Summary
The use of tobacco by South American Indians is deeply rooted in their culture and thought. From early pre-Columbian times to the present, tobacco has functioned as an important drug for magico-religious, medicinal, and recreational purposes. Data culled from about 1,800 ethnographic sources and pertaining to nearly 300 societies reveal that the Indians employ six major and several minor means of nicotine application. A comparison of the ethnographical data with experimental clinical studies of tobacco indicates that pharmacology corroborates the nicotine therapy and practice of South American shamans.
For a broader discussion of the general topic and for detailed documentation consult, J. Wilbert (1987) Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. New Haven: Yale University Press, on which this essay is largely based.
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References
Wilbert, J., (1987) Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. Yale University Press, New Haven.
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© 1991 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel
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Wilbert, J. (1991). The Ethnopharmacology of Tobacco in Native South America. In: Adlkofer, F., Thurau, K. (eds) Effects of Nicotine on Biological Systems. APS Advances in Pharmacological Sciences. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7457-1_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7457-1_2
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel
Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-7459-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-7457-1
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