An Aztec Narcotic

An Aztec Narcotic (Lophophora williamsii)

AN AZTEC NARCOTIC

(Lophophora williamsii)

So-called "Sacred Mushroom," or Teonanácatl, Still in Use by the Indians of Mexico and the United States, Producing Hallucinations of a Remarkable Nature, Is Identified with the Peyotl Zacatecensis, or Devil's Root of Ancient Mexico, and the "Mescal Button" of Texas.

W. E. Safford

[Safford's general account of Aztec plant veneration, his historical review of Sahagún, Hernández, and other sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers on ololiuhqui and teonanácatl, and his detailed taxonomic description of the genus Lophophora and its named forms and varieties are omitted here as outside the archive's focus on the drug's use and effects.]

Physiological Action

Further investigations are about to be made in the Bureau of Chemistry by Dr. Lyman F. Kebler, chief of the division 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 experimented 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 disturbance 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; but instead of the exciting effect of the latter, Lophophora produces rather a state of ideal content, with no tendency to commit acts of violence.

A detailed account of the experiments of Drs. Prentiss and Morgan was published in the Therapeutic Gazette of September 16, 1895, pp. 580-585.

Ceremonial Use by the Indians

The first to bring to public notice the ceremonial use of this narcotic by existing tribes of Indians was James Mooney of the Bureau of American Ethnology, in a paper read before the Anthropological Society of Washington on November 3, 1891. His attention had been directed to it while making investigations among the Kiowas, who are descendants of one of the tribes known to the Aztecs by the name of "Chichimecas." Mr. Mooney found that these Indians attribute divine [a word is lost here to a photo caption interleaved in the original scan] to the drug and the ceremony attending its use is of the nature of a religious rite in which all the tribes of the southern plains take part.

The Kiowas and other Indians of Oklahoma receive the greater part of their supply of the drug from traders who bring it from the vicinity of Laredo, Texas, in the form of "mescal buttons," which are identical with the teonanácatl of the ancient Mexicans. Like the ancient Mexican feasts referred to above, their meetings are nocturnal, usually beginning Saturday night. A summary of Mr. Mooney's account was published in the Therapeutic Gazette of September 16, 1895. A more detailed description was published by Mr. Mooney the following January, in the same journal, from which the following extracts are taken.

"The ceremony occupies from twelve to fourteen hours, beginning about 9 or 10 o'clock and lasting until nearly noon the next day. Saturday night is now the time usually selected, in deference to the white man's idea of Sunday as a sacred day and a day of rest. The worshipers sit in a circle around the inside of the sacred tipi, with a fire blazing in the center. The exercises open with a prayer by the leader, who then hands each man four mescals, which he takes and eats in quick succession, first plucking out the small tuft of down from the center. In eating, the dry mescal is first chewed in the mouth, then rolled into a large pellet between the hands, and swallowed, the man rubbing his breast and the back of his neck at the same time to aid the descent. After this first round the leader takes the rattle, while his assistant takes the drum, and together they sing the first song four times, with full voices, at the same time beating the drum and shaking the rattle with all the strength of their arms. The drum and rattle are then handed to the next couple, and so the song goes on round and round the circle—with only a break for the baptismal ceremony at midnight, and another for the daylight ceremony—until perhaps 9 o'clock the next morning. Then the instruments are passed out of the tipi, the sacred foods are eaten, and the ceremony is at an end. The dinner, which is given an hour or two after the ceremony, is always as elaborate a feast as the host can provide. The rest of the day is spent in gossiping, smoking, and singing the new songs, until it is time to return home."

Among the Tarahumaris

Lumholtz, in his account of the plant-worship of the Tarahumari Indians of the southwestern Chihuahua, mentions several kinds of cacti which they regard with superstitious veneration; but there is no evidence that any of these have narcotic properties except the "hikori huanami," which is the typical Lophophora williamsii. A species of Ariocarpus (probably A. fissuratus) was sold to him under the name of "hikori sunami," and was declared by the vendor to have certain magical powers; but he did not see it used as an intoxicant. Much that Lumholtz relates in connection with the ceremonial use of the narcotic hikori appears extravagant and fanciful; but it is undoubtedly true that the Tarahumari Indians, like their more southerly neighbors the Coras and Huicholes, have been led by the wonderful visions induced by the plant to attribute to it supernatural powers. Even the Christians among them salute it and make the sign of the cross when approaching it, and it is often carried by them as a charm or amulet. They declare that Hikori sits next to God and is called "uncle," because it is God's brother.

It will be shown later that a similar superstition is common among some of the Indian tribes of the United States who pay to the plant divine homage. In some of their religious societies there is a ceremony of baptism in which the candidate is sprinkled with an extract of the plant, and also a kind of communion in which the plant is eaten as an incarnation of the Deity, or the flesh of God.

Lumholtz gives an account of the expeditions of the Tarahumaris in quest of hikori, describing their consecration with copal incense before starting out, their ten-days' journey to the land of the Hikori, the erection of a cross on their arrival, the superstitious observances attending the gathering of the plant, which recall the stories of the early European herbalists regarding the mandrake and other magic plants, and the ceremonies attending their return. The Indians of the village go out with music to welcome the travellers, bearing their precious burden; and at night there is a festival of teswin-drinking and dancing in honor of the plant. The hikori is piled in a heap at the foot of a cross, and is sprinkled with teswin, which is grateful to it; and the next day a sheep or even an ox or two goats are sacrificed in its honor. The wild heathen Indians living in caves or under overhanging cliffs in the barrancas, when they hear of the return of the expedition, come to buy supplies of the hikori for their own use. "One plant," says Lumholtz, "costs a sheep, and the buyer holds a feast in honor of his purchase, and repeats the feast at the same time every year."

Use by the Huicholes of Jalisco

The ceremonies attending the acquisition and use of the drug by the Indians of the Nayarit mountains of Jalisco and Tepic were described by Léon Diguet in 1899. These Indians belong to the tribes known as Huicholes, Coras, Tepehuanes, and Tepecanos. The Coras, whose use of the raiz diabolica, as described by Padre Ortega, has already been noted, now obtain their supply from the Huicholes. The latter send expeditions across the state of Zacatecas to Catorce in San Luis Potosí, where the plant is endemic. The specimens from Zacatecas in the Economic Collection of the Bureau of Plant Industry are not at all mushroom-like, but resemble dry pieces of radishes or carrots sliced longitudinally, or small, terminal fragments covered with silky wool, such as those described by early writers as "peyote de Zacatecas." By the Huicholes the drug is known neither as peyote nor teonanácatl, but as xicoli, or hicuri, which is identical with the name hikori applied to it by the Tarahumari Indians.

According to Diguet the Huicholes collect the plant in October. The expedition lasts about one month, and its return is an occasion for celebration. "Those who take part decorate their hats and their hair with feathers and paint on their faces the distinctive attributes of their caste and of their gods. After having made an offering of peyote upon their altars they distribute pieces of it to all those they meet; a supply of peyote is kept for the feasts which will take place during the course of the year; the rest is sold to those who did not take part in the expedition.

"In eating the peyote the Indians chew the pulp of the plant, which has been cut up into small pieces, and at first spit out the saliva which at the beginning dissolves a bitter principle having a very disagreeable taste, then they absorb the active principle which dissolves little by little in the saliva." According to Diguet the Indians regard the drug as food for the soul, and revere it on account of its miraculous properties. The manifestation of the hallucinations which it produces a little after the absorption of its active principle is held to be a supernatural grace by which men are permitted to communicate with the gods; and, moreover, "in using the drug with moderation the partaker is endowed with energy which permits him to overcome great fatigue and to endure hunger and thirst for five days."

Present Use in the United States

Efforts have been made to prevent the spread of the drug among the Indians of the United States, and action has been taken in the courts to prosecute those who have been instrumental in procuring it and furnishing it. One of the most recent cases is that of the United States versus an Indian named Nah-qua-tah-tuck, alias Mitchell Neck, of the Menominee Indian Reservation, Wisconsin, accused of furnishing intoxicants to certain Indians, in violation of the law. Dr. Francis P. Morgan, of the Bureau of Chemistry, was summoned as a Government expert. The trial developed the following facts:

On March 15, 1914, the accused brought a supply of the drug in a dress suit case to the house of an Indian family named Neconish, situated a short distance north of the village of Phlox, Wisconsin, near the western boundary of the Menominee Reservation, at which place there was a meeting of a religious nature. The drug had been received by parcel post from Aguilares, Texas. The participants first made a line about the house to keep out the evil spirits, and then invoked God, begging him to make all of them good and to keep them from evil. The peyote was next distributed, and when it was eaten caused the partakers to see the evil things they had done and showed them the good things they ought to do.

The ceremony began about 9 o'clock in the evening. One witness testified that shortly after having eaten four buttons he could see pictures of various kinds when his eyes were shut. First he saw God, with a bleeding wound in his side. This vision vanished when he opened his eyes, but reappeared when he closed them again. Then he saw the devil with horns and tail, of the color of a negro. Then he saw bad things which he had done before, bottles of whiskey which he had drunk, a watermelon which he had stolen, and so many other things that it would take all day to tell of them. Then he saw a cross with all kinds of colors about it, white, red, green and blue. He was not made helpless. He stated that he could have walked had he wished to do so, but that he preferred to sit still and look at the pictures.

Another witness testified that he ate the peyote so that his soul might go up to God. The witnesses who testified at this trial declared that the peyote helped them to lead better lives and to forsake alcoholic drinks. The defendant was acquitted on the ground that the meeting was one of a religious nature.

The Peyote Society

Thomas Prescott of Wittenberg, Wisconsin, testified that there is a regularly organized association among the Indians called the Peyote Society, also known as the Union Church Society, of which he had been a priest for seven years. In the weekly ceremonies of this society the peyote is either eaten or taken in form of tea. In his opinion the effect of the peyote is to make better men of the Indians. Many of them were formerly common vagabonds, liable to commit all sorts of crimes when under the influence of alcohol. After becoming members of the peyote society, however, they gave up drink, established themselves in regular homes, and lived sober and industrious lives. In relating his personal experience he made the following statements:

"We boys, before we got this peyote, was regular drunkards; so when I was drunk I was lying on the road somewhere sometimes, and I got no home nor nothing. Before I got this I did wrong and everything else. Now, since I got this peyote, it stopped me from drinking, and now, since I used this peyote, I have been sober, and today I am sober yet. I see a good and a bad when I eat that peyote. When I eat that peyote then it teaches me my heart; I know anything that is right and what is wrong. That is the way peyote works for good and works for God, and that is how we worship. When I took this peyote I could see myself when I used to be drunk: I could see the bottles which used to have my whiskey and alcohol in; I could see myself lying drunk in the road. That is the way it shows us the bad and teaches us the good. We could have our meetings without this peyote; but we see some more coming—a new person—he wants to use it—when he takes this peyote then he believes God. That is why we use it for. Without this, why, they would not believe anybody."

Dr. Morgan gave to the court an account of his experiments bearing upon the physiological action of the drug administered in his presence to several young men who had volunteered for the purpose. The chief effect noticed was the production of visions of various kinds: of moving objects, constantly changing designs and figures of landscapes, friezes, balls of beautiful colors in constant motion. Suggestions of definite objects also brought up visions of that object. These visions were seen only when the eyes were closed. The pupil of the eye was made larger, and this enlargement lasted till the following day; the pulse became slower at first but increased when a greater quantity of the drug was taken; there was evidence of muscular depression with a disinclination to exertion of any kind; and there was a loss of conception of space and time and, in some cases, symptoms of dual personality, not unlike that caused by hashish (Cannabis indica). The after effects, however, were insomnia, while hashish eating is usually followed by sleep. In this respect it also differs from opium and somewhat resembles the active principles of coffee and coca (Erythroxylon coca). Dr. Morgan further testified that as far as he knew no therapeutic or remedial value of the drug had been established.

At a meeting of the Lake Mohonk Conference in October, 1914, several papers relating to the effects of this drug upon the Indians were read and affidavits from two Omaha Indians were quoted. From one of the latter, I take the following extracts:

Among the Omaha Indians

"At the meetings of the Society, before they sing they pass the peyote around. They begin taking this medicine along about dark, and when they pass it, ask you how many you want, and they often try to persuade you to take more than you want. The medicine does not work right away, but after it begins to take effect along toward midnight they begin to cry and sing and pray and stand and shake all over, and some of them just sit and stare. I used to sit in their range right along, and ate some of their medicine, but after I ate it the first time I was kind of afraid of it. It made me feel kind of dizzy and my heart was kind of thumping and I felt like crying. Some of them told me that this was because of my sins. It makes me nervous, and when I shut my eyes I kind of see something like an image or visions, and when my eyes are open I can't see it so plain. One of these fellows took twelve beans, or twelve peyote, sitting with some girls.

"After I have taken twelve peyote I saw a mountain with roads leading to the top and people dressed in white going up these roads. I got very dizzy and I began to see all kinds of colors, and arrows began to fly all around me. I began to perspire very freely. I asked to be taken out of doors. At that time it was 20° below zero. I felt better when I got out of doors. When I went in again I began to hear voices just like they came from all over the ceiling and I looked around in the other room and thought I heard women singing in there, but the women were not allowed to sing in the meetings usually, and so this was kind of strange. After eating thirty-six of these peyote I got just like drunk, only more so, and I felt kind of good, but more good than when I drink whiskey, and then after that I began to see a big bunch of snakes crawling all around in front of me, and it was a feeling like as if I was cold came over me. The treasurer of the Sacred Peyote Society was sitting near me, and I asked him if he heard young kittens. It sounded as if they were right close to me; and then I sat still for a long time and I saw a big black cat coming toward me, and I felt him just like a tiger walking up on my legs toward me, and when I felt his claws I jumped back and kind of made a sound as if I was afraid, and he asked me to tell him what was the matter, so I told him after a while. I did not care to tell at first; but I made up my mind then, after what I saw, that I would not take another one of these peyotes if they gave me a ten dollar bill. In this Sacred Peyote Society they have a form of baptism and they baptize with the tea made from stewing the peyote, and they baptize 'in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,' the Holy Ghost being the peyote. Then you drink some of the tea and they make signs on your forehead with the tea and then take an eagle's wing and fan you with it. I heard an educated Indian and he said in a meeting on Sunday morning, 'My friends, I am glad I can be here and worship this medicine with you; and we must organize a new church and have it run like the Mormon Church.'"

[The remainder of the article, containing Safford's argument that the Aztec teonanácatl and peyote were the same plant, and further botanical detail, is omitted.]