"There must have come a time when man, emerging from his bestial past, first grasped these possibilities, vaguely, hesitantly; when he first knew the awe that goes with the idea of God.  Perhaps these ideas came to him unaided, by the light of his dawning intelligence.  I suggest to you that, as our most primitive ancestors foraged for their food, they must have come upon our psychotropic mushrooms, or perhaps other plants possessing the same property, and eaten them, and known the miracle of awe in the presence of God...It must have been a mighty springboard for primitive man's imagination."  

-R. Gordon Wasson, 1959

Dasher's 

Natural  Products Vault

This web page was created in memory of a one 

semester eye-opening class on natural products.

 The page is meant to be a gateway to several 

members of the natural products family. 

    "Long before scientists began investigating nature's chemicals and the living creatures that synthesize them, human beings were making extracts, tinctures and other preparations from plants and animals.  Thousands of years before the discovery of antibiotics, some of these preparations served as medicines to relieve pain or heal sickness.  Others were poisons useful in hunting and warfare.  A few acted as mind-altering or psychotropic drugs and found use in religion and recreation. 

    Altogether, these preparations had an enormous range of properties.  One was a deadly poison from frog skin, another was a remedy for fevers from tree bark.  Poppies furnished a potent pain reliever, and a certain mushroom furnished a powerful hallucinogen.  Concoctions of the most diverse sorts were common for millennia, ages before there were an biologists or chemists, or any concept of molecules and chemical compounds.  All over the earth, people actively searched the natural world for beneficial preparations.  Their success generally depended on trial and error, luck, and serendipity."  - Agosta, William C.  Journal of Chemical Education, 1997, 74, 857.

Created By Kelsey Hanson, a senior Chemistry major at the University of Puget Sound.

Last updated: May 9, 2005