Anhalonium lewinii

Mescaline is an alkaloid isolated from the peyote cactus, species Lophophora williamsii or Anhalonium lewinii, that grows in the southwestern United States and in Mexico. Mescaline is found in buttons that grow on top of the plant. Aztec and Native American Indians used the buttons in religious rites and for treatment of snakebite, flu, and arthritis. Some street names include bad seed, blue caps, cactus buttons, devils root, mesc, moon, peyote, shaman, and tops. 

After their initial papers these three authors continued writing on the subject in books and articles. Lewin in his 1888 paper did not report on human experiences with peyotl the first such report appeared in The Therapeutic Gazette, on Sept. 16, 1895 Anhalonium Lewinii (Mescal Buttons). A study of the drug, with especial reference to its physiological action upon man, with report of experiments, by D. W. Prentiss and Francis P. Morgan, return... 

Mitchell, S. W. "Remarks on the Effects of Anhalonium Lewinii (the Mescal Button)," British Medical Journal 2,1625-29,... 

Column 12 feet long, I.D. 4 mn (glass) support Gas Chrom P 100-140 mesh, stationary phase SE-52 1 % oven temperature 180°C. Compounds 6,8,10,12,14,17 and 18 are nonanhalonium bases. N = natural product from Anhalonium lewinii. S = prepared synthetically. 

Anhalonium lewinii Hennings-i05,107,114 Anhalmium tuiWamsii (Lcmaire) Riimpler-105,107... 

Hennings, P. 1888. Eine gifHge K tee, Anhalonium lewinii n. sp. Gartenflora... 

Lewin, L. 1888. xxvii. Ueber Anhalonium Lewinii. Archiv fur Experimentelle Pa-thologie und Pharmakolo e 24 401—411. 

In chemical literature Anhalonium lewinii, A. williamsii Lem. and A. jourdanianum Lewin are mentioned as different species. However, botanists definitely recognize only one species Anhalonium williamsii Britton and Rose Lophophora williamsii (Lemaire) Coulter). It would be worth while to investigate, using fresh and well-identified material, whether only pellotine is present in A. williamsii, as stated by Heffter. Such findings may give support to a revision of the taxonomy of these cacti. 

Eleven bases have been isolated from Anhalonium lewinii, three phenethylamines mescaline, V-methylmescaline, and V-acetylmescaline (see /8-Phenethylamines Vol. Ill, chap. 22) and eight simple isoquinolines anhalamine, anhalidine, anhalinine, anhalonidine, pellotine, 0-methyl-d-... 

Table 1 includes all of the tetrahydroisoquinoline bases found in Anhalonium lewinii, and shows their structures and interrelations. 

Its pharmacological action is very similar to that of the isoquinoline bases obtained from Anhalonium lewinii (27, 48). The lethal dose in the frog is 3-4 mg. the injection of 2-3 mg. of hydrochloride produces increased reflex excitability and convulsions larger doses cause paresis. Carnegine provokes convulsions also in warm-blooded animals. 

Anhalonium lewinii Hennings, syn. Lophophora wilUamsii (Lemaire) Coulter Britton and Rose, known as pellote, peyote, peyotl, and challote. The dried slices are called mescal buttons. Contains mescaline, N-methylmescaline, iV-acetylmescaline, anhalamine, anhalidine, anhalinine, anhalonidine, pellotine, 0-methylanhalonidine, anhalonine, and lophopho-rine (1, 37-59). 

The powdered material is extracted following the usual procedure. Extractions of the drug and isolation of the alkaloids from Anhalonium lewinii have been described by Heffter (19), Kauder (68), Tomaso (69), and Spath and Becke (1), as well as by Steiner-Bernier (70) and the extraction of alkaloids from Pilocereus sargentianus and Cereus pecien-aboriginum, by Heyl (24, 25). 

EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY Mescaline is one of the oldest psychedelics known to man. It is the major active component of the small dumpling cactus known as Peyote. It grows wild in the Southwestern United States and in Northern Mexico, and has been used as an intimate component of a number of religious traditions amongst the native Indians of these areas. The cactus has the botanical name of Lophophora williamsii or Anhalonium lewinii and is immediately recognizable by its small round shape and the appearance of tufts of soft fuzz in place of the more conventional spines. The dried plant material has been classically used with... 

The sliced and dried heads of the cactus, Anhalonium lewinii Lopho-phora williamsii) have long been used as an intoxicant by the natives of Mexico and the southwestern part of the United States. Interest in the cactus alkaloids arose when the remarkable use by the Indian tribes and the strange pharmacological properties of this little plant became known. 

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