38 
To say nothing of our many kinds of berries, more species of 
Grapes grow in this country than in all the rest of the world and, 
for many tribes, must have been a staple food; again, nothing 1s 
easier than to make wine, the process consisting merely in press- 
ing out the juice and letting it ferment. It is strange indeed they 
should not have stumbled upon it. 
2. Plants yielding stimulating, exhilarating or intoxicating 
principles not alcoholic. 
While stationed on the Rio Grande, west of the Pecos, my 
attention was drawn to a plant, called Peyote, which appears re 
possess remarkable properties. It is Amhalonium sngelmannt 
Lem. (A. fissuratum Engelm.), a napiform, tuberculous cactus, 2-3 
inches long and hardly rising above ground. Mexicans cut it 
into slices which are kept dry for medicinal purposes, being com- 
monly used in fevers. It is principally as an intoxicant, however, 
that it has become noted along the Mexican border, being eaten 
' raw or added to native tizwin to make it stronger. It is said that 
Indians or Mexicans partaking of this adulterated tizwin become 
temporarily crazy and uncontrollable. 
Closely related to Anhalonium isthe genus Lophophora recently 
separated from it by Prof. Coulter. ZL. Wiliiamsii var. Lewinit 
Coult. (Anhalonium Lewinitt Hennings) is a small hemispherical 
cactus, 2 to 3 inches wide, with the tubercles in 13 sinuous ribs, 
and covered above with silky hairy tufts. It is found in barren 
rocky soil along both sides of the lower Rio Grande and south- 
ward. It is said to be the Peyote or Peyotl of northern Mexico, 
and to possess rather ill-defined deliriant or intoxicant properties 
whether used alone or added to native drinks. 
The “tops,” under the name of Mescal Buttons, have been the 
subject of more or less investigation. Lewin and Heffter found in 
them several alkaloids and at least two resinous substances, the 
latter being the active principles. An alcoholic extract, accord- 
ing to Lewin, produces in animals symptoms almost identical with 
those caused by strychnine, being in small doses a cardiac and 
respiratory stimulant. 7 
Very different, however, were the results of careful experi- 
ments made by Dr. Prentiss and Dr. Morgan of Washington who 
found that the chief physiological effect was the pepaction.! of 
