The first psychedelic ever isolated — and the chemical that inspired both Aldous Huxley's most famous book and Jim Morrison's band name.
A hallucinogenic compound found in the peyote cactus and certain other cacti.
From Spanish mezcal, from Nahuatl mexcalli meaning peyote or agave, from metl meaning agave and ixcalli meaning cooked or baked Key roots: mexcalli (Nahuatl: "cooked agave").
Mescaline was the first psychedelic compound to be isolated and synthesized — German chemist Arthur Heffter identified it in 1897, decades before LSD. Aldous Huxley's 1954 book The Doors of Perception, describing his mescaline experience, inspired Jim Morrison to name his band The Doors.