p. 45, from A Magic Mushroom Unmasked in Sandoz 1886- 1961: Jubilee Volume
The existence of the "sacred mushrooms" fell into oblivion as the miraculous effects attributed to them were regarded as superstitions until a few years ago, when American investigators, particularly R. Gordon. Wasson and his wife Valentina Pavlovna, re-discovered the mushroom cult in remote mountainous areas of Southern Mexico. The well-know mycologist, Roger Heim, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, classified as the mushrooms which the Mexican Indians call "teonanácatl" and use for magic purposes. He also cultivated some on a laboratory scale. Heim entrusted our laboratories with the chemical investigations of teonanácatl (Psilocybe mexicana Heim). In a relatively short time our chemists isolated the active principles, obtained them in crystalline form and elucidated their chemical structure. Soon, both active principles, psilocybin and psilocin, were synthesized.
The mental effects of these pure substances, which were ascertained in volunteers, were identical with those of the mushrooms. Psilocybin and psilocin not only have certain chemical features in common with Delysid [LSD] but are also structurally related to serotonin, a finding that is of biochemical interest. Their effects on human beings are qualitatively similar to those of Delysid; quantitatively are about 100 times weaker than those of Delysid, are valuable tools in experimental psychiatry, and have also proved useful as drug adjuvants in psychotherapy, and more especially, in psychoanalysis.
