The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center - Shroomery

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outcome of the research represents a lasting cultural gain.
From Huautla de Jimenez we proceeded first to Teotitlan, in a breakneck truck
ride along a half-paved road, and from there went on a comfortable car trip
back to Mexico City, the starting point of our expedition. I had lost several
kilograms in body weight, but was overwhelmingly compensated in enchanting
experiences.
The herbarium samples of hojas de la Pastora, which we had brought with us,
were subjected to botanical indentification by Carl Epling and Carlos D.
Jativa at the Botanical Institute of Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. They found that this plant was a hitherto undescribed species
of Satvia, which was named Salvia divinorum by these authors. The chemical
investigation of the juice of the magic sage in the laboratory in Basel was
unsuccessful. The psychoactive principle of this drug seems to be a rather
unstable substance, since the juice prepared in Mexico and preserved with
alcohol proved in selfexperiments to be no longer active. Where the chemical
nature of the active principle is concerned, the problem of the magic plant
ska Maria Pastora still awaits solution.
So far in this book I have mainly described my scientific work and matters
relating to my professional activity. But this work, by its very nature, had
repercussions on my own life and personality, not least because it brought me
into contact with interesting and important contemporaries. I have already
mentioned some of them-Timothy Leary, Rudolf Gelpke, Gordon Wasson. Now,
in
the pages that follow, I would like to emerge from the natural scientist's
reserve, in order to portray encounters which were personally meaningful to me
and which helped me solve questions posed by the substances I had discovered.
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