Anatomy of a Ritual

Natural History, July, 2001 by Jared Diamond

Perhaps the simplest prop is the suppository, a drug-impregnated plug designed for self-insertion into the anus, where the plug is melted by body heat, releasing the drug. While suppositories are a popular means of taking medicine in France, they have the disadvantage of exposing the drug to just a small fraction of the rectum's absorptive surface (the rectum is about six inches long, much longer than any suppository). Hence physicians must prescribe a considerably larger dose of any drug administered as a suppository than if the same drug is taken by mouth.

Indians devised two methods of rectal drug administration that are superior to the suppository. Both involve the insertion of a hollow bone or tube through which a drug-containing fluid is squirted deep into the rectum, thereby attaining rapid absorption across a large surface. In the first method, a helper simply fills his mouth with enema solution and blows it out through the tube. In the other, more sophisticated method, the protruding end of the tube is connected to a bulb made of an animal bladder, a leather bag, or rubber. The bulb, rather than the helper's mouth, is used to squirt the enema fluid. Thus, Indians invented the rubber-bulb syringe, now adopted worldwide for perfume atomizers and medicine droppers.

Between about A.D. 1 and 900, the Maya Indians of Central America developed a highly advanced civilization; their achievements included writing, beautiful artworks, astronomy books, and a notoriously complicated calendar. When archaeologists first began to find slender tubes of unknown function in Maya tombs, they did not immediately realize that Maya sophistication also extended to enema technology. The evidence came with the unearthing of beautiful, colorfully painted vases, some of which clearly depicted the purpose of the formerly mysterious tubes with an unmistakable clarity that made archaeologists blush. One of those vases (opposite page) shows a recumbent man with his legs spread, receiving an enema from a standing person (probably a woman) holding an enema bag. At the recumbent man's head stands a male helper ladling enema fluid out of a large jar. Another painted vase (see page 20) portrays a male god about to receive an enema from an attractive young goddess/woman standing behind him as she unties his loincloth, with an enema pot and bulb syringe ready in front of her. While we can only speculate about the ingredients, a clue is that some vases depicting enemas show containers of a foaming fluid resembling balche, the Maya beer that was popular at the time of the Spanish conquest and that may sometimes have been laced with hallucinogens.

But why on earth should anyone choose to administer mind-altering drugs by enema, which requires apparatus and often an assistant, instead of just swallowing the drug? Remembering that the purpose of the whole exercise is to get the drug to one's brain, I see three physiological advantages.

First, try to recall your nausea the first time you drank a lot of alcohol or inhaled smoke from a cigarette. And ash a few drug users how they felt when they first tried heroin, peyote, or psychedelic mushrooms. Most hallucinogens tend to cause nausea; even experienced Indian peyote-chewers are prone to feel sick to their stomach.