The pharmacological possibilities of the New World flora have as yet been investigated only superficially, but already there is ample suggestion of a wealth of still untapped material. Certain of the drugs, by reason of their action as cerehral excitants, have been extensively employed by the native population, and a halo of folklore and superstition has evolved around them. Some of them -such as mescal (peyotl)- have been regarded as sacred, and incorporated within an elaborate cult. Ayahuasca and jagé are two other drugs of this class, belonging in addition to the category of metagnomigenic agents, or plantes divinatoires, in that they are used in the rites of augury. Both drugs are widely used among the South Americans, and white men as well as Indians are numbered among the addicts.