Abstract
AMONG the various interesting facts regarding the history of cryptogamic plants given in the new edition of Prof. Schübeler's great work on the flora of Norway, special interest attaches to the results of his experiments on Amanita muscaria, one of the commonest of the Norwegian toadstools. According to Dr. Schübeler, we have in this mushroom the source whence the ancient Scandinavians derived a preparation whose intoxicating and half poisonous properties induced symptoms of frenzied excitement, similar in all respects to those exhibited by the old northern warriors when taking part in a “Berserksgang,” which appears to have been very similar to the so-called “running amok.” Prof. Schübeler founds his opinion on the evidence given by the Russian writers, Krascheninnikow, Erman, and others, as to the effects produced on the Kamchatkans by a decoction of the Amanita, which they used as an intoxicating drink until they were brought into closer contact with the Russians, from whom they have acquired the practice of drinking spirits. In the present day this use of the Amanita seems to be limited to the nomadic Korjakes, with whom the neighbouring Kamchatkan tribes carry on a profitable trade, giving only one or two of these mushrooms in exchange for a reindeer. According to the testimony of the Kamchatkans, the first symptom noticed after drinking this so-called “Muchamdr liqueur,” one of whose ingredients is said to be the juice of Epilobium angustifolium, is a trembling in the limbs, followed after a time by great flushing of the face and general excitement arid irritability, which in the case of many is accompanied with an abnormal increase of muscular force. Thus an instance is recorded in which a man while under the influence of this timulant ran 15 versts carrying a sack of flour on his back weighing 120 lbs., which in his ordinary condition he could barely lift. On comparing the symptoms of intoxication by muchamor recorded among the nomads of North-Eastern Asia with the accounts given by Icelandic and other northern authorities of the condition of the Berserkers in their frenzy, Dr. Schübeler-finds such complete harmony that there can be no doubt of the identity of the causes to which both may be referred. We know, moreover, that while the descriptions of the Berserkergang forcibly recall the frenzy induced by the use of hachish, or opium, neither of these stimulants could have been attainable in Iceland in ancient times, nor could brandy have been used by the northmen, since it was not introduced into Norway before 1531. The employment of mead or ale by the Bersekers is equally negatived by the symptoms recorded, which the writer seems to have traced beyond a doubt to their true source. It is worthy of notice that as early as the beginning of the eleventh century the law-givers of Iceland recognised the Berserkergang as a manifestation of frenzy, for which the actors were to be held accountable, while a law was introduced in 1123 which ordained that every man who took part in these outbreaks should be banished from the island for three years, and that a similar punishment should be awarded to all who were present and who did not help to bind the Berserkers and watch over them till their excitement had passed away.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BENNETT, A. Norwegian Toadstools . Nature 33, 213 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/033213a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/033213a0