178 THE UNNATURAL HISTORY OF THE FLY AGARIC E CRUNDWELL Formerly, School of Pharmacy, Portsmouth Polytechnic

sian traveller, Krasheninnikov (1755): "Sometimes for their enjoyment they also use the mukhumor, the well known mush- room that we ordinarily use for poison- ing flies. It is first soaked in must ofkiprei (Epilobium angustifolium) which they drink, or else the dried mushrooms are rolled and swallowed whole, which method is very popular. The first and usual sign by which one can recognize of man under the influence of the muk- humor is the shaking of the extremities which will follow after an hour or less after which the persons thus intoxicated have hallucinations, as ifin a fever: they are subject to various visions, terrifying or felicitous, depending on differences in Photo: GT Cambridge temperament: owing to which some jump, some dance, others cry and suffer great terrors, while some might deem a small Amanita muscaria has had a reputation crack to be as wide as a door, and a tub for killing flies at least as far back as the of water as deep as the sea. But this ap- De Vegetalibus of Albertus Magnus in plies only to those who overindulge, while the 13th century. those who use a small quantity experience The first published account of the ef- a feeling of extraordinary lightness, joy, fects of Amanita muscaria on man was courage, and a sense of energetic well- made by von Strahlenburg (1730), a being. " Swedish colonel who spent 12 years in Siberia as a prisoner of war. "The Rus- Von Strahlenburg's account was trans- sians who trade with them (Koryak), carry lated into English in 1736 and given a thither a Kind of Mushrooms, called in the wider currency by Oliver Goldsmith in Russian tongue, Muchumur, which they his Citizen ofthe World (1762)- fictional exchange for Squirrels, Fox, Hermin, letters supposedly from a Chinese philo- Sable and other Furs: Those who are rich sopher residing in London. Goldsmith among them, lay up large Provisions of elevates mushroom intoxication to the these Mushrooms, for the Winter. When nobility in order to point a moral about they make a Feast, they pour Water upon excessive flattery, likened to making use some of these Mushrooms and boil them. of excreted material. However, the cen- They then drink the Liquor, which intoxi- tral effects he describes are those of mild cates them: The poorer Sort, on these Oc- alcohol intoxication. casions, post themselves round the Huts Carl von Ditmar (1900) on his journey of the Rich, and watch the Opportunity of 1851-1855 noted use of divination by of the Guests coming down to make Shamans, the priestly practitioners of the Water; And then hold a Wooden Bowl to native animal cults. From 1865-1870, receive the Urine, which they drink off George Kennan (1871) surveyed Siberia greedily, as having still some Virtue of the for the Western Union Telegraph Com- Mushroom in it, and by this Way they also parry. He reported that trade in intoxi- get Drunk." cating mushrooms was prohibited but A fuller description came from a Rus- that he saw $20 of furs traded for a single 179 fungus. Most earlier writers stress the in- produce the other form. Sometimes this ertia and euphoria produced but [ocel- is stated mystically, for example "in the son (1908) describes also an uncoordina- belly of Indra the inebriating Soma ted frenzy. He repeats claims of increas- clarifies itself'. No Aryan sculptures or ed stamina and strength, which are buildings are known. The earliest extant reflected in the Koryak legends. In a buildings, from the last few centuries typical example Big Raven had caught a BC, are Bhuddist. Those stupas are often whole whale and could not send it home topped with what has been described as because he was unable to lift the bag con- a parasol, the status symbol of the time. taining its travelling provisions. He ap- However, the Sanskrit word for mush- pealed to Existence to help him. The room, chattra, literally means parasol. deity said "find white soft stalks with The evidence for the identity of Soma spotted hats - these are the spirits with A. muscaria is thus merely wa'pag". Big Raven found the fungus, suggestive. lifted the bag and sent the whale home. John Allegro, in his Sacred Mushroom The fungi were normally dried and and the Cross, sought to explain Chris- swallowed with water when used, but tianity as an Amanita-cult. His Enderli (1903) observed that the initial arguments are difficult to challenge effect can be to produce nausea - so the without a detailed knowledge of ancient Koryak gave the fungi to their wives for languages, but Robert Graves (1970) was a preliminary chew! Not only men were unconvinced. Perhaps one sample will fond of the fungus, Steller (1774) noted suffice. Allegro claims that the appela- that reindeer became addicted, and their tion Magi comes from the Latin magus, flesh was then reported to become itself from the Old Persian magush, intoxicating. cognate with the Greek pharmakon (and There is other historic evidence of the hence pharmacist). Ultimately all derive use of A. muscaria. The Aryans invaded from the Sumerian balag (literally 'big India from the North in about 1500BC. penis'). Amanita, of course, are phalloid Their religion appeared to be one of in the early stages of development. So the praise and prayer. Sanskrit hymns writ- Three Wise Men were fungus freaks! ten in this period, especially the Rig Before leaving the subject of Chris- Veda, were recorded down to 800BC. tianity and fungi, a chapel near the The religion became fused with Dravi- Chateau de Plaincouralt must be con- dian image worship and the Hindu pan- sidered. Located in the Berry, between theon emerged (Rowland, 1977). Gordon Ingrades and Merigny, and constructed Wasson (1969), a New York banker turn- in 1291, the chapel contains a fresco of ed mycologist, made an extensive study the Garden of Eden in which the Tree of the Rig Veda. It has 1028 hymns, of of Knowledge apparently sprouts spot- which 120 are to Soma (literally 'the ted toadstools. However, Erwin pressed one') sometimes called amrta Panofksky informed Gordon Wasson (linguistically cognate with ambrosia). (1957) that the "similarity with A. Soma comes from mountains, south of muscaria is purely fortuitous. The fresco the Oxus birch, with which A. muscaria is only one example of the conventionalis- is most frequently associated, growing ed tree type, prevalent in Romanesque only at 2400-3000m. There are no early and early Gothic art - it comes about by references to roots, leaves, blossom or the gradual schematization of the impres- seeds characteristics consistent with A. sionistically rendered Italian Pine Tree in muscaria. Later substitutes e.g, Ephedra Roman and Early Christian painting ..." are red, small, leafless and with fleshy In pagan Europe in the Dark Ages, the stalks, the nearest characteristics ob- Norse sagas refer to beserkgangr (literally tainable in lowland plants. Interesting- 'bearskin wearers'). Snorri Sturklson in ly there are two forms ofSoma. The San- the Ynglinga Saga speaks of them as skrit can be interpreted to imply that one "raging, half mad, insensate [who) went form of Soma is for the priests who then into battle without armour - mowing 180 down everything in their path, immune men intoxicated and blab secrets. There to fire or iron". The followers of Harald is no direct evidence that either author Haadrade fought on after his death at the possessed or saw Cooke's book. battle of Stamford Bridge until they drop- In Dorothy Sayers' 1930 novel, The ped from exhaustion. The symptoms are Documents in the Case, A. muscaria plays again more typical of a drunken frenzy, a central role. George Morrison, a retired but in 1784, Odman proposed intoxica- engineer, is fond of unusual foods and tion by A. muscaria in explanation and is writing a book entitled Neglected Edi- the controversy has rumbled on ever ble Treasures. He dies, with symptoms since. No contemporary literary refer- of poisoning by muscarine, after eating ences or illustrations supporting the idea a dish of fungi. The plot turns on how have ever been found. muscarine got into the meal, either from Central America has yielded definite the presence of A. muscaria or by addi- evidence of the ritual use of fungi. tion of muscarine, and on how natural- Amanita muscaria could possibly be ly occurring muscarine could be distin- depicted in the Guatemalan fungus guished from synthetic material. There stores dating from 500BC to 200AD, and exist both chemical and pharmaceutical from 600-900AD, but there are no errors (Crundwell, 1983). In comparison historic records. The Spanish con- with 400ppm in the toxic muscarinic querors of Mexico carefully documented species, Inocybe patouillardii, A. the ritual use of the small fungi termed muscaria contains only 2ppm of teonanactl. Roger Heim presented con- muscarine (Waser, 1961). Lampe (1978) vincing evidence identifying these fungi has stated "of the extremely limited with Psilocybe species and unearthed the number of fatal incidents in the medical continuing modern use. literature in which these species are un- Magic fungi early found their way in- equivocally implicated, all the victims to fiction. In her Adventures in exhibited a precarious state of health Wonderland, Alice encounters a cater- prior to the poisoning. Even an attemp- pillar seated on a mushroom and re- ted suicide with A. muscaria was dismal- quests his help to change size again. ly unsuccessful". The major active com- After an irrelevant dialogue the cater- ponents are not muscarine but muscimol pillar descends and remarks as it goes off and the related ibotenic acid. Interesting- "one side will make you grow taller, and ly, the red skin contains 50% more the other side will make you grow muscimol than the flesh. There is also a shorter". Alice has difficulty in identify- yellow pigment, muscaflavine (Barth et ing sides in a radially symmetrical ob- al., 1981). ject, and experiences some trouble in Modern experience of A. muscaria ef- stabilising the dose! Graves (1956) sug- fects is poorly documented. Wasson & gested that perhaps Lewis Carrol was in- Wasson (1957) tried the raw juice and fluenced by M C Cookes's Plain and Easy found it caused nausea, somnolence and Account of British Fungi, published in vivid dreams (by no means comparable October 1862. Charles Dodgson began to with Psilocybe mexicana). McDonald write down the stories on 13 November (1978) tested powdered North American 1862. Cooke refers to the macropsia ex- A. muscaria in volunteers, and all perienced after ingestion of A. muscaria reported nausea and lethargy. Some and reported by the explorers of Siberia, underwent visual disturbance, few ex- quaintly exemplifying it as a "straw ly- perienced hallucination or euphoria. ing in the road becomes a formidable ob- Waser (1967) found that ibotenic acid ject, to overcome which a leap is taken produced lassitude and later a migraine- sufficient to clear a barrel of ale". Charles like visual disturbance. He found that Kingsley, in Hereward, Last of the muscimol produced disorientation, illu- English (published 1866), describes an sions and perserveration of optical old Lappish nurse who possessed the perception ('echo pictures'). It was ex- secret of the scarlet toadstools, to make creted unchanged in the urine. It is not 181 surprising that the sixties hippies came ----- (1967). The pharmacology of to prefer Psilocybe. Modern experience Amanita muscaria. In Efron, D H et al. (Edit), seems far removed from either uncon- Ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive trolled rage or blissful euphoria (albeit drugs. Washington. tinged with macropsia). WASSON, R G (1969). Soma, the divine Asiatic and American varieties have mushroom. New York: Harcourt Brace been described for A. muscaria. Pharrna- Jovanovich. ----- & WASSON, V P (1957). Russia, cognosists now recognise chemical races mushrooms and history. New York. in some species of medicinally important plants. Perhaps A. muscaria exhibits a similar phenomenon. AVAILABLE FREE Most parts of BMS Transactions vols This article is a shortened version of 44-55 from the library of Dr Freitag of the lecture delivered by the author In Thrapston. Send list of parts wanted, Memoriam Alec Westrup on 16 plus 50p postage per part to F H Perr- November 1984 to the Portsmouth & ing, 24 Glapthorn Road, Oundle, Peter- Distr. Nat. Hist. Society. borough PE8 4JQ.

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