must assume that the tryptamine acts without such an 
inhibitor or else that the residue from the leaching of the 
lecythidaceous bark-ashes contains a monoamine oxidase 
inhibitor. 
All of this points out with singularly insistent empha- 
sis the wisdom of an interdisciplinary approach in the 
search for new psychoactive drugs, since the value of 
folklore data has so often in recent studies been indicated 
(18). It points further to the urgency of intensive ethno- 
toxicological study of folklore in view of the rapid dis- 
integration and disappearance of aboriginal cultures 
around the world (19, 21). 
The field work during which the discovery reported in 
this paper was made was financially supported in part by 
the Bache Fund of the National Academy of Science, 
to which source grateful acknowledgment is herewith 
offered. 
This paper was read at the 10th Annual Meeting of 
the Society for Economic Botany, Longwood Gardens, 
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1969. 
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