulturgeschichtliche Stellung der Waika-Indianer der Oberen
Orinoco in Rahmen der Volkerkunde Siidamerikas." 1964. Klaus Renner Verlag, Mtln-
clien (Ergebnisse der Frobenius-Expedition 1954/55 nacli Slidost-Venezuela. Band I.
Waika. )
338
Chemical Constituents and Pharma-
Bo HOLMSTEDT AND JaN-ErIK LiNDGREN
Department of Toxicology, Swedish Medical Research Council
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
About ten years ago E. C. Homing and co-workers isolated from seeds of
Piptadenia peregrina^ a leguminous plant, indole alkaloids which were identi-
fied by means of paper chromatography, colour reactions, fluorescence and
infrared spectra (Stromberg 1954, Fish, Johnson and Horning 1955). They
found the seeds to contain dimethyltryptamine-A'-oxide (DHT-A-^-oxide)
and Bufotenine (5-OH-DMT) and its corresponding N-oxide. The seeds of
Piptadenia peregrina is the most commonly known botanical source of snuffs
made by South American Indian tribes, and is inhaled to produce visions and
hallucinations. The interest of Homing and co-workers arose from the prop-
erties of the crude drug. As a result of these analyses synthetic dimethyl-
tryptamine (DMT) has come to be used experimentally by psychiatrists, in
order to produce shortlasting states of illusions and hallucinations (Szara
et al. 1957, 1961, Boszormenyi and Grunecker 1957) .
Ethnological and botanical evidence in recent years demonstrates clearly
that Piptadenia peregrina by no means is the main constituent of all snuffs
used by South American Indians. In view of this it was felt necessary to make
a general investigation of whatever material of this kind that could be col-
lected. The first results of these studies are reported here. Modern techniques
of analysis such as gas chromatography and the combination of gas chroma-
tography and mass spectrometry (Ryhage 1964) offer possibilities for an
accurate analysis even of very small amounts of material, such as can usually
be obtained from museum specimens.
Ethnological and botanical specimens
Ep^na snuff collected in 1965 at Rio Marauia. Ep4na snuff collected in 1965 at Rio
Maturaca. Snuff prepared by Pag6 Agostino collected in 1965 in Tapuruquara. All were
obtained from Mr. Georg J. Seitz, Caixa Postal 2605, Rio de .Taneiro.
Paricd obtained from Dr. Stig Ryd6n at the Ethnographical Museum in Stockholm.
*This investigation was supported by Grant MH-12007 from the National Institute
of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service, Chevy Chase, Md.
South American Snuffs
Material and methods
List of abieviations used
DMT =Af,A^-Dimethyltryptamine
MMT =7V^-Monomethyltryptamine
5-MeO-DMT=5-Methoxy-2V,Af-dimethyltryptamine
5-MeO-MMT=5-Methoxy-2V^-monomethyltryptamine
5-OH-DMT =5-Hydroxy-2V,2V-dimethyltryptamine (bufotenine)
GLC =Gas-liquid-chromatography
MS =Mass spectrometry
339
The specimen was collected In 1955 by the late Gustav Bolinder among the Piaroa Indians
(Orinoco region, Venezuela). Sample No. 56-7-282 Statens Etnografiska Museum,
Stockholm.
Yopo snuff, obtained from Mr. Donald Overton, School of Tropical and Preventive
Medicine, College of Medical Evangelists, Dept. of Biotoxicology, Loma Linda, Calif.,
collected in Colombia 1956. Sample No. P56-70-11.
Epena snuff, obtained from Dr. H. Becher, Niedersachsisches Landesmuseum, Abteilung
fiir Volkerkunde, Hannover, collected among the Surara Indians in 1956.
Seeds from Piptadeniw peregrina, obtained from the Abbott Laboratories, collected
in 1948 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sample No. (N-2003-C) .
Seeds from Piptadenia peregrina, obtained from Dr. W. Haberland, Museum fiir
Volkerkunde, Hamburg, collected by Dr. Franz Caspar among the Tupari Indians
(Caspar 1953).
Bark from Piptadenia peregrina, obtained from Mr. Donald Overton, collected in
Colombia 1956. Sample No. P56-70-7.
Bark from Virola calophylla, obtained from Mr. William A. Rodrigues, Manaus, Brazil,
1964.
Material used in gas chromatography — mass spectrometry
Gas Chrom P 100-120 mesh, Applied Science Lab., State College, Pa., U.S.A. F-60 (a
methyl p-dichlorophenylsiloxane polymer, Dow Corning, Midland, Mich., U.S.A.).
EGSS-Z ( = Z a copolymer from ethylene glycol, succinic acid and methyl phenyl siloxane
monomers. Applied Science Lab.). SE-30 silicone, Applied Science Lab. PDEAS (phenyl-
diethanolamine succinate, Wilkins Instrument & Research, Walnut Creek, Cal., U.S.A.).
Dichlorodimethylsilane, Hopkins & Williams Ltd., Essex, England.
Reference compounds and reagents
5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, 5-methoxy-N-monomethyltryptamine, N-mono-
methyltryptamlne bioxalate were kindly placed at our disposal by Dr. A. Hofmann,
Sandoz A.G., Basle. Harmine and tetrahydroharmine hydrochloride were kindly placed
at our disposal by Dr. K. Bernauer, F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co., A.G. Basle. N,If-J)\-
methyltryptamine (Aldrich Chemical Co., Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A.). Harmine
(Fluka A.G. Buchs SG, Switzerland). Bufotenine was prepared from Piptadenia pere-
grina by E. C. Horning, Baylor University, College of Medicine, Texas Medical Center,
Houston, Texas, U.S.A. All other reagents used were of "reagent grade" and from differ-
ent manufacturers.
Isolation of organic bases
5-20 g of the powdered material was treated according to a procedure known to be
satisfactory for phenolic amines in the indole series (Fish, Johnson and Horning
1955). The isolation procedure was followed in detail but the amounts of solvents were
reduced with respect to the initial weight of the sample.
The steps of isolation procedure were followed by tests using Ehrlich's reagent.
After drying with magnesium sulphate the final product was obtained upon removal
of the solvent. The total alkaloids obtained were then dissolved either in methanol or
in tetrahydrofurane.
Oas chromatography (GLG)
Gas chromatographic analysis was performed with an F & M Model 400 apparatus
equipped with a hydrogen flame ionization detection system.
The column support, 100-120 mesh Gas Chrom P, was acid washed and silanized
according to the method described by Horning et al. (1963). The coating was applied
by the filtration technique (Horning, et al. 1959, 1963). The stationary phases used
were (1) 6% F-60 and 2% EGSS-Z (2.25 m x 3.2 mm glass tube), (2) 5% SE-30
(4 m X 3.2 mm glass tube). The F-60-Z column was operated at 190° and the SE-30
column at 210°. The fiash heater and detector cell were kept 30-40° above the column
temperature. The flow rate of the carrier gas, nitrogen, was 60 ml/min. Samples were
injected in methanol or tetrahydrofuran solution with a Hamilton syringe.
340
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (0LC-M8)
The principles of the technique have been described in detail by Ryhage (1964). The
mass spectrometry work was carried out with LKB 9000 gas chromatograph-mass spec-
trometer including a fast scan system and the Ryhage "molecule separator." The ion
source was 270°, the electron energy was 70 eV and the electron ionization current 60aiA,
respectively. The separations were made on systems consisting of 3% PDEAS at 190°
or 5% SE-30 at 200°. The column consisted of a 2 m x 3.2 mm glass tube. Helium was
used as the carrier gas. At the outlet of the column, the separated compounds were con-
centrated and continuously fed into the mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer
simultaneously serves as a gas chromatographic detector and for recording of mass
spectra of the compound as they emerge from the column. The reference compounds
were run through the column, and the mass spectra of the compounds recorded. The
alkaloid fractions prepared as described above, were then run under identical conditions,
and mass spectra were recorded from the gas chromatographic x)eaks having the same
retention times as those of the reference compounds.
Results
The results of the authors' analysis of crude drugs such as parica, epena,
etc. and corresponding botanical specimens are contained in Fig. 1-14. In
table 1-2 our own results as well as those of previous investigators have
been included. In every case the peaks in the gas chromatograms have been
corroborated by mass spectra obtained with the combination instrument.
This method assures complete identity with the reference compounds, and
gives direct evidence for identity in contrast to indirect methods such as
relative retention times.
Snuffs
In all six snuffs were examined (Table 1). In the crude drugs we have
identified the various tryptamines. In three of them 5-MeO-DMT was the
main component. DMT was identified in five but was nowhere found to be
the main component. 5-OH-DMT was found in substantial amounts in two
snuffs. One drug proved to have as much Bufotenine as DMT. This snuff has
very little 5-MeO-DMT but in addition to simple indoles also contains
harmine. Only one drug has 5-OH-DMT as its main constituent but contained
in addition DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. Two compounds hitherto unidentified in
South American snuffs were found to be present namely MMT and 5-MeO-
MMT. Only one snuff contained exclusively ^-carbolines.
Plants
As a comparison, plant material from Piptadenia peregrina and Virola
calophylla were examined in identical ways. Piptadenia seeds from two
various locations proved to contain in one case 5-OH-DMT and in another
case 5-MeO-DMT as the main constituent. The bark from Piptadenia when
examined contained the following substances: DMT, MMT, 5-MeO-DMT
and 5-MeO-MMT where 5-MeO-DMT by far was present in the highest con-
centration. Finally, the bark from Virola calophylla proved to contain DMT,
MMT and 5-MeO-DMT, the highest concentration in this case being DMT.
341
•
44
1 PEAK 3 1
■
160
!
173 20«'
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
m/e
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
m/e
20 40 60 eO 100 120 140 160 180 200
m/e
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
m/e
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
m/e
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
m/e
Fig. 2. — Mass spectrometric recording of compound in peak effluents from alkaloid
fraction (Fig. 1) and reference compounds. Conditions: Column 2 m; i.d. 3.2 mm;
3% PDEAS; 100-120 mesh Gas Chrom P; temp. 190^
Fig. 1. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction from South American snuff prepared
by Pag4 Agostino, obtained from Mr G. Seitz. Tucano Indians, Tapuruquara, 1965.
GLC conditions: Column 2.25 mm; i.d. 3.2 mm; 6% F 60 and 2% EGSS— Z on 100-
120 mesh Gas Chrom P; temp. 190°; flow 60 ml per min. Upper panel high magnifica-
tion. Lower panel low magnification. Mass spectra recorded simultaneously from
peak effluents of extract and model substances injected under similar conditions, see
Fig. 2.
343
Fig. 3. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction of Epena snuff obtained from Mr G"
Seitz. Waica Indians, Rio Marauid, 1965. GLC conditions: Same as for Fig. 1. Upper
panel high magnification. Middle panel low magnification. Lower panel reference
substance recorded simultaneously. Mass spectra from effluent from peak 2 and model
substances injected under similar conditions, see Fig. 4. Mass spectrometric control
of peak effluents: Peak 1 and DMT: Molecular ion at m/e 188; other peaks at m/e
58 (base peak), 103, 115, 130, 143. Peak 3 and 5-MeO-DMT: Molecular ion at m/c
218; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 117, 160, 173.
344
3
I
2
OMT
5-MtO-DMT
S-M«0-MMT
MMT
1
|5 20 30 AO
MINUTES
345
262-016 0-67— 24
Fig. 4. — ^Mass spectrometric recording of compound in peak effluent from peak 2 from
alkaloid fraction (Fig. 3) and reference compound. Conditions: Same as for Fig. 2.
346
100
90 -
80 -
if) 70
c
CD
C
60
50
>
a>
40
30
20
10
44
PEAK 2
130
103 115
jL, LL_
143
174
—I — " ' > " — n — ""-T" — ■ " I I' " r
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
m/e
100
90
^ 80
>>
^ 60
c
(D 50
>
D 40
CD
30
20
10
44
MMT
H
130
103
115
^1 llii LL, U
143 174
1 — " T • ' ' " i " — — T — - — r — ' " I r" r
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
m /e
347
Fig. 5. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction of Epena snuff obtained from Mr G.
Seitz, Araraibo Indians, Rio Maturaca, 1965. GLC conditions: Same as for Fig. 1.
Upper panel alkaloid fraction. Lower panel reference substances. Mass spectrometric
control of peak effluents: Peak 1 and DMT: Molecular ion at m/e 188; other peaks
at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 115, 130, 143. Peak 2 and 5-MeO-DMT: Molecular ion
at m/e 218; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 117, 160, 173.
348
«4
349
I
I
• I
1 1
\
4
5-MeO-DMT
HARMINE
DMT
5-OH-DMT
I I J—
10 20 30
MINUTES
350
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
m/e
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
m/e
58
5-OH-OMT
103
117 146 204
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 ISO 180 200
m/e
100 r
90 ■
80 ■
70 -
c
a<
60 -
c
50 ■
a;
>
40 ■
D
30 •
20
10
HARMINE
chjO-CXn
H CH,
212
169
106
197
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
m/e
eo 200
Fig. 7. — Mass spectrometric recording of compound in effluents from peak 3 and 4 from
alkaloid fraction (Fig. 6) and reference compounds. Conditions: Column 2 m; i.d. 3.2
mm; 5% SE-30; 100-120 mesh Gas Chrom P; temp. 200°.
Fig. 6. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction from Parica obtained from the Ethno-
graphical Museum, Stockholm, collected by the late Prof. Bolinder. Piaroa Indians,
Venezuela, 1955. Column 4m; i.d. 3.2 mm; 5% SE-30 on 100-120 mesh Gas Chrom P;
temp. 210°; flow 60 ml per min. Upper panel alkaloid fraction. Lower panel reference
substances. Mass spectrometric control of peak effluents: Peak 1 and DMT: Molecular
ion at m/e 188; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 115, 130, 143. Peak 2 and 5-
MeO-DMT: Molecular ion at m/e 218; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 117, 160,
173. Mass spectra from effluents from peak 3 and 4 and model substances, see Fig. 7.
351
Fig. 8. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction from Yopo, Colombia, 1956, obtained
from Mr Donald Overton. Sample number P56-70-11. GLC conditions: Same as for
Fig. 6. Upper panel alkaloid fraction. Lower panel reference substances. Mass spectro-
metric control of peak effluents: Peak 1 and DMT: Molecular ion at m/e 188; other
peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 115, 130, 143. Peak 2 and 5-MeO-DMT: Molecular
ion at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 117, 160, 173. Peak 3 and 5-OH-DMT: Molecular ion
at m/e 204; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 117, 146, 159.
352
3
I
5-MeO-DMT
DMT
5-OH-DMT
r
10
MINUTES
20
353
Fig. 9. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction from Epena snuff obtained from Dr H
Becher. Surdra Indians 1956. GLC conditions: Same as for Fig. 6. Upper panel alkaloid
fraction. Lower panel reference substances. Mass spectra recorded simultaneously from
peak effluents of extract and model substances injected under similar conditions, see
Fig. 10.
354
HARMINE
I
HARMALINE
TETRAHYDROHARMINE
10 20 30
MINUTES
> 40 -
"55 30 -
20 -
10 -
PEAK I
f72|87
KM
i», ^ HI ill ii
201
216
BO 100 120 140 ISO i80 200
m/e
no
90
80
70
c
60
50
a;
>
40
o
a>
30
DC
TETR AH YDROHARM I NE
" CM,
201
172 187
m
-I — T—
a. > «ll 1 1
216
i
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 iSO ISO 2CX)
m/e
100
90
80
70
"55
c
60
50
>
40
O
30
20
10 -
HARMINE
CK,
212
169
106
197
2040 60 80 OO BO t40 tec e: SCO
m/e
Fig. 10. — Mass spectrometric recording of compounds in peak effluents from alkaloid
fraction (Fig. 9) and reference compoimds. Conditions: Same as for Fig. 7.
>•
Fig. 11. — Gas ckromatograpliie comparison of alkaloid fraction in Piptadenia seeds
obtained from various locations with reference substances. Upper panel seeds of Pipta-
denia peregriua obtained from Abbott Xo. X-2003-C, Puerto Rico 1948. Pre\"iously
analysed by Homing et al. 1955. Main constituent 5-OH-DMT. Middle panel seed of
Piptadenia peregrina collected by F. Caspar. Tupari Indians, Ptio Branco, Brazil, 1953.
Main constituent 5-MeO-DMT. Lower panel reference substances, ilass spectro-
metric control of peak effluents: Upper panel — Left peak and DMT: ]\Iolecular ion at
m/e 188; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 115, 130, 143. Right peak and 5-OH-
DMT: [Molecular ion at m/e 204; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 117, 146, 159.
Middle panel — Left peak and D]\IT: Molecular ion at m/e 188; other peaks at m e 58
(base peak), 103, 115, 130, 143. Right peak and 5-MeO-DMT: Molecular ion at m/,
218; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 117, 160, 173.
356
357
2040«o SO ooeoMoeoiao
[PC*K 2 1
44
ISO
oa IS
1 ■ ■
rts itV
20 *t
60 BO OO so
m/e
MO CO
100
90
OMT ^.
OP---'-:
100
90
44
»* 00
SB
>! BO
yyT
1 eo
s
|eo
u SO
O 40
^ 90
O 40
ISO
(t 50
(t »
20
?0
10
^119 oo|*' ite
10
— ^
i.ii..r^
143 174'
44
S-M*0-WWT
KO
IIS
20 40 eo eo I
20 40 eo BO 100 120 140 GO IBO 200
Fig. 13. — Mass spectrometric recording of compounds in peak effluents from alkaloid
fraction in Fig. 12 and reference compounds. Conditions: Same as for Fig. 2.
Fig. 12. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction from bark of Piptadenia peregrina
obtained from Mr. Donald Overton, collected in Colombia. 1956. Sample number
P56-70-7. Column conditions: Same as for Fig. 1. Upper panel high magnification.
Middle panel low magnification. Lower panel reference substances. Mass spectra
recorded simultaneously from peak effluent of extract and model substances injected
under similar conditions, see Fig. 13.
359
I
I
I MINUTES
Fig. 14. — Gas chromatogram of alkaloid fraction from bark of Virola calophyUa. JSIanaus
1964. GLC conditions: Same as for Fig. 1. Upper panel alkaloid fraction. Lower panel
reference substances. Mass spectrometric control of peak effluents: Peak 1 and DAIT:
Molecular ion at m/e 188; other peaks at m/e 58 (base peak), 103, 115, 130, 143. Peak
2 and MMT: Molecular ion at m/e 174; other peaks at m/e 44 (base peak), 103, 115,
130, 131, 143. Peak 3 and 5-MeO-DMT: Molecular ion at m/e 218. other peaks at m/e
58 (base peak), 103, 117, 160, 173.
360
Table 1. — Distribution of indole alkaloids in South American snuffs
Name
Origin
Alkaloid
Reference
Paric^
Venezuela
5-OH-DMT
Fish and Horning
1956
Parica
Colombia
5-OH-DMT
Ep^na
Waica Indians
DMT
5-OH-DMT
5-MeO-DMT
Holmstedt et al. 1964
Ep^na
Yanonami Indians
DMT
DMT-N-oxide
5-OH-DMT
5-OH-DMT-N-OAide
Marini-Bettolo et
al. 1964
Epena
Surara Indians
Harmine
Tetrahydroharmine
Bernauer 1964
Parica
Tucano Indians
Harmine
Harmaline
Tetrahydroharmine
Biocca et al. 1964
Epena
Tucano Indians
DMT
5-MeO-DMT
5-MeO-MMT
Present investigation
Ep^na
Waica Indians
DMT
MMT
5-MeO-DMT
Epdna
Araraibo Indians
DMT
5-MeO-DMT
Yopo
Colombia
DMT
5-OH-DMT
5-MeO-DMT
Parica
Piaroa Indians
DMT
5-OH-DMT
5-MeO-DMT
Harmine
Ep6na
Surara Indians
Harmine
Tetrahydroharmine
262-016 0-67— 25
361
Table 2. — Distribution of indole alkaloids in South American plants used for
snuff preparation
Plant
Part
Origin
Piptadenia
Seeds
Puerto Rico
5-OH-DMT
Stromberg 1954
peregrina Benth.
Piptadenia
Pods
Puerto Rico
DMT
Fish, Johnson,
peregrina Benth.
and
and Horning
Seeds
Brazil
DMT-N-oxide
1955
5-OH-DMT
5-OH-DMT-N-
oxide
Piptadenia
Seeds
Puerto Rico
DMT
Present investi-
peregrina Benth.
5-OH-DMT
gation
Seeds
Rio Branco
DMT
region,
5-MeO-DMT
West
Brazil
Piptadenia
Bark
Brazil
MMT
Legler and
peregrina Benth.
5-MeO-DMT
Tschesche 1963
5-MeO-MMT
Piptadenia
Bark
Colombia
DMT
Present investi-
peregrina Benth.
MMT
gation
5-MeO-DMT
5-MeO-MMT
Piptadenia
Pods
Brazil
DMT
Fish, Johnson,
macrocarpa
Seeds
DMT-N-oxide
and Horning
Benth.
5-OH-DMT
1955
5-OH-DMT-N-
oxide
Piptadenia
Bark
Argentine
5-MeO-MMT
lacobucci and
macrocarpa
Pods
DMT
Ruveda 1964
Benth.
5-OH-DMT
Seeds
DMT
5-OH-DMT
5-OH-DMT-N-
oxide
Piptadenia excelsa
Pods
Argentine
DMT
(Gris.) Lillo
Seeds
5-OH-DMT
5-OH-DMT-N-
oxide
Piptadenia
Seeds
Brazil
5-OH-DMT
Pachter, Zacka-
colubrina Benth.
rias, and
Riberio 1959
Mimosa hostUis
Root
Brazil
DMT
Benth.
Virola calophylla
Bark
Manaus
DMT
Present
Brazil
MMT
investigation
5-MeO-DMT
362
Discussion
Mass spectrometric fragmentation of tryptamines
In the past years the mass spectrometer has taken its place beside other
methods in studies of natural products. The unique function of this instru-
ment is to delineate the molecular size and composition of a compound;
in many cases it can also provide information on the arrangement of atoms
in the molecule. The classical application of mass spectrometry, one in which
its precision is superior to that of any other method, is in determining the
molecular weight of an unknown compound. More extensive deductions
regarding structures of complex molecules may often be derived from careful
examination of the entire mass spectrum of a compound.
The combination of mass spectrometry and gas chromatography as invented
by Ryhage (1964) is even more advantageous, because it combines the means
of identification described above Avith the best method so far described for
the separation of a series of compounds.
In the instrument available (LKB 9000), a mass spectrometer is coupled
to a gas liquid chromatography (GLC) column. As the compounds emerge
from the column they are ionized in the ion source of the mass spectrometer
and about 10% of the total ion current is used for continuous registration of
the effluent. Two molecule separators are coupled in series between the
column and the gas inlet line of the mass spectrometer. With this technique
the sample-to-heliuni ratio is increased at least a hundred times. Less than
one fig of material introduced into the column suffices for a good mass
spectrum. GLC-MS has the great advantage not only to resolve various
substituted and non-substituted tryptamines, but also to give accurate
identification. It is conceivable that the nonspecificity of the most commonly
used method spectrophotofluorometry has prevented the elucidation of other
normally occurring compounds than serotonin and tryptamine, and that with
the progress in GLC-MS additional biogenic amines of physiological and
pharmacological importance may be found. No doubt, the combination of
GLC and mass spectrometry will be one of the powerful tools used in
biological research for years to come.
According to Budzikiewics, Djerassi and Williams (1964) simple indoles
have a characteristic fragmentation pattern. By analogy with this the
psychotomimetic substance 5-MeO-DMT discovered by us in South American
snuff would have the following fragmentation pattern.
363
Here the main cleavage occurs as follows :
CH30
^^^^^
CH2-pCH2 -N(CH3)2
N
H
160' 58
The ions m/e 160 and 58 are clearly seen in the mass spectrmn. If one CH3
on N is replaced by H such as occurs in 5-MeO-lSIMT the corresponding ions
occur at m/e 160 and 44. The latter ion is found as the base peak of the
spectrum. If one CH3 on N are replaced by other groups such as acetyl in
melatonine a corresponding ion is formed.
On the other hand m/e 160 will change according to different substitution
in the indole nucleus such as occurs in bufotenine (m/e = 146) .
m/e 173 may represent
N' "^N(CH,),
or
CH
m/e 174 may represent
H®
For m/e 115, 116, 117 in the spectrum the origin is not known, but the presence
of these peaks seems to confirm previous belief that they are a good qualitative
CH,
364
indication of indoles. The mass spectra of 5-OH-DMT, 5-MeO-MMT and
MMT when scrutinized confirm the fragmentation pattern proposed for
5-MeO-DMT.
Plants containing indoles
The first indoles in plants were isolated in the beginning of this century
(Saxton 1965). Since then the number has been steadily increasing. Good
accounts of their occurrence are available (Hochstein and Paradies 1957,
Stowe 1958, Cerletti 1960, Downing 1962, Poisson 1965, Saxton 1965 and
Morimoto et al., 1965, 1966). Unsubstituted and 5-substituted indoles com-
mand special interest with regard to pharmacological effects in two instances.
Firstly there are reports of cases of a disease called "staggers" in sheep
pastured largely on a perennial grass, Phalaris tuberosa L. (Gallagher et al.
1964). Investigation of this and related species of Phalaris has led to the
isolation of DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, 5-MeO-MMT and 5-OH-DMT (Wilkinson
1958, Culvenor et al. 1964) .
Secondly, the same tryptamines as presented in table 1-2 of this review
occur in the snuffs used in South America for intoxicating purposes. From
the tables it is evident that tryptamines both imsubstituted and substituted in
the ring (5-OH- and 5-MeO-) occur, and that both secondary and tertiary
amines are present. In addition to this some snuffs contain y8-carbolines,
either in combination with the simple tryptamines or solely. In South Amer-
ican botany y8-carbolines (harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine) are
usually associated with the species of Banisteriopsis, wherefore it is very
likely that this is their origin in the snuffs. Very likely this is an admixture
to the snuff, although definite botanical proof for it is lacking at the moment.
To the knowledge of the authors, simple indoles and ;8-carbolines have not
yet been isolated from the same plant.
The occurrence of both tryptamines and y8-carbolines in the South Ameri-
can snuffs is pharmacologically interesting. The ^-carbolines are monoamine-
oxidase inhibitors (Udenfriend et al. 1958), and could potentiate the action
of the simple indoles. The combination of /8-carbolines and tryptamines would
thus be advantageous. However, pharmacological actions of the y8-carbolines
unrelated to monoamineoxidase inhibition has also been proven to exist
(Schievelbein et al. 1966). Further botanical and chemical studies are obvi-
ously needed to see if the two groups of compounds in the snuff are derived
from one plant or a mixture of plants.
Deposition and absorption of snuffs
The equipment used for the administration of the powder in some cases
consists of a straight tube equipped at one end with a palmkemel through
which a hole has been bored. This end is fitted into the nostril of one person
while another blows the powder forcefully through the opposite end of the
tube. Another variation is a V-shaped tube, used for self-administration,
where one end is put into the mouth and the other end into the nostril and the
snuff is blown into the nasal cavity. Other equipment for the administration
365
exist among other tribes, the usual apparatus being the frequently described
bifurcated tube (Safford 1916). This is used for administration by means of
direct inhalation.
The two means of administration, forceful blowing or inhalation can be
expected to differ in the effect produced. It is necessary to consider here the
broad features of normal nasal physiology. The stream of inspired air does
not pursue a straight course from anterior nares to choana, but passes in a
wide curve beginning at the nostril, extending through the olfactory fissure,
and ending in the choana (Proetz 1953). The negative pressure produced in
the nose on inspiration, reaches a maximum figure of 55 mm. of mercury. The
air fluctuations are rarely of sufficient force or magnitude to carry foreign
particles into the sinuses. During normal sniffing (inspiration) air is pro-
jected against the nasal mucosa and the anterior portion of the nose, produc-
ing eddies. Harrison (1964) let volunteers sniff pinches of barium sulphate
powder up one nostril. Inspection revealed that in every case the powder
collected primarily in the middle meatus. By forceful blowing as with the
straight and the V-shaped tube a more widespread deposition on the nasal
mucosa may be expected, and some particles even reach the lungs (China-
choti et al. 1957). However, we must assume that the main part of the ad-
ministered material affects the brain from the nose. From a theoretical point
of view several possibilities exist.
(a) The tryptamines reach the brain, via absorption from the richly vas-
cularized nasal mucosa into the blood stream. It is well known that many
other drugs have a very rapid action when applied in this way.
(b) The compounds act directly on the brain without having been trans-
ported through the general circulation.
Anatomical reasons have been proposed for the direct action on the CNS
of certain drugs, such as cocaine, through the nasal mucosa (Lewin 1927).
The following veins communicate directly with the cranial cavity, the con-
comitant veins of the arteriae ethmoidales, and a vein which accompanies a
ramification of the anterior ethmoidal artery. The last one is an important
connection between the nose and the cranial cavity. This vein accompanies
the artery through the ethmoidale plate and makes connection within the
cranial cavity, either with the network of veins of Tractus olfactorius or
directly with a bigger vein in the orbital lobe. All the vessels mentioned are
accompanied by lymph vessels, and it is conceivable that drugs can act
directly on the brain without having to be transported through the general
circulation. Experimental proofs for this are, however, lacking.
Several observers have described the passage of simple solutions from the
nose into the cranial cavity. (For references see Yoffey and Drinker 1938).
Clark (1929), for example, stated that a solution of potassium ferrocyanide
and iron ammonium citrate, dropped into the nasal cavities of rabbits,
reaches the surface of the brain within one hour ( Sic ! ) . He believed that
there was a pathway along "the perineural sheaths of the olfactory nerves".
The existence of a current running centripetally in these perineural sheath
spaces of the olfactory nerves under normal conditions was postulated. Faber
(1937), came to similar conclusions as a result of experiments on rabbits.
366
In the series of experiments by Yoff ey and Drinker ( 1938 ) , this was definitely
not the case. The results were of especial interest since by cannulation of
the cervical lympli duct it was possible to show that dye was present in the
lymph in high concentration over many hours, and yet could never be detected
in the interior of the cranium.
It seems evident that for anything but solutions of simple crystalloids,
the cribriform plate offers an effective barrier to the passage of substance
(non-living) from the nose to the interior of the skull. The rapidity of action
of the tryptamines (minutes) also speaks against a direct transport from the
nasal to the subarachnoidal cavity via the lymph vessels.
Symptomatology
The first written account of the action of the American intoxicating snuffs
is that by Friar Kamon Pane on cohoba, published first in 1511 and quoted in
detail by Wassen (this volume). Ramon Pane's observation of symptoms is
revealing :
... he takes a certain powder called cohoba, snufiBng it up his nose, which
intoxicated them so that they do not know what they do and in this condition they
speak many things incoherently in which they say they are talking with the cemis
and that by them they are informed how the sickness came upon him. Having
snuffed cohoba into their nostrils (so they call the intoxicating plant by which
the bovites also are thrown into a frenzy), they say that the house is turned upside
down the roofs and floors being interchanged and that men walk with their feet
upward. Such is the strength of the powder of cohoba that it takes away the senses
of using it. When the stupefaction begins to go away, he hangs down his head
and clasps his knees with his arms. He remains in this state of suspended animation
for a little while ; then he raises his head as one awakening from sleep and casting
his eyes up at the sky at first he mutters a few rambling words to himself. The
words which they say, none of our people understand. With this powder they
lose consciousness and become like drunken men.
This undoubtedly constitutes the first written account of the psychoto-
mimetic effects of the tryptamines, and is astonishing in its correctness when
compared to later descriptions only some of which will be quoted here.
Ramon Pane's description also corresponds very well to what one can see
in the film about the use of the epena among the Waicas made by Mr. Georg
Seitz. Later explorers have, however, pointed out additional effects. Nimuen-
daju (1948), (quoted from Wassen 1965) says:
. . . the powder caused a general state of excitement and exaltation with
auditory hallucinations, and a condition of feverish activity which ended with
prostration or unconsciousness. According to Martius, individuals who were over-
excited by the narcotic and suffocated, died on the spot. On the morning following
"a narcotic spree'" the bodies of persons were often found shot with arrows or
stabbed with knives. These murders were not considered as crimes and were blamed
on the parica.
Cohoba, according to Columbus, Ramon Pane, Las Casas and others who
observed and reported its use in Haiti, was employed by the medicine-men
chiefly to induce a state of trance ; more hedonistic uses have been described
later (see Seitz this volume). The violent effect of this snuff indicated that
367
its chief ingredient was a powerful substance. None of the early commenta-
tors on the custom says that the substance inhaled was derived from the
tobacco plant, but before the close of the sixteenth century the snuff used in
the cohoba ceremonies reported was assumed to be tobacco, and the associa-
tion was continued up to our own time (Loven 1935) . Only a person entirely
inexperienced in pharmacology and toxicology would, however, confuse
the illusions and hallucinations described under the influence of cohoba,
with a nicotine intoxication. The confusion of cohoba and tobacco was also
largely dispelled by the paper by Safford ( 1916 ) .
All modern evidence confirms the psychotomimetic action of the snuffs.
Zerries (1964) and Seitz (this volume) describe how in the Waica tribe in-
dividuals quickly become intoxicated by repeated inhalation of the snuff.
The somatic symptoms are headache, salivation, vomiting, profuse perspira-
tion, unsteady gait and a typical facial expression. During the intoxication
the Indians are able to establish contact with the Hekula, the spirits of rocks
and waterfalls in order to induce them to bring mishap and sickness to the
enemies of the village. The medicine man becomes possessed by spirits, excited
and sometimes loses consciousness. The best description of the use of epena
is the one given by Becher (1960) relating details about the religious use of
the compound, and how during the ritual the Lidians 'become so obsessed with
the spirits that they have to be exorcised. Under the influence of the drug,
the Indians identify themselves with the gigantic spirits of animals and
plants Hekura (Hekula), and also have the impression that they personify
themselves the Hekura (Surara tribe) . Becher, who became a member of this
tribe, gives a rare description of his own experience when taking the snuff.
His symptoms were the following (translation by the authors) :
A few minutes (after taking the snuff) I felt terrible with a headache and
nausea just as the boy who comes into contact with the drug for the first time.
Shortly afterwards, I had a very strange experience, I felt myself to be a giant
among giants. Everybody around me, people as well as dogs and parrots, seemed
suddenly to have become giants.
Interestingly enough this is a description of macroptic illusions.
Dysmegalopsia^ synonymous with dysmetropsm^ is a disturbance of the
visual appreciation of the size of objects which occurs with certain drugs.
It can be subdivided into maeropsia and micropsia. These conditions may re-
sult from disturbances in the peripheral motor perception, ?.e., eye muscles,
but they also occur in toxic psychoses. Maeropsia has been described, par-
ticularly in alcoholic delirium. Its most famous manifestation is the well
known "pink elephants." It also occurs in intoxications with Amanita mus-
caria (Kracheninnikov 1764) . The macroptic phenomenon has been treated in
detail by di Gaspero (1908). It is interesting to know that these experiences
are described by people who are fully oriented in time and space, and that
during experience living persons and animals hut not dead ohjects, change
size (compare Becher). The latter may be perceived in a different colour
as to the giants. Maeropsia seems to be more common than micropsia, but
the latter has been described as a result of intoxication with ether, alcohol,
cocaine, chloral hydrate and cannabis (de Clerambault 1909). Apparently
368
it can occur also in intoxications with Banisteriopsis (Preuss 1921) . Beringer
(1934), who has devoted a study to optic illusions and hallucinations,
describes a third phenomenon, a change in size in one direction or the other
somewhat reminiscent of what can be achieved with a modern zoom lens of
a camera.
Shortly after Horning et al. had isolated DMT and 5-OH-DMT from
Piptadenia peregHna, Szara (1957), conducted experiments on himself with
the injection of DMT. The symptoms he reported are in good agreement with
what has been described by the explorers :
In the third or fourth minute after the injection vegetative symptoms appeared,
such as a tingling sensation, trembling, slight nausea, mydriasis, elevation of the
blood pressure and increase of the pulse rate. At the same time eidetic phenomena,
optical illusions, pseudohallucinations and later real hallucinations, appeared. The
hallucinations consisted of moving, brilliantly coloured oriental motifs, and later
I saw wonderful scenes, altering very rapidly. The faces of the people seemed to be
masks. My emotional state was elevated sometimes up to euphoria. At the highest
point, I had compulsive athetoid movement in my left hand. My consciousness was
completely filled by hallucinations, and my attention was firmly bound to them;
therefore I could not give an account of the events hapi)ening around me. After
%-l hour the symptoms disappeared, and I was able to describe what had happened.
Macropsia is also a frequent phenomenon in experimental DMT-intoxica-
tions (Isbell, personal communication) .
The action of 5-OH-DMT (bufotenine) is more controversial. Fabing and
Hawkins (1956), reported that intravenous injection, over a three minute
period, of 8 to 16 mg of bufotenine in human volunteers resulted in primary
visual disturbances, alteration of time and space perception, and paresthesias.
It is difficult to judge by this account whether any illusions and hallucina-
tions really occurred. It seems that the observed phenomena can as well be
interpreted as general somatic symptoms of intoxication. Neither Isbell nor
Turner and Merlis (1959) themselves in their carefully conducted studies,
could substantiate the claim that bufotenine injections had any effect on the
central nervous system, whereas DMT under the same experimental condi-
tions had psychotomimetic effects.
Control experiments with various preparations of snuff have been carried
out by two groups but have not proven the capability of the used prepara-
tions to produce the intoxication attributed to it by natives or explorers.
In a letter, Dr. Harris Isbell describes his experiment with the same com-
pounds in the following way :
We studied several forms of the material : Untreated snuff, roasted snuff, limed
and roasted snuff, fermented snuff, fermented and limed snuff, fermented, limed
and roasted snuff. Our subjects inhaled the snuff through straws. We obtained no
reports that there were any subjective effects after inhalation of this material in
amounts ranging up to 1 gram, and we further were unable to obtain any evidence
of objective effects on pupillary size, tendon reflexes, body temperature, respiration,
blood pressure etc., after doses ranging up to 1 gram orally.
Inhalation of pure bufotenine in aerosol suspension, or oral ingestion of bufo-
tenine in doses running up to 100 mg (total dose) also were without effect.
The above quoted experiments were all performed with snuff made from
the sample of Piptadenia peregrina in which Horning et al. had found
369
5-OH-DMT (bufotenine) to be the main component, and this fully explains
the negative results.
One measure of the ability of compounds to penetrate the nervous system
is the lipid solubility, as determined by the lipid solvent-water partition
coefficients. Gessner and Page (1962), found a low value for the chloroform-
water partition coefficient of 5-OH-DMT, indicating a low lipid solubility
attributable to the hydrophilic phenolic hydroxy group. Hence, the low
activity of 5-OH-DMT could be related to its relative inability to cross
the blood-brain barrier. The 5-MeO-DMT shown by the present investiga-
tion to be the major component of most South American snuffs was, however,
found to be a compound in which the right structure is present both for
lipid solubility and central action.
The animal experiments by Gessner and Page (1962) have pointed to the
strong action of synthetic 5-MeO-DMT on the central nervous system, and
its important role in the elucidation of central nervous mechanisms. The
effect of 5-MeO-DMT on the conditioned avoidance response of trained rats
was compared quantitatively, using a shuttle-box, with that of several other
substituted tryptamines and LSD-25. At a dose level of 19 /^M/kg it had a
pronounced effect on the conditioned avoidance response, much more pro-
nounced than that due to DMT. A similar response was elicited by LSD-25
at a dose level of 6 /xM/kg.
Benington et al. (1965), report that the effect of 5-MeO-DMT on cat
behaviour is dramatic. An intense sham rage response was induced within
a few minutes. Of all drugs examined that induce sham rage in the cat,
5-MeO-DMT is one of the most potent, and its potency was very close to
that of LSD-25. From the rapid onset of the rage response induced by
5-MeO-DMT by any route of administration, it is evident that the drug
reaches the sites of action rapidly. The nature of the response suggests a
central effect of a relatively short duration.
It is outside the scope of the present investigation to go into the detailed
effects of the various tryptamines with regard to their circulatory and other
peripheral effects. (With regard to 5-MeO-MMT see Marczynski, 1959, 1960) .
It ought to be mentioned, however, that the effects of 5-MeO-DMT on the
general circulation are negligible compared to those of 5-OH-DMT (bufo-
tenine). Detailed pharmacological and metabolic studies of 5-MeO-DMT
are still lacking. No doubt its resemblance to serotonine, its solubility prop-
erties, its relative lack of peripheral and marked central action of an obvious
psychotomimetic nature will in the future make 5-MeO-DMT an important
tool in psychopharmacological studies. Once again, one cannot but marvel
at the ingenuity of the South American Indians who relentlessly seem to be
able to find their way to the right herb containing the most active component.
A cTcnow ledgermnt
We thank Dr. R. Ryhage (Department of Mass Spectrometry, Karo-
linska Institutet) for expert advice and laboratory facilities placed at oar
disposal in connection with the recording of mass spectra.
370
REFERENCES
Becher, H. "Un viaje de investigacion por los rios Demini y Araca (Brasil) Trabajos
y Conferencias." Seminarion de Estudios Americanistas, vol. II, 3 : 149-160, 1958.
"Die Surara und Pakiddi, zwei Yanonami-Stamme in Nordwest-Brasilien." Ham-
burg, Kommisionsverlag Cram, de Gruyter & Co., 1960.
"Dringende ethnologische Forseliuiigsaufgaben in Nordwest-Brasilien." Sonderdruck
aus Abten des 34. Intern. Amerikanistenkongresses Wien, 1960.
Benin GTON, F., R. D. Morin and L. C. Clakk. "5-Methoxy-2V^, iV-Dimethyltryptamine, A
Possible Endogenous Psychotoxin." The Alabama Journal of Medical Sciences, 2 : 397-
403, 1965.
Beeinger, K. "Optische Wahrnehmungsveranderungen und Sinnestauschungen bei
Rauschgiften." Augenarztliche Tagesfragen (BoMein-Wegner) , 77: 2711, 1934.
BUDZiKiEwics, H. C, C. Djerassi and D. Williams. "Interpretation of Mass Spectra of
Organic Compounds." San Francisco, Holden Day Inc., 1964.
"Structure Elucidation of Natural Products by Mass Spectrometry." San Francisco,
Holden Day Inc., 1964.
Boszorm^nti, Z. and G. Grunecker. "Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) experiments witb
psychotics." Psychotropic drugs. Milano, ed. by S. Garattini and V. Ghetti, 580 pp., 1957.
Caspar, F. "Ein Kulturareal im Hinterland der Fliisse Guapor6 und Maehado (West-
brasilien), dargestellt nach unveroffentlichten und anderen wenig bekannten Quellen,
mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Nahrungs- und Genussmittel." Hamburg. Dis-
sertation, 1953.
Cerletti, a. "tiber Vorkommen und Bedeutung der Indolstruktur in der Medizin und
Biologie." Progr. Drug, Res., 2 : 227-249, 1960.
Chinachoti, N. and P. Tangohai. "Case Report Section. Pulmonary Alveolar Micro-
lithiasis Associated with the Inhalation of SnufE in Thailand." Diseases of the Chest,
S2 : 687-689, 1957.
le Gros Clark, W. E. "Anatomical investigation into the routes by which infections
may pass from the nasal cavities into the brain." Reports on Public Health and Medical
Subjects No. 54. Ministry of Health. London. Published by his Majesty's Stationary
Office 1929.
DE Clerambault, M. "Diskussionsbemerkung zu R. Leroy : Les Hallucinations lili-
putiennes." Ann. Med. Psychol., 286, 1909.
CuLVENOR, C. C. J., R. Dal Bon and L. W. Smith. "The occurrence of indolealkylamine
alkaloids in Pharalis Tuberosa L. and P. Arundinacea L." Australian J. Chem., 17 :
1301-1304, 1964.
Downing, D. F. "The chemistry of the psychotomimetic substances." Quart. Rev. of the
Chem. Soc. of London, 16 : 133-162, 1962.
Faber, W. M. "The nasal mucosa and the subarachnoid space." Amer. J. Anat., 62 : 121-
148, 1987.
Fabing, H. D. and J. R. Hawkins. "Intravenous Bufotenine Injection in the Human
Being." Science, 123 : 886-887, 1956.
Fish, M. S., N. M. Johnson and E. C. Horning. "Piptadenia Alkaloids Indole Bases of
P. peregrina (L.) Benth. and Related Species." J. Am. Chem. Soc., 77 : 5892-5895, 1955.
Gallagher, C. H., J. H. Koch, R. M. Moore and J. D. Steel. "Toxicity of Phalaris tuber-
osa for Sheep." Nature, 204 : 542-545, 1964.
Di Gaspero, H. "Tiber das Phanomen der Makropsie als Symptom bei akuter toxischer
Halluzinose." J. Psychol, u. Neur., 11 : 115, 1908.
Gessner, p. K. and I. H. Page. "Behavioral effects of 5-methoxy-iV :2^-dimethyltrypta-
mine, other tryptamines and LSD." Am. J. Physiol., 203 : 167-172, 1962.
Harrison, D. F. N. "Snuff— Its Use and Abuse." Brit. Med. J., 2: 1649-1651, 1964.
HocHSTEiN, F. A. and A. M. Paradies. "Alkaloids of Banisteria caapi and Prestonia
amazonicum." J. Am. Chem. Soc., 79 : 5735-5736, 1957.
Horning, E. C, E. Moscatelli and 0. 0. Sweeuey. Chem. Indust., 751, 1959.
371
Horning, E. C, W. J. A. Van den Heuvel and B. G. Ceeech. "Methods of Biochemical
Analysis." D. Glick, Ed., XI, Interscience, London 1963.
IsBELL, H. Letter to the author, October 25, 1957.
Kbasheninnikov, S. p. "Opisanie zemli Kamchatki (A Description of Kamchatka)."
♦ Akademia Nauk, 1755. New critical edition in 1949.
Lewin, L. "Phantastica. Die betaubenden und err^enden Grcnussmittel." Fiir Artze
und Nichtartze. Zweite Auflage, Berlin, Verlag von Georg Stilke in Berlin, 1927.
LovEN, S. "Origins of the Tainan Culture, West Indies," Goteborg, 1935.
Mabczynski, T. "Some pharmacological properties of a recently isolated alkaloid, 5-
methoxy-2\r-methyltryptamine." Bull. Acad. Pol. Sci., 7 : 151-154, 1959.
Marcztnski, T. and J. Vetulani. "Further investigations on the pharmacological prop-
erties of 5-methoxy-2V-methyltryptamine." Dissertationes Pharmaceuticae, 12 : 67-84,
1960.
MoEiMOTO, H. and H. Oshio. "Uber Lesbedamin, ein neues Alkaloid." Inhaltsstoffe von
Lespedeza bicolor var. japonica, I. Liebigs Ann. Chem., 682, 212-218, 1965.
MoRiMOTO, H. and N. Matsumoto. "Inhaltstoffe von Lespedeza bicolor var. japonica, II."
Liebigs Ann. Chem., 692 : 194-199, 1966.
NiMTJENDAjtj, C. "The Mura and Piraha." HSAM, 3 : 245-254, 1948.
Pane, R. "Quoted from Pietro Martire d'Anghieras." Opera Babylonica Oceani decas
Poemata Epigrammata Sevilla 1511.
PoissoN, J. "Note sur 'Natem', boisson toxique p^ruvienne et ses alcaloides." Ann.
Pharm. fr., 23 : 241-244, 1965.
Pbettss, K T. "Religion and Mythologie der Uitoto." Vol. I. Gottingen 1921.
Peoetz, a. W. "Essays on the applied physiology of the nose." St. Louis, Annals Pub-
lishing Co., 2nd ed., 1953.
Ryhage, R. "Use of Mass Spectrometer as a Detector and Analyzer for Effluents Emerging
from High Temperature Gas Liquid Chromatography Column." Anal. Chem., 36 : 759-
764, 1964
Safford, W. E. "Identity of cohoba, the narcotic snuflE of ancient Haiti." J. Wash. Acad.
Sci., 6 : 547-562, 1916.
Saxton, J. E. "The Alkaloids." Vol. VIII. New York, London, Academic Press, R. H. F.
Manske (editor), 1965.
ScHiEVELBEiN, H., H. Peter, I. Teautschold and E. Werle. "Freisetzung von 5-Hydro-
xytryptamin aus Thrombocyten durch Harmalin." Biochem. Pharmacol., 15 : 195-197,
1966.
Stowe, B. B. "Occurrence and metabolism of simple indoles in plants." Fortschritte der
Chemie organischer Naturstoffe (Herausgegeben von L. Zechmeister), Springer Verlag,
Wien, 16 : 248-297, 1958.
Stromberg, v. L. "The isolation of Bufotenine from Piptadenia peregrina." J. Am. Chem.
Soc, 76 : 1707, 1954.
Szara, S. "The comparison of the psychotic effect of tryptamine derivatives with the
effects of mescaline and LSD-25 in selfexperiments." Psychotropic drugs. Milano. Ed.
by S. Garattini and V. Ghetti, 460-467, 1957.
"Hallucinogenic effects and metabolism of tryptamine derivatives in man." Fed.
Proc, 20 : 885-888, 1961.
Szara, S. and L. H. Rockland. "Psychological effects and metabolism of iV^,2V^-diethyl-
tryptamine, an hallucinogenic drug." Proceeding of the Third World Congress of
Psychiatry, 1 : 670, 1961.
Turner, W. J. and S. Merlis. "Effect of some indolealkylamines on man." Arch. Neurol.
Psychiatr., 81 : 121-129, 1959.
Udenfriend, S., B. Witkop, B. G. Redfield, and H. Weissbach, Biochem. Pharmacol.,
1 : 160, 1958.
Wassen, S. H. "The use of some specific kinds of South American Indian snuff and
related paraphernalia." Btnologiska Studier 28, 1965.
Wilkinson, S. "5-Methoxy-A'^-methyItryptamine : A new indole alkaloid from Phalaris
arundinacea L." J. Chem. Soc, 2079-2081, 1958.
372
YoFFEY, J. M. and C. K. Deinkee. "The lymphatic pathway from the nose and pharynx."
J.. Exp. Med., 68 : 629-640, 1938.
Zereies, O. "Waika, Die kulturgeschichtliche Stellung der Waika-Indianer des oberen
Orinoco in Rahmen der Volkerkunde Siidamerikas." Miinchen, Klaus Renner Verlag,
1964. (Ergebnisse der Frobenius-Expedition 1954/55 nach Siidost- Venezuela. Band 1.
Waika).
373
Discussion on the Psychoactive Action
of Various Tryptamine Derivatives
Chairman — Bo Holmstedt
Members of the Panel — JoiiN W. Daly
Efren Carlos del Pozo
Evan C. Horning
Harris Isbell
Stephen I. Szara
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt: We have some questions from the audience,
and I know that some of the participants are also prepared to elaborate upon
what they have done themselves.
Perhaps we should start with Dr. Szara, who had the courage to use
dimethyltryptamine as an experimental tool for the first time, and we would
be glad if he would give us a description of the symptoms he observed.
Dr. Szara: I think the picture was very clear. We saw in Mr. Seitz's
movie what the drugs can do, and how quickly ; so I would rather like to give
a little summary of what we have done in the past twelve years with
dimethyltryptamine, and how we came to start using it. Actually it was
when I first read an article by Fish, Johnson and Horning in the Journal
of American Chemical Society 77, 5892 (1955). These authors have found
N,N-dimethyltryptamine, together with bufotenine, in snuff powder pre-
pared by Haitian natives from Piptadenia peregrina seeds which the natives
used in their religious ceremonies. The psychotropic effect was blamed on
bufotenine, but it was unknown whether dimethyltryptamine was hallucino-
genic or not. So I decided to synthesize it, and then tried it out on myself
and other volunteers and friends who were courageous enough to volunteer.
It was not active orally. I started taking this compound in very small quan-
tities up to 250 mgs, but it was inactive. Then we started giving it intra-
muscularly, doses of one mg/kg, Avhich give a very fast and very strong
reaction. This resembled very closely symptoms which were described by
Dr. Freedman the day before yesterday about LSD, so I would rather just
summarize those symptoms which are similar to those of LSD, and point
out some striking differences.
The perceptual distortions are primarily visual in nature, and witli closed
eyes you can see illusions and color patterns, primarily geometrical patterns,
moving very fast, having sometimes very deep emotional content and
connotation.
There is an inability to keep attention focused on any outside task. It
seems to be very difficult to maintain contact with reality, and this often
leads to a panicky action. There is an enhanced dependence on the environ-
ment for structure and for symbolic meanings, and increased association
and search for synthesis, as Dr. Freedman mentioned.
374
There are some dissimilarities, however, when you compare the effects of
dimethyltryptamine with those from LSD. The main difference is the rapid-
ity of the onset and the shortness of the duration of action. After being given
an injection intramuscularly, the symptoms begin in two or three minutes,
and they last for only about thirty to forty-five minutes, or a maximum of
an hour, and then it is just hangover and nothing else. The effects of LSD
and mescaline last for four, six, eight and sometimes twelve hours, depend-
ing on the dose and on the individual variations.
Some other minor differences exist. In dimethyltryptamine there are more
primary visual hallucinations, light flashes, colors, abstract forms and figures
with oriental designs. There is a consistently larger but short-lasting auto-
nomic effect, consisting of increased blood pressure and dilated pupils. The
rapid onset of the strange experience and the overwhelming loss of control
can cause panic reaction much faster than other known longer lasting
hallucinogens.
We have worked very extensively since this on the metabolism of dimethyl-
tryptamine, and I don't know if now is the time to go into it. We have
synthesized several compounds which are also hallucinogenic. They differ
slightly in duration. They are slightly longer acting than dimethyltrypta-
mine, and the autonomic reaction is slightly less.
We were interested in the metabolism of this compound, and we have
suggested that 6-hydroxylation may be a way of producing a psychoactive
mc^^abolite. This has been questioned by Dr. Isbell and by some others, based
on the work of 6-hydroxy-5-methoxydimethyltryptamine, which was sup-
posedly metabolized and has been found inactive in the behavioral tests.
I have repeatedly stressed in the last couple of years that our data strongly
supports the notion that the 6-hydroxy pathway is somehow involved,
although not necessarily through the first, and the main metabolite, which
has been found to be the 6-hydroxydialkyltryptamine. The data on which
we rely for this judgent are primarily clinical, obtained first on normal
volunteers, later on alcoholic patients, in double blind tests. These studies
have shown strong correlation between the rate of 6-hydroxylation and the
hallucinogenic action as measured by rating scales and psychological reports.
The other support for the role of 6-hydroxylation is the fact that if you
prevent this pathway by substituting the 6-position by a fluorine, thus hav-
ing a 6-fluorodiethyltryptamine, this compound has not been found to have
hallucinogenic properties in patients. It does produce autonomic effects,
pupillary changes, blood pressure changes ; but it does not produce the drift-
ing away into a dream world and other phenomena characteristic for the
hallucinatory activity.
We have used these compounds mainly as tools in learning about the
mechanism of action of this particular type of drug, in which there seems
to be a very deep interest in psychiatry.
Perhaps I could mention some experiments with tritium-labeled dimethyl-
tryptamine, which illustrate very nicely how quickly this compound pene-
trates the brain and reaches the area involved in the central nervous effec:ts.
3Y5
/ In one of the experiments we gave 10 mg/kg of DMT intraperitoneally
to mice, the brain was taken out at various time intervals, and the small areas
were analyzed by chromatography and scintillation spectrometry. In ten
minutes you can get a maximum amount of unchanged DMT in the cortical
areas, and slightly less in other areas which gradually subside, but some of
the basic metabolites which contain the hydroxy lated metabolite have a
slightly different course, and reach different areas of the brain later in time,
but not in the first couple of minutes.
This is just some of the data which we have not published yet, but we have
done a lot of work combining these drugs with a precursor of serotonin,
5-hydroxytryptophan. In these experiments there seems to be a very delicate
regional change in the serotonin metabolism, primarily the hypothalamus
area, when we give hallucinogenic diethyltryptamine, but not when we gave
the nonhallucinogenic, 6-fluoro analog.
We have published some of these data in the proceedings of a symposium
on "Amines and Schizophrenia," (H. Himwich et. al.. Editors: Amines and
Schizophrenia, Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, 1966) .
I would like to stop now.
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt : Thank you.
The thing which I personally would like to know from the two psychi-
atrists on the panel is, what are the visual phenomena of these experimental
patients? Do they have microptic and macroptic phenomena? Dr. Isbell.
Dr. Isbell: Do they have micropsia and macropsia? Yes, they do, and
the same individual may have both, in rapid or alternating fashion, and
this may involve not only extraneous objects and people, but also his own
body image. He may feel that he is nine feet tall, and then he may shrink to
a point where he begins to get worried that he is going to get so small that
he will completely disappear. The same alterations in size will occur in the
environment. The room gets very small or very big, and simultaneously
there are distortions of shape, color ; practically every kind of thing that you
think of that would happen in the visual sphere does happen.
Dr. Kline : Are these alterations in part emotional, or do you think they
are totally physiological ?
Dr. Isbell: I can't answer you. Dr. Kline. Things will happen in the
same man at almost one time, and you can sometimes get from the patients
themselves very interesting explanations why these things happened.
Dr. Kline : Rinkle did some work with adrenolutin or adrenochrome in
wliich the size of the person and the apparent distance from the observer
was quite dependent, according to this report, on whether he liked the per-
son or not. Some subjects even managed to see "through" certain people
if they didn't like them. I have never heard any confirmation of this, and
I was wondering whether it might not be an interesting subject for investi-
gation.
Dr. Isbell : I have personally never been able to correlate any particular
subjective experiences that a given individual has with anything, except if
one has observed him under drug on a previous occasion, it is very likely
that the same type of phenomena will be seen on the second occasion.
376
I think that I might speak a little bit about some of the tryptamines other
than dimethyltryptamine. One of these is bufotenine. It has been said that
bufotenine is not a psychotomimetic drug. I don't think we should say that.
The difficulty is that bufotenine is a drug that has extremely powerful
and dangerous cardiovascular effects, and for that reason it is not possible
to push the dose in man. Also, it would be difficult to differentiate whether
psychotic reactions were due to central effects or to cardiovascular actions.
Cardiovascular actions include hypertension and development of an arrhyth-
mia which actually amounts to a ventricular standstill. The auricle does
not beat, the beat drops out, and the ventricle takes over, and it is very
frightening. Simultaneously with the hypertension and ventricular escapes,
one sees spectacular cynanosis in the upper part of the body, similar to that
which has been described in the carcinoid flush, which is presumably due
to serotonin. So bufotenine is a difficult drug to work in man for this
reason, and it would not be too surprising if it did not have some kind of
a central action if it were possible to extract it out.
G-Hydroxydimethyltryptamine had no effect in a dose of 1 mg/kg in
our subjects, in fact. In contrast, my subjects had spectacular reactions to
dimethyltryptamine. My men spoke of taking trips long before this term
came into general use. They used to say that with dimethyltryptamine, "You
can go to the moon and get back in time for breakfast" — so, they went to the
moon long before the rockets landed. I hope they left a flag up there, but the
6-liydroxy derivatives were without effect. The 5-methoxy congener, as Dr.
Holmstedt said, has not been tested, and we are still awaiting animal
pharmacology on it.
I think we are, perhaps, forgetting that the psilocybin and psilocyn
found in the mushroom are derivatives of tryptamine and serotonin with the
hydroxyl group in the 4-position. These drugs give us the same kind of effect
as does DMT. They are somewhat longer acting, and slower to start.
One interesting thing is that the resemblance of the clinical phenomena
one sees with dimethyltryptamine and LSD is very striking. If you get
LSD daily you soon develop such a high grade of tolerance that one might
as well be issuing water. Then, if you take people who are tolerant to LSD
and test them with psilocybin and mescaline, you will find that they are
markedly cross-tolerant. We were unable to show a high degree of cross-
tolerance between dimethyltryptamine and LSD, so despite the similarity
of chemical structure it may be that dimethyltryptamine and LSD may act
by somewhat different mechanisms within the brain, although we cannot be
sure of this. The only thing we can be sure of, is that there is no great degree
cross-tolerance.
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt: I can mention that as far as the animal ex-
periments undertaken with the 5-methoxy compound are concerned, they
have shown it to have a very weak effect on the circulation. My statement
that bufotenine was not a psychotomimetic agent was based on two things :
First your own work, Dr. Isbell ; secondly, that its solubility properties are
such that it is not very likely to penetrate the blood-brain-barrier.
37Y
262^016 O — &7 26
We have several questions. One is from Dr. Kline, and he wants to know
whether all alkylated tryptamines are psychotomimetic. I don't think any-
body can answer that fully. Dr. Szara did, however, try out a number of
them.
Dr. Szara : N,N-dibutyl- and N-monohexyltryptamines, which are higher
homologues, were inactive in a few patients. There is no systematic study.
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt : Another question : Can these states be termi-
nated with phenothiazine derivatives, as is the case with LSD and mescaline ?
Dr. Szara : We never had to terminate it, because it is so short acting, it
is over before you realize it happens.
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt : Question : "What ingredients in the snuff do
you think caused the untoward side effects, based on similar experiments
with purified chemical constituents?"
The answer to that is that the tryptamines themselves may very well cause
the side effects, as pointed out by Dr. Szara.
Somebody also wants to ask Dr. Schultes a question: Why does he use
the words "narcotic snuffs" or "hallucinogenic snuffs", and what is the dif-
ference ? Do you want to answer that question. Dr. Schultes ?
Dr. Schultes : There are any number of definitions of the word "narcotic".
Having had a classical education, I use it as it was coined from the Greek,
meaning any substance that benumbs the central nervous system, whether
ever so slightly or producing a comatose state. There is no one good definition
of the term.
In this coimtry-, a substance is not a narcotic unless the Senate has declared
it so. It has to be so declared under the Harrison Narcotics Act. For this
reason, marijuana is not legally a narcotic. Then you have the popular and
newspaper definition, meaning only the addictive and dangerous ones. Faced
with this plethora of "definitions", I have decided to stay with the Greeks.
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt : Thank you, Dr. Schultes.
May we return again to the phenomena of micropsia and macropsia. It has
been said — this is mostly Mr. Gordon Wasson, who is of the opinion that
these drugs have played a very great role in religion (not only the Christian
religion but previous religions as well) — that such things as the ideas of
giants and dwarfs may have come from these intoxications.
Can I ask Dr. Del Pozo, who is very familiar with the Mexican literature on
this subject, if there are any indications of these distortions of perception in
the Mexican literature. In other words, do the Gods have any definite size?
Dr. Del Pozo : The Chroniclers describe the different hallucinatory visions
that the Aztec priests used to have. They ate the mushrooms because they
thought that those visions would provide them with some information about
the future, or about the interpretation of different facts, but I don't know
of any jDaritcular descriptions of macropsia. They usually mention devils,
figures and colors.
I had an experience, I would say a collective experience : We were working
with mushrooms, and a group of young collaborators who joined to celebrate
the birthday of one of them suddenly decided to go to the laboratory in the
evening and eat mushrooms.
378
They were so worried a'bout the effects that they called me at about three
o'clock in the morning. All of them were very amused because of the color
visions, the forms and things that appeared to them. They were talking one
to another and saying : "Look at this yellow color, look at this green color".
I am sure they were simultaneous, but more or less the same type of visions.
This makes me believe that it is a physiological action, in which there is
little influence of the psychological background. There were no reports of
macropsia or any other deformation in size.
Dr. Szara : I would like to emphasize something here which has not been
overlooked, but it has not been emphasized enough, and that is the tremen-
dous importance of the set and the setting in determining the kind of reac-
tion which a person can get. If you suggest to the subject that you are a
little mouse or you are an amoeba, you feel like it, or if you. suggest that he is
God, he is powerful, then he will have macropsia — so that setting is very,
very important. I think here what Mr. Seitz has referred to, this initiation
ceremony during the taking of the snuffs — the father tells the son what to
expect, what to hallucinate and what to experience — is apparently very
much imbedded into the ritual use of these drugs.
Dr. Schultes: You asked me to define "hallucinogenic", and I forgot
to do so. I believe that the man who coined this very useful and definitive
word is Mr. Wassen. I am happy to note that in this meeting the etymologi-
cally impossible word "psychedelic" has not frequently been used.
One of the "psychedelic giants" asked my advice when he planned to use
the term psychedelic in the title of a journal. I pointed out that one does
not, in coining an English word from Greek roots, make a combination with
"e" ; it is made with "o". The word then would have to 'be "psychodelic". He
pointed out that psycho had acquired a very special meaning in English, and
that it could not be used without intimating that specialized meaning. Still,
with the many good terms available, this etymological error would seem
superfluous.
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt: May I at this point ask Dr. Daly or Dr.
Homing what one would expect from a chemical point of view, when the
OH group in tryptamines sits in the 4, 5, 6 and 7 position ? Would there be
chemically important differences in these compounds?
Dr. Horning : We made an observation some years ago, which was never
published, for the hydroxy compounds. I think it is very clear that the
properties would be different both chemically and, I am sure, physiologically,
with different positions of subtitution.
In the crystalline form, bufotenine has an ionic structure. However, by
certain chromatographic techniques, it is possible to get a second form of
bufotenine. I think that probably the second form has a phenolic amine
(non-ionized) structure (Fig. 1) because of infrared spectroscopic evi-
dence. It was obtained in the absence of polar solvents (a non-polar system
was used) .
I think it is fairly clear that in the ionized form, in a polar medium, the
compound would not penetrate the blood-brain-barrier. This is one of the
problems in talking about the 6-hydroxy compound, as Dr. Holmstedt said.
379
NON-IONIZED IONIZED
FlQ. 1.
Chairman Dr. Holmstedt : Why would it necessarily be in the 6-position ?
Dr. Horning: This recalls the argument over specific and. non-specific
hydroxylation. I think that the other isomers are formed, too, but they are
hard to find.
At any rate, the 6-position hydroxylation is a well-defined reaction. This
would be the expected compound. On the other hand, I would expect no action
for this metabolite.
Dr. Szara : How about psilocybin?
Dr. Horning : The question of active transport and mechanism of pene-
tration into a cell runs through many areas of chemistry and pharmacology.
If one has a phosphate, there may be an active transport mechanism. Also,
polar compounds including glucose enter the brain. "Active transport" exists,
although we know very little about the mechanism.
Dr. Szara : Psilocin is a free hydroxy. It has no phosphate.
Dr. Horning : I would ask what your own view of this is, since you have
studied it so extensively.
Dr. Szara : What my feeling is about the hydroxy derivatives is that they
don't have to penetrate the brain all the way, entirely. It might be enough
to penetrate only some trigger points, where the blood-brain-barrier is more
leaky, like the hypothalamus or other areas which have been shown to be
able to let larger molecules through. It might be enough for a hydroxy
derivative to penetrate those areas and produce some very fine regional
changes, and this is, I think, really what happens with the hydroxylated
derivatives.
Dr. Horning : You may not need to postulate transport as such.
Dr. Szara: This is hypothesis, really. I might mention here that the
6-flurodiethyltryptamine is equally lipid soluble, and it penetrates the brain
but is not hallucinogenic.
Dr. Horning : You feel that the 6-position is indeed critical ?
Dr. Szara : It might be.
Dr. Horning : I have one other thing to say : Dr. Holmstedt has been a
pionere in many ways, and one of the ways is in the chemical techniques he
is using to deal with these compounds. It is possible to study all of the ma-
terials in small quantities by gas chromotography, and this is due largely
to a whole series of developments, not the least of which was the development
in Stockholm by R. Ryhage of the "molecule separator". This permits the
use of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry in a combined fashion.
380
This is at present the most powerful chemical way we have of investigating
substances. I think this work will point the way for both pharmacologists and
chemists, and investigations may go faster in the future.
I will ask if Dr. Daly agrees with any of these comments?
Dr. Daly: It may be that in 4-hydroxytryptamines such as psilocybin,
the nitrogen and the phenolic hydroxy group may interact intramolecularly
in such a way as to increase the lipid solubility over that of other hydroxy-
trytamines, and thus facilitate penetration into the brain. Again, while
we assume that hydroxylation of tryptamines occurs only in the liver, we
have no good proof that such hydroxylations do not take place in certain
specific areas of the brain, in which case the hydroxytryptamine would be
formed in situ, and would not have to penetrate the blood-brain-barrier.
In keeping with this idea, we thought to develop a sensitive assay for 6-
hydroxylation based on the release of tritiated water from 6-tritiotryptamine
on enzymatic hydroxylation. On studying this transformation with liver
microsomes, we found that the tritium atom migrated to another position in
the aromatic ring as a result of 6 -hydroxylation. Similar migrations occur
during the hydroxylation of other aromatic compounds, and cognizance of
this unusual reaction should allow us to develop a sensitive and specific
assay for the hydroxylation of tryptamines.
Regarding recent reports on hydroxylation of indoles in other than the
6-position, one finds that microsomal enzymes usually hydroxylate in posi-
tions of high electron density, so that for a 5 -methoxy indole in which the
electron density is higher in the 4- rather than the 6-position, one might
expect preferential hydroxylation of the 4-position. We have done studies on
microsomal hydroxylation of melatonin (S-methoxy-iV-acetyltryptamine),
and have isolated three products. The major product is 6-hydroxy melatonin,
while one of the others has properties compatible with those expected of
4-hydroxymelatonin.
Our microsomal studies on hydroxylation of tryptamines support Dr.
Szara's statement that the 6-fluorotryptamines do not undergo hydroxylation.
Since 5-fluorotryptamines do undergo hydroxylation, to form what we be-
lieve is 5-fluoro-6-hydroxytryptamines, in vivo evaluation of the hallucino-
genic properties of 5-fluoro-N,N-dimethyltryptamine would be of interest.
The 5-m6thoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, found in plants and an active
component of certain South American snuffs, also occurs in the skin of a
certain toad. The presence of large amounts of this compound in these toads,
and the occurrence in other toads of structurally related tricyclic indoles
(dehydrobufotenine), led Dr. Witkop and myself to our present studies on
0-methylnordehydrobufotenine, the cyclic analog of the 5-methoxy-N,N-
dimethyltryptamine. This tricyclic indole prepared under the auspices of the
Psychopharmacology Research Branch, NIMH, has CNS activity which is,
however, markedly different from the open chain analog.
I would like to ask Dr. Holmstedt whether during his studies on the gas
chromatographic and mass spectral analysis of snuffs, he also investigated
the 4-methoxy, 6-methoxy and 7-methoxy-7V^,A^-dimethyltryptamines, which
would have virtually the same mass spectra as the 5-methoxy compound ?
381
Chairman Dr. Holmsteot : That is right, but we have previously shown
that the methoxy group was in the 5-position by using spectrofluorometric
techniques and changing the pH of the sokition ; furthermore GLC resolves
position isomers. This proves once more liow advantageous the combination
gas chromatrography-mass spectometry is.
Dr. Daly : This might be worth looking at, whether other methoxy com-
pounds occur which may not be separated in the snuffs and have hallucino-
genic activity.
CHAnoiAX Dr. Holmstedt : Wliy has not anyone studied the 4:-methoxy-
NjN-dimethyltryptamine ?
This session started out with anthropology, covered botany and pharma-
cology, and it now ends on a chemical note. I think it has been a good
combination.
Thank you all.
382
SESSION V
AYAHUASCA, CAAPI, YAG£
Daniel H. Efron, Chairman
Psychotropic Properties of the
Harmala Alkaloids
Claudio Naranjo
Department of Anthropological Medicine
University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
The use of plant materials containing harmala alkaloids is probably very
old. Peganum harmala, a zygophyllaceous plant, the seeds of which contain
harmine (i), harmaline (2), and harmalol (3), is thought to be native to
Russian Turkestan or Syria, and has been used throughout the Middle East
both as a spice and as an intoxicant. Its medical and psychotropic properties
are known in India, where it was probably taken by the Moslems, and where
the seeds may now be purchased in bazaars (^) . It is also believed that it was
the Arabs who took the plant along the African Mediterranean and into
Spain, where it may be found growing wild at present.
The species of Bamdsteriopsis that constitute a source of harmala alkaloids
are used in an area lying between the rain forests of South America and the
Andes. This is approximately the area designated as the "montana" in the
classification of South American cultures. It consists of a tropical elevated
territory along the headwaters of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, where
live some of the least known Indian groups.
Of much interest is the recent discovery of substances closely related to
the harmala alkaloids in animals. One of these is adrenoglomerulotropine, a
hormone of the pineal body, the chemical identity of which has been indi-
cated as 2, 3, 4, 9-tetrahydro-6-methoxy-l-methyl-lH-pyrido(3, 4, 6) indole
(6). This substance is identical to 6-methoxytetrahydroharman which has
been shown to be formed in vivo from 5-methoxytryptamine and acetalde-
hyde (6). 6-Methoxytetrahydroharman is an isomer of tetrahydroharmine,
one of the alkaloids in Banisteriopsis (7), and in the African Leptactinia
densifjora (8). One more substance, 6-methoxyharmalan, has been shown
to derive, at least in vitro, from melatonin (9), which in turn results from
the methylation of acetyl serotonin. The enzyme which makes this methvla-
tion possible, hydroxyindole-O-methyltransf erase (HIOMT), has only been
found in the pineal body. (See Fig. 1.)
6-Methoxyharmalan is an isomer of harmaline differing in the position of
the methoxy group, which is attached to the same point of the ring as the
phenolic group in serotonin or the methoxy group in ibogaine, a demon-
strated hallucinogen (10). (See Fig. 2.)
As will be seen in the rest of the paper, I have found both synthetic 6-
methoxyharmalan and 6-methoxytetrahydroharman to be hallucinogenic
(11), a fact which invites speculation on the possible role of the metabolites
on the psychoses. It is suggestive that the highest concentrations of serotonin
have been found in the pineal glands of schizophrenics, and that 6-methoxy-
harmalan is a powerful serotonin antagonist.
385
5-methoxytryptamine 6-methoxytetrahydroharman
Fig. 1.
CH3 CH3
6-methoxyharmalan 6-methoxytetrahydroharman
ibogaine tetrahydroharman
386
Fig. 2.
It may be noted that the above reported finding constitutes the first demon-
stration of an endogenous hallucinogen, twenty years after the motion of a
psychotoxic metabolite was proposed by Hoffer, Osmond and SmythieS (12).
Lastly, one may wonder whether the pineal body — associated by Tibetan
traditions with higher states of consciousness — may not actually play a part
in the regulation of attention or the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness. An
indirect indicated of this is the demonstration of increased pineal HIOMT
activity in rats kept in constant darkness for six days (13).
Studies carried out some 30 years ago by Gunn et al., showed that some
synthetic &ete-carbolines had similar pharmacological properties, which in
turn resembled those of quinine (14.). Thus, both quinine and the harman
derivatives were toxic to protozoa, inhibited the contraction of the excised
muscle of the frog, caused relaxation of most smooth muscle, but contraction
of uterine muscle, and caused convulsions followed by paralysis in mammals.
The only compound in this chemical group reported to have hallucino-
genic properties, to my knowledge, is harmine (15) , which may be regarded
as identical ^o telepathine, yageine, and banisterine, and constitutes most of
the alkaloid content in the Bardsteriopsis extracts. Yet the question poses
itself as to whether the qualitative similarity of harman derivatives, as evi-
denced by many pharmacological effects, would also apply to the psycholog-
ical syndrome produced. For instance, Gunn finds that harmaline is twice
as active as harmine, judging from the lethal doses of both compounds for
the rabbit, and from their toxicity to protozoa. I have indeed found har-
maline to be hallucinogenic at dosage levels above 1 mg./kg. i.v. or 4 mg./kg.
by mouth, which is about one half the threshold level for harmine. It may
be interesting to note at this point that the onset of effects of harmaline or
other derivatives is about one hour after ingestion by mouth, but almost
instsmtaneous after intravenous injection, if circulation time from elbow to
brain is taken into account. In this, harmaline resembles the chemically re-
lated tryptamines and differs from the slow-acting phenylethylamines.
Tetrahydroharmine, the reduction product of harmaline, is another sub-
stance studied by Gunn and shown to be similar to its more saturated homo-
logs, but three times less active than harmaline.
Kacemic tetrahydroharmine, up to the amount of 300 mg. by mouth, was
administered by us to one volunteer, who reported that at this dosage level
there were subjective effects similar to those he experienced with 100 mg.
of -harmaline. More trials would be required to assess the mean effective dosage
of tetrahydroharmine as a hallucinogen, but this single experiment suggests
that racemic tetrahydroharmine is about one-third as active as harmaline,
corresponding to Gunn's estimation on the basis of lethal dosage.
The effect of relocating the methoxy group of harmaline was not tested by
Gunn but was of special interest here, in view of a possible function of the
6-methoxy homolog in the body. 6-Methoxyharmalan was indeed shown
to be hallucinogenic, as was anticipated, subjective effects becoming apparent
with approximate oral dosages of 1.5 mg./kg. The ratio between threshold
doses of harmaline and its 6-methoxy analog is 3 :2, 6-methoxyharmalan
being the more active.
387
6-Metlioxytetrahydroharman, probably identical with pineal adreno-
glomerulotropine, was also shown to be psychoactive, eliciting mild effects
at a dosage level of 1.5 mg./kg. The relative activities of the two 6-m.eth-
oxyharmans are approximately 1 :3, the harmalan being more active than its
unsaturated homolog, which confirms once more Gunn's statement as to the
relationship between double bonds and pharmacological effect.
It would seem premature to make any statement as to whether there is a
qualitative difference in the subjective reaction to the different carbolines
tested. Such appeared to be the case, in that experiences with the 6-methoxy
compounds happened to be of a less hallucinogenic nature in the strict
sense of the word, their effect being more akin to a state of inspiration and
heightened introspection. Among the 7-methoxy compounds, harmaline
seemed to cause more withdrawal and lethargy than harmine, but both sub-
stances showed a highly hallucinogenic quality in the visual domain. How-
ever, more systematic study would be needed to confirm differences such as
these, in view of the variability which exists even between consecutive ex-
periences of the same individual with the same chemical. This is well known
for LSD-25, and was quite marked in four of the seven subjects to whom
harmaline was administered more than once. Yet it seems clear that the
various &ete-carbolines are similar enough in their effect to be told apart
from mescaline, as was shown by the comments of persons to whom mescaline,
harmaline and some other barman derivative were administered on con-
secutive occasions. The third compound, the nature of which was not known
to the experimental subjects, was invariably likened to harmaline rather than
to mescaline. The same can be said of instances in which harmaline was admin-
istered on a second or third occasion without divulging the drug's identity.
Regardless of the differences between consecutive harmaline experiences,
these were classified together as distinct from that of mescaline.
It is quite possible that further research with a larger number of subjects
may demonstrate qualitative differences of a subtle kind between the differ-
ent carbolines, analogous to those shown for variously substituted phenyl-
isopropylamines {16^ 17). Nevertheless, it may be adequate for the time
being to regard the effects of harmaline as an approximately valid indica-
tion of a syndrome shared, with minor variations, by compounds of similar
structure.
This information that I am presenting here on the effects of harmaline is
based on the reactions of 30 volunteers to whom the drug was administered
as a hydrochloride, either by mouth or intravenously, under standard con-
ditions. One aspect of these was the absence of all information regarding
effects other than those primarily psychological in nature.
As part of the interest lay in knowing the difference between the harmaline
syndrome and that of mescaline, both drugs were administered to each
volunteer on different occasions.
In the case of every one of the 30 subjects it was evident to the observer
that both the subjective and behavioral reactions of the person were quite
different for the two drugs, and this was corroborated without exception by
the subjects themselves. Yet the quality of the difference was not clearly
388
the same in all instances, so that it is hard to find re^larities to which no
exception can be mentioned. Recurring differences between harmaline and
mescaline can be observed however, and in what follows, the most salient of
these are cited.
Physical sensations in general are more a part of the harmaline intoxication
than of that produced by mescaline (or similar substances). Parasthesias
of the hands, feet or face are almost always present with the onset of effects,
and are usually followed by a sensation of numbness. These symptoms are
most marked when the alkaloid is injected intravenously, in which case some
subjects have likened them to those experienced under ether anesthesia. Dis-
tortions of the body image, which are quite frequent with mescaline or
LSD-25, were very exceptional with harmaline. Instead, subjects indicated
isolated physical symptoms such as pressure in the head, discomfort in the
chest, or enhancement of certain sensations, as those of breathing or blinking.
Nausea was reported by 18 subjects and this sometimes led to intense
vomiting. It was usually associated with dizziness or general malaise, which
would in turn appear or disappear throughout a session in connection with
certain thoughts or stimuli.
In the domain of perception, one of the most noticeable differences between
the drugs is in the visual appearance of the environment. While distortions
of forms, alterations in the sense of depth and changes in the expression of
faces are of frequent occurrence under most hallucinogens, these phenomena
were practically never seen with harmaline. The same was true in regard
to color enhancement, or perception of apparent movement — flowers breath-
ing, shapes dancing and so on — frequently seen with LSI)-26. With harma-
line, the environment is essentially unchanged, both in regard to its formal
and its aesthetic qualities. Phenomena which most frequently occur with
open eyes are the superposition of images on surfaces such as walls or ceilings,
or the viewing of imaginary scenes simultaneously with an undistorted per-
ception of surrounding objects. Such imagery is not usually taken for
reality but there was an exception to this in the case of a man who saw a
cat climbing a wall, then turning into a leopard, when in fact, not even
the cat existed.
Other recurrent visual phenomena were a rapid lateral vibration in the
field of vision and double or multiple contours in objects, especially when
these were in motion or when the subject's eyes turned away from them.
Some described lightning-like flashes.
With closed eyes, imagery was abundant and most often vivid and bright
colored, with a predominance of red-green or blue-orange contrasts. Long
dream-like sequences were much more frequent for harmaline than for
mescaline. Certain themes, such as felines, negroes, eyes, and flying are fre-
quent and have been reported elsewhere {18) .
Perception of music was not altered or enhanced with harmaline as is the
case with mescaline or LSI)-25. Yet noises became very prominent and gen-
erally bothersome. Buzzing sounds in the head were reported by more than
half of the subjects.
Synaesthesias were not reported, and the sense of time was unaltered.
389
Many of the differences between harmaline and mescaline may be related
to the facts that the effect of the former on the emotions is much less than
that of mescaline, and thinking is affected only in subtle ways, if at all.
Concern with religious or philosophical problems is frequent, but there is
not the aesthetic or emphathetic quality of the mescaline experience. Thus,
the typical reaction to harmaline is a closed-eye contemplation of vivid
imagery without much further effect than wonder and interest in its sig-
nificance, which is in contrast to the ecstatic heavens or dreadful hells of
other hallucinogens. Despite this lesser effect of harmaline on the intensity
of feelings, qualitative changes do occur in the emotions, which may account
for the pronounced amelioration of neurotic syptoms evidenced by 8 of our
30 subjects, as detailed in a separate report {19) .
Desire to communicate is slight under the effect of harmaline, since other
persons are felt to be a part of the external world, contact with which is
usually avoided. Possibly related to this withdrawal is the extreme passivity
which most subjects experienced in regard to physical movement. Most of
them lay down for 4 to 8 hours and reported a state of relaxation in which
they did not feel inclined to move a muscle, even to talk. In view of this
observation, it is hard to understand how the Indians, according to some
authors (W) , engage in dancing or even whip one another under the effects of
caapi.
Summing up, harmaline may be said to be more of a pure hallucinogen than
other substances whose characteristic phenomena are an enhancement of
feelings, aesthetic experiences, or psychotomimetic qualities such as paranoid
delusions, depersonalization, or cognitive disturbances. Moreover, harmaline
appears to be more hallucinogenic than mecaline (the most visually acting
drug in its chemical group) , both in terms of the number of images reported
and their realistic quality. In fact some subjects felt that certain scenes which
they saw has really happened, and that they had been as disembodied wit-
nesses of them in a different time and place. This matches the experience of
South American shamans who drink ayahuasca for purposes of divination.
The remarkable vividness of imagery viewed under the effect of harmaline,
together with phenomena such as double contours and persistence of after
images, had led us to suspect a peripheral, i.e. retinal, effect of the drug,
and this was tested by the recording of electroretinograms in cats. The
suspicion was confirmed, in that harmaline causes a definite increase in the
alpha wave and a decrease in the beta wave of the electroretinogram, both
of which become apparent before any change is observed in the brain cortex.
It would be beyond the scope of this paper to deal with electrophysiological
studies, but I will briefly mention some recent results we have obtained in
cat experiments at the University of Chile, which add to the general picture
of the harmaline intoxication :
(1) Electrocorticograms recorded in chronically implanted cats showed
either electrocortical desynchronization or synchronization in correspondence
with the animal's behaviour, alternating between arousal and lethargy. In
addition to this spindle bursts of high voltage and low frequency were
observed in all instances and these did not seem to be related to the animal's
behaviour.
390
(2) Experiments performed in cats with a chronically isolated forebrain
showed even more clearly the above mentioned spindle bursts in the brain
cortex, and regular wave bursts of high voltage in the pontine reticular
formation, which we have not seen described under other pharmacological
conditions. These cats were behaviourally overactive.
These facts may be interpreted as an indication that harmaline acts
as a stimulant on the midbrain reticular formation. The direct action of
harmaline on the brain cortex is hard to interpret and seems more that of a
depressant, but this is counteracted in the intact animal by the arousing
influence of the reticular formation. The neurophysiological picture matches
well that of traditional yage "dreaming", in that the state we have described
involved lethargy, immobility, closed eyes and generalized withdrawal from
the environment, but at the same time an alertness to mental processes, and
an activation of fantasy.
REFERENCES
( jf ) GoEBEL, Annalen, 38, 363, 1841.
(2) Feitsche, Annalen, 64, 365, 1847.
(3) FiscHEK, O., Chem. Soc. Abstr., 1901 (i) , 405.
(4) Maxwell, M. M. "Caapi, its source, use and possibilities." Unpubl. MS., 1937.
(5) Fakeel, G. and W. M. McIsaac, "Adrenoglomerulotropin." Arch. Biochem. Biophys.,
94 : 443-544, 1961.
(6) McISAAC, W. M. "Formation of l-metliyl-6-methoxy-l,2,3-tetraliydro-2-carboline
under physiological conditions." Biochem. Biophys. Acta 52 : 607-609, 1961.
(7) HocHSTEiN, F. A. and A. M. Paradies. "Alkaloids of Banisteria Caapi and Pres-
tonia Amazonicum." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 79, 5735, 1957
(8) Paris, R. R., F. Percheron, J. Manlil and Goutarel. Bull. Soc. Chim. France,
750, 1957.
(9) McIsAAC, W. M., P. A. Khaieallah and I. H. Page. "10-methoxyharmalan, a potent
serotonin antagoinist which affects conditioned behaviour." Science 134, 674-675,
1961.
(10) Naranjo, C. Psychological effects of Ibogaine. In preparation.
{11) Naranjo, C. and A. Shtjlgin. Hallucinoerenic properties of a pineal metabolite:
6-methoxytetrahydroharman. Science. In press.
(,12) HoFFEE, A., H. Osmond and J. Smythies. "Schizophrenia : a new approach II." J.
Ment. Sci., 100 : 29-45, 1950.
(IS) AxELROD, J., R. J. WuRTMAN, and S. Snyder. "Control of hydroxyindole-O-methyl-
transferase activity in the rat pineal gland by environmental lighting." J. Biol.
Chem. 240 : 949-954, 1965.
(14) GuNN, Arc. Int. Pharmacodyn., 50, 793, 1935.
(15) Pennes, H. H., and P. H. HocH, Am. J. Psychiat. 113, 885, 1957.
(16) Shulgin, a., T. Saegent and C. Naranjo. "Chemistry and psychopharmacology of
nutmeg and related phenylisopropylamines." Paper presented at the Symposium
"Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs." U. of Calif., S. F., 1967.
(17) Naranjo, C. MMDA in the facilitation of psychotherapy. Book in preparation.
(18) Naranjo, C. "Psychological aspects of the yage experience in an experimental
setting." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological
Association, 1965.
(19) Naranjo, C, Ayahuasca, the Vine of the Dead. Book in preparation.
(20) Taylor, N., Flight from Reality. 1949.
(21) ViLLiBLANCA, J., C. Naeanjo, and F. Riob6. Effects of harmaline in the intact cat
and in chronic isolated forebrain and isolated hemisphere preparations. Psycho-
pharmacologia. In press.
391
The Making of the Hallucinogenic
Drink from Banisteriopsis
Cuapi in Northern Peru
Dermot Taylor
Department of Pharmacology, University of California
Los Angeles, California
A moving-picture film showing the ceremonies and procedures for
preparation of the drink was presented.
392
Chemical Compounds Isolated from
Banisteriopsis and Related Species
Venancio Deulofeu
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturcdes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Malpighiaceae, to which the genus Banisteriopsis belongs, is a family
distributed in tropical and sub-tropical humid regions of Africa and Amer-
ica. The genus Banisteriopsis is represented by about 75 species, which grow
in America from Mexico and Cuba to Argentina, most of them in South
America {!)•
Only a few species of Banisteriopsis have been investigated chemically,
and the first stimulus for the chemical work was the finding in the middle
of the last century by the British explorer Spruce that a woody vine, which
he classified as Banisteria caapi, later known as Banisteriopsis caapi^ was the
main ingredient employed in the preparation of an intoxicating drink by
certain tribes living in the Amazonian Brazil. It was later found that the
preparation and use of a similar beverage extended to a larger region, to
what is today known as the eastern parts of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and
Bolivia, where it was given different vernacular names: ayahuasca, caapi,
yage, yaje, natem, natema, etc., names which were also applied to the plants
employed for their preparation. Other plants were added and mixed with
the former.
The history of the botanical, chemical and pharmacological implications
of the beverage has been told in several opportunities and from several angles
3) . While at the beginning there were difficulties in the identification of
the alkaloids isolated from the extracts of the plants, and which were made
responsible for the activity of the intoxicating drink, it seems that today,
with the improvement of the methods of identification and the use of new
techniques, we know exactly which are the bases isolated. There seem to be
more difficulties from the botanical side. Th6 lack in many chemical studies
of plant specimens, or of a rigorous identification of the botanical material
worked by the chemists, makes it impossible to know exactly which were
the species employed. It is with this qualification that some of the botanical
names are quoted in this paper.
Early chemical investigation of the plant employed in Colombia by the
natives indicated the presence of an alkaloid which was given the name of
telepathine as early as 1905 by Zerda Barron (^). A base supposed to be
responsible for the activity of the drink was isolated in 1923, no doubt in im-
pure form, by Fischer Cardenas (5) who conserved the name of telepathine.
Another isolation was carried out two years later by Barriga Villalba ((5),
who seems to be the first who obtained a crystalline product, to which he
gave the name of yajeine. From the assigned formula, CiiHgNsOg and from
its m.p.206°, we have now to conclude that it was an impure substance, al-
262-016 0-67— 27
393
though the lack of rotation is in agreement with what can be expected for
an aromatic /3-carboline structure. Another base was present in the mother
liquors and named yajenine, but no constants were mentioned in the paper.
According to Barriga Villalba, he worked the stems of a vine which was
known by the vernacular name of yaje, and which according to Reinburg was
Haemadictyon amasonicum (Prestonia amasonica Spruce), which is an Apo-
cynaceae. Rios, in his review on the ayahuasca, mentions that in a later paper,
Barriga Villalba states (7) that the plant he worked was not P. amazonica,
but B. caapi, which is in agreement with the investigations of Schultes and
Raffauf {8) on the use of the former species as a narcotic.
From what can be considered an authentic specimen of B. caapi, Perrot
and Raymond-Hamet {2) isolated for the first time in pure condition one of
the bases present in the plant (m.p.258°), for which they conserved the name
of telepathine. A year later Lewiri {9) described the isolation of an alkaloid
from the same source, which he called banisterine. In his paper, Lewin says
that the chemists from E. Merck (Darmstadt, Germany), considered banis-
terine identical to the base harmine (/), an alkaloid isolated more than a
century ago from Peganwm harmala L. (Zygophyllaceae). Two papers on
the identification were published the same year almost simultaneously ; one
by Elger {10) and the other by Wolf and Rumpf {11) , the latter workers being
members of the Merck laboratories.
Elger employed plant material supplied by Raymond-Hamet and which
was identified as B. caapi, according to A. W. Hill, then Director of the Kew
Botanical Gardens. Sir Robert Robinson compared the alkaloid isolated by
Elger (m.p.263-264°), with the harmine (/) from P. harmala, and with a
synthetic sample, and concluded that they were identical. He comments on
the difficulties of purifying harmine, which can explain the low melting point
of the base obtained by Barriga Vallaiba. Chen and Chen {12), who worked
also with an authentic botanical specimen, confirmed the identification, and
could isolate harmine from stems, leaves and roots.
A plant identified as B. caapi Spruce was investigated many years later
by Hochstein and Paradies {13). It was harvested near Iquitos, in Peru,
where it was named ayahuasca. They confirmed the presence of harmine (I)
and isolated also harmaline (II) and ( -h ) -tetrahydroharmine (III). They
state that the two latter alkaloids were found in a rather large amovmt.
The same bases were also present in an aqueous extract of the plant "as
used by the natives" but which appeared richer in harmaline and tetrahydro-
harmine than the extracts of the plant. They suggested that these two alka-
loids may be the most active psychotomimetic components of the extracts.
All the bases isolated from B. caapi have a y8-carboline skeleton, with
diflferent degrees of hydrogenation in the pyridine ring. Their structure was
already known because of the interest of the chemists in similar alkaloids
isolated from P. harmala Z., harmine (I) and harmaline (II), which culmi-
nated in the synthesis of harmaline (II) by Manske, Perkin and Robin-
son {lit).
Although the racemic tetrahydroharmine had already been prepared in
the laboratory, it was the first time that one of the enantiomers, ( -|- ) -tetra-
394
hydroharmine (III), had been found in Nature. The dextro compound iso-
lated by Hochstein and Paradies (13) was in fact a new natural base, and
because of its pharmacological activity it was of interest to determine its
absolute configuration. This was done recently by Koblicova and Trojanek
who found that its asymmetric carbon atom has the same chirality as
the asymmetric carbon of D-alanine (IV), which is opposite to that of the
protein aminoacid L-alanine.
Another species investigated has been B. inebrians Morton. O'Connell and
Lynn {16) isolated harmine (I) from the stems of an authentic specimen
collected by Schultes, and found that the leaves probably contains the same
base. They could not detect harmaline nor harmalol. The same species was
worked again by Poisson {17) in 1965, the plant being collected in a place
named Nazareth, on the shores of the Maranon River, in Peru. He confirmed
the presence of harmine in the stems and pointed out that another base, with
the chromatographic properties of harmaline (II), was present in small
amount.
Poisson investigated also the leaves of another species, B. rusbyana
(Niedenzu) Morton, known to the natives as yaje, which were added to the
stems of B. inebrians when ayahuasca was prepared. Surprisingly, this
species did not contain alkaloids with a ^-carboline structure, and the only
base which he could identify was dimethyl-tryptamine ( V) . The amount was
rather high (0.64%).
The species worked by Poisson were identified by Cuatrecasas. The finding
of dimethyltryptamine (V) in B. rusbyana^ a species used together with
B. inebrians for the preparation of ayahuasca, is interesting for several
reasons. One is that the same base was isolated by Hochstein and Paradies
{13) from the extract of a plant which they considered to be P. amazonica,
which received the local name of yage, and which was used by the natives
395
(¥)
to prepare ayahuasca as an additional component to B. caa'pi. Hochstein
and Paradies received only an extract of the plant, whose identification is
doubtful (5, 18).
The second point of interest is that bases of the tryptamine type are
typical components of other plants which have been used by the natives in
many places of South America and in the Caribbean, for the preparation
of intoxicating snuffs. They belong to the Piptadenia (Leguminosae) {19)
and Virola (Myristicaceae) genus {20).
Other BanisteHopsis species have been mentioned as the main or addi-
tional ingredients employed in the preparation of ayahuasca. They are
B. quitensis (Ndz) Morton {21), which according to Cuatrecasas {le) is
identical to B. caapi Spruce, B. longialata {21), and B. metaUicolor Juss.
{B.lutea Ruiz) {3).
I have not found in the literature any indication that authentic specimens
of those plants have been submitted to chemical research, but because they
are used in the preparation of intoxicating drinks, their investigation will
be of much interest.
On the other hand, B. crysophylla Lam. a species which grows in Aus-
tralia, is reported to contain alkaloids {22) and B. nitrosiodora Griseb,
which is one of the species found in Argentina, is practically devoid of
alkaloids {23). There remain a large number of species which have not even
been submitted to a preliminary chemical investigation.
Harmine (I) has been isolated by Mors and Zaltzman {2 If) from the stems
and leaves of another South American Malpighiaceae, Oabi paraensis Ducke,
which is closely related to the Banisteriopsis genus. It grows in Brazil, in
the upper Amazonian region and also in Peru {3). According to Duke {26),
it is employed in popular medicine, although not for the preparation of
intoxicating drinks.
It is worthwhile to note that only a few other species of Malpighiaceae
have been investigated for alkaloids. One of them is Lophantaera lactecens
{L. longifolia) which grows in the Amazonian, and is employed for the
preparation of a kind of tea. Kibeiro and Macliado {26) isolated from ex-
tracts of that plant a new base, lophanterine, which structure is unknown.
In his review on the Botanical Sources of the New World narcotics,
Schultes {21) mentions in i-elation with the preparation of ayahuasca, two
Malpighiaceae which, if botanical material became available, will deserve
chemical attention. They are Tetrapterys methystica, from which an halluci-
396
nogenic drink is prepared in Colombia, on the limits of Brazil, and Mas-
cagnia psilophylla var. antifebrilis, which was pointed out by Niedenzu as
a source for the preparation of ayahuasca which in the opinion of Schultes
is doubtful.
To my knowledge harmine (I), harmaline (II) and tetrahydroharmine
(III), have never been isolated from other original American plants. They
have been found to be present in intoxicating snuffs prepared by the natives
from unknown botanical sources. We have two almost simultaneous reports.
One is by Biocca, Galeffi, Montalvo and Marini-Bettolo (^7), who from a
snuff prepared by Tukano and Tariana Indians living in the valley of the
Uaupes River, isolated harmine (I), harmaline (II) and tetrahydroharmine
(III), exactly the same bases found in B. caapi by Hochstein and Paradies
(13). According to the Italian authors, the snuff is named parica and is
prepared from a vine, which is also employed for the preparation of a drink.
The species remained imdetermined.
On the other hand, Bernhauer {2S), has investigated a snuff employed by
the Surara and Pakidai Indians, living near the River Demeni, a subsidiary
of the Negro River, which he says is known as parica, yopo, ebena or epena.
He could isolate harmine (I) and ( + ) -tetrahydroharmine (III), while
harmaline (II) was absent. The series of names given by Bernhauer to the
drug that he investigated, shows how confused is its identification because
samples of snuffs named epena, which were investigated not long ago by
Hohnstedt (20) and Marini Bettolo, Delle Monache and Biocca (£9) , con-
tained only tryptamine bases. In my opinion this is a nice proof of the im-
portance of the future interdisciplinary work, which is needed to clarify
the botanical sources and the chemically active substances in the plants and
in the drugs prepared by the natives.
Both types of bases isolated from Banisteriopsis species are related to
tryptamine. Tryptamine or a precursor, is one of the intermediates in the
biogenesis of a large number of indole alkaloids, most of them with a more
elaborate structure than the simpler /3-carboline bases.
The type and distribution of the simple tryptamine bases found in
plants have been recently reviewed (30). Work done in several laboratories
in recent years have shown that bases with a typical ^S-carboline structure are
also, like the tryptamines, not restricted in botanical or geographical distri-
bution (see Table I).
The earlier representatives were isolated from Peganum harmala L.
(Zygophyllaceae) more than a hundred years ago: harmaline (II) (1841),
and harmalol (XVIII) (1841). The simplest base, harman (XI), was iso-
lated from a Rubiaceae growing in Brazil in 1861 (Arariba rubra Mart.,
Sickinga rubra K. Schumm), and a few years later (1878) from Bymplocos
racemosa (Symplocaceae) , indigenous to India.
Research in the last few years has lead to the isolation of other /8-carbo-
lines from plants growing in America. Bachli et al. (31), were isolated from
Strychnos melinoniana Baill. (Loganiaceae), the quaternary base which is
known as melinonine-F (XIV), and Antonaccio and Budzikiewicz {32)
397
Table I. Othee ^-Caeboline Bases Found in Plants"
(SET) Csr) R = H ;CX2r) R = CH3
Cm) (JM) Cm) R = H ; CXX) R = CH3
(XI) Harman. Peganum harmala L. (Zygophyllaceae) ; Pasaiflora spp. (Passifloraceae)
(39) ; P. incarnata L. HOj il) ; Calligonum minimum Lipski (Polygonaceae) (i2).
(XII > 2V-Methyl-t€trahydiro-j3-carboline. Hammada leptoclada M. Iljln (Arthrophytum
leptodadum Popov) (Chenopodiaceae) (43).
(XIII) Harman-3-carboxylic acid. Aspidosperma polyneuron Mull. Arg. (Apocynaceae)
(38).
(XIV) Mellnonine F. Strychnos meJinoniana Baillon (Loganiaceae) (31).
(XV) Tetrahydroharman, elaeagnine (R = H). Petalostylea lahicheoides R. Br. (Legu-
minosae) (44) ; Elaeagnus angustif-oUa L. (Elaeagnaceae) (45) ; Leptactina densiflora Hook,
f. (Rublaceae) (38) ; Hammada leptoclada M. Iljln (46) ; Calligonum minimum Lipski (42).
(XVI) 2V-Methyl-tetrahydroharman, leptocladlne (R=CHa). S. leptoclada M. Iljln (43) ;
Acacia complanata A. Cunn. (Leguminosae) (47).
(XVII) Harmol. P. incarnata L. (40) ; Zygophyllum fdbago L. (Zygophyllaceae) (48).
(XVIII) Harmalol. P. harmala L.
(XIX) Tetrahydroharmol (R=H). Elaeagnus angustifolia L. (49).
(XX) 2\r-Methyl-tetrahydroharmol (R = CH3). E, angustifolia L. (49).
" This list of species is not exhaustive. They have been selected to show the distribution of
bases in different families.
harman-S-carboxilic acid (XIII) from Aspidosperma polyneuron Miill. Arg.
(Apocynaceae) .
Kecently, in our laboratory Sanchez and Comin {33), found /?-carbolines
in Aeschrion crenata Veil., a Simaroubaceae which grows is Southern Brazil,
Paraguay and Argentina. Although it is used in popular medicine, there is
no indication that its extracts have intoxicating properties. The bases crena-
tine (VI) and crenatidine (VII) were isolated, together with 1-carbometh-
oxy-yS-carboline ( VIII) , which has been formerly found in Pleiocarpa rrmtica
Benth. (Apocynaceae) {34) .
398
(™)
A /3-carboline alkaloid with a more elaborated, novel type of structure,
was isolated also in our laboratory by Brauchli et al {35) , from Pogonopus
tuhuloms (DC) Schum. a Kubiaceae which grows in the Central and
Northern part of Argentina, where in some places it is employed against
fever. The base was named tubulosine (IX), and is structurally related to
emetine (X) the tetrahydroisoquinoline moiety of the latter alkaloid being
replaced by a /3-carboline. Bases with this typical skeleton have been latter
identified in Alangmm lamarckii Thw. (Alangiaceae) (36) and in Gas-
sinopsis Uicifolia'Kmitze (Icacinaceae) (37).
It is of interest to note that besides P. harmala, the typical ;8-carbolines
present in the Banisteriopsis species, have been isolated from a few species
indigenous to other continents. In an African Rubiaceae, Leptactine densi-
flora Hook ( ± ) -tetrahydroharmine (leptaflorine) (III) have been found
(38). Passiflora incarnata L. and possible other Passiflora species (Passi-
floraceae) {39)., contain harmine (I), which has also been found in Zygo-
pKyllwrn fabago., {JiB).
Other simple /3-carbolines closely related in structure to the Baniste-
riopsis alkaloids have been isolated from other plants. They are listed in
Table I with an indication of the source of isolation.
Many of the species containing /3-carboline alkaloids have been used in
popular medicine and several of the bases isolated have been submitted to
pharmacological studies, and a few of them even employed in therapeutics.
But outside America, so far as I know, plants containing those alkaloids have
not been employed for their hallucinogenic properties.
399
(i) (a) NiEDENzu, F. in A. Engler and K. Prandl, Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien,
III, 4 : 41-74. Leipzig, W. Engelmann, 1896. ( 6 ) Niedenzu, F. in A. Engler, Das
Pflanzenreich, IV, 141. Leipzig, W. Engelmann, 1928. (c) O'Donell, C. A., and
A. LouETEiG. Malpighiaeeae Argentlnae. Lilloa, 9 : 221-316, 1943. (d) Pereika, E.,
Contribugao ao Conhecimento da familia Malpighiaeeae. Arquiv. Servic. Forestal
(Rio de Janeiro). 7: 11-70, 1953. (e) Cuateecasas, J., Prima flora Colombiana.
Webbia, 13 : 343-664, 1957/1958.
(2-) Peeeot, E., and Ratmond-Hamet. "Yage, Ayahuasca, Caapi et leur alcaloide: tele-
pathine ou yageine." Bull. Scienc. Pharmacol., 34: 337-347, 417-^6, 500-514,
1927.
(3) Rios, O. "Aspectos preliminares al estudio Farmaco-Psiquiatrico del Ayahuasca y
su Principio Activo." Anales Fac. Med. Univ. Nacl. Mayor San Marcos, Lima.
45 : 22-66 (1962). Chem. Abstr. 59 : 3215, 1963.
i4) Zeeda Baeeon, B. Quoted by E. Perrot and Raymond-Hamet in reference (2) and
by O. Rios and reference (3) .
(5) Fischee CAedenas G. "Estudio sobre el principio activo del Yage." Thesis, Fac.
Medic. Cienc. Natural. Bogota, 1923. Quoted by E. Perrot and Raymond-Hamet in
reference (2) and by O. Rios in reference (3) .
(6) Baeeiga Vn.T.AT.BA, A. M. "Yajeine. A new alkaloid." J. Soc. Chem. Ind. 44 : 205-
207, 1925.
(7) Baeeiga Villalba, A. M. El yage. Bebida especial de los indios riberenos del Putu-
mayo y el Amazonas." Bol. Lab. Semper-Martinez, N" espec. 9, 1927. Quoted by
O. Rios in reference ( 3 ) .
(8) ScHtTLTES, R. E., and R. F. Raffauf. "Prestonia: An Amazon narcotic or not"
Bot. Museum Leafl. Harvard Univ., 19 : 109-122, 1960.
(9) Lewin, L. "Sur une substance enivrante, la banlsterine, extraite de Banisteria
caapi." Compt. Rend., 186 : 469-471, 1928.
(10) Elgee, F. "Ueber das Vorkommen von Harmin in einer siidamerikanischen Liane
(Yage) ." Helv. Chim. Acta, 11 : 162-166, 1928.
400
(11) Wolfe, O., and K. Rumpf. "Ueber die gewinnung von Hamin aus einer siidameri-
kanischen Liane." Arch. Pharm., 266 : 188-189, 1928.
(12) Chen, A. L., and K. K. Chen. "Harmine, The Alkaloid of Caapi." Quart. J. Pharm.
Pharmacol., 12 : 30-38, 1939.
(13) HocHSTEiN, F. A., and A. M. Paradies. "Alkaloids from Banisteria caapi and Pres-
tonia amazonicum." J. Am. Chem. Soc, 79 : 5735-5736, 1957.
(H) Manske, R. H. F., W. H. Perkin, and R. Robinson. "A synthesis of harmaline."
J. Chem. Soc., 1-14, 1927.
(15) KoBLicovA, Z., and J. Trojanek. "The Absolute Configuration of ( + )-l,2,3,4-
Tetrahydroharmine." Chem. Ind. (London) 1342,1966.
(16) O'Connell, F. D., and E. V. Lynn. "The Alkaloid of Bamsteriopsis inebrians Mor-
ton." J. Am. Pharm. Assoc., 42 : 753-754, 1953.
(17) Poisson, J. "Note sur le 'Natem' boisson toxique peruvienne et ses alcaloides."
Ann. Pharm. Franc, 23 : 241-244, 1965.
(18) Raffauf, R. F., and M. B. Flagler. Alkaloids of the Apocynaceae. Econ. Botany,
14: 37-55 (1960).
(19) Deulofeu, V. "Chemical Asi)ects of American Medicinal Plants." Lecture, III
Internat. Pharmacol. Congress. Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 24-30, 1966.
(20) Wassen, S. H., and B. Holmstedt. "The use of paricft, an ethnological and Phar-
macological review." Ethnos, 5-45, 1963. Holmstedt, B., Tryptamine derivatives
in epena, an intoxicating snufC used by some South American Indian tribes. Arch.
Intern. Pharmacodyn., 156 : 285-305, 1965.
(21) (a) ScHULTES, R. E. "The identity of the Malpighiaceous narcotics of South
America." Bot. Museum Leafl. Harvard Univ., 18: 1-56, j.<,57. (b) Schultes, E. R.
"Botanical Sources of the New World Narcotics." Psychedelic Rev., 1 : 145-166,
1963. (c) Schultes, R. E. "Ein halbes Jahrhundert Ethnobotanik amerikanischer
Halluzinogene." Planta Medica, 13 : 125-157, 1965.
(22) Webb, L. J. Australian Phytochemical Survey. Part I, Bulletin 241. Melbourne,
CSIRO, 1949. pag. 34.
(23) Unpublished results from our Laboratory.
(24) Mors, W. B., and P. Zaltzman. "Sobre o alcaloide da Banisteria caapi Spruce e
do Cabi Paraensise Ducke." Bol. inst. quim. agr. (Rio de Janeiro) N° 34: 17-27,
1954. Chem. Abstr., 49, 14906, 1955.
( 25 ) Quoted by Mors and Zaltzman in reference 24.
(26) RiBEiRo, O., and A. Machado. Lophanterine, a new alkaloid. Anais assoc. quim.
Brasil, 5 : 39-42, 1946. Chem. Abstr., 41, 3109, 1947.
(27) BioccA, E. C. Galeffi, E. G. Montalvo, and G. B. Marini-Bettolo. "SuUe sostanze
allucinogene impiegate in Amazonia. Nota I. Osservazioni sul Parica dei Tukano
e Tariana del bacino del Rio Uaupes." Ann. Chim. (Roma), 54: 117.5-1178, 1964.
(28) Bebnhauer, K. "Notiz ueber die Isolierung von Harmin und (-f)-l,2,3,4-Tetrahy-
dro-harmin aus einer indianischen Schupfdroge." Helv. Chim. Acta., 47; 1075-
1077, 1964.
(29) Marini-Bettolo, G. B., F. Delle Monaohe, and E. Biocca. "SuUe sostanze alluci-
nogene impiegate in Amazonia. Nota II. Osservazioni sull'Epena degli Yanoama
del bacino del Rio Negro e dan'Alto Orinoco." Ann. Chim. (Roma), 54: 1179-
1186, 1964.
(30) Stowe, B. R. "Occurrence and Metabolism of Simple Indoles in Plants." Prog.
Chem. Org. Nat. Prod., 17 : 248-297, 1959. Saxton, J. E. The Simple Bases. In
R.H.F. Manske, The Alkaloids, Vol. 8 : 1-25. New York, Academic Press, 1965.
(31) Baohli, E., C. Vamvacas, H. Schmid, and P. Karrer. "Uber die Alkaloide aus der
Rinde von Strychnos melinoniana Baillon." Helv. Chim. Acta, 40: 1167-1187,
1957.
(32) Antonaccio, L. D., and H. Budzikiewicz. "Harman-3-carbonsaure ein neues Al-
kaloid aus Aspidosperma polyneuron." Monatsh. Chem., 93 : 962-964, 1962.
(33) Sanchez E. and J. Oomin. Unpublished results.
401
(3^) AcHENBACH, H., and K. Biemann. "Isotiiboflavine and Norisotuboflavine. Two new-
Alkaloids Isolated from Pleiocarpa mutica." J. Am. Ohem. Soc, 87 : 4177-^81,
1965.
(55) Beattohli, p., V. Deulofeu, H. Bubzikiewicz, and C. Djerassi. "The Structure
of Tubulosine, a Novel Alkaloid from Pogonopus tuiulosus (DC.) Schumann."
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 86 : 1895-1896, 1964.
(36) Pakrashi, S. O. "Indian Medicinal Plants XI. A new Alkaloid from the root bark
of Alangium Jamarckii." Indian J. Ohem., 2 : 468, 1964.
(37) MoNTEiEO, H., H. BuDziKiEwicz, C. Djeeassi, R. R. Akdt, and W. H. Baarschebs.
"Structure of Deoxytubulosine and interconversion with Tubulosine." Chem.
Comm., 317-318, 1965.
(38) Paris, R. B., F. Pebchebon, J. Mainil, and R. Goutabel. "Alcaloldes du Leptac-
tina densiflora Hook." f. Bull. Soc. Ohim. France, 780-782, 1957.
(35) Neu, R. "Inhaltssoffe der Passiflora iticarnata. 3. Mitt." Arzneimittel-Forsch., 6:
94^99, 1956.
(40) Ltttomski, L. "Isolation of the major alkaloids from Passiflora incarnata L." Biul.
Inst. RoSUn Leczniczych. 6 : 20^219, 1960. Chem. Abstr., 55 : 21479, 1961.
{41) HuLTiN, E. "Partition coefficients of ether extractable passionflower alkaloids."
Acta Chem. Scand., 19 : 1431-1434, 1965.
(42) Abdusalamoy, B., A. S. Sadtkov, and Kh. A. Aslanov. "Alkaloids and aminoacids
of CalUgonum." Nauchn. Tr. Tashkentsk. Gos. Univ., N° 263 : 3-7, 1964. Chem.
Abstr., 63 : 3314, 1965.
(43) Platonova, T. F., a D. Ktjzotkov, and P. S. Massagetov. "Alkaloids of Chenopo-
diaceae: Anaiasis jaxartica and Arthrophytum leptocladum." Zhur. Obshchei
Khim., 28 : 3128-3131, 1958. Chem. Abstr., 53 : 7506, 1959.
(44) Badgee, G. M., and A. F. Beecham. "Isolation of Tetrahydroharman from Petalo-
styles laiicheoides." Nature (London), 168 : 517, 1951.
(45) Men'shikov, G. p., E. L. Gubevich, and G. A. Samsonova. "Alkaloids of Elaeagnus
angusHfolia. Structure of eleagnine." Zhur. Obshchei Khim., 20: 1927-1928,
1950. Chem. Abstr., 45 : 2490, 1951.
(46) Oeazkuuev, I. K., O. S. Ostboshexko, and A. S. Sadtkov. "An adsorption method
for the separation of alkaloids of Hammada leptoclOrda." Zhur. Prikl. Khim., 37 :
1394-1395, 1964. Chem. Abstr., 61 : 11014, 1964.
(47) Johns, S. R., J. A. Lambebton, and A. A. Sioumis. "Alkaloids of the Australian
Leguminosae VII.A^s-Methyltetrahydroharman from Acacia complnnata." Aus-
tralian J. Chem., 19 : 1539-1540, 1966.
(48) BoBKOwsKi, B. "Chromatographic determination of alkaloids of Zygophyllum
faiago." Biul. Inst. RoSlin Leczniczych. 5 : 158-168, 1959. Chem. Abstr., 54 :
15844, 1960.
(49) Platon'ova, T. F., a. D. Kuzovkov, and P. S. Massagetov. "Alkaloids of plants of
the Elaeagnaceae family. Isolation of tetrahydroharmol and X-methyl-tetrahy-
droharmol." Zhur. Obshchei. Khim., 20 : 3220-2323, 1956. Chem. Abstr., 51 : 8765,
1957.
402
SESSION VI
AMANITA MUSCARIA (FLY AGARIC)
Daniel H. Efron, Chairman
Fly Agaric and Man
R. Gordon Wasson
Botanical Museum of Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
For the past three or four years I have devoted some of my time to the
quest for information about the fly agaric, as this mushroom is called in
England, Amanita muscaria Fr. as it is known to mycologists, and especially
concerning its historic role in the Eurasian cultures, where its use as an
inebriant has survived down to recent times. The results of my inquiries
have led me to write a book on the subject, which is almost ready for the
printer. Today it is my privilege to lay before you some of my findings and
conclusions.
My theme has surprising ramifications, as I think you will agree when I
have done. Indologists will review my evidence, but if I am right, it will
be necessary for us all to make room in our own remote past for the part
played by this mushroom, and the fly agaric will take its place by the side
of alcohol, hashish, and tobacco as an outstanding inebriant utilized by Homo
sapiem living in Eurasia.
The documented history of this inebriant goes back only to the l7th cen-
tury and is confined to the northern reaches of Siberia. That its unwritten
history begins earlier is certain, but how much earlier and how widespread
its use was, are questions that remain to be answered. So far as I can learn,
my inquiries mark the first fumbling effort to arrive at those answers.
The intellectual element in Europe learned for the first time of the fly
agaric as an inebriant in 1730, when Philip John von Strahlenberg, a Swedish
army officer, published in Stockholm a book written in German on the twelve
years he had spent as a prisoner of the Russians in Siberia. This work, trans-
lated into English, came out in London in two printings, in 1736 and 1738,
under a lengthy title beginning An Historico-GeographicaZ Description of
the North and Eastern Parts of Europe and Asia (1). Somewhat earlier, in
1658, a Polish prisoner in Siberia had observed the fly agaric being consumed
for its inebriating effect by the Ostyak (or Khanty) in the valley of the
Irtysh, a tributary of the Ob in western Siberia ; but his diary was not pub-
lished until 1874 (2) . The first Eussian to record the practice seems to have
been Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov in 1755 (S), who, like von Strahlen-
berg, was writing about the Koryak, in the extreme Orient. Since their time
more than a score of observers have given us accounts of this curious custom.
They have included Russian anthropologists, linguists (many of these Hun-
garian or Finnish), and a varied assortment of travelers and adventurers,
some of whom are remarkably superficial and supercilious. In my forthcom-
ing book I am planning to publish in extenso, in English, what these men
have had to say about the consumption of the fly agaric in Siberia. In addi-
tion to these primary sources, whether good or bad, there are a number of
serious writers who have concerned themselves with the problem : the phar-
405
macologists Ernst von Bibra (^), C. Hartwich (S), and Louis Lewin (6) —
all German — and the Frenchman Philipe de Felice (7), the Swede Ake
Ohlmarks (8), and the Hungarian J. Balazs (9). In addition, there have
been innumerable literary allusions traceable to the marvelous properties of
the fly agaric. One need only mention as examples, in English, Oliver Gold-
smith in his Letters from a Citizen of the World (No. 32), an immensely
popular book in the 18th century, and the celebrated mushroom in Alice in
Wonderland.
The Distribution of the Practice
We possess reliable testimony permitting us to say that in recent centuries
there have been two foci where the fly agaric has been used as an inebriant.
1. In the Ob Valley, in the extreme west of Siberia, and along the Ob's
eastern tributaries until they interlock with the tributaries of the upper
Yenisei, and along the upper Yenisei (Map 1). In this region tribes belong-
ing to the Uralic family of languages have been historically dominant, and
these are the ones that have been addicted to the fly agaric. Along the Ob
and its tributaries dwell the Ostyak and the Vogul, called in the SoAdet
Union the Khanty and the Mansi, respectively. They are Ugrians, linguisti-
cally the nearest of kin to the Hungarians, who together with the Finnic
peoples constitute the Finno-Ugrian linguistic group. The Ostyak and Vogul
historically have been great consumers of the fly agaric. Their next of lingu-
istic kin, the Hungarians, have no recollection of the practice, but holond
gomba, a familiar expression or cliche in the Hungarian language, means
"mad mushroom," as when one says to a person behaving foolishly, "Have
you eaten of the holond gomha?''\ and this may well be a linguistic fossil
dating from a time when the Magyar people still shared in the eating of the
fly agaric. Among the Finnic peoples, as distinct from the Ugrian, none
take the fly agaric today. However, it is of the highest interest that T. I.
Itkonen, a reliable investigator, has reported that according to a tradition
of the reindeer Lapps of Inari, their shamans formerly ate it, and that
it had to have seven white spots. This places the practice well within Europe's
borders, on the assumption that the Inari Lapps have not migrated to the
West since they abandoned the practice. In the upper Yenisei the Selkup (a
Samoyed people), called in the West the Ostyak-Samoyed, and in addition
the southern-most of the Yurak-Samoyed, until recent times still used the
fly agaric as an inebriant. (The peoples speaking Samoyed languages and
those speaking Finno-Ugrian languages together constitute the Uralic
family.) Their neighbors, the Ket, also have consumed it. The Ket, called
in the West the Yenisei Ostyak, speak a language without known affiliation.
2. In the extreme northeast of Siberia there are three tribes — the Chukchi,
the Koryak, and the Kamchadal — who have used the fly agaric (Map 2).
They are neighbors and linguistically closely inter-related, but their lan-
guage family, like the Ket, is unrelated to any outside linguistic family. The
Yukagir, surviving in tiny communities in the extreme north and to the west
of the Chukchi, recall that their forebears made use of the fly agaric. They
406
Map 1
also speak an isolated language. It is perhaps worth noting that the Gilyak,
and the Ainu in Hokkaido, also peoples linguistically isolated, know nothing
of the fly agaric as an inebriant.
The remoter communities of these peoples that I have been discussing
did not know alcohol until the Russians or western whalers brought it to
them. On a number of occasions the question has been put to individuals,
when they have known both alcohol and the fly agaric, as to which they
preferred. The answer, so far as it is recorded, was invariably the fly agaric.
What about the vast expanse of territory between the Uralic peoples on the
West and the Chukchi group in the Far East (Map 3) ? When the Russians
arrived on the scene in the l7th century, this intermediate area was already
occupied by the numerous Tungus tribes (including the Lamut), and by
the Yakut, both of them belonging to the Altaic linguistic family identified
with the Manchu, the Mongolian, and the Turkic- Tartar languages. Some
western writers who have not visited these peoples have included them
among the eaters of the fly agaric, but I can find no eye-witness authority for
407
this. S. M. SMrokogorov, the authority on the Tungus peoples, never men-
tions such usage, and Ivan A. Lopatin, also with extensive personal experi-
ence, has assured me in a personal communication that their shamans know
nothing of the practice.
I think the answer to this question lies in history. The Tungus and Yakut
erupted mto northern Siberia in historic times. It was they who, forming
a wedge, split apart the peoples using the fly agaric. Soviet historians say
that the migration of the Tungus people took place at the end of the first
millennium A.D., and the invaders came from the steppes far to the south,
where the fly agaric does not grow. As they were the conquering people of
somewhat superior culture, they were less likely to adopt the practices of
those whom they conquered and dislodged.
The Linguistic Evidence
A strange linguistic pattern marks the name used for fly agaric among
the Siberian tribes. This word pattern undoubtedly holds the key to cultural
secrets, but the key proves difficult to use.
408
Map 3
The Obugrian peoples — ^the Ostyak and Vogul — and the Ket share the
same work for "fly agaric". In Vogul that word takes the shape of panso or
ferik. In Ostyak the more northerly settlements say po-q; the Irtysh folk,
pd-q. The Ket say ha-qgo. The Selkup and the Yurak Samoyed use words of
their own, except that from one village of the southern Yurak Samoyed
po-qTca is reported.
Franz Boas {10) tells us that the Chukchi form for "mushroom" is pompo
(from a stem poi])^ to which po^m^po^n corresponds in Koryak. But in these
tribes on the Pacific Coast the words in every case is generic for all mush-
rooms, and the fly agaric is specifically named wapaq.
It seems that words derived from a single root circulate in the western
and the eastern area of fly agaric addiction, and this lends support to my
supposition that in former times (before the intrusion of the Tungus) the
Western and Eastern groups were contiguous. We do not know what the
Yukagir and the Inari Lapp words for the fly agaric are.
The story of this word cluster does not end here. Two Finnic peoples
living in Eastern Europe, the Mordvinians and the Cheremis, known in the
Soviet Union as the Mordva and the Mari, make use of this same word as a
general term for all mushrooms. The Mordvinians say pa-qga or pa-qgo^ and
the Cheremis say po-qgo. But these two peoples do not know the fly agaric as
an inebriant.
This word cluster has Stimulated some discussion among philologists,
chiefly Hungarian and Finnish. Is the root po-q originally Finno-Ugric
262-016 0-67 — 28
409
(Vogul, Ostyak, Mordvinian, Cheremis, etc.) and is its resemblance to the
Indo-European word represented by Greek (s)pdngos, the English {s)pvm.k,
accidental? Or did the Finno-Ugrians (or some branches of them) borrow
the word from Indo-European ? If so, they did not borrow it from the Slavs
because the wide spread of the word would indicate a much earlier contact
between our Siberians and Indo-European, at a time when the Slavs (or
Proto- Slavs) had had no contact with the Siberians-to-be.
In 1907 B. Munkacsi, the Hungarian philologist, suggested that the
Iranian word banha, appearing already in the Avesta and meaning hemp,
Oannahis indica, was the source, since in addition to its use for fibre, it serves
as an inebriant, yielding hashish, otherwise known as marijuana or "pot". To
me this suggestion seems in the highest degree unlikely. Here we have
primitive Siberian communities living from of old in the birch and pine
forests that they know intimately, their knowledge embracing of course
the fly agaric growing in mycorrhizal relationship with these trees. In
each of these languages they must have had a name or several names for
this mushroom going back into the mists of time. We are asked to believe
that suddenly, discovering the inebriating property of this mushroom, they
go to Iran, a country where the birch and pine are not familiar trees, to bor-
row a name of an utterly different plant. Cannabis indica, to gve to the fly
agaric.
When specialized mushroom vocabularies grow from within a cultural
milieu, the rule is that the specific names precede the generic term. But this
rule does not apply when words are borrowed from an outside source. In
this case a general term may be borrowed and given a specific meaning, or
a specific name may acquire a new application, and the same name may be
clothed with different applications in different communities, and may change
its application according to the evolving use of the various wild mushroom
species in the given cultural milieu.
If the root porj was borrowed from an Indo-European people, the loan
of the word must have marked a new and significant utilization of a species
of mushroom, a use that must have swept across Siberia with the word,
perhaps rather quickly. Let us suppose that an Indo-European people making
use of the inebriating effect of the fly agaric in their religious life imparted
this practice to the Siberian tribes; or perhaps in war-time to help their
soldiers screw their courage to the sticking point. This application of a
mushroom to a supernatural use or as a secret weapon would surely have
been a sufficient reason for them to adopt the Indo-European name of that
mushroom.
But in our preoccupation with the inebriating effect of the fly agaric we
must not overlook an alternative possibility. The basic fungal sense of the
word (s)p6ngos, identical with the Germanic Schwujmiv and the Slavic
gomba, is "sponge". The generation of fire was of overwhelming importance
in the lives of the northern tribes, indeed making life possible in the northern
latitudes. Wliether by percussion or by friction, the spark that was struck had
to be received in inflammable tinder, and the best tinder for this purpose has
long been considered Fomes fomentarius^ a heavy shelf or bracket fungus
410
that grows on many species of trees, but that is generally identified with the
birch. When it is dried it is light as a feather and quickly converts a spark
into a flame. In archaeological diggings Fomes fomentarms has been found
next to the stones of fire places in dwellings at Maglemose in Denmark and
Star Carr in Yorkeshire, these diggings going back almost to the last ice age,
some nine or ten thousand years ago. If an Indo-European people intro-
duced to the Siberian tribes the use of this punh, or spunk (sic), or touch-
wood (all of these meaning primary tinder), the Indo-European name for
it would probably accompany the product wherever it went. That name meant
"sponge", and it is striking that the original "sponge" was probably fungal
and not marine, the marine sponge being a substitute given us by the Greeks
after they had arrived in the Aegean. The preparation of this fungus for its
purpose must have been one of the earliest industries of mankind in the
northern latitudes — the making of the amadou of the French, the esca or
yesca of the Italians and Spaniards, the Zu/nderschwamm of the Germans,
the trut of the Russians.
Either this or the inebriating property of the fly amanita or a combination
of both would have been of sufficient meaning in the lives of the ancestors of
the Siberian tribesmen to explain the adoption of the root {s)pon, meaning
"sponge" or "fungus", into the languages of Siberia. By a startling coinci-
dence, the birch is the primary host for both Fomes f(ymentarius and the fly
agaric, and the special place occupied by the tall Siberian birch in the imagi-
nations of the Siberian peoples is certainly due not only to the ethereal
beauty of the tree itself, but also to the fact that the fly amanita grows in
mycorrhizal relationship with the roots of the birch, and that Fomes fomen-
tarius grows from its trunk. It is true that the pine also is host to the fly
agaric, but less often than the birch, and it is true that the beech and other
trees are hosts to the Fom^s fomentarius^ but it is most commonly found on
the birch. The birch is the Tree of Life for the man of the forest or taiga,
supplying him with fire for his body and fire for his soul.
Surely I do not need to emphasize the speculative nature of these thoughts.
To be dogmatic in terrain such as this is to court disaster. The etymology of
words, the sequence of events, where there is so little to go on, is little more
than guesswork. But I would have been derelict had I failed to call your
attention to the linguistic problem presented by the wide diffusion of the
root pon among the scattered Siberian tribesmen.
As those of you who are familiar with the writings of Mircea Eliade will
perceive, I am forced to part company with him both on the etymology of
the peculiar fungal word of the Siberian tribes and on the antiquity of the
role of the fly agaric as an inebriant in Siberian shamanism {11). What
Munkacsi advanced as a bold surmise he has converted into a statement of
fact, elabc rating on the etymology of pon with frightening self-assurance.
His view that the use of narcotics to attain ecstasy is recent and only a "vul-
gar substitute for 'pure' trance" seems to run counter to such evidence
as we have. For as far back as our records go, the area where the fly agaric
was used by shamans has been shrinking, until its use is now virtually ex-
tinct. Consider primitive man groping his way forward, leading a precarious
411
existence, and in his ever urgent quest for food experimenting vdth every
plant and animal and insect and fish: his fund of knowledge and beliefs
being derived exclusively from his own experience and from what he learned
by word of mouth from his parents and neighbors. He must sooner or later
have discovered the properties of the hallucinogenic plants, a discovery made
almost certainly before he discovered how to control the processes of fer-
mentation and to make beer or wine or mead. These hallucinogenic plants
opened the doors for him to horizons beyond any he had known in his cruel
daily existence. They translated him to utterly different planes of existence,
where ecstasy reigned. The discovery of these plants must have had an ex-
plosive effect on his soul. He would resort to them in moments of soul-hunger.
They would suggest to him possibilities sparking his imagination and in-
ventive zeal. Surely this creature, limited in his range of knowledge and
living by rules taught him by his own experience, his imagination peopling
the world with invisible spirits benevolent and malevolent, would regard the
hallucinogenic plants as miraculous gifts of the gods, and in moments of
need he would resort to them without hesitation as a channel of communi-
cation with the Immortals. Only after having known them and in default of
them would he devise ways through disciplined austerity and self-imposed
mortification of the flesh to achieve the same result, and later, having at-
tained sophistication in these matters, would he perceive what many regard
as the moral superiority of this road to beatitude.
The Hallucinogenic Properties
of the Fly Amanita
We do not know nearly enough about the fly agaric as an hallucinogen.
But the evidence indicates certain traits to be defined thus :
a. It begins to act in fifteen or twenty minutes and the effects last for
hours.
b. First it is a soporific. One goes to sleep for about two hours, and the
sleep is not normal. One cannot be roused from it, but is sometimes
aware of the sounds round about. In this half-sleep sometimes one has
coloured visions that respond, at least to some extent, to one's desires.
c. Some subjects enjoy a feeling of elation that lasts for three or four
hours after waking from the sleep. In this stage it is interesting to
note that the superiority of this drug over alcohol is particularly
emphasized : the fly agaric is not merely better, it belongs to a different
and superior order of inebriant, according to those who have enjoyed
the experience. During this state the subject is often capable of ex-
traordinary feats of physical effort, and enjoys performing them.
d. A peculiar feature of the fly agaric is that its hallucinogenic proper-
ties pass into the urine, and another may drink this urine to enjoy
the same effect. Indeed it is said that the urine of three or four suc-
cessive drinkers may be thus consumed without noticeable loss of
412
inebriating eJffect. This surprising trait of fly agaric inebriation is
unique in the hallucinogenic world, so far as our present knowledge
goes.
The soporific and kinetic effects of the fly amanita are utterly unlike any-
thing produced by the mushrooms of the genus Psilocybe of Mexico.
The Indo-Aryans and Soma
An Indo-European people who called themselves Aryans conquered the
valley of the Indus in the middle of the second millennium B.C. Their priests
deified a plant that they called Soma, which has never been identified:
scholars have almost despaired of finding it. The hymns that these priests
composed have come down to us intact in the RgVeda, and many of them
concern themselves with Soma. Lately there have been a number of fresh
translations of the RgVeda, better than any of their predecessors.
This plant. Soma, was an hallucinogen. The juice was extracted from it in
the course of the liturgy and forthwith drunk by the priests, who regarded it
as a divine inebriant. It could not have been alcoholic, for various reasons;
for one thing, fermentation is a slow process which the Vedic priests could
not hurry.
I have studied these recent translations and it is apparent, I think, that
Soma was the fly agaric. There are many touches in the lyric poems that fit
the fly agaric as a glove, and I believe there are none that contradict it. To
detail them here today would take too long, and I must ask you to wait for
my book for the full dress presentation of my thesis.
If I am right that Soma is the fly agaric, we must revise our judgment
about the role of fungi in the cultural history of Eurasia. The RgVeda is the
earliest literary monument in the Hindu religion, and behold ! it is a paean
to the fly agaric ! The RgVeda is one of the earliest texts that we possess from
the Indo-European world, and behold ! it is a paean to the fly agaric ! If the
Indo-Iranians really used the fly agaric, it means at an early date, before they
left their homeland somewhere north of the Caucasus-Caspian-Oxus line,
these tribes were consumers of the fly agaric. They or their congeners, fellow
Tndo-Europeans, may have given the fly amanita cult to the ancestors of the
Obugrians of today, and the root is)porj to their languages. If I am right,
the adoration of the fly agaric was at a high level of sophistication 3,500 years
ago (and who can say how much further back?) among the Indo-Europeans,
and we are witnessing in our own generation the final disappearance of a
practice that has held the peoples of northern Eurasia enthralled for thou^
sands of years.
REFERENCES
(1) Philip John von Strahlenberg : An Historico-Geographical Description of the
North and Eastern Part of Europe and Asia, but More Particularly of Russia,
Siberia and Great Tartary, Both in Their Ancient and Modern State, Together
with an Entire New Polyglot-table of the Dialects of 32 Tartarian Nations,
London, 1936. The citation is from p. 397 of the English edition.
413
(2) Adam Kamie^tski Dluztk: "Dyarusz Wiezienia moskiewskego, miast i miejsc"
(A diary of Muscovite Captivity, Towns and Settlement), published in Warta, a
Collection of Articles, edited by the Rev. A. Maryafiski, Poznafi, 1874, pp. 378-388.
(3) Stepan Peteovich Keasheninnikov : "Opisanie zemll Kamchatki" (A Description
of Kamchatka), Akademiia Nauk, 1755. New critical edition in 1949.
(4) Eknst von Bibsa: "Die narkotischen Genussmittel und der Mensch" (Narcotic
Substances and Mankind), Nuremberg, 1855, pp. 135-139.
(5) C. Haktwich : "Die menschlichen Genussmittel: ihre Herkunft, Verbreitung,
Geschichte, Anwendung, Bestandteile, und Wirkung" (Human Stimulants: their
Origin, Distribution, History, Use, Components, and Effects), Leipzig, 1911, pp.
255-260.
(6) Louis Lewin : This work, written in German and published in 1924, was translated
into English and French, and the English edition, Phantastica : Narcotic and
Stimulating Drugs, their Use and Abuse, was reprinted in 1964 by Routledge &
Kegan Paul, London. The passage about the fly agaric is on pages 123-129 of this
edition.
(7) Philippe de Felice : "Poisons Sacr^s Ivresses Divines : Essai sur quelques Formes
Inf^rieures de la Mystique" ( Sacred Poisons Divine Inebriations : Essay on Some
Inferior Forms of Mysticism), Paris, 1936, pp. 110-113.
(8) Ake Ohlmaeks : "Studien zum Problem des Schamanismus" (Studies on the Prob-
lem of Shamanism), Lund, 1939, pp. 100-125.
(9) J. Balazs : "tiber die Bkstase des ungarischen Schamanen" (On the Ecstasy of the
Hungarian Shamans), in Glaubenswelt und Folklore der Sibirischen Volker,
edited by V. Dioszegi, Budapest, 1963, pp. 57-83.
(10) Fkanz Boas : "Handbook of American Indian Languages," Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40, Washington, 1922, p. 693.
(11) Vide, e.g., Miecea Eliade: Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Pantheon
Books, New York, 1964 ; originally published in Paris by Librairie Payot in 1951
as Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de I'extase. In the English edition,
pp. 400^10 ; in the French edition, p. 360.
414
Ethnopharmacological Investigation
of Some Psychoactive Drugs Used
by Siberian and Far-Eastern
Minor Nationalties of U.S.S.R.*
I. I. Brekhman and Y. a. Sam
Institute of Biologically Active Substances, Far Eastern Branch,
Siberian Department of the Academy of Sciences, U£.S.R., Vladivostok, U.S.S.R.
The authors discuss the practice of eating the fly agaric in the extreme
east of Siberia, among the Kamchadals, the Koryak, the Chukchi, and the
Yukagir. They quote from the writings of Stepan Krasheninnikov, the
Russian traveler who first reported in Russian the practice in the 18th cen-
tury, from G. V. Steller, a junior colleague of Krasheninnikov's, and from
the work on the Chukchi of V. G. Bogoras, a Russian anthropologist who
wrote in English and whose work was later translated into Russian. Accord-
ing to Krekhman and Sam, the use of the fly agaric was unknown among
the Tungus. The fly agaric was used in its natural state, gathered in the
spring or summer or less often the fall, and swallowed whole in a slightly
desiccated condition; or else by infusion, after soaking for five or six days
in water. Sometimes the infusion was taken with Epilobivm angustiforlivm
L., the latter being soaked in water and then boiled down into a sweet, thick
liquor. Sometimes underproof vodka was added. The mushrooms are per-
sonified as little men, one dwarf to a mushroom, and when under its influ-
ence one used to speak of these dwarfs as all-powerful. Only men took the
fly agaric; it was not used by women.
The Kamchadals made also a wine from a 'sweet herb' — Heracleum dulce
Fisch., fam. Umbelliferae. It was eaten, like betel nut, in its fresh state, and
the effects were similar to alcoholic intoxication. Various other plants were
taken for their psychic effect by the Tungus tribes, among them Ledum
paZustre L. and Ledum hypoleucum, K^m. The dried leaves were laid on a
hearth or in a frying pan, and the fumes had a stupefying effect, this serving
perhaps as an analgesic for the sick. All these drugs need further study.
♦Paper submitted but not read at the meeting. We are presenting here only a summary of the
paper.
415
Isolation, Structure and Syntheses of
Central-Active Compounds from
Amanita Muscaria (L. ex Fr.) Hooker
Conrad H. Eugster
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
It has been desecribed that the carpophores of Amanita muscaria belong
to the class of plant drugs affecting the central nervous system and possibly-
producing hallucinatory effects {1).
Since the classical work of Schmiedeberg and Koppe in 1869, the chemical
investigation of these active substances has, until the present day, been
almost exclusively concerned with muscarine, Avhose chemistry is now fully
understood {2). The pharmacological investigations have shown in fact,
that muscarine itself is not the prime cause of the previously mentioned
central-activity of A. muscaria. The low plant content (2-3 mg per kg
undried fungus), m conjunction with its relatively weak activity on oral
consumption, leads to the conclusion tliat muscarine can only be considered
as a minor active component of A. muscaria.
During the last few years it has been proposed that one or another of the
bases hufotenme^ atropine^ Tiyoscy amine and scopolamine could be respon-
sible for the main central-activity of A. muscaria {3) . With regard to these
suggestions the following comments can be made. The amounts of these
compounds reported to have been isolated (0.1-0.2 mg atropine; 0.4^0.7 mg
scopolamine per kg midried carpophores), although not rigorously con-
firmed, in relation to their known activity, exclude them as possible causes
of A. muscaria poisoning. Moreover, other authors have demonstrated that
Belladonna alkaloids (atropine, hyoscy amine, scopolamine) do not occur in
A. muscaria (^) . In addition in our hands, investigation of both Swiss and
South German varieties of A. muscaria lias led to the isolation of several
indolic substances, the structures of which have not yet been elucidated.
Bufotenine, however, was found not to be present.
Recently the, in contrast to the above-mentioned products, highly active
muscimole and ibotenic acid have been isolated from A. muscaria (5) .
The pharmacological tests (narcosis-potentiation), which were used as an
aid in the isolation of these substances, lead us to the conclusion that they
are in fact active on the central nervous system. Their structures have been
elucidated and several syntheses published {6).
Muscimole, CiHgNaO,, mp. 155-156° (from water), I74r-l75° (from me-
thanol- water), is a very polar and extremely water soluble substance. It is
the enol-betaine of 5-aminomethyl-3-hydroxy-isoxazole (formula I), i.e., it
is an unsaturated cyclic hydroxamic acid. Muscimol is easily formed by
decarboxylation and loss of water from ibotenic acid, CsHsNoOs mp. 145°
416
(dec.) . The latter is the zwitterion of a-amino-a- [3-hydroxy-isoxazoylyl- (5) ] -
acetic acid monohydrate (formula II). It is to be considered a principal
active constituent of A. muscaria, being present to the extent of 0.3-1 g
per kg of undried carpophores.
The pharmacologically less active muscazone (7), C5H6N2O4, mp. 190°
(dec), co-occurs in varying proportions with muscimole and ibotenic acid
in A. muscaria. It is also an amino-acid, namely a-amino-a [2(3H) -oxazo-
lonyl- (5)] -acetic acid (formula III), and can be produced in the laboratory
by UV-irradiation of ibotenic acid. It is probable that, in the plant also,
ibotenic acid acts as a precursor for muscazone. We therefore assume that
the widely known variation in toxicity of A. muscaria results from fluctua-
tions in the ibotenic acid-muscazone ratio.
I II III
Our latest investigations have shown that A. muscaria produces still
further physiologically active substances, the structures of which are not yet
known.
REFERENCES
(1) Gessner, O., Die Gift- und Arzneipflanzen von Mitteleuropa, Winter, Heidelberg
1953; Ramsbottom, J., Mushrooms and Toadstools, Collins, London 1959; Was-
SON, V. P., and Wasson, R. G., Mushrooms, Russia and History, N.Y. 1957 ; Heim,
R., Les champignons toxiques et hallucinogenes, Paris, Boubee 1963.
(2) EuGSTER, C. H., "The chemistry of muscarine," in Advances in organic chemistry,
Vol. II, Interscience, N.Y. 1960; Wilkinson, S., "The history and chemistry of
muscarine," Quarterly reviews of the Chemical Society (London) 15: 153 (1961).
(3) Fabing, H. D., and Hawkins, J. R., Science 123 : 886 (1956) ; Tyler, V. E., Amer.
Jour. Pharmacy 130 : 264 (1958) ; Lewis, B., South African Medical Jour. 29:
262 (1955) ; Manikowski, W., and Niezgodzki, L., ref. Chem. Abstr. 58: 11703
(1963) ; Tyler, V. E., Lloydia 24: 71 (1961).
(4) Salemink, C. a., TenBroeke, J. W., Schuller, P. L., and Veen, E., Planta medlca
11: 139 (1963) ; Kwasniewski, V., Siiddeutsche Apoth. Zeitung 94: 1177 (1954).
(5) (a) MtJLLER, G. F. R., and Eugster, C. H., Helv. Chim. Acta 48 : 910 (1965) ; Eug-
STER, C. H., Muller, G. F. R., and Good, R., Tetrahedron Letters 1965: 1813;
Good, R., Muller, G. F. R., and Eugster, C. H., Helv. Chim. Acta 48 : 927 (1965) ;
MtiLLER, G. F. R., Beitrage zur Kenntnis der InhaltsstofEe des Fliegenpilzes
(Amanita muscaria), Dissertation, Universitat Ziirich 1961.
(6) Takemoto, T., Nakajima, T., and Sakuma, R., Yakugaku Zasshi 84: 1233
(1964) .
(c) BowDEN, K, Drysdale, a. C, and Mogey, G. A., Nature, 206, 1359 (1965) ;
Tetrahedron Letters 1965, 727.
(d) Eugster, C. H., and Takemoto, T. Zur Nomenklatur der neuen Verbindungen
aus Amanita-Arten, Helv, Chim. Acta 50, 726 (1967).
417
(6) Review: Etjgstee, C. H., tiber den Fliegenpilz, Neujahrsblatt Nr. 169 der Natur-
forschenden Gesellschaft in Ziirich, Verlag Leemann AG. Zurich, 1967 ;
Synthesis of muscimole : Patents to J. R. Geigy AG. Basle ( Swiss Priority of
Dec. 6th, 1963, Belg. Pat. No. 656.759 of Dec. 7th, 19M; see Chem. Abstr. 63:
16356 (1965) ) ; Gagneux, A. E., Hafliger, F., Good, R., and Eugster, C. H., Tetra-
hedron Letters 1965 : 2077.
Synthesis of ibotenic acid: Patents to J. R. Geigy AG. Basle (Swiss Priority
of July 22nd, 1964, Belg. Pat. No. 665.249 of Dec. 10th (1965) :, see Chem. Abstr.
65, 2266 (1966) ; Gagneux, A. R., Hafliger, F., Meier, R., and Eugster, C. H.,
Tetrahedron Letters 1965 : 2081 ; Sirakawa, K., Aki, O, Tsushima, S., and Ko-
nishi, K, Chem. Pharm. Bull. (Japan) 14 : 89 (1966) ; Kishida, T., Hiraoka, T.,
Ide, J., Terada, A., and Nakamura, N., Chem. Pharm. Bull. (Japan) 14: 94 (1966).
(7) Isolation: see (5) (a); Structure: Fritz, H., Gagneux, A. R., Zbinden, R., and
Eugster, C. H., Tetrahedron Letters 1965 : 2075 ; Reiner, R., and Eugster, C. H.,
Heir. Chim. Acta 50: 728 (1967); Reiner, R., Dissertation, Universitat Ziirich
1966; Synthesis: Goth, H., Gagneux, A. R., Eugster, C. H., and Schmid, H., Helv.
Chim. Acta 50: 137 (1967).
418
The Pharmacology of Amanita
Muscaria
Peter G. Waser
Department of Pharmacology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Page
Introduction 419
Muscarine 420
General 420
Screening Methods for Muscarine 420
Effects on the Animal 422
Effects on Isolated Organs 423
Central Nervous Effects of Muscarine 425
Centrally Acting Compounds 426
Atropine and Tryptophane Derivatives 426
Ibotenic Acid, Muscimol and Muscazon 426
Screening Methods for Hallucinogenic Drugs 427
Central Nervous Effects in Man 433
Discussion 436
Summary 437
References 438
Introduction
Earely, to-day, are new natural products with an interesting pharma-
cological action found in Swiss plants. Most alkaloids have been discovered
and extensively investigated in the past 50 years. For us remains the search
for new active compounds (alkaloids, amines and aminoacids etc.), which
are present only in small concentrations, or which show interesting biological
properties not yet investigated.
The starting point most often is the centuries-old knowledge of remarkable
and unusual actions of a plant or its crude drug form, on man after ingestion.
Intoxication after an overdose is the overall response of the organism to the
toxic principles in the plant. This reaction is a sum of very different pharma-
cological actions, and may be very complicated. As plants vary in metabolism
and production of active principles corresponding to their environment,
comparison of intoxication symptoms will show regional differences. Dif-
ferent varieties of the same species may produce quite different metabolites.
The pharmacologist first has the problem of carefully scrutinizing the
symptoms of intoxication, or, if these are already known, the therapeutic
use by primitive tribes. He then must try to classify these symptoms as
pharmacological actions on different organ systems, following the large
knowledge of typical drug-actions. Then he develops a method for screening
the active principles to isolate and concentrate these from the extracts, with
the help of specific tests. For this part, cooperation with an interested
chemist is the most important mutual help. Both have to adjust their extrac-
419
tion and screening methods in order to isolate the active compounds. Very
often the pharmacologist works with several independent tests, or a test
battery which allows him to differentiate between several active principles.
Finally, he has the rewarding task of investigating the actions of new and
pure compounds of a plant, which so far were known only in primitive
medicine.
The investigation of the pharmacology of amanita muscaria is a typical
example of this procedure. It gave us the opportunity to investigate for the
first time muscarine in its pure form. Now, the psychoactive principles are
getting more of our interest. Already important facts are known and new
active principles are discovered, but we feel that more must be found to
explain the different astonishing effects of the fly agaric on man. My report
therefore is not a final explanation and scientific description of active
compounds, but more an account of our present knowledge and experiments
under way. Finally, I want to describe OTir mode of detecting new hallucino-
genic principles.
Muscarine
General
Because of its potent pharmacological actions muscarine, the best known
alkaloid of amanita muscaria, has been studied by pharmacologists for over
100 years. It was the first drug with a selective action on organs innervated
by the autonomic nervous system. The findings of these investigations, how-
ever, were micertain and inaccurate until the isolation and crystallization
of muscarine chloride from amanita muscaria (Eugster and Waser, 1954)
(Table 1). The first preparations contained large amounts of choline, which
is biologically less active, and unstable acetylcholine, which may be found
in different mushrooms. These contaminations made standardization inac-
curate.
All screening methods used for isolation of muscarine are based on its
strong parasympathomimetic activity. Until to-day, muscarinic activity is
the most used term for direct peripheral action on cholinergic receptors,
situated in different smooth muscles, especially of the gastrointestinal tract
and eye, exocrine glands and heart. Nicotinic action is reserved for cholinergic
receptors in ganglionic synapses and endplates of skeletal muscle, where
nicotine is stimulatant and depressant, and where muscarine has only small
or no action. Lately, even in the central nervous system these types of
muscarinic (cortical neurons, Betz cells), nicotinic (Renshaw cells) and
intermediate synapses (thalamic neurons, caudate nucleus), have been dem-
onstrated (McLennan, 1965). Without doubt acetylcholine plays a major
role as a chemical neuro-transmittor in the brain.
Screening methods for muscarine
As other investigators (Kogl, Duisberg and Erxleben, 1931) before us, we
used the isolated frog heart of Straub, which is very sensitive, (0.003-O.Oljug
muscarine-chloride) for small amounts of cholinergic drugs, their action be-
420
Table 1. — Compounds isolated from Amanita muscaria {1966)
• ^ • Muscarine
CHoN — CH3 '^^^^^A'nA'i 0/
2 \ .^"^ 0.0002 7,
CH3
9 ® /CHa
CH2CH2N^CH3
^0^ CH3
CH3-C^ ^CH2CH2N^CH3 Acetylcholine
® /CH3
HO-CH2CH2 N CH3 Choline
XH3
CH-CH2 @ ^CH3
/ Vh CH^-N-CHq Muscaridine
CH3-CH ^"2^"2 \^fi3
\ ^
OH
CH
CH9CH2N::^ 2 Bufotenine ?
^CH3
HO. ^ ®
M 7-CH — NH3 Ibotenic aci
COO^ 0.03-0,1 7o
> — ^ ®
l^'^ — CH2-NH3 Muscimol
HN— ^ ®
0=^ ^^CH-NH3 Muscazon
0 COO
Fig. la. — Isolated frog heart (Straub). Muscarine diminishes amplitude of contraction
and slows heart rate. Atropine (10~« m) is an immediate antagonist.
Fig. lb. — Quantitative determination of muscarine with isolated frog heart. 25% paral-
ysis is produced by 0.0035 muscarine-chloride.
ing immediately antagonised by atropine (Fig. 1). Concentration of mus-
carine from extracts by chromatography was followed until the final crystal-
lization of pure muscarine-chloride. Biological methods are indispensable
for the first isolation of the active principle, but later more specific coloration
methods of the paper chromatograms were used.
Less suited for screening purposes are miosis and salivation of mice after
intraperitoneal injection of 60-130 Atg/kg, and chromodacryorrhoea produced
in rats by subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection of 20-35 /^g/kg muscarine-
chloride. The diameter of mouse-pupils is normally 0.3-0.4: mm wide, and
must be measured with a magnifying device (low power microscope)
(Pulewka, 1932) . Mydriatic opening of the pupil is much easier to measure
than miotic contraction. Furthermore, quantitative determination of saliva-
tion, lacrimation or chromodacryorrhoea is quite difficult. It may be accom-
plished by sucking these fluids from mouth or eye on filter paper and measur-
ing the wet or coloured area (Malone and Eobichaud et al., 1961) .
Effects on the animal
In addition to the secretory and miotic action on larger animals (rabbit,
cat, dog, monkey) , a variety of other effects may be seen (Waser, 1961) . The
cardiovascular system is very sensitive to muscarine. Blood pressure is low-
ered rapidly by small intravenous doses, (cat: 0.002-1.0 /ig/kg) and heart
rate is slowed. Cardiac arrest may occur when the action of muscarine is not
antagonized by atropine (Fig. 2). Vagotomy does not influence the only
422
peripheral action of muscarine. Respiratory effects are noted with small
doses: increase in volume and rate of respiration (0.02-1.0 /xg/kg i.v.),
probably due to stimulation of the chemoreceptors of the carotid body, is
followed by bronchoconstriction and obstruction of the respiratory pathways
by profuse secretion of mucus. Again all these effects are antagonized by
atropine.
Transmission through ganglionic synapses (superior cervical ganglion) is
not changed with high intravenous doses (500 jUg/kg) of muscarine, and no
neuromuscular block develops in atropinized cats. But with isolated and
perfused ganglion preparations, higher concentrations of muscarine evoke
postganglionic response, especially when the ganglion has been chronically
denervated (Konzett and Waser, 1956) .
Effects on isolated organs
The intense action of muscarine on the isolated frog heart has already been
mentioned. Most investigations were done on smooth muscle organs for the
purpose of comparing its potency with that of acetylcholine. The prepara-
tion best suited is the ileum of the guinea pig. Acetylcholine makes an im-
mediate contraction during 15-30 minutes and later spontaneous relaxation
5y 50y
Muscarin Atropin
IT—
20"
VR
30"
VR
10 y
Muscarin
30"
VR
50 y 30"
Muscarin VR
Fig. 2. — Cat in dial-nembutal narcosis. Registered are from top: twitches of m. gastroc-
nemius stimulated from n.ischiadicus tracheal respiration, blood-pressure in a.carotis,
contractions of nictitating membrane stimulated from preganglionic sympathetic
nerve. Signal: injected doses and denation of vagal stimulation (VR). Muscarine has
no action on endplates in skeletal muscle, stops respiration by bronchoconstriction
(K A = artificial respiration), lowers blood pressure and contracts nictitating membrane
directly, atropine acts as antagonist.
ACh Muscarin
Fig. 3. — Guinea pig Ueum. Contraction by acetylcholine (5X10-* m Ach) and muscarine
(3X10~* m). Washing after 125 minutes. Slow and persistent contraction by muscarine
with little twitches.
of the smooth muscle, by hydrolytic destruction of the molecule by tissue
cholinesterases (Fig. 3). Muscarine shows a biphasic action. A rather quick
but interrupted contraction is followed within 30 seconds by a slow phase
of maximal contraction during 5-10 minutes. The relaxation after washing
is at least two times slower than that after acetylcholine. Muscarine is not
destroyed by cholinesterases ; accordingly its action persists until the drug
is removed by washing. Other contractions and twitches may follow.
Similar effects of muscarine on smooth muscle of other organs are found
in many different species of animals. The average potency of contraction is
much greater than with acetylcholine (Table 2). The isolated sphincter of
the iris of pigs contracts with 10 times smaller concentrations of muscarine
(10-''m) than with acetylcholine (3.5 X 10-^m). This explains well the miotic
action on the intact animal (Fig. 4) . Even high concentrations of muscarine
(500 /tg/ml) are not able to induce contraction of rectus muscle of the frog,
and on nerve-muscle preparations no neuro-muscular block develops, as with
curare.
Table 2. — Spasmogenic activity of muscarine in isolated muscles. Average values from dif-
ferent animal species, activity ratio of muscarine to acetylcholine (=1)
Tracheal chain
(guinea pig, rabbit)
150
Bladder wall (longitudinal and
(guinea pig, rabbit, dog, rat, frog, horse.
46
circular)
monkey)
Ureter
(horse)
29
Intestine (longitudinal and circular of
(frog, mouse, guinea pig, rabbit, dog.
8,4
duodenum, ileum, colon)
cat, horse, monkey)
Uterus (longitudinal and circular)
(mouse, guinea pig, rat, horse, dog,
4, 5
rabbit)
424
Central nervous effects of muscarine
Until to-day nobody has been able to show a direct psychotropic action of
muscarine on animal or man. This is probably due to its difficulty as a quater-
nary amine in passing the blood-brain barrier. Passage may be possible in
combination with an amino acid or lecithin. The low oral toxicity of (/,1-mus-
carine on mice (200 mg/kg) , compared to its intravenous action (0.8 mg/kg) ,
shows that resorption through the intestinal wall probably by a transport
system, as with other depolarizing agents, is slow (Liithi and Waser, 1965 and
1967) . An interesting experiment on the monkey showed muscarine to have
little effect orally (Fraser, 1957). No effect followed oral administra-
tion of 2 mg, despite the fact that the amount given Avas many times that which
causes poisoning by the ingestion of amanita muscaria in the human being.
Gyermek and Unna (1960) attempted to eliminate the peripheral actions
of muscarine by blocking the cholinergic receptors with atropine-methyl-
bromide 15-20 minutes before the administration of muscarine. By this
procedure the intravenous minimal lethal dose of (i'jl-muscarine was elevated
from 1 mg/kg to over 160 mg/kg, but no central effects were recorded.
The electrophoretical local administration of acetylcholine, (^,1-muscarine
and other cholinomimetics has shown quite different neurones of the central
nervous system (pyramidal cells of the cortex, cerebellar and thalamic neu-
rons and Renshaw cells) to possess excitable muscarinic and nicotinic re-
ceptors (Curtis et al., 1961, 1964, 1966) (Krnjevic and Phillis, 1963). Corti-
cal cells are extremely sensitive to acetylcholine, muscarone, muscarine and
acetyl-y8-methylcholine. There may be many other neurons which behave in
a similar way, and we have to conclude that muscarine entering the brain
will have different central and psychotropic actions. Although choline is
well absorbed through the intestinal wall, most of it is rapidly metabolised
and esterified in the tissue. Generally the action of free choline is similar to
II
GIBII
1
1 i 1 1 1 i
Fig. 4. — Contractions of m.sphincter iridis of pig by acetylcholine (1:3,5X10"^ m) and
muscarine (2 : 10"' m) . Time in minutes. Slow, gradual contraction by muscarine.
425
262-016 0-67— 29
acetylcholine, but the dose needed in different experiments is 200-100,000
times higher (Bovet, 1948). Direct electrophoretical application of choline
to different neurons in the brain has no effect.
Centrally Acting Compounds
Atropine arid tryptophane derivatives
As we have seen, the oral ingestion of muscarine cannot be responsible
for the colourful amanita-intoxication of asian people described by travellers
touring Siberia. Different explanations were given and additional central
active ingredients were proposed. The unknown active principle was un-
fortunately given the name Pilzatropin or muscaridine by Kobert in 1891.
The search for an atropine-like alkaloid in amanita muscaria has continued
since then. Lewis (1955) , reported the isolation of hyoscy amine from amanita
muscaria and amanita pantherina in South Africa. Later, Polish chemists
made a similar statement concerning their local mushrooms. Eegardless of
the very small concentration fomid in the mushrooms (< 0.0001%), the
symptoms of the intoxication do not fit the central effect of 10-30 mg of
orally ingested atropine or belladonna-alkaloids, as scopolamine. Profuse
salivation and perspiration, nausea, vomiting, bradycardy, mydriasis, are
foimd, together with central excitation and delirious intoxication. Even
small doses of atropine with hallucinations would immediately block the
peripheral actions of muscarine (salivation, perspiration etc.). It would be
prejudicial to treat here the pharmacology of atropine and similar bases
before the presence of these alkaloids in the musliroom is demonstrated with
certainty by chemical methods. Until now this evidence has not been sub-
stantiated or repeated by other research groups.
Another dubious proposal as a psychotropic principle in amanita muscaria
is tufotenhie (Table 1). This amine was isolated in considerable quantities
from Amanita mappa, and detected in small amounts by paper chromatog-
raphy in Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina (Wieland et al.,
1953). Wlien injected intravenously, bufotenine may have some hallucino-
genic activity in man. This is denied by other research groups using oral
administration of 50 mg bufotenine and intravenous injections of 20 mg.
Eugster and Miiller (1961) were not able to find bufotenine in Amanita
muscaria.
Finally another quaternary amine, "miwcam^z'ne", (Table 1) was found
in Amanita muscaria (Kogl, Salemink and SchuUer, 1960) but chemical
data on it are scarce and no pharmacological investigations were made.
Ihotenic acid, muscimol and muscazon
Lately, Eugster and co-workers have isolated and identified different new
active substances from amanita muscaria which may — at least partly —
explain its psychotropic action. Tlie pharmacological screening of the isola-
426
tion process was developed by W. Theobald.^ It is based on the potentiating
effect of these compounds on the narcosis produced by a short acting hypnotic
(2-methoxy-4-allyl-phenoxyaceticacid-diethylamide), (Miiller and Eugster,
1965; Good, Miiller and Eugster, 1965). The narcosis potentiating principle
of the mushroom consists of three different compounds (table 1). Sedative
action of wmscazon was much less than with ibotenic acid and muscimol.
These two have a very pronounced hypnotic effect, and it is very probable that
they also are psycho- active, although nothing definite has been described.
In order to demonstrate this sedative/hypnotic effect, we have injected
mice with different doses intraperitoneally, and put them together with
controls in activity cages (Fig. 5, 6). Sedative action is evident with 4-8
mg/kg ibotenic acid and 1-2 mg/kg muscimol. Oral administration is
approximately half as effective as intraperitoneal injection.
These new compounds are rather toxic for mice. Muscimol is roughly 5-10
times more potent than ibotenic acid. Rats seem to be less sensitive (Table 3) .
Table 3
i.p.
P.O.
Toxicity in mice (LD 50)
Ibotenic acid
25 mg/kg
50 mg/kg
Muscimol
6 mg/kg
12 mg/kg
Typical signs of intoxication develop similarly from both substances:
nervousness, excitation, wide open eyes and dilated pupils, convulsions,
twitches, tonic cramps, typical signs of catalepsy, irregular often accelerated
respiration, later sedation and sleep.
Screening Methods for Hallucinogenic Drugs
In order to search for new active principles, we have to use other screen-
ing methods, which should be especially useful for finding compounds with
psychotonic activity. The symptoms of intoxication most often show phar-
macological effects resulting from the stimulation of central sympathetic
structures. We find three methods to be of value for a general screening of
numerous fractions of extracts with mice.
The most simple may be to measure the diameter of the mouse pupil during
the toxicological assay. We use groups of ten mice per dose. Most hallu-
cinogens, as LSD, Psilocybin, produce a marked dilatation. When the start-
ing diameter with a standardized light source is small, this effect may be
measured with ease. Of the new compounds, muscimol is especially effective
(Fig. 7). The best way of application is intraperitoneal injection, but for
comparision with the intoxication symptoms with the mushroom, oral inges-
tion may be preferred (Fig 8). Direct application of muscimol (0.5%) on
the eye has no dilatory effect.
1 Dr. W. Theobald, J. R. Gelgy, A. G. Basel.
427
Ibotenic acid i.p
Control Nq CI i.p. \
\
I I I I I I
0 1 2 3 A 5 h
Fig. o. — Mice in jiggle cage, intraperitoneal injection of ibotenic acid. 8 and 16 mg/kg
produce sedation of 2 and 3 hours. In the first phase muscle twitching was recorded.
428
Muscimol i.p.
Fig. 6. — Muscimol sedates mice in jiggle cage with doses of 1, 2, and 4 mg/kg during 1-2
hours. Myoclonic cramps were recorded.
429
Diameter
1/2 12 I* 2Ah
Fig. 7. — Dilatation of pupils by ibotenic acid and muscimol (groups of ten mice,
statistical error not marked) .
Another method we use is similar to the determination of antidepressant
activity of neuro- and thymoleptics. It is based on the antagonism of reser-
pine-induced hypothermia. Liberation of catecholamines and serotonine in
the brain makes mice sensitive to psychostimulating drugs (Askew, 1963) .
Mice are injected subcutaneously with 2 mg/kg reserpine and kept overnight
at room temperature of 20° C. The rectal temperature is measured using
a thermo-couple inserted to a depth of 2 cm. Groups of 8 mice are then in-
jected intraperitoneally with the test drug or saline as control. CNS-stimu-
lants (phenmetracine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine) and hal-
lucinogenic drugs (LSD, Psilocybin), reverse the effect of reserpine and
increase the rectal temperature within a few hours to normal values (Fig.
9, 10) . The only exception is mescaline ; it strongly depresses the temperature.
Muscimol has an increasing effect on temperature like other hallucinogens,
but only after 2^ hours, whereas ibotenic acid keeps rectal temperature low
(Fig. 11).
A third simple m^ethod to test psychotomimetic drugs is checking their
effect on food intake. Hunger or appetite are the strongest drives in animal
or man. They are easily influenced by central drug action. We have developed
over the years different test methods to measure anorexogenic action
(Spengler and Waser, 1957, 1959). Rats with a well controlled food intake
are trained to a feeding period between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. One hour before
feeding time the test drug is injected intraperitoneally. At 12 a.m. and at
the end of the feeding period (4 p.m.) , the consumption of food is measured.
430
Diameter
Reserpine | p. Injection
2,5mg/l<g s c.
Fig. 9. — Rectal temperature of reserpinized mice (groups of 6 animals). Action of central
stimulating drugs compared to control.
431
Reserpine i.P Injection
2 mg/kq s.c.
Fig. 10. — Rectal temperature of reserpinized mice under the influence of hallucinogenic
drugs.
Reserpine i. p. Injection
2 mg/kg
Fig. 11. — Rectal temperature of reserpinized mice under the influence of muscimol and
ibotenic acid from Amanita muscaria.
432
Most sympathomimetics and hallucinogens have a pronounced anorexogenic
effect during some hours, probably by stimulating the satiety center in the
hypothalamus (Waser and Spengler, 1963) (table 4). Muscimol and ibo-
tenic acid act in a similar way in doses which are not hypnotic. After the
experiment the rats may recover during two days with standardized feeding
period before the next injections.
Table 4. — Anorexogenic activity of drugs in diminishing normal food intake of rats to one
half (ED 50)
FiXRitation
d- Amphetamine
2,5
+ +
Ephedrine
17
+
15
Methylphenidate
17
+
Scopolamine
0, 8
Atropine
2,5
+
Carbachol
1,0
Parpanit
35
Mescaline
90
(+)
LSD
1
(+)
Psilocybin
18
+
Cocaine
30
+
Cafifeine
250
+
Ibotenic acid
5, 0
Muscimol
4,0
We have adapted this method to mice for a screening of small amounts
of Amanita extracts. Mice are not as clean and trainable as rats, and we
have not finally decided on the best technique. Using a special food con-
tainer from which the fine grain cereal cannot be scattered and which remains
tolerably clean, we are able to determine small differences in food intake.
On mice the effects of muscimol and ibontenic acid are even stronger than
the actions of LSD and amphetamine (Fig. 12, 13). We therefore think
this Irind of approach to be very promising for the screening of psychotropic
compounds.
Central Nervous Effects In Man
Besides the well known descriptions of amanita-intoxication, not much
is known about experiments with pure substances on man. Ibotenic acid
and muscimol are now under careful investigation by a psychia^trist.^ The
work of the pharmacologist ends at this stage.
Curiosity is one of the mam qualities of a scientist, and this may be the
reason why a pharmacologist watching the behaviour of his animals under
^ Prof. H. Heimann, Clinique psychiatrique universitaire Lausanne.
433
/////////-,
1 1 1 M 1 I
-V-
1 234 1 2345 10 5 10 mg/kg i.p
Muscimol Ibotenic acid LSD Amphetamine
Fig. 12. — Diminished food intake of mice with different psychotropic drugs. Mice are
much less sensitive to LSD and amphetamine than rats.
Fig. 13. — Mice two hours after i.p. injection of 5 mg/kg muscimol: different phases of
sedation, catatonia, myoclonic cramps, with eyes open or closed.
434
certain drugs wants to know more about the emotions and changes in reaction
they produce. Another reason is ethical. We have to foresee the accidents
and dangerous actions new compomids of general interest may produce on
man. My report on some experiments done on myself by ingestmg ibotenic
acid and muscimol under careful psychiatric control ^ may give you an
unauthoritative view on this.
A 20 mg ibotenic acid dose ingested in water tastes like mushrooms, but
produces little immediate action. Within half an hour a warm and slightly
flushed face was noticed, without changes in blood pressure or heart rate
with no psychic stimulation, but lassitude followed by sleep. One day later a
migraine with classical one sided visual disturbance developed for the first
time in my life. The occipitally localized headache continued in a milder
form for two weeks.
Next I turned to muscimol. A dose of 5 mg in water orally ingested had
little effect except a feeling of laziness. Ten mg produced a slight intoxica-
tion after 90 minutes with dizziness, ataxia and elevated mood, psychic
stimulation (in psychological tests), no hallucinations but slight changes in
taste and colour vision. Some myoclonic muscle twitching followed, then
sleep with dreams. After two to three hours I felt normal, rested and able
to undertake anything, even work. During the next night I slept well, deep
and long. No other signs followed.
With 15 mg muscimol administered orally the intoxication started after 40
minutes and was more pronounced. Dizziness made walking with
closed eyes impossible, but reflexes were not changed. Speech was some-
times inarticulate and dysarthric. Appetite and taste were dimin-
ished. After a phase of stimulation, concentration became more diffi-
cult. Vision was altered by endlessly repetitioned echo-pictures of situa-
tions a few minutes before. Hearing became noisy and sometimes
was followed by echo. Most disturbing were repeated myoclonic cramps
of different muscle groups. I felt sometimes as if I had lost my
legs, but never had hallucinations as vivid and colourful as with LSD.
The pupils remained always the same size. After 2 hours I fell asleep,
but I cannot remember any dreams. Two hours later I awoke again and was
glad that the muscle twitching was less frequent. I did not feel relaxed
and fresh as after 10 mg. muscimol but rather dull and uncertain. Blood
pressure was only a little elevated during the psychoactive phase. In pre-
liminary experiments muscimol was detected in the urine by ion exchange
separation and thin layer chromatography (C. H. Eugster).
Muscimol makes a toxic psychosis with confusions, dysarthria, disturb-
ance of visual perception, illusions of colour vision, myoclonia, disorienta-
tion in situation and time, weariness, fatigue and sleep. Concentration tests
show an improved performance with small doses (5 mg), but diminished
performance and learning with an increased number of errors with higher
doses (10-15 mg).
3 PD Dr. J. Angst, Psychlatrische Universitatskllnik Zurich.
435
Discussion
Different biologically active principles have been isolated from amanita
muscaria. Some, as muscarine, acetylcholine, choline, ibotenic acid, muscimol
and muscazon, were found by different scientists, but others were not con-
firmed by later research.
The action of muscarine is well known today, and it is generally accepted
that muscarine is one of the most active parasympathomimetic drugs. This
is partly due to its stability, as it is not hydrolized by cholinesterases. On
the other hand, muscarine does not inhibit acetyl-cholinesterase in concen-
trations up to 10"* m. It acts on the same receptors as acetylcholine, but its
action is restricted predominantly to peripheral effector organs innervated
by the autonomous nervous system. All cholinomimetic effects are antago-
nized by atropine.
Muscarine affects ganglionic synapses only by much higher doses than
acetylcholine. With electrophoretic application on cortical Betz cells, mus-
carine shows an action 1-4 times as powerful as acetylcholine (Crawford and
Curtis, 1966) . But as we have seen, muscarine passes only with gTeat difficulty
through the intestinal wall, and the oral toxicity is remarkably low. The
same must be said for the passage through the blood-brain barrier. There-
fore, with the very low concentration of muscarine in the orally ingested
mushroom, it is impossible that this alkaloid produces the psychotomimetic
symotoms observed in amanita intoxication.
Acetylcholine and choline which are found in small, but varying amounts
in the mushrooni can as well not be held responsible for this action. Acetyl-
choline is immediately hydrolyzed by ubiquitous cholinesterases, and choline
is practically inactive, especially when applied directly on central neurons.
The central action of amanita muscaria must be caused by the new amino-
acids and amines detected in considerably high concentration in the mush-
room. The described screening methods show especially for muscimol an
intense central action, which is linked with the sympathetic system of the
brain stem, as shown by the typical hyperthermic effects of reserpinized mice,
central pupillary dilation and anorexia. Furthermore, the pyramidal and
extrapyramidal motor systems are probably involved in some of the clas-
sical reactions as ataxia, catalepsy, convulsions and muscle twitches. But only
with a further analysis may these symptoms be linked to specific sites of
action as central ganglionic nuclei or spinal intemeurons. The amines are
considerably more active than the aminoacids, which are different with other
centrally active catecholamines or tryptamines.
The most important finding surely is the psychotic action of muscimol as
demonstrated in man. Although intense hallucinations as with LSD were
missing with doses of 10-15 mg, there resulted considerable disturbance of
psychic functions, such as orientation in situation and time, visual percep-
tion, process of thinking, speech, and some new psychic phenomena of illu-
sions and perseveration of optical perception (echo pictures). Here again
muscimol was more active than ibotenic acid, which showed only some un-
pleasant effects on the local circulation.
436
When we compare now my personal psychotropic experiences with
some descriptions of intoxications by amanita muscaria, we see in some
respects an interesting parallelism. In the old literature (Donalies and Volz,
1960, Buck, 1963) and during this symposium (Brekhman and Sam, Was-
son), the following symptoms were mentioned after ingestion of 1^ mush-
rooms : dizziness, nausea, vertigo, somnolence, euphoria, sense of lightness,
and coloured visions. Slight acoustic and optic hallucinations were noticed
within the next few hours. A higher dose (5-10 mushrooms) produces severe
effects of intoxication such as muscular twitching, leading to twitches of
limbs; raving drunkenness with agitation and vivid hallucinations. Later,
partial paralysis with sleep and dreams follow for many hours. Ingestion of
more than 10 mushrooms is usually fatal. The hallucinogenic principle is
excreted in the urine. It evokes the same symptoms when the urine is drunk
again.
With 15 mg muscimol symptoms of the first group and muscular twitching
were noticed. Hallucinations were not as vivid and colourful as expected.
The picture would fit best for a dose of 5 mushrooms. As ibotenic acid pro-
duces only slight central action, probably muscimol is mainly responsible for
these central effects. Further studies will show if muscimol is excreted
unchanged and quantitatively in the urine. Other compounds in the mush-
room may be responsible for its complex psychotic effect.
Summary
Because of its extraordinary pharmacological activity muscarine, the best
known alkaloid of amanita muscaria, has been investigated for more than
100 years by chemists and pharmacologists. It was the first known drug with
selective action on the autonomous nervous system. After its isolation in a
pure and crystalline form (Eugster and Waser, 1954), its chemical structure
and synthesis were established (Reviews by C. H. Eugster, S. Wilkinson).
During the isolation process different screening methods were used. They
are based on the strong parasympathomimetic activity of muscarine (Review
by P. G. Waser, 1961) . Until today nobody was able to show a direct psycho-
tropic effect of muscarine on animal or man, probably due to its difficulty
in passing the blood-brain barrier. In contrast, muscarine applied directly
into the brain was shown to have an excitatory effect.
The active principles responsible for hallucinogenic or sedative symptoms
described by different authors are only partly identified. Belladonna-like
alkaloids, serotonin and buf otenin have not been extracted from the mush-
room with certainty, but possibly there are other hydroxy-indoles present.
Lately Eugster, Theobald and colleagues (1965) discovered muscimol,
ibotenic acid and muscazon in different varieties of amanita muscaria. These
a-aminoacids and amine have pronounced sedative and hypnotic actions in
mice, but little is known on their hallucinogenic activity. Their pharmacol-
ogy on small animals was investigated with different methods. The tempera-
ture of reserpinized mice (2 mg/kg i.p.) is increased with orally 4 mg/kg
437
muscimol as with LSD, psilocybin, amphetamine or cocaine, but not
changed with 10 mg/kg ibotenic acid.
The diameter of mouse pupils is enlarged by intraperitoneal injection and
oral ingestion of muscimol (4-8 mg/kg) and ibotenic acid (16 mg./kg) . Both
compounds showed a marked anorexogenic effect on mice (2-3 mgAg oral)
with sedation, hypnosis, muscle twitchings and catalepsy.
Most important is the psychotomimetic effect on man. Muscimol (10-15
mg oral dose) creates a toxic psychosis with confusions, dysarthria, disturb-
ance of visional perception and hearing, illusions of colour vision, muscle
twitching and myocloni, disorientation in situation and time, weariness, fa-
tigue and sleep with dreams. Small doses (5 mg) improve performance in
concentration tests, but large doses diminish psychic performances and learn-
ing. Ibotenic acid and muscazon have less central action. Muscimol is ex-
creted in the urine.
Using different screening methods, we are now looking for other psycho-
active principles in amanita muscaria.
REFERENCES
Andersen, P., Curtis, D. R., "The pharmacology of the synaptic and acetylcholine induced
excitation of ventrobasal thalamic neurons." A. physiol, scand., 61: 100-120 (1964).
Askew, B. M. "A simple screening procedure for imipramine-like antidepressant agents."
Life sciences, 10 : 725-730 (1963) .
BovET, D., BoVET-NiTTi, F. Medicaments du system nerveux vegetatif. S. Karger, Basel,
1948.
Brekhman, I. I., Sam, Y. A. "Ethnopharmacological investigation of some psychoactive
drugs of Siberian and far-eastern minor nationalities of U.S.S.R." Ethnopharmacologi-
cal Search for Psychoactive Drugs. Proceedings of a Meeting. Ed. Daniel H. Efron.
Public Health Service Publication, U.S. Printing Office, 1967.
Buck, R. W. "Toxicity of Amanita muscaria." J. Amer. Medical Assoc., 185; 663-664
(1963).
Crawford, J. M., Curtis, D. R. "Pharmacological studies on feline Betz cells." J. Physiol.,
186: 121-138 (1966).
Crawford, J. M., Curtis, D. R., Voorhveve, P. E., Wilson, V. J. "Acetylcholine sensi-
tivity of cerebellar neurons in the cat." J. Physiol., 186: 139-165 (1966).
QuRTis, D. R., Phillis, J. W., Watkins, J. C. "Cholinergic and non-cholinergic transmis-
sion in the mammalian spinal cord." J. Physiol., 158 : 296-323 (1961).
Curtis, D. R., Rtall, R. W. "The excitation of Renshaw cells by cholinomimetics." Exp.
Brain Res., 2 : 49-65 (1966) .
Donalies, G., Volz, G. "Ein Selbstmordversuch mit Fliegenpilz" Der Nervenarzt, 31.
Jahrgang, Heft 182-185, 1960.
Bugster, C. H., Waser, P. G. "Zur Kenntnis des Muscarins." Exi)erientia, 10 : 298-300
(1954).
Fraser, p. J. "Pharmacological actions of pure muscarine chloride." Brit. J. Pharmacol.,
12:47-52 (1957).
Good, R., Muller, G. F. R., Eugster, C. H. Pramuscimol und Muscazon aus Amanita
muscaria." Helv. Chim. Acta., 48 : 927-930 (1965).
Gtermek, L., Unna, U. R. "Spectrum of action of muscarone and its derivatives." J.
Pharmacol, exp. Therap., 128 : 30-36 (1960).
KoBERT, R. "Ueber Pilzvergiftungen." St. Petersburg med. Wochenschrift, No. 51 : 463-466,
No. 52: 471^74 (1891).
438
KoQL, F., DuiSBEEG, H., Erxleben, H. "Untersuchungen tiber Pilzgifte I : Ueber das
Muscarin I." Liebigs Ann., 489 : 156-192 (1931) .
KoGL, F., Salemink, C. a., Schullek, P. L. "Ueber Muscaridin." Rec. Trav. cbim. Pays-
Bas, 79: 278-281 (1960).
KoNZETT, H., Waser, P. G. "Zur ganglionaren Wirkung von Muscarin." Helv. physiol.
Acta, 14:202-208 (1956).
Kenjevic, K., Phillis, J. W. "Acetylcboline sensitive cells in the cerebral cortex." J.
Physiol., 166 : 296-327 (1963).
Kbnjevic, K., Phillis, J. W. "Pharmacological properties of acetylcholine sensitive cells
in the cerebral cortex." J. Physiol., 166 : 32&-350 (1963) .
Mc Lennan, H. "Synaptic transmission in the central nervous system." Page 399 in Phys-
iological Pharmacology, volume II, Academic Press, New York, 1965.
Lewis, B. "Atropine in mushrooms — therapeutic implications." South African Medical
Journal, 29 : 262-263 (1955) .
LtjTHi, U., Waser, P. G. "Verteilung und Metabolismus von "C-Decamethonium in
Katzen." Arch. int. Pharm., 156 : 319-347 (1965) .
LtiTHi, U., Waser, P. G. "Verteilung und Metabolismus von "C-Carbachol bei atropinisier-
ten Katzen." Arch. int. Pharm., 1967 (in press) .
Malone, M. H., Robichatjd, R. C. Tyler, V. E. Jr., Brady, L. R. "Bioassay for muscarine
activity and its detection in certain inocybe." Lloydia, 24 : 204-210 (1961).
MxjLLEB, G. F. R., Eugstee, G. H. "Muscimol, ein pharmakodynamisch wirksamer Stofif."
Helv. Chim. Acta, 48 : 901-926 (1965) .
PuLEWKA, P. "Das Auge der weissenMaus als pharmakologisches Testobjekt." Arch. exp.
Path. Pharm., 186 : 307-318 (1932) .
Spengler, J., Wasee, p. G. "Ein Apparat zur Messung des Futterverzehrs und zur Regis-
trierung des Fressverhaltens von Ratten." Helv. Physiol, et Pharmacol. Acta, 15 : 444r-
449 (1957).
Spengler, J., Waser, P. G. "Der Einfluss verschiedener Pharmaka auf den Futterkonsum
von Albino-Ratten im akuten Versuch." Arch. exp. Path. Pharm., 237: 171-185 (1959).
Waser, P. G. "Chemistry and Pharmacology of muscarine, muscarone and some related
compounds." Pharmacol, rev., 13 : 465-515 (1961) .
Waser, P. G., Spengler, J. "Die pharmakologische Beeinflussung von Hunger und Sat-
tigung." Schweiz. med. W'schrift, 93 : 90 (1963).
Wasson, R. G. "Fly agaric and man." Ethnopharmacological Search for Psychoactive
Drugs. Proceedings of a Meeting. Ed. Daniel H. Efron. Public Health Service Publica-
tion, U.S. Printing Office, 1967.
WiELAND, T., MoTZEL, W., Merz, H. "Ueber das Vorkommen von Bufotenln im gelben
Kollenblatterpilz." Liebigs Ann., 581 : 10-16 (1953) .
439
Discussion '
Chairman — Daniel H. Efron
Members of the Panel — Venancio Deulofeu
Conrad H. Eugster
Claudio Naranjo
Dermot Taylor
Peter G. Waser
E. Gordon Wasson
Dr. Kline: I would like to start with a philological question for Dr.
Wasson : Why is Amanita muscaria called Fly Agaric ?
Mr. Wasson : The origin of the name Aminita Muscaria is a folk word ;
it goes back in the Germanic world many generations. Mukhamor is the
Slavic word, the fly killer, and in Japan one of the names used for this mush-
room is Haitori, the fly killer, and that is quite independent of Europe.
This mushroom has weak insecticidal powers. If fresh fly agarics are cut up
properly and laid out, flies will suck the juice and succumb in a stupor.
They do not die as a rule, and will revive in a matter of hours or a couple
of days. This is the current explanation. I think the name can be explained
in another way : the association throughout the middle ages and earlier, of
madness with the fly. People who were possessed were believed to be infested
with flies. Tliis was true throughout northern Eurasia. In Eussia, Denmark,
Germany, England, the fly spelled insanity. Wlien you were treated, they
waited for a fly to emerge from your nostril and you were cured. The mad
mushroom, the Bolond gomba of the Hungarians, the Narren Schwanmi of
the Germans — these were the fly agaric.
Dr. Eugster: I would like some comments. I agree with Mr. Wasson 's
view ; these flies in Fly Agaric are in my opinion, symbols for the demonic
power of Fly Agaric.
The insecticide properties of these compounds (e.g. muscimole and ibotenic
acid) are very, very weak, and you have to use starved flies for these tests,
so your explanation is the best one, in my opinion, too.
Chairman Dr. Efron : This question is to Dr. Waser : "How might one
treat an intoxication by Amanita Muscaria?"
Dr. Waser: The intoxication is not caused only by the small amount of
muscarine, and, generally, atropine is of no big value. (Atropine is of big
value only if you have an intoxication with inocyhe lateraria where you have
muscarine intoxication) . Amanita muscaria creates intoxication of the central
nervous system with hallucinogenic principles, and you should probably use
chlorpomazine.
This discussion covers papers of Sessions V and VI, as well as a general discussion of the entire
meeting. In addition to the members of the panel, other members of the Faculty participated in the
discussion.
441
262-016 0-67— 30
Chairman Dr. Efron : The next question is the following — it is not ad-
dressed to anybody : "Is there a pharmacological explanation for the retained
activity of Fly Agaric in the urine?" Who would like to answer this question?
Dr. Waser : I can only say we do not know yet ; we are investigating that
Dr. Eugster found a compound in my urine which looks like muscimole,
but this has to be confirmed.
Chairman Dr. Efron : I may speculate on this problem. There is a prob-
ability that the active principle of Fly Agaric — I don't want to say which
one of the compounds it is — is not enzymatically metabolized. In the same
way as we can find penicillin in urine after penicillin has done its job in
the body, we may find also the active principle of Fly Agaric in the urine
of the user. This is only pure speculation ; I don't have any proof.
Mr. Wasson : There is one factor : it is possible that some of the objec-
tionable aspects of the raw mushroom, especially the emetic effect, is filtered
out when you get it into the urine, and the urine seems to be popular as a
beverage.
Chairman Dr. Efron: This question is for Mr. Wasson: "Would you
speculate as to why the use of Fly Agaric has been decreasing during the
last two hundred years ?"
Mr. Wasson : I don't think it is a matter of speculation. The superior
and stronger culture of the Russians among Siberian tribes have brought lots
of pressure to bear on these tribes to abandon their native ways. This is
universial. I think we are just as guilty, if you wish to call it guilty, or we
are just as noble, if you wish to call it noble, but the superior culture does
not like native ways. In fact, we had a paper submitted to us for this session
by Dr. Brekhman of Vladivostok, and he boasted at the end that this thing
is being abolished by the beneficent influence of the great Soviet Union, and
that is obvious ; but before the Soviet Union, it was the Czars.
There is the commercial aspect that Vodka is sold to the natives, and if
the natives prefer Fly Amanita, which they go out and gather in the field,
they wouldn't drink vodka.
Dr. Holmstedt : Dr. Eugster and Dr. Waser, after this magnificent work
that you presented, what is it that makes you think there are still other
psychoactive principles in the Amanita ?
Dr. Waser : This is, I should say, only a feeling related to research work
underway. Mr. Wasson has told, and we know of other statements, about
the very vivid hallucinations ; but I did not have this kind of hallucinations
that we expected. Surely the dose and the psychoactive state of the volunteer
are important — maybe I am a very sober Swiss man ! But if you take at the
same time maybe alcohol or other plant extracts, which we do not know,
you might have a stronger reaction. Do you agree, Mr. Wasson ?
Mr. Wasson : Five of us took the mushrooms three days running in 1965.
Three of us took the mushrooms three days running in 1966. We took it raw,
we took it with the juice pressed out, and drank the pure juice. We mixed
the juice with milk, we toasted the caps and then mixed the juice with
miso shiru, the Japanese soup. Only one of us had the right reaction. We all
threw up, we all slept then for two hours, but the feeling of elation was con-
442
spicuous in only one of us, and that man was a compulsive speaker for the
next three or four hours. He was in a state of bliss beyond compare. He said,
"This is nothing like alcohol, it is so superior, it belongs to a different class."
He was one of the foremost mycologists of Japan.
Dr. Waser : Maybe I should add about muscimole, that it gives me a very
interesting feeling with small doses (5-10) mg). I felt just like walking
on glass or on ice. The thinking was just like gliding on ice; if I started
to think on something I would go like a curling stone without any friction.
It was so easy to think about everything ; but no distinct hallucinations were
experienced.
Chairman Dr. Efron : Maybe Dr. Eugster would like to add something
to this, because I saw his smile before.
Dr. Eugster: There are some reports in the literature about Amanita
Muscaria eating. You remember, Mr. Wasson, it also mentioned that the
liquor made of Epilo'bmm angustifolmm L., an alcoholic drink, is taken
simultaneously, and we don't know anything yet about the joint action of
alcohol, for instance, and these compounds.
Chairman Dr. Efron : This question is to Mr. Wasson : "Have you ever
seen a picture in Indian Art of a mushroom, or mention of mushroom itself
in Indian literature to support your theory that Soma might be Fly Agaric?"
Mr. Wasson: There is no mention in Indian literature and there is no
picture in the hall of Indian art. Of course, that is perfectly easy to explain ;
it disappeared before there was any literature, except the EgVeda ; it dis-
appeared long before Christ ; it disappeared about the time of Buddha, from
which epoch we have no statuary, we have no art. Of course, there is men-
tion of a mushroom in Indian history, a famous, famous mushroom. It is
in connection with the death of Buddha ; he is supposed to have died of mush-
rooms. The circumstances of Buddha's death are rather baffling, but I don't
advance this theory of his death seriously. The oldest of the stupas in India,
the ones that survive from the first to the third century before the Christian
era, are topped with what the Indians call a 'parasol', a chattra. This
chattra or parasol is the symbol of lay authority in Indian culture, of the
rajput caste. Chattra means not only 'parasol' but mushroom, and I was
much impressed by the triple-capped mushroom when I saw it surmoimting
the stupa at Eanchi.
Dr. Eugster : Please explain ambrosia, your opinion about ambrosia.
Mr. Wasson : Of course, it seems to me an insoluble problem. In Sanskrit
the same word is amrita^ and Sanskrit is just as old as Greek; you can say it
is even older. Soma is called amrita, time and again in the RgVeda. My
own view is that amrita is Soma, and that Soma is a mushroom.
Chairman Dr. Efron : This question says : "Have kinesthetic flying sensa-
tions been noted when taking Amanita Muscaria ?"
Mr. Wasson : Idon't remember any in the literature, any flying sensation.
We had no flying sensations, certainly.
The one man who had what would be called a perfect reaction — he wished
to exert himself — he shouted at the top of his lungs to a man who was stand-
ing three feet from him ; and the literature is full of that kind of thing. Of
443
course, the thing behind this is, I suppose, witchcraft, the flying of the
witches going to the Sabbat. But in the records of witchcraft, there is no
mention of anything resembling mushrooms.
From the Floor : Natives took mushrooms and they were flying off in the
Yukagi, the Shaman. It is a well known thing in Asia, and you have the
Shaman, they go up into the clouds.
Mr. Wasson : With mushrooms ?
From the Floor : Yes.
Mr. Wasson : Can you give me the citations ?
From the Floor : Shaman flying is not associated with mushrooms.
From the Floor : They drink mushrooms, and they pass it on in the urine.
From the Floor : The experience of your body leaving is very prominent
in Muscaria intoxication ; the body is separated or called the astro body.
Dr. Freedman : There is a recent article in the British Journal of Psychi-
atry on witchcraft.
Dr. Kline : Bamett has a recent article in which he tells us about the
witches' sabbath, but I don't think he mentions mushrooms.
Dr. Naranjo : I would like to comment that the experiences with harma-
line have been similar, not only to tropical American Shamanism, but to
Shamanism as described for Siberia. Siberian Shamans often describe an
experience that involves flying and transformation into a vulture, or that
of being taken by a big bird, or torn into pieces by a bird of prey, and the
persons under the influence of the harmaline either felt transformed into
birds of prey or had a very vivid imagery of the same type, which was
blended with the motives of the big cats. Another way in which the idea
of flying was expressed in harmaline visions is that many of them were
scenes viewed from above, as if the person were soaring through space.
Mr. Wasson : I find no difference between the flying episodes that have
been pointed out and the flying episodes in people who have not taken any
drugs, and I eliminated them for that reason.
It seems to be part of the cultural tradition that you fly, not as a part of
the cultural tradition that after taking mushrooms you fly. The Tungus fly,
too, or am I mistaken ?
Dr. Waser : I had a question : "You did not mention the use of Amanita
Muscaria by the ISTorse Bersekers that you discussed in your article found
in Psychopathology. Have there been any further findings on the use of the
mushrooms by this prehistorical group ?"
Mr. Wasson : I don't remember having discussed it in any article for
Psychopathology, but everybody in Scandinavia, almost everybody learned
it in school, and it is in the encyclopedias, that Berseker-raging was provoked
by Amanita Muscaria. A man named Odman in about 1760 propounded
this thesis, after having read von Strahlenberg's book dealing with Siberia.
That has led to a great debate pro and con, in Sweden, Norway and Den-
mark. There is no mention in the sagas of the mushrooms. I think there is no
tradition in any remote valley in Norway or Sweden about mushrooms.
The symptoms of the Berseker-ragers do suggest exhilaration and the
desire for physical activity that mushrooms would cause, but until we get
444
some positive evidence that the cause was mushrooms, it seems to be hazardous
to assume that there were mushrooms.
Chairman Dr. Efron: Next question: "Is there any evidence of Fly
Agaric among the Eskimo or northern Athabaskan peoples? Did it cross
the Behring Strait from the Koriak, etc?"
Mr. Wasson : I have looked through this literature with great care, and
many of the people who are reading the literature have been asked to tip
me off for any possible reference to it, and there is none.
Chairman Dr. Efron : Question : "Could Fly Agaric have been used in
Tibetan magic— Bon Culture, 2000 B.C. ?"
Mr. Wasson : I don't think we have any report of Bon Culture that far
back.
Chairman Dr. Efron : "Has anyone taken the urine and analyzed the
chemicals present?"
Mr. Wasson: I am ashamed that no one has analyzed the urine, no
one has tasted it, except the natives of Siberia. Among the anthropologists
there are some who feel they should participate in any native culture they
are studying. I have never read of any anthropologist in Siberia who lived
up to this idea !
Chairman Dr. Efron : Question : "Is the drinking of urine of people that
used mushrooms considered a better source of the hallucinogen?"
Mr. Wasson : There is no comment in the Siberian sources distinguish-
ing the qualities of the urine from the mushroom. Naturally more take the
urine, because there is more of it. I have a hunch that the urine would filter
out some of the objectionable qualities of the mushroom, and that you might
get a pure inebrient in the urine, but that is just a hmich.
Chairman Dr. Efron: Question: "Why a urine culture in association
with "trips ?" Does it happen in any other culture ?"
Mr. Wasson : I don't know, I have never heard of it with LSD.
Chairman Dr. Efron: I have the last two question for Dr. Naranjo:
"Dr. Naranjo spoke of electrical changes in retina with harmaline. Are
there similar changes with other hallucinogens, , or does this characterize
harmaline only ?"
Dr. Naranjo: There has been a report of retinal changes of LSD in a
cat, and this paper has been debated, and others have tried to reproduce
the results, with no success.
What we have studied in Chile thus far is only harmaline, but we are
planning to compare these results with those brought about with other
substances.
Chairman Dr. Efron : The other question is : "Could banisteriopis have
been used in Tibetan brews of this and later eras? For example, Mil-
lerepa, the mystic hermit, spoke of a root brew that was made from vines.
It is found in Turkestan ?"
Dr. Naranjo : I am practically sure that banisteriopsis did not grow in
this region. The climate is the absolute opposite. Peganum Harmala does
grow in Asia, and probably in the frontiers of Tibet, and I feel attacted
to the idea that Soma could be Peganum Harmala because I am impressed
445
witli the similarity of the effects of liamaline witli presumable effects of
Soma. What harmaline produces resembles states of Yogic trance, and ia-
volves Avithdrawal from the environment, instead of the LSD experience
of communication and empathy.
Mk. Wasson : "When has Peganon last been identified ? Not the modem
Peganon, but the Greek Peganon ?"
That is what some people have talked about as being Soma, the Green
Peganon. It is not the modern plant with the same name. There was a plant
in antiquity, and if there is any connection with Soma it would have to be
the plant called Peganon.
Dr. Naranjo : My only information on this is what you told me your-
self, which is that Angnetil Duperron, the translator of the Avesta, was the
first to propose that Soma was Peganum.
Chairman Dr. Efron: The last question is for Dr. Wasson, and then
we have to go to the general discussion. "Why did you say Fly Agaric mush-
rooms are better or stronger than Psilocyhe mexicana?'^
Dr. Wasson : I did not say they are better, I did not say they are stronger ;
they are entirely different.
Dr. Kline : In the fifteen or twenty minutes remaining there are some
general questions which may point to the direction in which we are going m
the future.
One of the things which concerns me as a clinician is that there are certain
entities which are untreatable at present. I have a half suspicion that either
my colleagues in anthropology or my colleagues in the laboratory have on
occasion looked at solutions to my problems but not recognized that they had
them in hand, because they don't know what I'm looking for.
I suspect likewise that there are questions which the anthropologists and
the laboratory scientists are asking, to which I have the answers. However,
I, in turn, don't know that I have these answers.
For instance, in psychiatry, we have no fully satisfactory treatment of
patients with obsessive, compulsive behavior. These are individuals who re-
peat things over and over either in terms of action, thinking or feeling. If
those of you observing laboratory animals or peoples in other cultures hap-
pen to chance across anything that either produces or seems to rectify this
condition, it would be a great boon to us in the clinical field.
I will add one or two other problems, and if anyone can provide a quick
solution, we will ask Dr. Holmstedt to arrange for a Nobel Prize.
There are the problems of arteriosclerosis and the diseases of the senium,
which constitute slightly more than twenty-five percent of admissions to
mental hospitals in the United States. If there are either in laboratory ani-
mals or in other cultures some agent or technique which reverses the process
or preferably retards or prevents it, we would very much like to know.
Further, in the treatment of certain kinds of mental deficiency, there is
now at least some evidence that these may be due to such things as phenyl-
pyruvic acid. This would suggest that there are specific proteins or other
chemical substances, the presence or absence of which are necessai-}- for the
disease to occur. It may well be that there are other disorders of this kind.
446
Chairman Dr. Efron : During the three days of this meeting we have
found — and we expected this — that there exist some substances for which
there is evidence that they are active in the central nervous system, but that
they are not used or checked for use in patients. During the meeting we
described tlieir activity ; sometimes it was a very harsh description or a very
broad description, without any particulars or details. We spoke very much
about hallucinogens, or hallucinogenic activity. Why ? Very simply, because
the hallucinogenic activity is the easiest to observe, and even a man not
trained in medicine or pharmacology can observe it. So, this was the easiest
observation to make by different people going to remote parts of different
countries to observe their native culture, customs and medicine. But in
reality we are not specifically interested in hallucinogenic activity. This may
be only an indication of central activity, and this is our main interest.
For the future we would like very much to gather more information about
more compounds used in native medicine and culture, and to find out their
mechanism of action. By doing the type of job Dr. Shulgin was doing —
changing the molecules by replacing different chemical groups or adding or
removing radicals — we could change the pharmacological activity of the
compounds. Maybe by this type of chemical manipulation, Ave could lose also
their undesired hallucinogen activity but keep their other central actions,
and create new compounds that could be used in the clinic. They may enable
us to treat some of the problems Dr. Kline has mentioned.
This would be the point where we would like now^ to start for the future.
But we may think about these compounds not only as drugs, but also as phar-
macological tools which will help us to elucidate information as to how the
central nervous system is working. We may find also the locus of action of
a compound. Some of this type of investigation has been done already by
many researchers with other compounds. We now have new beautiful and
powerful analytical chemical techniques. I Avill mention here only Drs.
Holmstedt and Horning, who represent the most advanced techniques of the
use of gas chromatography connected with mass spectrometry, which permits
us to find very minute amounts of compounds either in plants or in brain
or in other biological tissues, and chemically characterizes them. We have
other pharmacological tracing techniques that can be vised for the same pur-
poses. This shows us that we are now equipped for doing the proper job with
the compounds spoken about during the meeting.
The time is late. We are in the last moments where we can catch the in-
formation about the use of compounds and plants in native cultures. The
intrusion of civilization and the changing ways of life destroy both the
sources of information about them, as well as the uses of them.
Dr. Kline: Your reference brings up another acute clinical problem,
namely that all the antidepressants, although they are a tremendous advance,
still average two or three weeks before they act.
We would like to have an antidepressant that works effectively in twenty
minutes — we would even wait forty minutes. Perhaps there may be some
447
modification of the drugs described which could do this. The absence of
hallucinations would be an advantage, but perhaps their occurrence may be
a lead.
Dr. Holmstedt has given a good deal of thought to the matter of why the
conference was held, and what he hoped it might do in terms of future inves-
tigation ; and I think he deserves the credit as the second Godfather in the
field, and certainly the Godfather of the modern generation of ethnophar-
macology, by reopening the whole area. Would you give us the advantage
of your knowledge on this. Dr. Holmstedt?
Dk. Holmstedt: We have been working on this conference for four
years, I guess, and filled many, many files with correspondence of various
kinds. The idea was to bring together, as we have done, people in very many
different fields in order to see what this would produce. I think it has been
amply proven during this conference that there are problems that should be
attacked.
Think of the discrepancies and the opinions of how Kava Kava acts. For
example: Think of Dr. Deulo feu's brilliant report of harmaline alkaloids,
of which there must be two dozens, of which only three or four have been
worked on, and so the idea would be for the future to take advantage of
what has been presented here in some way — just exactly how I don't know.
That is up to Dr. Efron, I believe — to organize the future in such a way
that people in these various fields know about the different advances or, for
that matter, about the lack of knowledge that exists.
Dr. Kline: How would you educate anthropologists in terms of going
out into the field ? Would there be some way, perhaps, of even preparing a
field guide for them ? Perhaps it should be prepared by a botanist in terms
of what should be looked for from the botanical point of view, and perhaps
from a clinical point of view.
Professor Ford raised the question as to what to do with it after you get
the specimen.
Dr. Holmstedt: That is a problem, and I can add to that the follow-
ing : When we were working with the methoxytryptamines, we approached
an eminent specialist in this country. Dr. Axelrod, who knows everything
about the methylating enzymes, to find out if the collected plants had these
enzymes. Dr. Schultes at this time was going down to one of the places he
loves best in the world, a small town called Leticia in Southern Colombia,
and Dr. Alexrod prepared a package for him with ampoules and instructions
for everything that Dr. Schultes was supposed to do to collect the desired
material for enzymological studies. That package, including the radioactive
methionine, has disappeared into the interior of South America. It was dis-
astrous, and I think something should be done to prevent such a recurrence
in the future.
Dr. Kline : I would like to point out a problem that Dr. Efron raises ;
with current regulations of the Food and Drug Administration, even if Dr.
Schultes had brought it back, he might not have been able to do anything
with it in terms of human testing.
448
Dr. Holmstedt: That was not the point. Dr. Schultes was going to
investigate whether there was a methylating enzyme, and he was going to
incubate the radioactive ampoules on the spot.
Db. Schultes: These packages were apparently sent through the Em-
bassy and I was not in contact with the Embassy at all.
Dr. Holmstedt : It completely disappeared.
Chairman Dr. Efron: I have already made three contacts about going-
farther in this field. I spoke with Dr. Ford, and he didn't have to be edu-
cated in the field; he knew about all procedures. He only didn't know how
to avoid the bureaucracy, and we made arrangements for discussion on how
to facilitate the sending of investigational material from abroad to this
country.
I have invited Dr. Schultes and Dr. Altschul to Washington to give us
more information, because their presentation was a real mine of new infor-
mation on active compounds in plants.
Mr. Weil : May I suggest that an area of research which seems to have
been largely neglected at this conference, and which may be helpful in at-
taining some of the larger goals, is anthropological research in this country.
For example, take a clue that can be gotion from tribes in San Francisco
who use tryptamines. People here smoke DMT ; they don't snuff it as we saw
in the film. Significantly, they don't have many of the toxic effects we saw.
This observation might suggest that the violent intoxication caused by the
South American snuff is not primarily due to tryptamines.
If we paid attention to the ways in which many of these compounds are
now being used close at hand, (and there is extensive self -experimentation
by many persons looking for new effects) we might get important leads
which we can follow up in the laboratory.
Dr. Holmstedt : You opened up this field. You gave an excellent account
of this.
From the Floor: There is an incredible amount of information among
people who experimented with themselves. They could give their firsthand
accounts to some of the scientists.
Dr. Kline: I am volunteering Mr. Weil, who has established his cre-
dentials as a reliable non-informer.
From the Floor : I am not terribly worried about this question.
Dr. Kline : It would be very useful if those of you who had an interest,
from both sides of the fence, were to set up an information bureau of this
sort. If Mr. Weil would be agreeable, we will try to protect him so he might
well become a center of information. He is interested in the problem and
obviously sympatico in discussion of it. Could you have information of this
sort directed to him ? His address is in the program, or you can send it to
any of us and we would forward it to him. Perhaps at the next congress of
this sort, which we will start planning immediately — since they take four
years on the average to create — he will be able to give much more detailed
information than he presently has.
I think he in turn would know where to direct those inquiries which seem
to him to have therapeutic or other relevancy. Are you agreeable to this ?
449
Mr. "Weec : Very much.
Dr. Kline: He is very much agreeable; we have it for the record.
From the Floor : I want to volunteer to be on that thing.
Dr. Kliiste : He can appoint such assistants as he likes. He should be the
responsible individual and be vested with privileged communication.
Dr. Treanor : I am a neurologist, and the neurologists seem to have been
left out. I think that a great deal might be accomplished in brain physi-
ology, as Dr. Ef ron has suggested, if a compilation of the important articles
that have appeared be cataloged — those articles that have to do with brain
localization and brain function after the use of these drugs — and be given
some circulation among Neurologists who would be in a position to think
about it and perhaps to give help.
Dr. Kline : I think that is an excellent suggestion. We did neglect the
field, but I might point out, as my friend and colleague Dr. Henry Brill has
pointed out, sometimes the site of highest concentration is not necessarily
the site of action. He proved this once and for all by pointing out that the
highest concentration of most ingested drugs is the bladder, and tliis is
usually not the site of action. Thus there is a danger involved in work which
assumes that concentration implies activity.
The same is true for digitalis, since the heart is not the site of greatest
concentration.
Dr. Treanor: A neurologist would not be restricted to such a narrow
concentration. Dr. Harvey Gushing, whose assistant I was at one time some
fifty years ago, used to say that he was probably a neurologist and surgery
became secondary, but brain function does not entirely depend on drug con-
centration. When you are concerned with a patient who has a physical-
mental disturbance, it is important to know as much as you can about brain
function, and we do not have the information that we could have, say, from
Dr. Ef ron's department, which he could give us.
You might say a compilation of those articles that appeared among the
two thousand that would lead the way to or indicate the localization within
the nervous system.
Dr. Kx,ine : In bureaucratic fashion, we will go back to the Institute of
Neurological Diseases.
Chairman Dr. Efron : Everybody who is really interested in research can
go through Index Medicus every month.
To do such a job as is requested would be very costly and time consuming,
and we will end again with a big book.
Dr. Kline : The National Library of Medicme is excellent in compilmg
these articles from the Index Medicus.
Dr. Treanor : It is not only the comprehensive item but looking through
this. . . .
Dr. Leake: I suggest another important source of information. His-
torically, we have a huge amount of untapped infox-mation, especially in the
herbals that became so prominent in the 16th century. There is a vast amount
of manuscript material which needs the same kind of examination that you
have given in the field.
450
'Chairman Dr. Efron : Before closing this session, I think we should thank
all the participants for their contribution, and especially the local organizers
from the University of California ; the Dean, Dr. Seymour Farber, Dr. Roger
Wilson and their staff, Mrs. Florence Webster, Mrs. Pat Black and Miss
Virginia Barrelier. Their help was invaluable, and contributed to a very
large extent to the success of this meeting.
Thank you.
451
Index
Abdominal Pain, 192, 194, 196
Abel, 14
Aborigines, 33, 35, 44, 292
Abortion, 110, 191
Abrupt Conversion, 94
Absorption, 133, 215, 221, 365, 366
Abstract Forms, 375
Abuse, 77, 81, 96
Acacia, 269, 293, 303
Acacia Niopo, 266, 268
Acanthaceae, 303
Accumulators, 11
Acetaldehyde, 385
Acetyl-;8-Methycholine, 425
Acetylcholine, 137, 148, 420, 423-426,
436
Acetylcholinesterase, 436
Acetylserotonin, 385
Acids, 224
Acoustic Hallucinations, 437
Acting Out, 92
Activity Cages, 427
Acute Intoxications, 229
Addiction, 17, 106, 108, 378
Adhatoda, 303
Adrenergic Activity, 226
Adrenochrome, 185, 376
Adrenoglomerulotropine, 385
Adrenolutin, 376
Advertising, 96, 97
Aeschrion Crenata, 398
Aesthetics, 78, 98, 224, 390
Africa, 4, 51, 75, 385, 393, 399
Af zelia Bijuga, 166
Aggression, 90, 142
Aging, 222
Agitation, 7, 192, 193, 437
Aglycone, 44
Agricultural Chemistry, 22
Ainu, 407
Alangium Lamarckii, 399
Alcohol, 11, 78, 80, 83, 87, 96, 98, 105,
175, 190, 194, 368, 375, 405, 407, 412,
413, 415, 442, 443
Aldehyde, 128, 144
Alertness, 177, 178, 391
Alienation, 87, 97, 98
Alkaloids, 10, 36-38, 42, 48, 51, 53,
303, 385, 387, 389, 393-396, 399, 419,
420, 426, 436, 437
Alkylated Tryptamines, 378
Allergi Reactions, 160, 198
Allyl Double Bond, 224
Allylbenzene, 210, 224
Allylic Side Chain, 210, 211
Alonso De Ojeda, 233
Alpha Motoneurons, 134, 177
Alpha-Pinene, 205
Alpha-Pyrones, 127, 141, 143, 148,
149
Alpha Wave, 390
Altaic Linguistic Family, 407
Altered Consciousness, 78, 82, 92
Alternanthera Lehmanii, 51
Amanita Extracts, 433
Amanita-Intoxication, 426, 433, 436
Amanita Mappa, 426
Amanita Muscaria, 9, 54, 368, 405,
416, 417, 419, 420, 425, 426, 436-
438,_ 441-444
Amanita Pantherina, 426
Amazon, 34, 39, 41, 44, 45, 48, 255,
261, 275, 292, 293, 295-297, 299, 300,
302, 304, 385, 393, 396
Amazonas, 299
Ambition, 90
Ambrosia, 443
Ambrym, 162
America, 397, 399
American Indian Peyote Users, 85,
90
American Plants, 397
American Shamanism, 444
Americas, 292, 293
Amerigo Vespucci, 233
Amerindians, 233
Amines, 211, 213, 419, 426, 436, 437
Amino Acids, 417, 419, 425, 436, 437
Ammonia, 210, 224
Amnesia, 224
Amphetamines, 80, 185, 202, 210, 211,
223, 224, 430, 433, 438
Amulets, 65
Amygdala, 143, 149
Anadenanthera, 293, 296, 297, 304
307-309, 312
Anadenanthera Colubrina, 300, 307,
308, 310
Anadenanthera Peregrina, 42, 293,
295-297, 299, 304
453
Analgesics, 159, 191, 415
Andes, 45, 275, 292, 296, 299, 385
Anesthesia, 134, 137, 178, 180
Anger, 92
Angico, 309
Angiquin, 309
Anguish, 65
Anhalonium, 21, 22
Animals, XV, 82, 106, 134, 157, 160,
176, 177, 207, 228, 377, 385, 425, 430,
433, 437
Anorexia, 436
Anorexogenic, 430, 433, 438
Anterior Nares, 366
Anthropology, 15, 35, 55, 105, 175,
181, 186, 233, 292, 382, 445, 446,
448, 449
Antianxiety Drug, 159, 175
Anticholinergic Activity, 226
Anticonvulsant Activity, 137, 176
Antidepressants, 223, 225, 226, 430,
447
Antidiuretic, 44
Antiepileptic Activity, 106, 176
Antiinflammatory, 137
Antilles, 233, 242, 294, 307
Antimetrazol, 176
Antimissionary Movement, 119
Antiparkinsonian Agents, 226
Antipsychotic Effect, 157
Antipyretic Action, 137
Antireserpine, 226
Antirheumatic, 44
Antiserotonin Activity, 143, 147, 149,
176
Antistrychnine Effect, 155
Anxiety, 77, 84, 92, 141, 186, 198, 227
Aphrodisiac, 191, 308
Apocynaceous Species, 42, 48, 51, 53,
394
Appetite, XV, 108, 430, 435
Arabs, 6, 190, 191, 385
Arawak, 235
Archaeoethnobotany, 34
Archeology, 4, 233, 243, 274, 312
Argentina, 245, 246, 271, 293, 296,
297, 299, 300, 307, 309, 312, 393, 396,
398, 399
Aristotle, 7
Arm, 23, 121
Aroma, 188, 189
Aromatic Chemistry, 188, 191, 204-
206, 208-210, 213, 381, 394
Arousal Response, 145, 177, 179, 390,
391
Arrhythmia, 377
Arrow Poisons, 3, 15, 27
Arteriosclerosis, 446
Aryans, 53, 413
Asarone, 228
Asclepias Curupi, 309
Ashes, 300, 304, 319, 336
Asia, 4, 51-53, 170, 193, 195, 444, 445
Aspidosperma Polyneuron, 398
Aspirin, 35, 159
Association, 374
Asthma, 191
Astro Body, 444
Astrology, 60
Astromythology, 27
Astronomical Data, 69
Astrophytum, 38
Asymmetric Carbon Atom, 395
Atacama Region, 246
Ataxia, 121, 122, 134, 145, 149, 174,
435, 436
Athabaskan Peoples, 445
Atropine, 13, 84, 137, 416, 422, 423,
426, 436, 441
Attention, 374
Auditory Hallucinations, 367
Auditory Sensation, 227
Auricle, 377
Australia, 396
Australs, 108
Authority, 92, 93
Automobile, 80
Autonomic Nervous System, 25, 229,
420, 436, 437
Autonomy, 92, 93, 95
Autoradiography, 84
Awareness, 85, 175
Axillae, 157
Ayahuasca, 26, 34, 47-49, 390, 393-396
Aztec Civilization, 43, 59, 62-66, 69,
71, 75, 378
Aztekium, 38
Baccharis Floribunda, 309
Bad Trips, 97
Balkans, 53
Banda Islands, 188, 190
Banisterine, 23, 26, 387, 394
Banisteriopsis, 39, 47, 51, 53, 304, 308,
365, 369, 385, 393, 395-397, 399, 445
Banisteriopsis Caapi, 23, 42, 48, 267,
393, 394, 396, 397
Banisteriopsis Extracts, 387
Banks Islands, 162
Barbiturate Sleep Time, 129
Barbiturates, 80, 135, 176, 177
Barium, 137
Bark, 316-318, 335, 340, 341
Beatniks, 193
454
Behavior XV, 82-86, 88, 92, 95, 99,
152, 226, 375, 433
Belladonna Alkaloids, 416, 426, 437
Belligerence, 26
Bemused Enlightenment, 97
Benzocaine, 137
Benzodiazepines, 176
Beri Beri, 302
Bering Strait, 445
Beringer, 23
Berlin, 13
Berseker Ragers, 444
Beta-Carbolines, 341, 365, 387, 388,
394, 395, 397, 399
Beta Wave, 390
Betel, 52, 162, 170, 179, 193, 415
Betz Cells, 420
Bibra, 9
Bilateral Vagotomy, 137
Bilca Tauri, 310
Biochemical Lesions, 8
Biogenic Amines, 363
Biological Regularity, 77
Birch, 411
Birth Control, 121
Blocking Moiety, 160
Blood-Brain Barrier, 228, 370, 377,
379, 380, 381,425,436,437
Blood Pressure, 121, 137, 156, 227,
369, 375, 422, 435
Blood Stream, 304, 366
Bloodletting, 311
Body, XV, XX, 192
Bohuti, 238
Boletus, 53
Bolivia, 34, 39, 44, 293, 296, 299, 307-
309, 313, 393
Bon Culture, 445
Bone, 64, 237,267, 268, 270
Borrachera, 44
Botany, XIX, 19, 55, 63, 69, 71, 179,
186, 188, 291, 292, 299, 302, 303, 339,
365, 382, 393, 394, 397, 448
Bradycardia, 23, 137,426
Bradykinin, 137, 148
Brain, 25, 28, 84, 86, 99, 144, 148, 160,
291, 366, 375, 377, 380, 381, 387, 420,
425,426,430, 437,447
Brain Acetylcholine, 84
Brain Chemistry, XX, 82
Brain Cortex, 390^ 391
Brain Function, 187, 450
Brain Homogenates, 219
Brain Localization, 450
Brain Mechanisms, 82
Brain Monoamines, 84
Brain Physiology, 450
Brain Serotonin, 84, 144
Brain Stem, 436
Brain Syndrome, 194
Brain Wave Activity, 179
Brazil, 34, 41, 44, 46, 48, 235, 271, 293,
297, 299, 301, 302, 304, 307, 309, 315,
393, 396-398
Bretonneau, 4
British Administrative People, 176
British Commerce, 191
British Guiana, 299
British Missionaries, 176
Bronchoconstriction, 423
Brunfelsia, 44, 45
Brunfelsia Hopeana, 44, 268
Brunfelsine, 44
Bufontenine, 339, 341, 364, 369, 374,
377, 379,416,426,437
Bureaucracy, 449
Butadienyl, 129
Butylene, 129
Buzzing Sounds, 389
C6 Substitutions, 128, 133
Caapi, 26, 34, 42, 47-49, 51, 265, 309,
390,393
Caapi Intoxication, 48
Caapi Pinima, 48
Cabi Paracusis, 396
Cactus, 21
Caesalpinia Tinctoria, 310
Caffeine Stimulant, 46
Calliandra Calothyrsis, 309
Calmecac, 68
Camphor, 206
Cannabis, 52, 83, 85, 195, 199, 200, 368
Cannabis Indica, 410
Cannabis Sativa, 52
Capsicum, 41, 107
Carbolines, 388
Carbonyl Group, 244
Carbuncles, 84
Carcinoid Flush, 377
Cardiac Arrest, 422
Cardiovascular System, 137, 192, 228,
377 422
Cargo Cult, 119, 120, 175
Caribbean, 189, 203, 295, 396
Caroline Islands, 108, 162
Carotid Body, 423
Carpophores, 416, 417
Carrageenin, 137
Cassava, 266
Cassinopsis Ilicifolia, 399
Catalepsy, 427, 436, 438
Catechol Derivatives, 84
Catecholamines, 216, 430, 436
455
"Cathartic" Therapy, 96
Cats, 137, 143, 147, 149, 152, 179, 215,
216,370,390,422,423,445
Cattle Poisoning, 44
Cauabori Eiver, 316
Caudate Xucleus, 420
Cavities, 253
Cebil,268,269,300,312
Cecropia, 293
Cells, 84, 380, 425
Celluloselike Pulp, 204
Cemi, 235, 238, 274
Central America, 293
Central Nervous Svstem, 4, 9, 11, 23,
25, 28, 105, 106, 128, 133, 134, 137,
140, 157-160, 176, 185, 186, 192, 215,
216, 226, 366, 369, 370, 375, 377, 378,
381, 416, 420, 425^27, 430, 433, 436-
438, 441, 447
Cerebellum, 425
Cerebral Cortex, 177
Cerebral Svnaptic Inhibitory Effect,
152
Ceremonv, 92, 105, 110, 111, 253, 254,
283, 304, 327, 328, 334
Cereus Macrostibas, 39
Ceylon, 203
Chacha, 277
Change of Role, 94
Channa, 51
Character Disorders, 78
Charenton Mental Hospital, 4
Chemistry, XIX, 9, 10, 15, 21, 22, 53,
99, 105," 106, 126, 158, 160, 170, 176,
202, 303, 339, 365, 377, 379, 380, 382,
385, 387, 393, 396, 397, 416, 419, 420,
437, 445-447
Chemoreceptors, 423
Chemotaxonomy, 35, 51
Cheremis, 409
Chewing, 23, 51, 120, 122, 165, 170,
180, 270, 291, 292
Chicha. 307, 311, 312
Children, 93, 223
Chile, 245, 246, 271, 293, 308, 445
Chills, 110, 177
Chinatown, 19
Chiuchiu, 246
Chloral hydrate. 18. 368
Chlordiazepoxide, 142-145, 147, 149,
176, 179
Chloroform, 18
Chlorpromazine, 152, 441
Choana, 366
Choline, 420, 425, 426, 436
Cholinergic Receptors, 420, 425
Cholinesterases, 424, 436
Cholinomimetics, 425, 436
Christopher Columbus, 237
Ch-romatography, 149, 224, 376, 379,
Chromodacryorrhoea, 422
Chromotherapy, 65
Chronic Administration, 106
Chronic Kava Administration, 121
Chronic Morphinism, 15
Church Censorship, 66
Chukchi, 406, 409, 415
Cibil, 313
Cigarette Smoking, 97
Cimora, 38, 39
Cineole, 206
Cinnamon, 225
Circulation, 370, 377
Circulation Time, 387
Circum-Caribbean Culture, 233
Citronellal, 206
Citronellol, 206
Classification, 69
Clinical Aspects, 11, 15, 106, 185, 229,
375, 446-448
Cliques, 78, 97
Clumsiness, 23
Clyster, 311
Coba, 277
Coca, 9, 17, 36, 51, 59, 234, 266, 293,
311
Cocaine, 17, 18, 53, 137, 185, 366, 368,
430, 438
Coefficient of Variance, 175
Coffee, 9
Cogioba, 236-238, 242
Cognition, XV, 390
Cohoba, 234, 235, 237, 238, 242, 274,
277, 294, 367, 368
Cola Drinks, 176
Coldness, 44, 121, 192
Coleus Bluemei, 43
Collecting Expeditions, 69, 448
College Students, 98
Color Effects, 224, 302, 339, 374, 375,
378,379,389,412,435,437
Colombia, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 51, 262,
275, 293, 294, 296, 297, 302, 393, 397,
448
Columbus, 233, 234
Comechuigon Indians, 313
Connnerce, 188
Commitments, 93, 97
Communication, 223, 446
Comparison, 225, 227, 228
Competition, 90
Complex Molecules, 363
Compulsive Athetoid Movement, 369
456
Compulsive Speakers, 443
Concentration, 26, 180, 435, 436, 450
Concentration Tests, 435, 438
Condiments, 189, 190
Conditioned Approach Experiment,
153
Conditioned Avoidance Kesponse,
142, 145, 149, 370
Conditioned Reflexes, 65
Conference, 448
Confidence, 84
Confusions 435, 438
Congo, 53
Conjures, 65
Conscience, 93, 185
Consciousness, XV, XX, 13, 26, 92,
95, 188, 235, 242, 387
Constipation, 194
Control, XVI, XVII, 92, 95, 97, 98,
427
Conversion, XVII, 94
Conversion Experience, 94
Convolvulaceae, 309
Convulsions, 135, 387, 427, 436
Cook Island Cultures, 108
Cooking, 191
Cooling, 178
Coro, 270, 309
Correction, 92
Correlation, 71, 225, 375
Correspondence, 448
Cortex, 26, 177, 425
Cortical Areas, 376
Cortical Betz Cells, 436
Cortical Inhibitory Activity, 228
Cortical Neurons, 420
Cortical Synaptic Inhibition, 228
Costa Eica, 243
Coumarine, 44
Cranium, 366, 367
Crazy, 223
Creaking Joints, 197
Creativity, 88, 98
Crenatidine, 398
Crenatine, 398
Cross Tolerance, 84, 377
Croweacin, 228
Crude Extract, 128, 185, 215, 419
Crystalline Compounds, 128, 367, 422
Cuba, 393
Cultigens, 36
Cultogenic Agents, 86, 88, 89
Cultural Development, 59, 98, 179
Curare 9, 27, 134, 424
Curupa, 268-270, 274, 309
Cyanosis, 192, 377
Cymene, 206
Cytisine, 42
Cytisus, 42
Dancing, 174, 329, 332
Datura, 304
Datura Stramonium, 39
Datura Suaveolens, 51
Death, 128, 134, 135, 302
Decarboxylation, 416
Decision-making, 178
Decoction, 309
Dehydrobufotenine, 381
Delirium, 7, 191, 192, 198, 224, 302,
426
Delta-Alanine, 395
Delta-Pyrones, 175
Delusional Autonomy, 93
Delusions, 212, 226
Demonic Power, 441
Denial of Inadequacy, 93
Dentrifrices, 190
Dependence, 93, 374
Depersonalization, 390
Deposition, 158, 365
Depressant, 141, 177, 391, 420
Depression, XVI, 17, 78, 92, 108, 192,
221, 226
Desire to Communicate, 390
Desmethoxyyangonin, 127, 128, 133,
137, 139, 147
Desynchronization, 390
Detachment, 96, 186, 192
Deviant Behavior, 78, 98
Dextran, 137
Diagnosis, 36, 65, 336
Diarrhea, 157
Diazopans, 176
Dietary Habits, 185
Diethyltryptamine, 376
Digestive System, 191
Digitalis, 450
Dihydrocannabinol, 160
Dihydrokawain, 126, 133, 137, 141,
155, 158, 160
Dihydromethysticin, 126, 128, 129,
131, 133, 134, 137, 141, 144, 147, 157,
158, 160, 176
Dilatation, 13, 302, 375, 427
Dimension, 99
Dimethyltryptamine, 42, 48, 339, 341,
365, 369, 370, 374, 375, 377, 395,
449
Dimethoxyphenylethylamine, 228
Dioscorides, 53
Dipentene, 205
262-016 0-67— 31
457
Direct Amination, 224
Direct Peripheral Action, 420
Disapproval of Escape, XVI
Discipline of Abstention, 97
Discomfort. 389
Diseases, 65-67, 71, 98, 446
Disenchantment, 175
Disorders, 446
Disorganization, 6
Disorientation, 435, 438
Dissociation, XV, XVII, 96
Distillate, 149
Distortion, 7, 212, 224, 378, 389, 438
Ditran, 84
Diuretic Effect, 181, 199
Dizziness, 22, 23, 192, 197, 199, 303,
389, 435, 437
Documents, 71
Dogs. 216, 228, 422
Dolichothele, 38
Dopamine, 228
Dorpat,3,9,10,11.13
Dosage, XIX, 7, 83, 86, 90, 95, 98, 122,
134, 135, 142, 149, 155, 175. 177, 178,
180, 181. 199, 216, 219, 226, 228, 302,
328, 329. 375, 377. 387, 388, 426, 427,
433.436,442
Double Bond, 224, 388
"Double Conscious"' Method, 228
Double Contours, 390
Doubt, 93
Doughnuts, 190
Dragendorff, 9-11
Drawing Sensation, 302
Dreams, 7, 77, 83. 92, 197, 302, 435,
437, 438
Dried Kara Eoot, 122
Dried Xutmegs, 189
Drinking, 270, 291
Drinking Etiquette, 113, 114, 116,
117. 120
Drowsiness, 178, 191, 193, 194, 197,
199, 302
Drug Abuse, 80, 96
Drug Effects, 11, 83, 185
Drug Experience, 90, 91, 94
Drug Fads, 196
Drug-Induced Intoxication, 197
Drug-Induced Personalitj' Change,
96
Drug Mystique, 79
Drug Plants, 313
Drug Receptor Interaction, 132
Drug- Seeking Habits, 185
Drug State, 92, 93, 96
Drug Usage, 82
Drugs, XV, XVI, XVII, 3, 11, 59,
77, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 98, 179, 186,
193, 197, 237, 275, 366, 368, 374,
389, 390, 397, 424, 430, 436, 450
Drunkenness, 53, 196, 235, 437
Dry Mouth, 13, 193, 199
Dupa, 267
Duration of Action, XVI, 134, 194,
375
Dutch, 190
Dye, 367
Dysarthria, 435, 438
Dysmegalopsia, 368
Dyspneic, 192
East Indies, 188-190, 203, 216
Ecstasy, XVI, XVII, 66, 91, 411, 412
Echinocactus, 37, 38
Echo-Pictures, 435, 436
Ectodermal Tissues, 160
Ecuador, 41, 44, 45, 48, 271, 296, 393
Edema, 137
Edinburgh, 3
EEG, 135, 143, 145, 155, 157, 159
EEG Arousal, 135, 143, 149
Ego, X.YI, XVII, 83-85, 89
Egypt, 3,4
Eidetic Phenomena, 369
Einstein, 15
Elation, 412, 435, 442
Electrocortieograms, 390
Electron Density, 381
Electron Microscopy, 84
Electropharmacology, 152
Electrophoresis, 425, 426, 436
Electrophysiology, 177, 390, 445
Electroretinograms, 390
Electroshock, 135
Elemicin, 206, 207, 209, 210, 215, 220,
221
Emetic, 41, 308, 313, 442
Emetine, 399
Emmenagogue, 195
Emotions, XV, 7, 65, 174, 226, 374,
376, 390, 435
Empathy, 95, 390, 446
Empiricism, 59, 63, 65, 186
Emulsion, 122, 175, 216
Enantiomers, 394
Endpoint Criteria, 217
Enema, 268, 310-312
Environment, XV, 59, 389, 419
Enzymes, 381, 385, 442, 448
Epena, 262, 301, 315, 316, 319, 327,
329, 331, 334, 339, 340, 367, 368, 397
Ephedra, 54
Ephedrine, 181
458
Epidemic, 192
Epidermis, 108
Epileptics, 156, 157, 176
Epilobrium Augustifolium, 415, 443
Epinephrine, 65, 185
Epistaxis, 65
Epistemology, XX
Equal Molecular Basis, 227
Erythema, 157
Erythroxylon Coca, 304
Escape, XVI, XVII
Eskimo, 445
Espiritu Santo, 181
Esquirol, 4, 5
Essential Oils, 190, 209, 211
Esters, 190, 425
Ether, 18, 368, 389
Ethers, 204, 210
Ethics, 77
Ethnobotany, 10, 27, 33-35, 37-39, 52-
55, 292, 293, 295, 305, 307
Ethnoecology, 34
Ethnography, 27, 162, 262, 274
Ethnology, 35, 63, 77, 84, 339
Ethnomycology, XIX, 34
Ethnopharmacology, 3, 10, 23, 26-28,
33-35, 51, 55, 69, 82, 140, 415, 448
Ethylene Bridge, 129
Ethysticin, 155, 160
Etymology, 27, 411
Eugenol, 209, 212, 213
Euphorbiaceae-, 309
Euphoria, 17, 78, 105, 369, 437
Eurasia, 405, 413
Europe, 6, 176, 190, 405
European Medicine, 66, 191, 291
Europeans, 108, 175, 294
Exaltations, 86, 367
Excitation, 13, 23, 26, 41, 186, 334,
427, 437
Excitement, 7, 26, 40, 194, 219, 367
Ex-Convicts, 96
Exhilaration, 17, 335, 444
Exocrine Glands, 420
Expectation, XV, XVI
Experiences, XVII, 94
Experimentation,ll, 82, 369
Extrapyramidal System, 26, 226, 436
Exudation, 266, 267
Eye, 15, 107, 302, 368, 420, 427
Eztetl, 64
Face, 121, 368, 369
Facilitating Agent, 223
"Fall-Out," 128
Fantasia, 6, 8
Fatigue, XV, 86, 141, 435, 438
Fats, 202
Fear, 192
Febrifuge, 45
Feedback Regulation, 84
Feelings, 95, 200, 223
Feet, 302
Fertility, 121
Fever, 71, 191, 198, 302, 367, 399
Field Studies, 305, 448
Fiji, 108, 122, 162-166, 169, 172
Filariasis, 110, 177
Finger, 302
Finnic Peoples, 409
Finno-Ugrian, 406, 409
Fixed Oil, 190, 203
Flavor, 189, 190
Floating, 197, 198, 200
Fluorescence, 84, 339
Fluorine, 375
Flush, 121,192,435
Fly Agaric, 54, 405^13, 415, 420,
441-^3, 445, 446
Flying, 444
Folk Medicine, 35, 44, 53, 191
Follow-up, 95, 96
Fomes Fomentarius, 410, 411
Food and Drug Administration, 82,
448
Food Intake, 430, 433
Forced Motor Activity, 142
Forebrain, 391
Forensic Medicine, 11
Formalin, 137
Formosa, 170
Frankfurters, 190
Frequency of Reminiscence, 223
Freud, 15, 17, 19
Friar Ramon Pane, 234
Frog, 387, 420, 424
Fruits, 302, 304,307
Fungal Infections, 177
Fungicide, 177
Fungus, 411, 413
Futuna Islands, 108
Gamma-Pyrone Structure, 126
Gamma-Terpinene, 205
Ganglionic Synapses, 420, 423, 436
Gas Chromatography, 215, 217, 339,
363,380, 381,447
Gas-Liquid Chromatography, 339
Gastric Catarrh, 17
Gastrointestinal Tract, 133, 215, 420
Genetic Studies, 121
Genista Canariensis, 42
Geraniol, 219
Germany, 13
459
Gilyak, 407
Ginger, 225
Glucose, 380
Gonorrhea, 110
Grand mal Seizures, 176
Grenada, 189, 191, 203
Griseofulvin, 158, 177
Groin, 157
Ground Nutmeg, 185, 189
Group Therapy, 92, 93, 96
Growth, 98, 179, 216
Guarana, 46
Guatemala, 309
Guayana Culture, 253
Guayusa, 40, 41
Guettarda Viburnoides, 309
Guianas, 293, 297, 299
Guidance, 92
Guinea Pig, 134, 137, 158, 423
Haemadictyon Amazonicum, 48, 394
Hair, 158, 190
Haiti, 237, 242, 246, 367, 374
Hakudufha, 265, 267
Hallucinations, 7, 18, 36, 42, 64, 65, 89,
196, 199, 212, 226, 297, 339, 368, 369,
375, 378, 416, 426, 435^37, 442, 443,
448
Hallucinogens, XX, 34, 36, 38, 39, 42,
44, 45, 47-49, 51, 53-55, 77, 80, 85,
105, 179, 186, 193-198, 200, 223, 228,
291, 299-301, 303, 307, 374-376, 378-
382, 385, 387-390, 396, 399, 412, 413,
420, 426, 427, 430, 433, 437, 441,
445,447
Halpern, 26
Hands, 302
Hangover, 105, 198, 335, 375
Harm, 77
Harmala Alkaloids, 26, 385
Harmalan, 388
Harmaline, 53, 228, 365, 385, 387-391,
394, 395, 397, 44^46, 448
Harmalol, 385, 395, 397
Harman, 303, 387, 388, 397, 398
Harmine, 23, 25, 26, 53, 226, 228, 341,
365, 385, 387, 388, 394-397, 399
Harrison Narcotics Act, 378
Hartwich, 10
Harvard University, 307
Hashish, 6-9, 23, 53, 193, 199, 405,
410
Hawaii, 108, 162
Headache, 23, 192, 195, 197, 199, 302,
309, 328, 334, 368, 435
Healing, 60, 64, 95
Hearing, 7, 435, 438
Heart, 191, 420, 450
Heart Kate, 137, 192, 422, 435
Heaviness, 13, 186
Hef f t^r, 22, 23
Heimiella, 53
Hellebore, 291
Hemp, 36, 410
Hepatic Fatty Degeneration, 215
Hepatic Microsomes, 216
Heracleum Dulce, 415
Herb, 35, 59, 60, 64, 234, 242, 307, 313,
370, 450
Hernandez, 69, 71
Heroin, 194
Hikuli, 37
Hindu, 191, 193, 413
Hippocampus, 143
Hispaniola, 294, 297
Histamine, 137
History, 15, 188
Hoffman, 22
Homeostasis, 229
Homosexuals, 96
Hong Kong, 190
Hostile Reactions, 212, 224
Hottentots, 51
Huacca, 311
Huaco Verde, 311
Huarpe Indians, 313
Huilca, 299, 308
Human Testing, 36, 59, 106, 119, 158,
159, 185, 202, 209, 215, 226-228,
425, 448
Hungarian, 409
Hunger, 430
Hydrogenation, 394
Hydrolysis, 424, 436
Hydrophilic Phenolic Hydroxy
"Group, 370
Hydroxyindoles, 379, 380, 385, 437
Hydroxylation, 376, 381
Hydroxytryptamines, 381
Hyoscine, 13
Hyoscyamine, 416, 426
Hyperactivity, 193, 219
Hyperexcitement, XV
Hyperirritability, 144
Hypertension, 377
Hyperthermia, 436
Hypnoid State, 92
Hypnosis, 80, 88, 84, 177, 191, 224,
427, 433, 437, 438
Hypotension, 216
Hypothalamus, 376, 380, 433
Hypothermia, 139, 186, 229, 430
460
Ibogaine, 53, 385
Ibotenic Acid, 416, 417, 426, 427, 430,
433, 436^38, 441
Identification, 54, 69, 202, 215, 303,
363, 393, 394
Ileum, 137, 423
Ilex 41
Illness, 13, 238
Illusions, 7, 89, 91, 339, 368, 369, 374,
435, 436, 438
Images, 91, 389, 390
Inari Lapps, 406, 409
Incas, 59, 292, 307, 310-312
Incoherence, 7, 193, 238
India, 53, 54, 83, 385, 397
Indians, 6, 7, 71, 92, 93, 233, 293, 302,
339, 385, 390, 443
Indo-Europeans, 410, 411, 413
Indole Alkaloids, 339, 397
Indoles, 84, 341, 363, 364, 381
Indonesia, 107, 165, 170, 189, 193, 203
Inebriant, 405^07, 409-413
Infrared Spectra, 339, 379
Ingestion, 83, 192
Inhalation, 83, 238, 328, 329, 339, 366,
369
Inhibition, 226, 436
Initiation Ceremonies, 66, 379
Insanity, 6, 7, 441
Insecticides, 216, 441
Insomnia, 40, 194
Inspiration, 388
Intake, 229
Integration, XVII, 93, 95
Intellect, 6, 95, 174
Intensity, 91, 93, 94
Interdisciplinary Field, 34, 55, 106,
397
Intestinal Wall, 425, 436
Intoxication, 3, 6, 23, 34, 44, 51-53,
126, 160, 185, 191-193, 195, 200, 202,
207, 208, 225, 227, 238, 239, 242, 268,
270, 275, 291, 301, 302, 313, 315, 331,
334, 336, 367, 368, 369, 378, 385, 390,
393, 396-398, 419, 427, 435, 437, 441,
449
Ipomoea, 309
Iproniazid, 219
Iresine, 39, 71
Irritability, 142, 191, 208
Isoborneol, 219
Isoeugenol, 209
Isolation, 87, 93, 416, 420, 422, 426,
437
Isotoma Longiflora, 39
Japan, 190, 443
Jibaros, 41
Judgment, 96, 98
Justicia Pectoralis, 303, 304
Kaempferia Galanga, 53
Kamchadals, 406, 415
Kava, 105-109, 112, 114, 119-122, 126,
133, 139, 141, 149, 152, 153, 155, 156,
158, 160, 162-166, 170, 175-180, 448
Kava Bowl, 166, 167
Kava Ceremony, 105, 108-117, 119,
160, 162, 166-172, 180
Kava Drinking, 105, 119-121, 163,
169-172, 174, 175
Kava Effects, 120, 171, 179, 180
Kava Plant, 165, 168
Kava Principles, 176, 177
Kava Pyrones, 134, 135, 137, 158, 176,
177
Kawain, 126, 133
Keratin, 158
Ket, 406, 409
Ketones, 144
Khoba, 242, 277
Kicks, 195, 198, 334
Kidney Disease, 191
Kinetic Effects, 413
Kobert, 11, 13
Kokoime, 265, 304
Koryak,_406, 409, 415, 445
Kraepelin, 11
Kynuramine, 219, 221
Laboratory Investigation, 10, 134,
446, 449
Lactone Ring, 128, 132
Lagochiline, 44
Lagochilus Inebrias, 44
Lassitude, 302, 435
Latex, 42
Lau, 162, 165
Laudanum, 163
Learning, 438
Leaves, 203, 309, 316, 326
Lecithin, 425
Ledum Hypoleucum, 415
Ledum Palustre, 415
Legislation, XVII
Legs, 121, 435
Leguminosae, 309
Lepidophyllum Quadrangulare, 277
Leptactinia Densiflora, 385, 399
Lethal Dosage, 387
Lethargy, 388, 390, 391
Leticia, 448
461
Leucaena Guatemalensis, 309
Lewin, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 105
Liana, 42, 48, 51
Light Flashes, 375, 389
Linoleic Acid, 203
Lipid Solubility, 370, 380, 381
Liver, 381
Lobeline, 39
Local Anesthetic, 137
Lophantaera Lactecens, 396
Lophanterine, 396
Lophophora Williamsii, 37
LSD, XIX, 78, 80, 82-85, 87, 90-92,
94-96, 152, 154, 185, 195, 199, 223,
228, 370, 374, 377, 388, 389, 427, 430,
433, 435,436,438,445,446
LSD Experience, 94, 96, 97, 98
Lungs, 21, 366
Lupinus, 310
Lymphatic System, 191, 366, 367
Mace, 188-190, 192, 196, 197, 199, 200,
203 225
Macropsia, 368, 369, 376, 378, 379
Madness, 53, 191, 441
Magic, 59, 64-66,75,77
Malaise, 197-199, 389
Malayan Region, 188
Malouetia Tamaquarina, 51
Malpighiaceae, 48, 51, 393, 396
Mammals, 387
Mammilaria, 37
Mammilaria Fissurata, 37
Mammilaria Micromeris, 37
Man, 98, 159, 160, 185, 291, 377, 405,
425, 430, 433, 436-438
Manaca, 268
Manacine, 44
Mandragorine, 44
Mania, 84
Maori, 108, 162
Marari, 34, 39
Marijuana, 79, 81, 83, 85, 193-195,
197, 198, 200, 378, 410
Marjoram, 291
Mascagnia Psilophylla, 397
Mass Spectrometry, 339, 447, 363,
380, 381
Mastication, 119, 175
Materia Medica, 59, 64
Mechanism of Action, 176, 185, 227,
375, 377, 447
Medical Training, 22
Medicinal Chemists, 127, 185
Medicinal Plants, 10, 27, 63, 65, 66,
69, 71
Medicine, 51, 53, 59, 62, 63, 66, 69, 71,
75, 80, 82, 119, 190, 191, 193, 196,
197, 307, 311, 385, 396, 398, 447
Medicine men, 59, 65, 265, 302, 335
Melanesia, 108, 162, 165, 170
Melatonine, 364, 381, 385
Melinonine-F, 397
Memories, 89, 95
Mendoncia Aspera, 303
Mental Ability, XX, 53, 95, 98, 99,
178, 446
Mental Illness, 5-8, 92
Mentha Pulegium, 277
Mephenesin, 134, 135, 137, 155, 158,
160, 175
Meprobamate, 135, 179
Mescaline, 22, 23, 39, 81, 86, 91, 98,
185, 186, 199, 216, 223, 224, 227, 228,
375, 377, 388-390, 430
Mescaline Units, 211, 228
Mesembryanthemum, 51
Metabolism, 25, 216, 370, 376, 376,
419, 425
Metabolites, 376_, 385, 419
Methamphetamine, 430
Methoxy Groups, 228, 382, 385
Methoxyl Groups, 129
Methoxylation, 228
Methylbromomethoxycrotonate, 128
Methyl Group, 131, 226
Methylation, 385, 448, 449
Methylenedioxy Bridge, 129, 216,
223,224
Methylenedioxyamphetamine, 212,
224, 227, 228
Methylisoeugenol, 215
Methysticic Acid, 128
Methysticin, 126, 128, 131, 133, 141
Methysticodendron Amesianum, 275
Mexican Culture, 27, 60-62, 378
Mexico, 26, 34, 37, 42, 43, 54, 225, 292,
293,308,311,393,413
Mice, 128, 133, 135, 137, 139, 141, 142,
144, 149, 155, 158, 216, 217, 219, 226,
228, 376, 422, 425, 427, 430, 433, 437,
438
Micronesia, 162, 179
Micropsia, 368, 378
Microsomal Hydroxylation, 381
Midbrain Reticular Formation, 135,
177, 391
Middle Ages, 191, 291
Migraine, XIX, 435
Mikania Cordifolia, 311
Mikania Houstoniana, 311
Millerepa, 445
462
Mimosa, 293
Mimosa Acadioides, 265, 268, 269
Mimosa Hostilis, 42
Mimosa Malacocentra, 309
Mimosa Peregrina, 295
Mind, XX, 94, 95, 98, 179, 185
Miosis, 422
Mites 215
Mitragyna Speciosa, 52
Molecule, 127, 363, 380, 447
Monkeys, 216, 422, 425
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors, 25,
26, 216, 220, 225-227, 365
Moreau, 4-7, 9
Morning Glories, 34, 54
Morning Glory Seeds, XX, 196, 198
Morphine, 11, 17
Motives, 97
Motor System, XV, 26, 84, 121, 137,
144, 149, 436
Mouth, 75, 107, 180, 181, 387
Mucous Membranes, 21, 107
Mucus, 423
Multipotential State, 94
Muscaria Intoxication, 444
Muscaridine, 426
Muscarine, 416, 420, 422-426, 436, 437,
441
Muscarinic Activity, 420, 425
Muscazon, 417, 426, 427, 436-438
Muscimole, 416, 417, 426, 427, 430,
433, 435-438, 441-443
Muscle Tone, 177
Muscle Twitching, 436-438
Muscles, XV, 387, 420
Muscular Activity, 177
Muscular Relaxation, 134, 139, 176
Muscular Rigidity, 25
Mushrooms, 39, 53, 54, 65, 378, 410,
413, 420, 426, 427, 436, 437, 442-
445
Music, 389
Mycologists, 405, 443
Mydriasis, 369, 426
Myoclonic Cramps, 435, 438
Myoneural Junction, 134
Myristic Acid, 202-204
Myristica, 192-194, 196, 199, 200, 202
Myristica Fragrans, 188, 191, 215
Myristica Intoxications, 196
Myristica Narcosis, 193, 195
Myristicin, 185-187, 190, 206, 207,
209, 210, 212, 215-217, 219, 220, 224-
226, 301
Mystique, 94, 98, 224, 225
Mythology, 108, 109, 175
NADPH2, 216
Nahuas, 59, 69
Nails, 158, 192
Narcosis, 28, 416, 427
Narcotic, 34, 36, 38^1, 43, 44, 47^9,
51-54, 82, 88, 107, 192, 193, 243, 260,
265, 275, 291-294, 297, 302-304, 311,
313, 378, 394, 396, 411
Nasal Physiology, 266, 366, 367
Native Medicine, 35, 308, 447
Natural History, XVII, 71
Nausea, 22, 23, 194, 195, 197, 302, 334,
368, 369, 389, 426, 437
Naviti, 163, 178
Near East, 6, 83
Nervous Excitement, 53, 97, 427
Nervous System, XX, 84, 153, 226,
370, 450
Neurologist, 450
Neuromuscular Block, 423, 424
Neurons, 425, 426
Neurotic Symptoms, 78, 87, 390
New Guinea, 53, 108, 175
New Hebrides, 108, 119, 162, 176, 181
New World, 291
New Zealand, 108, 162
Nicotiana Rustica, 292
Nicotiana Tabacum, 292, 293
Nicotine, 137, 181, 304, 368, 420
Nicotinic Action, 420, 425
Nigerine, 42
Nightmare, 91, 92
Niopo, 260, 266, 267, 269, 270, 293,
297, 307
Nitrogen, 144, 185, 381
Noise, 121, 389, 435
Norepinephrine, 84, 187, 216, 226
Normal Subjects, 155, 157, 375
North America, 42, 292, 293
Nose, 193, 366
"Newness", 88
Numbness, 13, 107, 121, 165, 172, 178,
302, 389
Nutmeg, 185-195, 197-200, 202, 203,
207, 209, 213, 215, 217, 219, 220, 223,
225, 227, 229
"Nutmeg Butter," 190, 203
Nutmeg Intoxication, 186, 191, 192,
194-197, 215, 221
Nutmeg Tree, 188
Oaxaca, 26, 43
Obugrian Peoples, 409, 413
Oil of Nutmeg, 187, 190, 202-204,
207, 210, 213, 215, 220, 221, 228
Old World Flora, 51, 53
Olefin, 211, 224
463
Oleic Acid, 203
Olfactory Nerves, 366
Olmedioperebea Sclerophylla, 302,
304
Ololiuhqui, XIX, 27, 65, 66
Omnipotence, 93
Omniscience, 94, 96
Onset of Action, 194, 199, 375, 389
Opiates, 80, 81, 82, 87
Opium, 9, 19-21, 36, 52
Optic Illusions, 369, 437
Opuntia Cylindrica, 39
Oral Dosages, 387, 436
OriBiit 4 5
Orinoco, '34, 294, 296, 301, 303, 315,
385
Ostyak, 406, 409
Oxygen Functions, 158, 203, 224
Pain, 40, 75, 160, 177, 191, 192, 309
Pallor, 23, 192
Panic, XVII, 83, 90, 92, 374, 375
Paraguay, 307, 309, 398
Paralysis, 28, 134, 387, 437
Paranoid, 83, 198, 224, 390
Parasympathomimetics, 420, 436, 437
Paresthesia, 121, 122, 178, 369, 389
Parica, 261, 262, 265-268, 270, 271,
278, 300, 303, 304, 335, 336, 339, 367,
397
Paris, 3, 5
Parkinsonism, 23, 26, 226, 228
Passiflora Incarnata, 399
Pathological Outcomes, 94
Patients, 82, 106, 155, 157, 176, 179,
223, 375,378,446,447,450
Paullinia Cupana, 46
Pedilanthus Titimaloides, 39
Peganum Harmala, 53, 385, 397, 445,
446
Pelecyphora, 38
Penicillin, 442
Pentobarbital, 128, 179
Pepper, 41, 225
Perception, XV, XVI, 91, 105, 374,
389
Perfumes, 190
Peripheral Effects, 23, 91, 133, 137,
140, 186, 368, 370, 390, 423, 425, 426,
436
Periploca, 54
Persistent Sensitization, 200, 390, 436
Perspiration, 334, 368, 426
Peru, 34, 38, 41, 44, 45, 260, 293, 296,
297, 299, 302, 307-309, 311, 312, 393,
395
Peyote, 21-23, 37, 38, 59, 65, 66, 81, 82,
84, 85, 90, 96, 160
Phalaris Tuberosa, 365
Pharmaceuticals, XVII, 21, 44, 59,
65,66 ' » 5 J
Pharmacodynamics, 11, 25, 64, 228
Pharmacology, 10, 11, 13, 15, 22, 55,
65, 83, 105, 106, 122, 127, 133, 141,
142, 160, 176, 185, 186, 190, 199, 202,
215, 225, 226, 228, 339, 365, 368, 370,
380, 382, 387, 388, 393, 395, 399, 416,
419, 420, 426, 427, 433, 437, 442, 447
Pharmacy, 9, 10
Phenmetracine, 430
Phenolic Bodies, 204, 379, 381, 385
Phenothiazines, 84, 226, 378
Phenyl Amines, 227, 388
Philologists, 409, 411
Philosophy, XVI, 96, 390
Physicians, 60, 65-68, 82, 95, 238
Physiology, 11, 23, 44, 53, 59, 122,
126-128, 132, 171, 172, 175, 185, 305,
376, 379, 417
Phytochemistry, 10, 36, 203, 303
Pilzatropin, 426
Pineal Body, 385, 387, 388
Piperaceous Species, '' 5, 105, 107, 126,
133, 140, 141, 149, 160, 162, 170, 304
Piptadenia, 242, 265, 267-271, 274,
292, 293 299, 300, 307, 309, 339-341,
369, 370, 374, 396
Pithecellobium, 309
Plants, 10, 21, 35, 36, 39, 54, 59, 64, 65,
69, 71, 98, 105, 108, 179, 180, 202,
233, 291, 297, 305, 341, 365, 381, 385,
393, 396, 397, 413, 419, 442, 447, 449
Pleasure, 7, 77, 78, 98, 106, 170
Pleiocarpa Mutica, 398
Pogonopus Tubulosus, 399
Poisoning, 194, 316, 416
Polyethylene Glycol, 133
Polynesia, 108, 162, 165, 170, 172
Polypodium Fern, 308
Polysynaptic Neural Systems, 84,
134
Pontine Reticular Formation, 143,
391
Potency, 39, 40, 92, 122, 128, 137, 176,
212, 219, 220, 228
Potentiation, 128, 129, 131, 139, 217,
226, 365, 426
Powder, 234, 266-268, 271, 291-294,
303-305, 309, 315-319, 328, 331, 335,
336, 367, 374
Prayer, 113, 116
Precolumbian, 68, 69, 75, 293
Premastication, 170, 172
464
Prestonia, 46, 48, 50, 51, 395
Priests, 59, 64, 65
Primitive Societies, 33, 35, 55, 291,
315, 419, 420
Prison, 193-195
Procaine, 137
Projection, 212
Propenyl Side Chain, 211
Propenylbenzene, 224
Psilocine, XIX, 377, 380
Psilocybe, 39, 413, 446
Psilocybine, XIX, 22, 83, 377, 380,
381,427, 430, 438
Psychedelic Culture, XX, 78, 80, 83,
85, 94, 95, 96, 98, 185, 379
Psychiatry, XIX, XX, 4, 7, 9, 11, 80,
83, 90, 95, 96, 98, 223, 226, 339, 375,
376, 433, 446
Psychic Effects, XIX, XX, 6, 23, 25,
54, 185, 186, 415, 435, 436, 438
Psychoactive Drugs, XIX, XX, 3,
22, 28, 65, 186, 188, 193, 196, 199,
200, 225, 271, 307, 308, 313, 374,
375, 388, 415, 420, 427, 435, 438,
442
Psychology, 6, 10, 23, 64, 65, 79, 85,
92, 95, 199, 210, 213, 375, 379, 387,
388, 435
Psychopharmacology, 4, 6, 9, 11, 15,
23, 92, 186, 202, 206, 213, 225, 228,
370
Psychoses, 78, 83, 86, 89, 97, 98, 179,
385, 435
Psychotherapy, XX, 95, 223
Psychotic, 88, 194, 302, 377, 436, 437
Psychotogenic Effect, 82, 152, 154,
210,223
Psychotomimetics, XIX, 33, 34, 37,
39, 41, 51, 53, 82-84, 233, 237, 238,
253, 262, 265, 271, 275, 277, 283, 302,
305, 363, 367-370, 377, 390, 394, 430,
436, 438
Psychotria, 51
Psychotropic Activity, 34, 42, 43, 53,
54, 185, 202, 203, 207, 209, 212, 215,
304, 374, 385, 425, 426, 433, 437
Pulse Rate, 13, 121, 156, 192, 369
Pupillary Dilatation, 23, 186, 375,
422, 435, 436
Purgatives, 307, 308, 311
Pyramidal Cells, 425, 436
Pyridine Ring, 394
Pyrone Ring, 131
Pyrones, 137, 139, 177
Quaternary Amine, 425, 426
Quinine, 387
Rabbits, 134, 137, 366, 387, 422
Racemic Tetrahydroharmine, 387,
394
Rats, 121, 142-144, 147, 149, 153, 210,
216, 217, 219, 224, 226, 228, 370, 387,
422, 427, 430, 433
Reality, XVI, 77, 92, 94, 374, 389, 390
Reasoning, 7, 174
Rectal Temperature, 430
Rectus Muscle, 424
Reflexes, XV, 121, 134, 137, 158, 178,
435
Regional Variations, 110, 419
Religion, XVI, 59, 61, 62, 64, 65, 75,
78, 83, 92, 94, 98, 105, 108, 116, 117,
166,374, 378,390, 410
REM Sleep, 177, 178
Renshaw Cells, 420, 425
Repetitive Behaviors, 91-93
Research, 96, 436, 449
Reserpine, 144, 148, 219, 225, 226,
430, 436, 437
Resin, 83, 300, 302, 317
Respiration, 121, 134, 192, 423, 427
Response Patterns, XV
Retina, 91, 390, 445
RgVeda, 413, 443
Rheumatism, 44, 190
Ring Substitution Patterns, 210, 211
Rio Branco, 299, 315
Rio Negro, 299, 301, 315, 335
Ritual, 78, 109, 119, 171, 185, 304, 312,
379
Roots, 42, 119, 126, 141, 155, 164, 166,
170, 179, 180, 292, 308
Rubiaceae, 309, 397, 399
Russia, 385,407,415,442
Russula, 53
Rutaceae, 53
Sabinine, 205
Safrole, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 219
Salivary Digestion, 119, 122
Salivation, 181, 215, 328, 334, 368,
422, 426
Salvation, 93
Salvia Divinorum, 43, 54
Samoa, 107-110, 112, 116, 117, 122,
156,158, 160,162,165,180
San Pedro, 38, 39
Sandwich Islands, 119, 163
Sapindaceous Species, 46, 309
Sarcostemma, 54
Schizophrenia, 80, 83, 89, 95, 157, 179,
226, 385
Scintillation Spectrometry, 376
Sclerocarya Caffra, 52
465
Scopolamine, 13, 26, 416, 426
Scopoletine, 44
Screening, 129, 131, 419, 420, 422, 426,
427, 433, 436-438
Sculpture, 69, 237, 275, 277
Search for Synthesis, 92, 374
Sebil, 269, 313
Sedation, 13, 87, 141, 156, 157, 177,
179,191,216,427,437,438
Seeds, XIX, 42, 53, 188, 242, 265-268,
270, 304, 307, 308, 310, 312, 339-341,
374, 385
Self, 91, 92
Self -Awareness, XVI, XVII, 78, 93,
98
Self -Experiments, 13, 22, 26, 80, 304,
437 449
Self Help Groups, XVII, 78, 93, 96
Seniiun, 446
Sensation, XV, 172, 178
Sensitivity, 199, 302, 427, 430
Sensory Function, 65, 86, 121
Septal Area, 142, 144, 149
Serotonin, XIX, 137, 143, 144, 147,
149, 153, 363, 370, 376, 377, 385, 430,
437
Set and Setting, 379
Sexual Behavior, 121
Shamanism, 59, 66, 265, 370, 390, 411,
Siberia, 54, 66, 405, 406, 408, 410, 411,
415,426,442, 444,445
Side Effects, XVI, 15, 23, 98, 105, 160,
194, 195, 200, 226, 378
Singing, 329, 330
Situation, 435, 436, 438
Skeletal Muscles, 149, 177
Skin, 106, 107, 156-158, 160, 164, 177,
381
Sleep, 7, 13, 22, 106, 108, 122, 128, 131,
157, 177, 178, 302, 427, 435, 437, 438,
442
Smoking, 52, 225, 253, 292, 295, 309,
449
Smooth Muscle, 423, 424
Snake Bite, 44, 309
Sneezing, 291
Snuff, 193, 195, 235, 237, 242, 244, 245,
253, 262, 265-271, 275, 279, 283, 291-
293, 295-297, 299-304, 307, 309, 311,
312, 315-319, 327, 328, 331, 33^336,
339-341, 363, 365, 367-369, 374, 378,
379,382,396, 397,449
Snuffing Ceremonies, 235, 243, 262,
265, 266, 271, 273, 274, 291, 292, 294,
296, 304, 316
Snuffing Paraphernalia, 235-237,
246, 253, 255, 256, 261, 266, 267, 271,
275-277, 280, 282, 283, 304
Sociocultural Backgroimd, 59, 77, 78,
80, 105, 110, 170, 172
Solisia, 38
Solubility, 133, 160, 370, 377
Soma, 53, 54, 413, 443, 445, 446
Somatic Symptoms, 23, 186, 368, 369
Somnolence, 122, 437
Sophora Secundiflora, 42
Soporific, 177, 191, 412, 413
Sorcery, 64-66, 117
South Africa, 52, 426
South America, 9, 34, 51, 170, 233,
242-244, 256, 262, 265, 273, 291-293,
296, 299, 300, 302-305, 339, 341, 363,
365, 370, 381, 385, 390, 393, 396, 449
South Pacific, 105, 106, 126, 141, 170,
171
Spain, 292, 385
Spaniards, 62, 233, 295, 312
Specificity, 132, 177,446
Specimens, 69, 71, 304, 448
Spectator Ego, 87, 90
Spectrophotofluorometry, 363, 382
Speech, 23, 435, 436
Spices, 185, 186, 188-191, 193, 195,
211, 385
Spinal Cord, 135, 177, 436
Spindle Bursts, 390, 391
"Sponge," 410, 411
Stability, 117, 436
Staggering, 199, 365
Sternutation, 291
Steroids, 82
Stimulants, 10, 21, 40, 41, 156, 185,
192, 216, 221, 291, 308, 389, 391, 420,
435
Strophanthine, 27
Structure, 84, 92, 127, 160, 363, 374,
416
Structure Activity Relationship, 131,
185 225 228
Strychnine, 27, 128, 129, 135, 155, 158,
lioO
Strychnos Melinoniana, 397
Students, 193, 195
Stupor, 191, 194, 215, 242, 415, 441
Subarachnoidal Cavity, 367
Subcortical Areas, 177
SubfracHons, 143, 144, 147, 149, 215,
220, 221
Subjective Experience, 81, 156, 223,
388
Substitution Isomers, 126, 129, 211,
224, 228, 370
466
Superstitions, 62, Y5, 291
Suspensions, 141, 175, 216
Sweating, 197, 302, 329
Symbolic Content, 223, 374
Sympathetic System, 436
Sympathomimetics, 433
Symplocos Eacemosa, 397
Symptoms, 367, 374, 436, 437
Synaesthesias, 389
Synaptic Transmission, 153, 154, 179
Syndrome, 186, 221
Synergism, 139, 216
Synthesis, XIX, 91, 92, 94, 127, 160,
186, 217, 416, 437
Tabernanthe Iboga, 53
Tachycardia, 186, 194, 198, 199
Tagaloi Ui, 108, 109, 116
Tahiti, 108, 162
Tainos, 234, 237
Tanna, 122, 175
Taste, 39, 172, 190, 435
Tea, 9, 309, 396
Telepathine, 387, 394
Temperature, 229, 437
Teonanacatl, XX, 27, 59, 65, 66
Terpenes, 204, 205, 208, 213
Terror, XVI
Test System, 126, 128, 132, 179, 186
Tetrahydroharmine, 365, 385, 387,
394, 397, 399
Tetrapterys Methystica, 49, 396
Thalamic Neurons, 420, 425
Theobroma Subincanum, 267, 293
Theologians, 78, 94
Therapeutics, XVI, 17, 44, 71, 78, 79,
84, 93, 186, 191, 223, 291, 399, 419,
449
Therapy, XIX, 95
Thinking, 174, 178, 389, 390, 436, 443
Thirst, 193, 194, 197
Threshold, 228, 387
Thymoleptics, 430
Tiahuanaco, 244
Tibet, 387, 445
Ticitl, 67
Tikopia, 162, 179
Time, 22, 23, 199, 219, 369, 389, 435,
436, 438
Tingling, 107, 121, 302, 369
Tiredness, 13
TMA,212, 224, 228
Tobacco, 36, 75, 172, 181, 193, 233, 243,
265-270, 272, 291-293, 295, 297, 300,
309, 311, 368, 405
Tolerance, 83, 158, 377
Toltecs, 59, 60
Toluene, 206
Tonga, 107, 108, 162, 165-167
Tongariki, 119, 120, 122, 176, 178,
180
Tongue, 107, 172, 181
Total Experience, 92, 210
Toxicity, 3, 10, 11, 13, 15, 21, 38^0,
44, 53, 106, 135, 185, 195, 199, 213,
215, 216, 266, 297, 305, 368, 387, 417,
419, 425,427,435,438,449
Trance, 197, 242, 270
Tranquilizers, 80, 87, 106, 126, 154,
177, 216
Transcendence, XVII, 96
Tranylcypromine, 219, 220
Traumatic Neurosis, 92
Tree Fungus, 39
Tree Resin, 267
Tremor, 23, 215, 226, 369
Trichocereus Pachanoi, 38, 39
Tricyclic Types of Drugs, 225, 226,
381
Triglycerides, 203
Trimethoxy Compound, 224, 228
Trimyristin, 203
Tritiation, 375, 381
Tryptamines, 185, 216, 217, 219, 220,
301, 316, 341, 363, 365-367, 370, 374,
377-379, 381, 387, 396, 397, 436, 449
Tryptophane Derivatives, 426
Tubulosine, 399
Tungus Tribes, 407^09, 415, 444
Unconsciousness, 192, 367
Unsteadiness, 13, 368
Uralic Family, 406
Urine, 309, 412, 437, 438, 442, 444, 445
Use and Abuse, 95
Uterus, 137, 143, 147, 149
Values, XVII, 86, 94, 98
Vanua Levu, 162, 165
Vasomotor Instability, 229
Vasomotor Lability, 186
Vedic Hymns, 54
Venezuela, 34, 46, 233, 293, 294, 296,
297, 299, 301, 303, 315, 316
Ventricle, 377
Vilca, 299, 307-313
Village Organization, 108, 117
Virola, 265-267, 270, 300, 303, 304,
309, 396
Virola Calophylla, 266, 267, 300, 340,
341
Virola Calophylloidea, 266, 267, 300,
301, 317, 335, 336
467
Visions, XVII, 22, 23, 36, 42, 51, 53,
78, 92, 199, 294, 302, 303, 309, 334,
339, 435
Visual Perception, 91, 197, 212, 369,
374, 376, 388, 389,435, 436
VitiLevu, 162, 163, 165
Vivid Imagery, 390
Vodka, 415, 442
Vogul, 406, 409
Volatile Component, 189, 203, 215,
216 220 222
Vomiting,' 157, 192, 194, 328, 368, 389,
426, 442
Voucher Specimens, 304, 308
Waika Indians, 271, 301, 303, 304,
315, 316, 319, 327, 328, 334, 368
Walking, 25, 302
Water-Soluble, 141, 175, 176
Weakness, 85, 121, 122
Weariness, 435, 438
West Indies, 189, 203, 216, 233-236,
243, 292-294, 309
Whole Nutmegs, 189, 190
Wilca Tarwi, 310
Witchcraft, 64-66, 444
Withdrawal, 87, 388, 390, 391, 446
Woi, 34
Wundt, 10, 11
Xerostomia, 186
Xingu, 302
Yageine, 387
Yaje, 34, 39, 42, 47-49, 309, 391, 393-
395
Yakee, 300, 302
Yangonin, 126, 128, 133, 134, 137,
139
Yasawas, 162, 163
Yekwana Indians, 301
Yelling, 329, 330
Yopo, 42, 243, 262, 265, 266, 269-272,
274, 293, 294, 297, 303, 340, 397
Yukagir, 406, 409, 415, 444
Yurema, 34, 42
Zemes, 238, 240
Zygophyllaceae, 53, 385
Zygophyllum Fabago, 399
468
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1967 0 — 262-016
DATE DUE
GAYLORD
'1^ Amazing Rest
Research.
Amazing Help.
http://nihlibrary.nih.gov
1 0 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-1150
301-496-1080
5- m^i
ilH LIBRARY
0
8 6253
PRINTED IN U..S.A.
