Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 



301 



gcstcd that a chemical and therapeutic 

 study of the plant be made, and stated 

 that the plant was also used for "break- 

 ing fevers," and that the tops cut off 

 and dried were locally known as "mescal 

 buttons." The accompanying photo- 

 graph of this veteran cactus-lover and 

 assiduous collector, in her cactus garden 

 at Laredo, was taken by David Griffiths 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



A serious study of its properties was 

 first begun in 1888, by Dr. L. Lewin of 

 Berlin, who used for the purpose speci- 

 mens obtained from Parke, Davis, and 

 Company. It was afterwards studied 

 by Dr. Arthur Heffter of the Pharma- 

 cological Institute of the University of 

 Leipsic; and, in the United States, by 

 a group of persons at Washington, 

 centering in the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, and including as associates 

 the Division of Chemistry of the 

 Department of Agriculture for chemical 

 analysis; Drs. D. W. Prentiss and Fran- 

 cis P. Morgan of the department of 

 Materia Medica and Therapeutics of 

 the Columbian University, for the 

 study of its physiological properties; 

 and the Botanical Division of the 

 Department of Agriculture for the 

 settlement of botanical questions. The 

 material for the studies carried on in 

 this country was supplied by James 

 Mooney of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology. The chemical analysis was 

 made by Ervin E. Ewell, who announced 

 his results in a paper entitled "The 

 Chemistry of the Cactaceae," read 

 before the Washington Section of the 

 American Chemical Society, April 9, 

 1896.20 



Dr. Lewin obtained from the drug 

 an alkaloidal substance which he called 

 anhalonin. This substance was ■ a 

 brown, syrup-like liquid, having an 

 intense alkaline reaction. From it Heff- 

 ter obtained three alkaloids; the first, 

 which he called anhalonin, was in the 

 form of brilliant, colorless, needle-shaped 

 crystals; the second was in the form of 

 non-lustrous, white rhombic tables; the 

 third was an amorphous and very 

 poisonous alkaloid left behind by the 

 mother liquor. 



Mr. Ewell found, in addition to the 

 alkaloids, at least two resinous bodies, 

 and a wax-like substance insoluble 

 in cold alcohol but soluble in hot alcohol, 

 petroleum ether, and chloroform. The 

 resinous bodies, of a dark brown color 

 and thick consistency, have the char- 

 acteristic taste and odor of the moistened 

 drug itself. It was suggested that the 

 drug's activity might be due to these 

 resinous bodies rather than to the 

 alkaloids. One marked peculiarity of 

 the plant is that about one-half its ash 

 proved to be potassium chloride — a 

 proportion greater than that hitherto 

 found in any other plant. ^^ 



PHYSIOLOGLCAL ACTION 



Further investigations are about to 

 be made in the Bureau of Chemistry by 

 Dr. Lyman F. Kebler, chief of the divi- 

 sion of drugs, and Dr. Francis P. Morgan, 

 whose work in this drug has already been 

 referred to. 



The various accounts of the effects 

 of Lophophora differ considerably; but 

 nearly all of those who have experi- 

 mented with it, including Dr. S. Weir 

 Mitchell, agree in the statement that 

 it produces beautiful color visions. The 

 pupil becomes dilated and remains in 

 this condition for some time, often for 

 twenty-four hours, and at the same 

 time there is a slight loss of the power 

 of accommodation and consequent dis- 

 turbance of vision. Depression of the 

 muscular system has been observed as 

 one of its effects, either well marked or 

 indicated only by inactivity and lazy 

 contentment; and sometimes this was 

 followed by partial anesthesia of the 

 skin after the effects of the drug began 

 to disappear. Sometimes the patient 

 was seized with nausea and vomiting, 

 caused perhaps by the bitter and 

 unpleasant taste of the drug when first 

 put into the mouth. In some cases 

 there was a marked loss of the sense of 

 time. The effects of the drug have been 

 compared with those of Indian hemp 

 {Cannabis indica), which has found its 

 way from the Eastern Hemisphere 

 to Mexico and the southwest United 

 States, where it is known as marihuana; 



20 See Ewell, Erwin E., "The Chemistry of the Cactaceae," in Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc. 18: 624- 

 643, 1896. 



21 Prentiss, D. W. and Morgan, Francis P., in Therap. Gazette 19, Sept. 16, 1895, p. 579. 



