from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A poisonous hallucinogenic alkaloid, C12H16N2O, obtained from the skin glands of toads of the genus Bufo or from some mushrooms.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. An alkaloid, found in the skins of some toads, related to serotonin.
The problem is that the glands of the toad secrete another chemical known as bufotenine, a compound that is found in a hallucinogenic snuff made from a plant by Indians of the upper Orinoco in Venezuela.
The toad's venom — which is secreted when the toad gets angry or scared — contains a hallucinogen called bufotenine that can be dried and smoked to produce a buzz.
Further experiments led this audacious physician to conclude that the symptoms produced by bufotenine coincided curiously with the conditions of the berserkus of Norse legend.
But even if it had, it seems that bufotenine alone would be enough to ruin any experience.
In the late 1950s Howard Fabing, a medical doctor, obtained permission to inject bufotenine intravenously into a number of inmates at the Ohio State Penitentiary.
S., Intravenous bufotenine injection in the human being, Science 123 1956: 886-87; Flier, J., M.
Dimethyltryptamine, bufotenine, mescaline, and lysergic acid amide are mentioned by name in these statutes,