The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-20
PDDRLO'SPIPE DREAM
Induced by the Use of the
Seductive MeScaI Bean.
SPLENDID COLOR VISIONS
And Nothing Else, in the Mes
cal Devotee'S World.

bean trouble has reached the ears 0.
Washington. The eastern papers are full
of it. One Washington dispatch says:
The use of the mescal bean, a little
known narcotic drug of wonderful prop
critics, producing marvellous color visions
has developed lately into a craze among
Indians in Oklahoma. and alarming adj
vices from there have been pouring iEtC
the Indian bureau for fortnight back Il
the effect that the craze, through the aid
Of medicine men. IS making such rapid
Roadway as to threaten the demoraliZa-
ton Of entire tribes.
This meScal bean is not to be cOnfOund-
ed with the drink mescal, the popular
native beverage Of the Mexicans, MADE
from the agave or century plant but is
the product Of plant quite different the
least known species of ali the cactus
family, which. when cheWed and swal-
lowed ushers the Indian into the delights
of an artificial paradise, and produces OPP
teal Authorizations more strange and
fanciful than those Of hasheesh or opium.
Though its use is strictly prohibited by
the government, the rage for II has
spread recently from the hiOwas and
COmanches to the ADacheS. and from
them TO the Wichitas, the Cheyennes and
Arapahoes, directly north, and 10 the
PottawatOmies eastward. and finally TO
the Osages, on the northern border o. the
territory.
The Indian claims the drug is harmless
in its effects and regard IL with SUPER
stitiOUs awe as an agent of supernatur-
al power But the AUTHORITIES OIL the IN
dian bureau are convinced that 1t Is
ruinous to both body and mind, and have
determined 10 stamp out its dse at II
hazards. Accordingly a campaign against
Il IS now being organized by the law de-
partment Of the bureau, where measures
are being formulated TO put an end 10 the
craze by effectualy cutting off the sup
ply of the drug.
Perhaps by the time this is printed or
at all events shortly after, arrests viii
be made and the hand of the law laid
on the traders and medicine men who
surreptitiOusly convey the plant from its
Eatherers 10 rcd-skinned consumers.
Mescal has no. been known as drug
among white mea sntu within eleven
years, but the kiOWa and COmancne In
dams have known it and used It from
time immemoTiaI. WOQui is the rame
they give it. and it grows wild in their
original dwelling place along the Rio
Grande in Mexico. It IS found only in
rocky soil and looks not unlike dwarf
toadSt0Ol or mushroom II crops up two
inches above the ground, and has thick
soft stem. Surm0uuted by top, or
crown whose sides are trimmed with lit
lie blunt leaves, DuckeTed in, and their
upper surfaces covered with gray fUzz.
The crown is the part used as mar
cote and resembles bean, or button,
whence the name InesCal bean. 1t IS two
inches in diameter and quarter OF an
inch thick when green. When dried II
becomes hard and of the color and some
what of the favor of tobacco, though IN
finitely more bitter and GisaSTeeable,
with a persistent after taste.
Just what the Indians see in the Wis
ions invoked by the beautiful intoxica-
ton Of mesCals as they call it, is not
known for no Indian has ever been in
duced to reveal The details OF his expert
ence But since 1883, when DIR. Levin of
Berlin first classified the plant and gave
it the botanical name of "AnhalOnium
lewini," several physicians and physiolo-
gists have tasted il and placed on record
minute descriptions OF their wonderful
sensations and visions while under It's in
iluence. Most of the beans used by these
1uVes JigatDrs were obtained in the aut-
umn of 1891 by Professor James Mooney
of the bureau Of chronology, attached 10
the Smithsonian Institution. after So
journ among the kiuwas and study of
their mcScaI rites.
The drug produced slightly different
physical effects, ali more or less painful,
upon each Of the eNpeHmenters, but they
ali agree In prOuouncin5 the visions to be
an unlimited optical spree, a drunk Of
the eyes, an orgy Of vision, a riot in form
and color. a eaturnaildn reVel in an ar
ustic wonderland. which concerns none
of the senses save the sense OF sight.
Each Of The experiment tiers lost all con-
ception Of time and space. but in each
instance the intellect remained calm. col
leGLEN. ana -alL-LillSSEEaeN he Qa@D4aNS
of cOlorS presented were gorgeous beyond
description. and the forms seen We're
more beautiful than anything ever be-
held IN the world of fact. suggesting a
different times and in rapid succession
Kaleidoscope figures composed Of gilt
tering gems, rich arabesques fern-like
and other designs; all ideahzed and glori-
fed
The Indians usually celebrate the mes
cal rite on Saturday night. At shutdown
the men sit in = cirCule around a camp
fire and slowly chew and swallow the
meScal beans while attendants beat
drums and accompany the sounds with a
slow Chant-Jhe lTcliglt serving, il Is
supposed, as a keynote to suggest colors
and the barbaric music to suggest forms
ana sequences. Throughout the night
the mescal eaters sit sull in a deep rev.
erie. and about noon next day, when the
influence of the drug has passed of they
rise and g about their business. Task
Ell about their exp rience they will only
say they have comnuned with the wGqui
god.
Ten or twelve Of the beans are consum-
Ell a sitting by each Indian. For a
white man three or four are a full dose.
This difference I'm Susceptibility to the
drug Is due. no doubt. 20 the greater toll
eranca for IL which the Indian has ac-
quired through his h3bitual use and per
hapS through hereditary taste. In the
experiments made by American and Brit
tsh scientists the magic properties Of mes
cocuou az the powdered beans in hot
water. taken in three equal doses an hour
apart.
Here IS n description Of the marvels
which DR.. Hovelock Ellis of Lelant.
Cornwall. England. saw while under the
meScai influence in London. related sub
stantally I'M his own words:
Tho first symptom I observed wss a
consciousness of energy and intellectual
power. This passed or and about an
hour after the lUll dose I felt faint and
unsteady The appearance OF visions
closed eyes was gradual At first there
was merely vague play of light and
shade. which suggested pictures. bur
never made them. Then they became dis
tinct but stiN iudescrihah )e&moStly
vast field OF golden jewels studded with
red and green stones. ever changing. All
discomfort vanished except 4 slight faint
ness an d--Cmor of the hands. which lat
er on m1ae it almost impossible 10 guide
q pen IS I made notes Of the cNperi-
ment Il was always possible. however.
with an effort 70 write with a pencil
As wrote golden tone law over the
paper and the pencil seemed TO write in
gold.
The visions never resembled familiar
objects; they We're extremely definite. VET
always novel; they We're constantly an
preaching Yet constantly eluding the sub
stance Of known things. / would sec
tlick glorious fields ~ Jewels S1ritar,.
or clustered sometimes brilliant ard
sparkling sometimes with a dun rich
glow. Then they would spring up into
hower-iike shapes beneath my gaze ana
then seem II turn into gorgeous butter
fly forms a. endless folds NJ elisteninc.
'rbrouS wings az wonderful in
sects; whi.e sometimes I seemed 90 be
gazing into n vast hollow revolving YES
Eel, on whose polished conCave mother
of-pearl surface The hueS were swiftly
cham Ing was surprised not only by
the enormous profusion Of the imagery
presented n my gaze. but stI more by
It's Voriet-
"Altheugh the effects We're novel IL fire.
quentiy happened. Is / have already men
TONED, thar t1ev vaguely recalled known
objects. Thus once the objects presented
10 me seemed 10 be made Of exquisite
porcelain; again they were Ike elaborate
sweetmeats, again ~ somewhat Maori
stNle of arcuiteltLIIa mi -. hacl,.rnrtr,-Is