An examination of the method of preparation and the properties of the drug, Soma, used in the sacrificial rituals of the Vedic religion since before 1500 BC, proves that R. Gordon Wasson was wrong. Soma was not a ‘divine’ mushroom. Soma is more likely to have been a plant part, such as seeds, roots, leaves or a substance, such as an oleo-resin, prepared from the sap of a plant, small or large. 

This paper incorporates some of the pertinent points made on this subject by the author in a previous publication (Mulholland, 1980).