AN AZTEC NARCOTIC 



{Lophophora williamsti). 



So-called "Sacred Mushroom," or Teonanacatl, Still in Use by the Indians of 

 Mexico and the United States, Producing Hallucinations of a Remark- 

 able Nature, Is Identified with the Peyotl Zacatecensis, or 

 Devil's Root of Ancient Mexico, and the "Mescal 

 Button" of Texas.i 



W. E. Safford 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, U . S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



A CCOUNTS of many early travel- 

 / \ lers in America and missionaries 

 / V to the Indians call attention to 

 the veneration of the aborigines 

 for various plants, showing that they 

 attributed to all plants a spirit some- 

 what like that of animals or even of 

 man himself. To certain plants special 

 honors were paid; others were avoided 

 with dread; while others, with no pro- 

 nounced virtues or evil properties, were 

 little noticed. An example is given 

 by a Mexican writer of the homage 

 paid to a certain tree cut down in order 

 to form a bridge over a stream in 

 Michoacan. The people of the village 

 were called together by the governor 

 and a religious service was held about a 

 cross erected for the special ceremony, 

 with candles burning before it and 

 choristers assisting. A procession was 

 formed which climbed the mountain, 

 where the tree was growing. When 

 it fell there came an aged Indian woman 

 who, taking a few of its branches, laid 

 them on the trunk where it had been 

 cut, and consoling it with loving words 

 begged that it might not feel humiliated 

 or angry; for they had chosen it on 

 account of its magnificent stature and 

 great strength, and it was destined to 

 span a mighty river, so that all the 

 people of the land of Michoacan might 



cross over upon it . And before dragging 

 it away they placed upon the place 

 where it had fallen a piece of lighted 

 candle, which had been left over from 

 Holy Thursday; and they repeated in 

 its honor a very solemn litany, sprinkling 

 it with holy water and much j^ulquc^ 

 On the next day, having propitiated 

 the spirit of the tree, they bore away the 

 hewn beam to the bridge with much 

 shouting and jubilation.-'' 



The same author speaks of the 

 veneration paid by the Mexicans to 

 certain medicinal plants and to the 

 narcotics Ololiuhqui, the . sacred Nan- 

 acatl, the Peyotl, and the Picietl (tobac- 

 co), "to which they ascribe deity and 

 with which they practice superstitions." 



METHODS OF EXORCISM 



The following example is among those 

 given to show the method of exorcism 

 employed by the Aztec titzitls, or herb 

 doctors. In this case the spirit of the 

 Ololiuhqui, is addressed. "Come now, 

 come hither. Green Woman, behold 

 the green heat and the brown heat; 

 remove thou the flaming or scarlet heat, 

 the yellow heat, or by this token I send 

 thee to the seven caves. And, I com- 

 mand thee, put it not off till tomorrow 

 or another day; for sooner or later thou 

 wilt be compelled to do it. Who is the 



'Based upon a paper entitled "Identification of the Teonanacatl, or 'Sacred Mu.shroom' 

 of the Aztecs with the narcotic cactus, Lophophora, and an account of its ceremonial use in 

 ancient and modern times," read by the author May 4, 1915, at a meeting of the Botanical Society 

 of Washington. Published by authority of the Secretary of Agriculture. 



- Fermented sap of the Century Plant {Agave atnericana), which also yields the strong distilled 

 spirit called mescal. 



' Jacinto de la Serna, " Manual de Ministros par el conocimiento de idolatrias y extirpacion de 

 ellas." In Documentos ineditos para la Historia de Espaha, vol. 104, p. 159-160. 



291 



