Pharmacophilia or The Natural Paradises

by Jonathan Ott

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1888755016
• ISBN13: 9781888755015
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Natural Products Company
• Length: 191 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Chapter Overview

1. Phytomphalos This is a short ode to entheogens as the Tree of Life, Elixir of Life etc. etc. 2. Le Paradis Naturels Starts off with an overview of 19th century literary works by pioneers of the field such as De Quincy and Baudelaire leading into Ott's assertion that Baulelaire's calling of hashish and opium as an artificial paradise is not only incorrect but the exact opposite from the truth because they are in fact the most natural routes to paradise available. Because of the brain receptors that specifically fit the molecules that exist in the plants and our own neurochemicals that are so similar to them. In conclusion of the chapter Ott quotes Nietzsche and Gottfried Benn saying that "Inebriation is Nature's game with man" and that "potent brains are not strengthened by milk, but by alkaloids." 3. Celestial Pharmacuetics This chapter begins with an overview of the early entheogenic tombs from the 19th century. The Chemistry of Common Life by James F. Johnson, Plant Intoxicants by Ernst Von Bibra and The Seven Sister of Sleep by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke and while Johnson's book dealt with all types of plants Bibra and Cooke dealt exclusively with psychotropic substances. Then there is a summary of the conclusions of their work as pertaining to the moral implications of drug use and Ott moves on to 1887 with Louis Lewin obtaining a peyote cactus specimen from the U.S. which lead to the first purified entheogenic substance (Mescaline) in 1896 by Arthur Heffter and the pioneering bioassays he did with mescaline and peyote. Then it's on to 1924 and Lewin's Phantastica which was the "first comprehensive review of both psychopharmacology and ethnopharmacognosy"; and a discussion of the progression of the study of entheogenic substances. With a note of the aforementioned authors' knowledge that indigenous peoples project divinity onto certain plants; and their disregard of this notion. Then onto Nov 16, 1938 Hoffmann synthesizes LSD for the first time and the rest is history followed by a discussion of R. Gordon Wasson and his rediscovery of the mushroom cult in Mexico and Wasson's evolved viewpoint of entheogenic experiences being genuine in nature. 4. Idiosyncracsy and Pharmacophilia This chapter begins with an explanation of the concepts of physiology and medicine from the zenith of the Roman Empire until the end of the Dark Ages which included categorizing people according to the Hippocratic or Cardinal Humors. In the second part of this chapter Ott examines "human biochemical individuality" as it is relative to the pharmacology of inebriants; shedding light on peoples' preferences for certain drugs and the fallacy of the notion of "good" and "bad" drugs. 5. Psychopharmacological Engineering In this chapter Ott comments on the absurdity of the "fight drugs with drugs" notion such as using drugs to replace other drugs (Methadone for Heroin), drugs that block the effects of other drugs etc etc....Note that the goal is not to cure