The frog prince: tale and toxicology.
Bufotenin is a substance present in the skin of some common species of frogs, and its ingestion (such as would occur in licking or kissing a frog) can result in vivid hallucinations. This biological property offers an explanation for the portrayal of frogs in folklore as creatures of transformation, or as intermediaries with other worlds.
Siegel
D M
DM
School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, N.Y.
McDaniel
S H
SH
D000818:Animals; D002027:Bufotenin / Q000506:poisoning*; D002648:Child; D005201:Fantasy; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011898:Ranidae
D002027:Bufotenin