JuNJE 19, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



907 



botanical name has finally been fixed by Prof. 

 Coulter as Lophopliora Williamsii. Mescal is the 

 name by which it is known to the Indian trad- 

 ers, but it is not to be confounded with the 

 other mescal (Maguey) of Arizona. The local 

 Mexican name is peyote, a corruption of the 

 original Aztec name, from which it would seem 

 that the plant and ceremony were known as 

 far south as the valley of Mexico, at a period 

 antedating the Spanish conquest. Several 

 closely related species are described by Lum- 

 holtz as being used with ceremonial rites among 

 the tribes of the Sierra Madre. The dried tops, 

 when eaten, produce such marked stimulating 

 and medicinal results and such wonderfully 

 beautiful psj-chologic effects, without any in- 

 jurious reaction, that the tribes of the region 

 regard the plant as the vegetable incarnation of 

 the Deity, and eat it at regular intervals with 

 solemn religious ceremony of song, prayer and 

 ritual. The ceremonial and medicinal use of 

 the plant was first brought to public notice by 

 James Mooney, in a lecture delivered before 

 the Anthropological Society of Washington in 

 1891, as a result of studies made among the 

 Kiowas and associated tribes of western Okla- 

 homa. As the ceremony is forbidden, and the 

 trade in the plant made contraband upon the 

 reservations, the investigation was a matter of 

 some difiiculty. In 1894 Mr. Mooney brought 

 back a large quantity of the dried mescal, 

 which Avas turned over to the chemists of the 

 the Agricultural Department for analysis, and 

 to Drs. W. F. Prentiss and F. P. Morgan, of 

 Washington, for medical experimentation. The 

 results thus far would seem to indicate that the 

 Indians are right in asserting that they have 

 discovered in the mescal a valuable medicine 

 entirely unknown to science, and which will 

 probably take its place in our pharmacopeia 

 along with those other Indian remedies, qui- 

 nine and coca. The ceremony and songs were 

 briefly described by Dr. Mooney, whose full in- 

 vestigation of the subject will ultimately appear 

 in one of the publications of the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology. 



Dr. Francis P. Morgan followed with a paper 

 on the ' ' Physiological Action and Medicinal 

 Value of Anhalonium leivinii ( ' Mescal But- 

 tons ')." Dr. Morgan stated that the investiga- 



tion had been intrusted to Dr. D. W. Prentiss, 

 with whom he was associated. Experiments- 

 were tried and observations taken at regular 

 intervals to determine the action of the entire 

 button on the system. The most striking re- 

 sult was the production of visions of the most 

 rematkable kind with the eyes closed, and 

 especially so in the dark. Changes of color 

 were characteristics ; tubes of shining light, 

 figures, cubes, balls, faces, landscapes, dances 

 and designs of changing colors were among the 

 most persistent visions. They were hardly 

 seen with the eyes open ; in full dose no effect 

 on the reason or will is noticed in most cases. 

 There was direct stimulation of the centers of 

 vision and dilatation of the pupils. About one 

 quarter of the quantity, or three buttons, are 

 sufficient to give the visions in the case of white 

 men. Dr. Morgan detailed the experiences of 

 different persons who had tried the experi- 

 ments. In some cases there was slowing of the 

 heart, from 75 to 45 beats, followed by a rise 

 to normal ; there is also inability to sleep, and 

 a loss of the sense of time, hours seem to inter- 

 vene between words. The physiological action 

 is not identical with that of any known drug; 

 it is unlike cannabis indica, cocaine, etc. The 

 constituents of the mescal buttons are being 

 experimented with, but the investigations are 

 still incomplete. Anhalonine causes increased 

 reflex irritability and convulsions, like strych- 

 nine. It is, however, evidently not the active 

 principle. Another constituent has been isolated 

 whose action is widely different. It does not 

 cause opisthotonos nor tetanus, and has no ac- 

 tion like that of strychnine. A third principle 

 has also been isolated. The resin is supposed 

 to be the active principle and will probably be 

 of use in medicine. The experiments are still 

 being conducted and will be detailed later on. 

 A. C. Peale, 



Secretary. 



CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The eighty-ninth regular meeting was held 

 Thursday, May 14, 1896. President Dr. 

 de Schweinitz in the chair ; twenty-three mem- 

 bers present. Messrs. Mayville W. Twitchell 

 and Charles N. Forrest were elected to mem- 

 bership. The Society adopted an address to the 



