hallucinogenic salamander brandy

   A name used to denote a distilled alcohol with hallucinogenic properties which is made out of fruit and salamanders and is purportedly produced in the mountain regions of Slovenia. It has been suggested that hallucinogenic salamander brandy is manufactured in accordance with an ancient alchemical recipe involving the distillation of a fruit mash and the subsequent placement of live European fire salamanders (Sala-mandra salamandra) into the distillation vessel. The salamanders' skins contain the steroidal alkaloids samandarin, samandaridin, and saman-denon, which are thought to lend the brandy the potential to mediate such diverse perceptual effects as * hyperaesthesia, * visual illusions, *metamorphopsias, *geometric and *complex visual hallucinations, *auditory hallucinations, *somatic hallucinations, and *compound hallucinations. Because of its alleged psychoac-tive properties, S. salamandra is referred to as * psychoactive fauna. According to the Slovenian anthropologist Miha Kozorog, the existence of a Slovenian tradition ofmanufacturing salamander brandy and its purported hallucinogenic effects have been exaggerated by the media. What is known is that various species of salamander contain samandarin and other steroid alkaloids and that these species have been used for varying purposes in medicine and alchemy for at least two millennia.

   References

   Kozorog, M. (2003). Salamander brandy: "A psychedelic drink" between media myth and practice of home alcohol distillation in Slovenia. Anthropology of East Europe Review, 21, 1-9.

   Rätsch, Chr. (2005). The encyclopedia of psy-choactive plants. Ethnopharmacology and its applications. Translated by Baker, J.R. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press.