1800-1950 / Book

Popular History of the Seven Prevailing Narcotics of the World

One of seven chapters in a British mycologist's popular survey of the world's narcotics, this one on Amanita muscaria. Cooke gathers the earlier Siberian accounts of Krasheninnikov, Gmelin and Pallas, and describes the preparation, the staged effects, and the urine-drinking practice.

An American telegraph surveyor's account of Koryak men intoxicated on fly-agaric at a wedding celebration in northern Kamchatka. Kennan describes the mushroom's price, preparation, etiquette of serving, and the trade dynamics between Russian merchants and Koryak consumers.

Religion — Intoxicants

An ethnographer's account of fly-agaric use among the Chukchee and Koryak, including dosage, preparation, three stages of intoxication, the 'spirits of fly-agaric,' and urine-drinking to extend the effect. The text also records the mushroom's place in Chukchee myth.

Excerpts from Bogoras's Koryak Texts, including the introduction and two songs transcribed from phonograph recordings. The second song, sung by an elderly Chukchee man, records an Indigenous voice describing fly-agaric use for recovering consciousness.

From Smashing Through "the World War" with Fighting Battery C

An American soldier who served in World War I describes being hit by a shell in July of 1918 and his subsequent experience with ether, having "peep[ed] behind the veil, which separates life from death."