Phiiyical and Chemical Papers. 105 



MUSCALE BUTTONS. 



r.y I.. I-',. Saykk Miul A. ]•",. Stkvknson. 



SOME TIME ago a missionary from one of the northern 

 states sent to the writer a communication in which he re- 

 ferred to what was known as the "meschale eaters." The 

 writer of the letter, whose name is purposely withheld, spoke 

 of the product as a plant coming from Mexico, and stated that 

 the effect of the plant was something like that of cocaine. The 

 writer was asked to investigate the product and to determine 

 what the article contained to produce such an effect. 



A large sample of the article was finally obtained, which 

 proved to be the muscale buttons. These grow in the arid hills 

 along the Rio Grande and southward into Mexico. It is a small 

 cactus (LophopJwra) , which is popularly known as "peyote." 

 It is still used in ceremonies and for medicinal purposes by the 

 Indian tribes between the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of 

 Mexico, from the Arkansas river southward. Among the 

 white people the buttons are commonly known as "mescal," 

 owing to a confusion with the maguey cactus of the southwest, 

 from which latter the intoxicant known as mescal is prepared. 

 The peyote plant resembles a radish in shape and size, and only 

 the top appears above the ground. From the center springs a 

 beautiful white blossom ; the latter gives place to a top of white 

 down. To the north of the Rio Grande this top alone is used, 

 and when sliced and dried it forms the so-called button. In 

 Mexico the whole plant is cut into slices, dried, and used as a 

 decoction and in their ceremonies. 



Mr. I. R. Geare has communicated a valuable contribution on 

 this subject — "The Consumption of Peyote Among the Indians" 

 — in the May issue of Merck's Reports, New York, 1913. In 

 speaking of the ceremony he makes the following statement : 



"The peyote ceremony is usually performed as an invocation for the 

 recovery of the sick, and the chief feature of it among- the Mexican 

 Indians is a dance, while amonp: the Kiowas, Comanches and other 

 'plains' tribes it is rather a ceremony of prayer and contemplation. The 

 ceremony is held in a tipi especially erected for the purpose, and generally 

 lasts all night. Women do not, as a rule, take part in the ceremony, but 

 are occupied in preparing the sacred food as well as the feast, in which 

 latter all join at the close of the ceremony. A fire is kept burning in the 



