Note 22 — Chapter XI · Tree-, Herb-, and Stone-lore
Reading edition
Apparently we owe not only some valuable medicines, but even the familiar cup of tea, to the ancient searchers for the elixir of life and curative herbs. Intoxicating liquors (aqua vitæ, i.e. “water of life”) have a similar history. They were supposed to impart vigour to the body and prolong life. Withal, like the intoxicating “soma”, drunk by Aryo-Indian priests, they had a religious value as they produced “prophetic states”. Even the opium habit had a religious origin. Aqua vitæ was impregnated with “soul substance”, as was the juice of grapes, or, as the Hebrews put it, “the blood of grapes”.22