A great web collision! First, a flickrfind:
*
The juxtaposition of the peeing boy and the Coke bottle – memorable… It strikes me that I’ve always just accepted the spouting cherub/little boy theme; I wonder where it came from? Just an obvious water-emitter, or is there something more to it? Perhaps it ties back to some pre-classical Amanita cult (I’m joking – I think). So, from the Golden Guide – Hallucinogenic Plants, a couple fly agaric pix. A Golden Guide that covers hallucinogens? Wow! I mean, I owned Pond Life, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, and a couple other guides, but somehow I missed this title. Is there a Ladybird book equivalent on the other side of the Atlantic, I wonder?
*
*
Golden Guide ht – boingboing
And it’s by one of my heroes, ethnobotanist Richard Evan Schultes! I immediately went to abebooks but the prices are scary– 50- $500! Think I’ll just stick with the online…
Thanks for the nudge – I looked up Mr./Prof./Dr.? Schultes – more interlibrary loan books to request!
If you get down to the Harvard museums there are (or at least were) glass display cases of Bannisteria (Ahayuasca– spelling?), coca leaves etc he collected, with his name on them.
There was a New Yorker profile years ago.
He was the mentor to Wade Davis, who wrote The Serpent and the Rainbow and other material on zombies etc.
I bet Chas knows more– he’s good on “entheogens”.
I’m going! I’ve been wanting to visit HMNH for a while – I really want to see the Blaschka glass plants – this clinches it. It’ll also give me an excuse to see some friends in Cambridge and go out for Indian food (there used to be a good Indian restaurant in Central Sq.) or coffee or something…
The urinating infant is one of Brussels’ more famous fountains that they try to push off on tourists. I can’t say that I really understand the appeal.