Suspense! An hour of suspense!  Tonight our star Mr. John McIntyre, our story Donovan's Brain, a suspense play produced, edited and directed by William Spear. Mr. Montgomery. The man across the table was talking about shaved heads and electricity and I was listening. I'll have to admit it, I'm pretty much of a layman when it comes to things like that. I imagine you are too. But the man I was talking with was a specialist. I sought him out after we decided on our suspense play for tonight, as you know we're doing Donovan's Brain, and the man across the table who discussed shaved heads and electricity with such final authority was an eminent brain surgeon. Now I don't know very much about the human brain, I have one and I use it occasionally I hope, but I leave the clinical knowledge up to the brain specialists like the man across the table. To this man of science I posed the momentous question, what about the brain? And he started in. Your brain, he said, is something less than two and a half percent of your total body weight. There's no relation between the weight of your brain and your intelligence. There's no relation between the size of your brain and your intelligence. So we threw out size and weight and talked about what you could tell about a person's intelligence simply by looking at his brain. And it develops you can tell quite a lot by looking.  It has more grooves and depressions, convolutions he called them. Well that was all right with me. I was nodding my head in agreement when it occurred to me quite suddenly that this didn't mean very much, not really, because I can't look at somebody's brain, even if I wanted to. You can't either. We have to depend on other ways of judging people's intelligence on how they act, what they say, what they do. The brain specialist told me about that too. He said the brain acts as a storehouse for our knowledge. It also is the power that directs that knowledge. So when we act, we are merely putting direction to what we know. How a man acts the direction he takes is his own decision. It's an individual matter. And that interests me. The highly intelligent, highly moral lawyer and the deceptively crafty, highly immoral crook may well have the same amount of knowledge, but the way each directs his knowledge is entirely different. Why? Psychological fiber. That's what the brain man called it. Your psychological fiber is either weak or it's strong, so far as the pressures of living are concerned.  But if it's weak, these same worries and fears and tragedies take on exaggerated proportions. You lose your sense of direction and the result is fixation or obsession or insanity. Our play tonight is concerned with the brain, the man who directs it and what happens to his psychological fiber. It is the story of Dr. Patrick Corey and Donovan's brain, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. As I sit now outside my laboratory door, writing under the heading experiment 87, this final entry in my casebook, I know that these are the last words I shall ever write upon this earth. I neither ask nor expect forgiveness now or hereafter. And for those who seek some explanation, I refer them simply to this casebook. Let them read it carefully. From its first entry on that ill-starred day of December 5, today I bought a small cappuccino monkey from an organ grinder. The animal trembled with fear when I took it into my laboratory and when I tried to pet it, it bit me. But I had to make it trust me completely. Fear causes an excess secretion of adrenaline, resulting in an abnormal condition of the bloodstream which would throw off my observations. So, I petted bananas and raw egg. And finally, the creature laid its head against my shoulder. I stabbed it with a surgical lancet between the occipital bone and the first cervical vertebra. It died instantly. Well, David, what do you think of it? Well, it's pretty amazing, all right. You see what I've done, don't you? Well, I think so. You think so. Good lord, don't you know? Well, after all that, I'm only a second-year medical student. What of it would I? I was a second-year medical student. Who is it? Dr. Schratt is here to see you. Oh, well, let him come in. Come in, doctor. Thank you. Patrick didn't realize who it was. You know my son, David, of course. Of course, of course. How are you, my boy? Fine, thanks, doctor. Well, Patrick, how did it work? As usual, I see. Patrick, you didn't eat the lunch I sent into you. Or the breakfast, either. I tried to get him to, mother. Well, terribly busy, Janus. But you've got to eat there. I know, I know. What is it this time, Patrick? A brain. What?  Oh. Well, what about the brain? Well, I'm trying to see how long I can keep the tissues alive. Is that it, in that jar? Mm-hmm. Considerably more to it than just a jar, though. You want to see how it works? Well, is it still alive? In a way, yes. It's a fairly simple device, actually, doctor. It's a variation on Carell's mechanical heart.  These rubber arteries are fixed to the vertebral and internal carotid arteries of the brain. And the blood substance is forced through the cycle of willis to feed the tissues. And over here, I've installed a small pressure pump that forces the blood circulation. See? But how do you know it's alive? Well, that's very easy to determine. The brain, when functioning, gives off infinitesimal electrical impulses. And they can be measured. As a matter of fact, I've hooked the encephalograph to a small amplifying system. The brain impulses can actually be heard here. Turn it on. Quite effective, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it's effective, and it's wrong, Patrick. It's terribly wrong. I've tried to tell him, Dr. Schrott. He's trying to discover things that that no man should discover. It's warping his whole nature. He's in here night and day. We hardly even see him anymore. Mother's right in the way, Dad.  Would you leave us, please, Janice? You too, Dave. Oh, dear. If you please, Dave. It's wrong. It's wrong. In heaven's name, what's wrong with you?  Trying to reduce life to a mere matter of chemicals and test tubes. The origin of life is from a higher domain than that, Patrick, and you're your propaneate. Your hands are shaky. Do you have another hard night, Dr? You can taunt me if you like. I've made a mess of my life. That's true. But I wouldn't have a part of what you're doing for all of the success in the world. Oh, nonsense. You can't stop the progress of science. Every discovery of whatever kind is a step forward. If I can prove that the brain can perform certain functions outside the body, who knows where we may be able to go from there. How do you know that that thing in there doesn't feel pain? How do you know it isn't writhing in agony? Brain tissue itself is insensitive. You know that, Dr. But as to the feeling, look, I'll switch on the encephalograph. Notice the faintness of the amplified alpha rays. Notice the comparatively slow rate of pulsation. Now, notice what happens when I tap on the glass jar. Why? It feels. It thinks. Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but it certainly shows marked reaction to an external stimulus. I wouldn't believe it possible. Well, the trouble with you is, Schratt, you really don't believe in science. Yeah, well, have it your own way, Patrick. But when you can manufacture love and sympathy and kindness in a test tube, well, I'll be back. Are you leaving? Yes, yes. Patrick. Yes. Do me a favor.  Let it die? Yes, yes. Why, if it were within my power to grant, that little brain would live forever. December 10. I'm utterly exhausted from lack of sleep, but the events of the past five days have been of such tremendous importance that I must set them down while every last detail is still fresh in my mind. For I've had no time to make an entry in the second in this record since the day last week.  At that time, however, it seemed that I was doomed to disappointment. In spite of all my efforts, the brain of the monkey ceased to live at 12.14 at night. Tired and disheartened, I lay down to sleep on the cart in my laboratory. But at that very moment, fate was contriving in a currents which now seems destined to have the most profound effect not only upon my own existence, but perhaps upon that of all mankind. It's Dr. Schrott. Schrott? What in the world does he want? It's two o'clock in the morning. There's been an accident or something. He's pretty upset. What of it? Where is he? He went outside again. He's at the laboratory door. Well, all right. Patrick, oh, thanks, heaven, my boy, thank heaven. What's the matter? There's been a plane crash on the mountains. Only one of them left alive. I brought him this far, but he needs immediate operation. That's your job, your county physician. Patrick, Patrick, it's multiple fractures of both legs. The arteries are severed. The legs will have to be amputated. You're not in any shape to do the job. Well, that's not my fault. Take him to the Phoenix Hospital. I'm not going to take the responsibility. It's too far. We'll never get there in time. Now, Patrick, please, please, it may mean a man's life and... Yes, and your job as county physician, huh? I'm not thinking of that, but he's an important man. William H. Donovan. Donovan? The Wall Street Donovan? Yes. Oh, you've got to help me, Patrick. Well, what are his chances? About even if we hurry. I'll bring him in. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, my boy. You better get some things on, David. You may have to help. Oh, sure, Dad. Oh, David. Thanks. Yes, Dad.  I don't wish you to be disturbed. Sure, I know. Well, use the laboratory table before you go put the instruments to the sterilizer. And don't forget the jelly saw. Oh, right. Oh, but... But what? Oh, I thought the jelly saw was only used for brain surgery or not always. Don't worry. They're bringing him in from the car now. Oh, put him in here now. Here, here. Now, here, here. Careful, please. Put him right there on that table, please. Yes, Doctor. Easy. Better get yourself a gown and gloves, Doctor. Right over there. You won't have time to scrub. Thanks, Patrick. Thank you. Bad, isn't it? Pulse rapid? Hard? Really thin? I wasn't sure we'd even make it to here. Oh, David. Oh, yes, Dad. Half CC of adrenaline, David. One to one thousand into Venus. Right. Do men can go now? Is there anything else? No, no, thank you. Patrick, Patrick, don't you... I'd rather we were alone if you don't mind. Oh, good night, then, Doctor. Good night, and thank you. Now, David. David, if you'll remove the blanket from his legs. That's it. Mm-hmm. There, you see. Fortunately, a far stranger got to him right after the crash and had sense enough to put a tourniquet on each leg, but even so... We've got it. What's that he's saying? Something like, sure, sure, sure. He said it over and over. That's funny. He's got a foreign accent. He's an Armenian, I think. He changed his name to Donovan. I hadn't realized he was deformed. Well, it doesn't show as much in his pictures. Patrick, I think we ought to begin. There's no use amputating those legs. No use? He'll be dead anyway by morning. Well, won't he? Well, I suppose you're right, Patrick. You know I'm right. But still, we ought to try. We can't refuse to operate just because... We are going to operate. Sir, reins, please, David. The large one. Here you are, Dad. And it's 30. Would you give it, Dr. Schrupp? Here, right, right. Scalpel, please, David. And the Jilly song. Jilly song? Patrick? Well? No. No, I won't let you. After your performance tonight? But he's still alive. Precisely. My mistake with the monkey was that he was dead. I don't intend to make it again. Come, come, David, to Scalpel.   I'm giving him life.  I mean, he would die, of course. But for a while, at least. Donovan's brain will live. You'd better hurry. They'll be coming for the body pretty soon. You can go now, David. I think I will, then. David, you understand, of course. Yes, I understand.  I understand. Patrick, will the Scalpel... I bandaged the whole cranium. It looked like any head injury. I hope nobody gets any ideas about an autopsy. For the coroner, you can stop that. You drive a hard bargain, don't you, Patrick? Better sign the death certificate before they get here. You know this is blackmail. Want a drink? You don't have to do that. I'll sign it. I'm sorry, but it was a chance that comes once in a lifetime. William Donovan has one of the greatest minds. Has one of the greatest brains in the world today. And now you have it. It's madness, Patrick. You think I won't succeed? Succeed in what? Turn on the encephalograph. Yeah, simple alpha waves. No different from the monkeys. You can't take a human brain out of its body and expect it to function. That never occurred to you that the brain might simply be asleep? I sleep, certainly. Operation like this is a severe shock. Now, tap on the glass. Good lord, Patrick. Tells to waves it was asleep. You woke it up. It's actually conscious. Yes. There are three of us conducting this experiment now, Shroud. You and me and William Horace Donovan. December 17th. I moved my bed into my laboratory, but I scarcely slept in six days. There can no longer be any doubt that the brain responds like a sensitive seismograph to vibrations near it, including the sound of my voice. Yet I have found no method of communication with it. I have devised a simplified Morse code consisting of taps on the glass container together with voice vibrations. December 22nd. Shroud has come to stay with me. Half out of the feeling that he shares with me a common guilt. Half out of scientific curiosity. But I have scarcely seen him, and both David and Janice have been avoiding me. Not that I really care. I have been tapping out my code on the side of the brain's container endlessly, day and night, over and over a thousand times, so that a baby could learn it if the brain can't. I sleep only when the brain itself falls into a exhausting slumber. When it wakes again, I resume my tapping. What's the matter? Come, something the matter? I want you to see something.  Where are we going? Back to the laboratory. I can't believe it myself. I may have been dreaming. Delirious. What happened? Come, come on. You hear that? The delta waves. See, it seems disturbed. It seems disturbed. You've got to check my observations for me. If my reasoning is wrong, tell me. I can't be sure of anything anymore. Yes, Patrick, yes. Now, listen carefully, doc. You know I've been trying to communicate with the brain in code. Now, if I were able to cause a distinctive pattern of the brain's delta waves by a specific command in code, if the brain responded with the same pattern of sound each time I issued the command, it would prove that I had succeeded in communicating with the brain, wouldn't it? Yes, Patrick, yes. I think it would. No. Donovan. Donovan, if you understand, think three times of the word, talk. Three times, talk. Talk. It answered. It spoke at yourself just as I did the same word three times. Donovan. Talk. Talk. Talk. Then I'm right. It's true. Patrick, this thing has learned to talk. December 23rd. Schwarz romanticizing, of course, the delta pattern is so infinitely complex that it would be utterly impossible ever to break it down into specific words. Yet that it understands me that it's trying to communicate with me is certain. Schwarz suggests mental telepathy, that I try to make my mind a blank, as the mediums call it, while at the same time increasing the energy content in the plasma that feeds the brain in the hope of stepping up the brain's electrical potential, as one would step up the power of a radio station. But natural telepathy is nonsense. But the feeding theory intrigues me. I shall try it. December 31st. Notice today for the first time two distinct nodules of new brain cells on the frontal lobex. Electrical potential is increased to 510 microvolts. I've begun smoking cigars, although I've always hated them before. Nerves, I expect. January 6th. Nodules still growing. Electrical potential 1450. But with no observable results, I've lately felt a compelling urge to know more of Donovan's life and have collected every available scrap of information about him. Strange man, ruthless, actually evil in many ways, but nonetheless an extraordinarily brilliant mind. Patrick! Patrick! Wake up! Patrick! What is it? I thought I ought to wake you up, Patrick. You were moaning in your sleep and talking. Talking? What did I say? I'm not sure, but your voice was so strange that... Janice! Janice, what's the matter? Oh, that's nothing. I was dreaming. That's all. Janice woke me up. Patrick! Patrick, let me see your hand. No, no, no, no, no. The other one. What about it? You're not left-handed, are you? I know. Then why have you got ink on the fingers of your left hand? I don't know. Well, were you writing anything tonight? No. You must have been, Patrick. Here it is, right here on your desk. Uncense. Wait, let me see it. Well, you've been writing his name. Will you make start of him? Shrout! That's not my handwriting. What? What? Well, don't you see what it means? The brain has communicated with me. Patrick, you don't... Look here. Look at this magazine article. He's the reproduction of his signature. And he was left-handed, too. It says so here. It is. It's exactly the same.  Look at this picture. Smoking a cigar with his left hand. I wondered why I'd suddenly started smoking cigars. The same brand, too. Janice. Janice, try to remember what you heard me saying just before you woke me tonight. Now, think. Patrick, I... I can't believe... Think, Janice. All I heard was something like, sure, sure, sure... Sure, of course. Don't you remember, Shrout? He said it that night. It was the only thing we ever heard him say. It was an expression of his. It tells about it in one of the articles, too. It... it wasn't your voice, Patrick. You see? Right, Shrout. The brain has grown. And it's strong enough to influence not only the higher functions, the frontal lobe, but the speech centers, the motor centers of another brain. Patrick, Patrick, if this is true, then your experiment has been successful. It's ended. Ended? Why it's only become? Patrick! Don't you see what this means? Patrick, listen to me. What? Janice, what? You've got to stop. Stop! I can't stand it any longer.  Like someone I hardly recognize as the man I married. All that I tried to understand. But don't you see what you've done?  A murderer! Janice! David told me the whole thing. The poor boys have insane himself from worrying. Insane? What do you mean by that? What I say! You killed Donovan. Maybe he wouldn't have lived anyway, but you killed him. And now this... this thing has gained such power over your mind that it can make you do things you don't even know about.  Anything! You've got to choose, Patrick. Janice, please. I suppose you're right, but I'm utterly exhausted. I can't even think anymore. You've got to think. Give me until tomorrow. Let me sleep and then tomorrow I'll do something, I promise. All right, Patrick. But if you don't do something, if you don't destroy that thing, I will! Listen! Listen!  Janice, it's almost as though it had hurt you and we're raging at you! This way, please, Dr. Corey. But Patrick, why are we going in here? A psychiatric team? I told you I'd do something, darling, and I forgot an idea. You mean having yourself psychoanalyzed? Something like that? Something like that. I'll tell you about it later, dear. First, I want to talk to this man alone. Dr. Zanger, this is Dr. Corey. Oh, how do you do, Dr. Corey? I've heard something of your work. Oh, yes. Oh, and this is Mrs. Corey. Oh, of course, excuse me. I'm happy to meet you, Mrs. Corey. Thank you, Doctor. Won't you come into my office, Doctor? Yeah, Janice, would you mind waiting here in the reception room? I'll be out in just a moment. Well, certainly, dear. In here, please. Well, Doctor, she seems quite normal. I had expected from what you'd told me on the phone. Yes, I know, but I can assure you, deeply as it pains me to do so, that she is quite insane. Oh, I see. Paranoia. She's always been a little jealous of my work, but lately, she's developed the most extraordinary illusion. She thinks that I've created some sort of monster in my laboratory that controls my actions. Yeah, I have heard of such cases. It was a great shock to me. I thought of you at once, of course.  Well, it is a little unusual, but since you are yourself a medical man, I know you'll do everything you can. Yes, you definitely wish then to commit, huh? Yes, you have the paper. Here they are. Just your signature will be enough. There you are. You keep me informed. Naturally, naturally. Well, goodbye then, Doctor Corey. We will do what we can. Mrs. Corey is staying with us, Ms. Wilcox. Yes, Doctor. It's all right, Mrs. Corey. Captain? Just come inside with me, please. Dr. Bill, how do you wish it to be handled? Sure, sure, sure. I'll take care of it by the week. The checks will be signed William H. Donald. January 15th. It's nearly a week now since Janice went away. I cannot understand how she could have left me just when I needed her most. When I tried to question Schratt or David about it, they only look at me strangely and change the subject. Clearly, they too are in on the conspiracy. Sometimes it seems the only person I can trust is Donovan, the brain. It communicates with me more freely now each day. I know it has some great plan in mind for me, for both of us. And I'm waiting, patiently waiting. Donovan, I'm listening, Donovan. Don't be angry, Donovan. I'm trying to understand. I'm listening, Donovan. I'm listening. Tonight's full hour of suspense, Mr. John McIntyre appears as Dr. Patrick Corey in William Spears' production of Donovan's Brain. Tonight's study in suspense. In just a moment, we will return with act two of suspense. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. And now, back to our Hollywood soundstage and your host for suspense, Mr. Robert Montgomery. At the outset of experiment 87, we were concerned with a man of science who had a wife and a son whom he loved and who loved him. He was a gifted scientist, dedicated to his work, and he signed his name with his right hand, Dr. Patrick Corey. That was before Donovan's brain. That was before his psychological fiber weakened against the force of a powerful obsession, and with this weakening, his power to direct his knowledge has become twisted. Now we look again at Dr. Patrick Corey, man of science. He has alienated friends and family. He has had his wife committed to an institution.  And now with John McIntyre as Dr. Patrick Corey, and with act two of Donovan's brain, we again hope to keep you in suspense. January 16th. It is now six weeks, exactly 42 days. For six weeks, by artificial means alone, I have kept alive a human brain completely detached from the body, floating in the bath of serum, nourished by a synthetic blood plasma fed through its arteries by an electric pump. It has remained alive, not only alive, but I have succeeded in communicating with it. For I have even induced new growth of brain cells and so tremendously increased its mental faculties that by sheer brain power alone, it is actually able to communicate its thoughts to me.  Even now, I sense it striving to reveal some plan to me. Something so truly world-shaking in its implications that only such an organism developed to a point thousands of years ahead of its time could ever have conceived it. So far, I sense this only, but soon I shall know. Indeed, I shall be a partner in its execution. What a fool I was ever to have considered for a moment my wife's demands that I end the experiment. It's because I refused, of course, that Janice left me a week ago without so much as a word of explanation of farewell. Even my son David and my assistant Shrodd are privy to this conspiracy to thwart me. For what I asked about Janice, they pretended to know nothing or seek to avoid my questions. The brain will live and hear it now. Its delta waves quite audible over the amplifying system I've arranged for it. Almost as though it were calling to, trying to speak to me. The brain will live. Donovan. Donovan, what is it? What are you trying to tell me? Go on, Donovan. Go on. I'm listening. Go on. Who is it? What do you want? We want to talk to you, Dad. I have no time to talk. I'm busy. Please open the door. Patrick, it's important. Go away. I tell you I'm busy. Please, Dad. Can't you leave me alone? All right. All right. Thanks. Now, what is it? Patrick, won't you come into the study with us for a few minutes? Whatever you've got to say, you can say right here. You know I can't leave the laboratory. Dad, it's only that we wanted to talk to you in private.  No, it's not that, Dad. Never mind, David. At least turn that thing off then, will you, Patrick? What difference would that make it could still hear, couldn't it? All right. Well, what is it? It's... it's about Mother. Oh. So she put you up to this, did she? I thought the truth would come out sometime. Dad, listen. She tried to stop this experiment from the beginning. She thought she could blackmail into quitting by leaving me. And she still does. And now she's using you as a go-between. Patrick, please, listen to me. I've heard enough. We haven't heard a word from Janice. We don't know where she is. That's what we came in to talk about. Oh, have you? Well, how should I know where she is? Because... because you were the last person seen with her, Dad. I was. Don't you remember, Patrick? You took her into town with you. You wouldn't tell any of us why. Oh, yes. Of course. For a moment I'd forgotten. But what of it? Don't you remember what happened then? Well, of course I remember. She left me, that's all. Well, where, Dad? Where did she leave it? What were you doing? Hey, I... I don't know. We were in some big public building. It's the city hall. Courthouses, taxes or something. And the next thing I knew, she simply disappeared. Is that all? Didn't she say anything? Didn't she... didn't she at least tell you why she was going? Do I remember what she said? It's been a week and more. I've hardly slept. And you know I've been working night and day? Yes, that's just it, Patrick. What do you mean by that?  Well, if the brain can make you think things, why can't it also make you forget things? Leave me alone. Dad, are you sure... Are you sure you don't know what's happened to Mother? No, no, I tell you. Don't you see what you might have done? In Heaven's name, stop now while there's still time. Get out of here! While there's still time to help Janice, if there is. While there's still time to help yourself, Patrick.   Kill it, Patrick. Kill it!  Both of you!   January 18th. The brain continues to communicate thought fragments more and more easily. But nothing further on what I have come to think of as the plan. I am now sleeping a great deal. But my dreams are becoming increasingly troublesome, although I am at a loss to analyze them. Most frequent is a sort of vast cosmic ballet, presided over by the colossal figure of a young man whom I seem to recognize. And yet, I never see his face. It is though the entire population of the earth were moving past him in review at his command. Help me with the straw. It's not... No, no, David. Don't let him touch me. Don't let him touch me. It's all right now. Here, here's a glass of water. Well, what's the matter? You're trembling all over. I... I can't... What are you looking at me that way for? You look frightened after death. Death? But what happened here anyway? I came in and found you on the floor with your hands around your own throat. But it hadn't been for me. What? Why is your luggage all packed? I was going to leave. Leave? In the middle of the night? Why? Because I... Few spots. It's been opened. It was you, Shroth.   Patrick, you tried to strangle me. What? It's true, Dad. That's why I had to slap you. But that's absurd. I came in here and I found Shroth with his hands around his own throat. He was strangling himself. Dad, please think a minute. Nobody can strangle himself. Look at these marks on my throat. You think I could have done that? No, it's not possible, and yet... It's true, Patrick. True. Then I tried to shut off the current. I was afraid for you. But as I opened the fuse box, I heard the delta waves in the laboratory suddenly become stronger and louder than I'd ever been before. And then... And then I... Yes, yes. When the brain knew you even spoke in Donovan's voice, Patrick. His voice? Yes, that recurring phrase of his. Sure, sure, sure in his very tones, his very accent. You've created a monster, Patrick.  Patrick, what about Janus? Shroth, you... You don't think I... I couldn't have done a thing like that? You couldn't have done what you did tonight if you'd been yourself? No, no, I... Even hypnotists can't force a man to do it. Don't worry about it now, Patrick. It's probably all right. We'll try to find it tomorrow. We'll do everything we can, but first... Dad, don't you see? Dr. Shroth was right. You've got to destroy him. Maybe... Maybe then I could remember it.  Pull the switch in the fuse box. It will only be a matter of seconds, then. Yes. You've got to, Patrick. Shroth, they can't move. Come to me. Pull the switch. Spurlize this, Patrick. The brain won't let itself be killed. Then it has the power to live on. On to commanders as long as we live. Come and do anything it wants. To kill, murder, and... What are we going to do? Listen! The brain! It's laughing! February 2nd. Shroth has left. He had to, of course, for his own protection of nothing else. Before he left, I swore him to eternal secrecy.  The very thought that any harm might have come to her through me is enough to drive me, almost mad. As for David, he's strong enough to prevent any untoward accidents. And he's volunteered to stay with me. He'll sleep at night, behind locked doors. We must devote every faculty we possess together and independently to finding a way of destroying the brain. Perhaps while it sleeps, although it seems to have developed, tremendous powers of the subconscious, which operate even in sleep, a recurring dream, then our oppressive sense of some further task to be performed continues. Janice were only here. Even her presence, I know, would help immeasurably to combat this fearful thing. A terrible thought crosses my mind. Could Shroth have left if the brain had not, for some reasons of its own, actually wanted him to leave? February 2nd. February 6th. My thoughts are less and less my own. The dream of the young giant bestriding the earth, the figure without a face, pursues me now even in my waking hours. Increasingly, I seem to live in a world of evil fantasy. Beepled and controlled by the mind of William Donovan. And worst of all is the obsession that there is some fateful role not yet revealed to me. But I have been assigned to play in it. But I've not given up hope. I must destroy the brain. The possibility has occurred to me. I must give it more thought. If Janice were only here. Much time. My darling. How are you Patrick? Well, well enough. But Janice, where have you been? Where have I been? Yes, well you had no idea. I've been have crazy worrying about you. Uh huh. Schratt found me. Janice, why did you leave me that day? Why didn't you at least tell me? Where did you go? I was with friends. Did Schratt tell you anything? No. Nothing special. Janice, I know I haven't been a very good husband these last months. I haven't been very kind or considered or even civilized. I haven't been myself Janice. I know Patrick. But if you'd only known how I missed you after you left. How I needed you. I need your help Janice. I know Patrick. I came back to help you. But... But what? Where's Davis? Oh he's asleep in the next room. Ever since... Lately he's tried to make it a point to sleep only when I didn't. Try to keep an eye on things. Patrick, I'm going to help you. All I can. Any way I can. I'm going to. But first... I want to take David away. David? Because I don't think it's good for him to be here. I don't think that you... Then Schratt did tell you. Yes Patrick. He did. Oh Janice. Janice. I don't know what to do. My mind is only half my own. Lately I don't even know what I'm... Whether I'm someone else. It's like some frightful nightmare. Only I don't wake up. I'm afraid I'll never wake up. My poor dearest. Janice. You... You do love me still. Yes Patrick. It's the only thing I am left Janice. It's what I've counted on and clung to. And that somehow out of your love. You'd find a way to help. No one else can. I know. Poor old Schratt didn't even dare to come back. I don't want to torment you. It's only that. Perhaps we can find a way. If we know all the facts. What Janice? Don't you really know where I was? No. How could I? Don't you remember? Where you took me? Where I took you? You took me to a psychiatric clinic Patrick. You had me committed. Oh Janice. No Patrick. Not you. Donovan. It was because I tried to make you stop the experiment. Killed the brain. As you left me there. You even spoke in Donovan's voice. Sure, sure, sure you said. I thought they were the last words I would ever hear you speak. Oh Janice, forgive me. Forgive me. I didn't persuade anyone I was sane. After what you told them. Everything I said only made them think I was mad. I'm not mad. Am I Patrick? I'm not mad. Janice will be gone for some three hours. I have sent her into town for Dr. Zanger, the psychiatrist. Maybe he can help. But now I'm overcome with the thought of the humiliation. I shall have to suffer when other medical men become aware of the position I am in. It will be the end of my career, my reputation, all my hopes. It's folly to think that Zanger would keep it to himself indeed. He would have no right to. I can bear it if I must. But another way, a possibility came to me yesterday. And I've been thinking it over. There's no harm in trying it in an event. I must try. I have three hours. What type, you know? Matter of fact, I don't think I do. Why? Well, no matter. We can easily find out. David, I think at last I know a way.  Yes, it's simple. Perfectly natural. And yet nine chances out of ten is something Donovan would never have known about. I do it myself, but unfortunately my blood type is the same as his. A transfusion? Of course. I have to replenish the blood substance periodically anyhow. It's about time to do it again. I've always used my own because it was the same type as his. The different type, the right type. You mean the wrong type? Yes. Given the wrong type, the brain will die. Yes. It sounds possible. I'm sure of it. I know it.  I thought of that. It's a chance we'll have to take. If you're willing. Of course I am, Dad. Then we'll take a blood sample now. Come to the laboratory. If only I have the right type. The rather the wrong type. If you haven't, we'll find someone who has. Maybe Schratt. Down there on the table you would want to turn again. On your arm? There. I'll put it on. This small syringe will do it. Now. Go ahead. I'm ready. David. Don't watch me. It'll be easier if you don't for me. That's a funny one. Coming to you. Well, doctors are never quite as steady with members of their own family, you know. Ready? Sure. You all right? Yeah, yeah. I'm all right. We threw in just a second. You... Getting it all right? Yeah, just a second now. Dad. I'm sleepy. We'll be over in a moment. But... What's the matter? Why am I so... Sleepy? You'll be all... So sleepy. So... So... So... That is what unesthetic is for. To make you sleep. I was somewhat surprised to find the instrument sterilized and already lying out. But I worked more rapidly and skillfully than ever before in my life. I made an incision just below the hairline. Laying back the scalp as far as the base of the skull. I trapanned the cranium at two centimeter intervals working back and downwards to the upper edge of the occipital bone. With a genie saw, I cut through the connecting bone structure and removed the entire top of the cranium placing it in a saline solution to preserve it. I made a semicircular incision with an enduro matter laying it to one side exposing the brain. As I dissected out the facial auditorium pneumogastric nerves beneath the medulla oblongata I became conscious of an insistent clamoring. Something like a mounting hysteria in the distant reaches of my mind. Almost as strong as the irresistible compulsion that drove me on. But my hand did not falter. With a sure stroke I severed the spinal cord just below the first cervical nerve. As I make this last entry with that awful guilt upon my soul even now I cannot fully comprehend how it has been possible for any man. By mortal or immortal means to be driven to such a crime. Even the divinity himself did not demand of Abraham that final sacrifice of expiation when he with his only begotten son ascended the Mount of Olives. Perhaps Schrat is right. Perhaps there is indeed in man some spark of the divine that will allude our test tubes and our laboratories until the end of time. Perhaps that is the one thing that even Donovan did not foresee. I only know that at the instant my son died under my own hand I was set free. At that instant I saw and understood for the first time that monstrous plan born in the brain of William Donovan it was the plan I had glimpsed but never grasped in the recurring dream. Donovan did aspire to the domination of the world and were those tremendous mental faculties that I myself had given him it was literally within his power to become the absolute ruler of all man. Only one thing was lacking a body. A young strong body into which those ever growing brain cells could graft and to fix themselves gone perhaps for centuries. He chose the body of my son and now at last too late I am free to destroy this foul thing of my creation. I know it as surely as I know that my own life must be the forfeit. The brain also knows I can hear the disturbed erratic oscillations of the delta waves coming through the laboratory tomb but there is no room left now for fear. I shall take the six steps from the desk where I am writing across to the laboratory door how often I have taken them in happier times. I shall open the door close it behind me for the last time and right finish to the mortal life of Patrick Artichore and the brain of William Horace Donovan. May others learn from the record I leave here the lesson I have learned from it and profit by it and for the things I have done may God have mercy on my soul. The bodies of Dr. Patrick Arthur Corey and his son David were found in Dr. Corey's own laboratory early today. Young Corey had apparently died on the operating table as a result of a delicate brain operation performed by his father. In the case of Dr. Corey there was nothing to indicate the cause of death but medical authorities who viewed the body including the famous Dr. Gustav Zanger gave us their opinions that he might have died of a shock as the result of the unsuccessful operation on his son. A curious feature of the case was the fact that numerous pieces of tissue identified as being from a human brain were found scattered about the laboratory floor while a larger section of brain was found in the midst of an elaborate apparatus heavenly part of a scientific experiment. Medical authorities stated however that they were unable to explain the nature of the apparatus and that the brain itself was in such a state of decomposition as to indicate that it had been dead and slowly decaying for at least two months. Dr. Corey is survived by his wife Janice. She was committed to the county in Salem for the insane late this afternoon. Burial of Dr. Corey and his son will be at the Mount of Olive Cemetery for a superb performance as Dr. Corey. Our appreciation and thanks to John McIntyre. Tell me something if you were going to make a room in your home available for renting would you accept this man? He's personable in manner and appearance and he pays well. He's alone, no wife, no children, no pets. He owns a Bible, reads it and quotes from it freely. He asks only to live undisturbed in a room. There, I think that's about all. No, there is one thing more. He has one abiding dislike. He can't stand sin. Well, how about it? Would you rent him a room? I suggest you wait to answer. Yes, I strongly suggest you wait until next week when I appear at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bunting as the lodger from the famous novel by Mary Bellick Lownes. The story may currently be seen in the Universal International Production Ride the Pink Horse. John McIntyre may soon be seen in the 20th Century Fox Production Northside 777. Donovan's Brain by Kurt Zodmak was adapted for suspense by Robert L. Richardson was produced, edited and directed by William Spear. Lud Glaskin is our musical director and conductor and Lucian Morrowak composes the original scores. Next week here Robert Montgomery as the lodger on Radio's This is CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System.


Yeah, I'm very happy to be here today and get to talk to you about Bay Area plants and foraging in the area. I like to actually start my talk, well actually before I say that, let me say that I am completely okay with questions and such, but I won't promise that I see them all. You already will help me see some, but if you have any questions to ask anything that you want to put in the chat, you are definitely welcome to. The questions make the talk more personalized. That's why it's not just a movie that you're watching, but actually something that you can participate in. So definitely feel free to bring the questions that help get what you were hoping for out of the talk. I'll also make some time for questions at the end. But before I get started too much further, I always like to start my talks and classes and events with just thinking about how much the natural world does for us with some gratitude for today, especially the plants that impact our lives every day, whether it is through beauty or through giving us healing or giving us food or oxygen, whatever it is that the amazing plants that surround us in most places, even in the city, there's more than you initially would think.  And while you're thinking about yours, I will tell you, well, the first plant I see here is my Christmas tree, which I used to not be kind of a tangential topic, but I used to never get a real tree, but these days I actually live in the Sierra Nevada mountains. And we have several spots here in Truckee that have had some kind of disturbance and a lot of the fir trees have grown very close together in such a way that they couldn't possibly become full trees. And so these days my family and I actually do go to the forest and get a permit from the Forest Service to go into an area that has way too many trees growing too close together and they actually need to be thinned. So we have a real Christmas tree in much the same way as when I was just a kid in Finland, we used to get actual trees. So yeah, grateful for trees and oxygen and beauty of the trees, the joy that they bring, especially at this dark time of year, and also feeling very grateful for medicinal plants at this time when there's lots of colds and flus going around. Somebody just brought me some wild harvested Graze Lovage, which is also called Oshala, which is very similar to the well-known or OSHA, and I've been feeling very grateful for that herb. Now I'm going to see what what plants you all are saying. Oh nice. Oh dwarf orange, cool. Grapes, yay, still grapes, eating grapes, lucky. Nice. Yeah, a lot of beauty plants, nice, lots of, oh, somebody asked, these are plants that we are feeling grateful for, for those of you who arrived late. Yes, Christmas tree too, ferns, oh gosh, yeah, ferns are the original early ancestor plants. Great. Well, I'm sure there's lots and lots more, but it is, it is always nice to notice that pretty much no matter where I do the talk, even if it's in a supposedly empty auditorium, if we look outside the window or just look at what people decorate things with, we will usually see a plant. So with utmost gratitude for all the plants, I will, with that gratitude, start this talk with you and please keep feeling gratitude and noticing all your plants while we're talking. All right, I'm going to share my screen and start. I have some photos to share with you. I won't call it an official slideshow because my official slideshow happened to disappear, but I do have photos to share with you and that is just fine. Just a second here, I wanted to, sorry, just a momentary thing because the zoom bar is covering my control bar for preview, so I can't click the slideshow button. Interesting, there, magically that disappeared, awesome. Okay, here we go. All right, does that look fine, Laurie? Yes, okay, great. All righty, unfortunately, I keep having these things pop up on top of it. I don't know if you all see those, but I have pop ups. I'm not sure if there's a way to stop that, Laurie, but if there is, great. All right, anyhow, my name is Mia and I am the author of two books on foraging. One of them is the Bay Area forager and then my most recent book is the Sierra forager for this area in the Truckee and all the way up to Yosemite, or down to Yosemite region in the Ceres, but since I'm presuming most of you are in the Bay Area, because this is a San Francisco library talk, I will focus mostly on Bay Area plants. I actually grew up in Finland where foraging is still a lot more common than it usually is in the US. That could possibly be because in Finland, the forest floor is actually covered with really yummy wild blueberries and it's really, really easy to just go into the forest and harvest big handfuls of blueberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, lingonberries, and there's all kinds of mushrooms. So mushroom hunting is also a lot kind of more easily just visible and all over the forest floor in the summer. So it makes sense that people would still be doing that with their families. So that's how I grew up as well. And then when I moved here, when I was about 15, I started wondering, well, there must be edible plants here too. There don't seem to be wild blueberries all over the forest floor, but I see berries and I see a lot of plants and so very slowly actually, I started finding out what was edible. And at that time, for some reason, there wasn't an easy foraging class to attend. And actually most of the foraging books were out of print. Then there was a new surge where a lot of the books actually became available again. And books came out. But when I was trying to find out what was forageable, really, there was just a You Will Give It book from the 60s. What is it called? I'm forgetting. I'm sure. Oh, Stocking the Wild Asparagus. Great book, really great book, but kind of lousy pictures. So not the most approachable if you don't already know what you're looking for sometimes, but great information, amazing forager. But so it actually took me quite a while to figure out what was edible. And I'm a very careful eater as well, which might be the reason I found out so much about plants is that I'm not the kind who just goes when somebody has said, oh, that might be edible and tries it. I know people like that, but that's not me. I'm very careful. So I did my research and always made sure that I know 150% sure that something is edible before I try it. So I accumulated a bunch of information and then suddenly people were asking me to share my information and do classes and it gained a lot of popularity. And then I met a fellow forager Kevin and we decided to collaborate and we write the Bay Area forager, which we intended to be a very local book, because a lot of the guides that were out covered a very broad region. And it was obvious from the books that those authors didn't actually have a very good knowledge of any local area. Like it might just say West Coast foraging, but gosh, the West Coast has so many different types of plant zones that it could be hard to really be able to specialize in one of them. And most of the time it showed that they had a local bias, but that wasn't declared in the title of the book. So when Kevin and I wrote the book Bay Area Forager, we really wanted it to be a truly Bay Area book, one that would be very easy to pick up and quickly learn just a few of the most common forageable plants in the Bay Area rather than be overwhelmed by the entire West Coast. So that's a little bit of my story. And now I'm going to focus on the plants. If it'll let me. There we go. Oh, well, that's me and Kevin there. So that's more of our story in the headlands picking some wild mustard and wild radishes looks like. So often, this is kind of you might be walking down a path and you're looking at the wall of green here and maybe you're wondering, well, how am I going to, I want to learn about wild edible plants. I might want to eat some things and this is, is there anything that I could eat around here? Where do I start? What's the way to really start on here? It looks like there's lots of plants for some of you. You might be plant experts and even from this photo with kind of small detail, you might already be identifying what these plants here are. And for others of you, you might be like, yeah, it just all looks like green and flowers. And I'm really not sure what's what. And how could I ever know what to eat? I mean, there could be dangerous plants out there. So how would you start foraging? My first recommendation is to get to know what the dangerous plants are or what the plants that could hurt you are. So for many of you, this plant is probably familiar. This, of course, is our friend poison oak, which actually is a very special plant in our area often protects zones that have been really damaged. In fact, with the kids groups, we've taken to calling it protector oak sometimes because it really does kind of say to us humans, hey, wait, stay away from this area. This isn't an area to trample in. And it's an interesting plant because it's called poison oak, but it's actually neither poisonous nor is it an oak. So very interesting that it is called poison oak. Poison oak, very strangely, is actually an edible plant. It is not poisonous. The definition of poisonous is that if you ingest it, it will hurt you in some way. Now, of course, poison oak actually does hurt us. But the reason for it is not because it's poisonous. It's because we are highly allergic to it. So there are people that are not allergic at all to poison oak, and they will not have a reaction even if they eat it. And I've actually witnessed somebody eating full grown sprigs of poison oak that got used to it. Don't try this at home. But they were not allergic to it, and they were fine. So poison oak actually has edible berries, edible leaves, but we are so allergic to it that we can't even touch it. So this is definitely one plant to know. Most places in the Bay Area have it, and some have it very abundantly. And if you're foraging around touching things, you definitely want to identify poison oak so that you don't get a very itchy rash. It is best identified by the leaves of three, as you probably know the rhyme. And sometimes it's viney. Sometimes it looks like a tree. It's a master of disguise, but definitely want to get to know thoroughly if you are interested in foraging. Well, why there is this delay, but it's okay. Oh, here's another picture of poison oak. It kind of shows you how different it can look. Where sometimes it's a big bush. Sometimes it's just a sprig. Now I wonder if you know this plant. This is another plant we definitely want to know before we go out there and forage, because often it's a good idea to get to know the most hazardous things before you try to find things that are non-hazardous. This right here is poison hemlock, which is one of the most poisonous plants in North America.  And I do know people who've gotten seriously ill and one person who has actually died from ingesting this plant.  It looks like a wild carrot. It is in the carrot in the APACA family and carrot family plants are very hard to tell apart. So for beginning and even intermediate, honestly, even sometimes advanced foragers, I recommend a high degree of caution with any carrot family plant, making sure that you absolutely know it if you're going to be harvesting it, because there are several carrot family plants like poison hemlock and water hemlock, which is even more poisonous. That can be fairly easily mistaken for other things such as wild carrot or OSHA.  In fact, this plant is the one that they used on purpose to kill Socrates, that some people say it still has his blood on it. If you look at the stems, you can see little teeny specks of red. And that is one identifying feature of poison hemlock. This plant also, when it dries, you can see some of the dry stalks in this picture too. When it dries, it just makes kind of a brittle and hollow long, long stem. And sometimes kids and sometimes people even will want to use it for firewood or something. So that's another good thing to know fully in the Bay area is what poison hemlock looks like. Can you see my chat on my screen if I have it open like this? Is it in the picture? No, we can see you. Okay, awesome. Great. Thank you. Just making sure. Yes, and poison hemlock does have white flowers. Thank you for pointing that out. That's really true. And here is another picture of it where you can kind of better see. You can see you can see the hollowness of the stem. There's actually a little spider that's crawled in there. You can see the red much more clearly. It doesn't have the flowers, but the flowers are umbels, so kind of like umbrellas of multitude of white and they are really pretty flowers. This plant is very common in the Bay area. And yes, somebody asked it is bad to use in fires. You don't want to inhale the smoke of any toxic point. Alrighty. Oh, well, and here's another hazard of fortune. You might not be expecting this, but this is real. There's also other dangers besides poison, poisonous plants. You also want to make sure that you're not eating plants from an area that that dogs or cows or whatever might have been peeing or pooping in. I mean, that's that is a real thing. If, however, that's fairly easy concern to fix, of course, any plant that you take home that you're not going to cook, you can definitely wash, you can even wash it with a little bit of hydrogen peroxide or vinegar to get rid of any germs. But still, it's kind of nicer not to forage right next to sidewalks or like the edges of trails where dogs are really likely to go. Another hazard of foraging is pesticides and also any kind of like any other kind of pollutants that might be put in put in an environment like next to power lines and telephone poles, things like that. You probably want to avoid foraging next to features like that or even sports fields sometimes have way more pesticides than other places. So that's just something to be aware of. And therefore, I like to ask myself before I forage anything, I ask myself, hmm, does this really seem right? Is this really a good place to forage before I actually pick something? Mia, there are two questions in the chat. Okay. Is hemlock poisonous to cats and dogs? Can you touch it? That's a great question. Hemlock poisonous to cats and dogs. That is a curious, I don't remember that for sure. I actually have looked it up. And I don't remember I think goats can handle it. I think it's probably not good for cats and dogs, but I'd suggest looking that one up on the internet just in case. And what was the other question? Can you touch it? Is it? Oh, yeah, touch it. Great question. Yeah, you can touch it. It's not like poison oak where it would give you a rash. However, we have had some rare cases where like a kid was rolling around in a big patch of it, like really rolling and got a reaction. So it's not great to, it's better to avoid touching it, but you're not going to get poisoned by brushing against it. The other thing is, of course, if you're going to rub it in your hands and then eat, that's not great, but you're not going to die from doing that. So basically, yes, you can touch it. Thank you. Yeah. Right, that was a picture of a factory for that. There's that kind of pollution as well. But that's in all of our food, unfortunately. Other than those hazards, once you have your basic hazards down, then there is an abundance of things to harvest in the Bay Area. We are actually really lucky in the Bay Area that almost every season is a foraging season. There's really basically no time of year that there isn't something to forage, because it's a mild climate and there's a lot of variety. I mean, one thing that's really fun about the Bay Area is that there is so much variety in the landscape. So for example, this picture reminds me of that in Golden Gate Park, there's nasturtiums and all kinds of plants that aren't in season other places in season. Like Golden Gate Park has its own season and there's that all over the Bay Area where there's these different zones of the Bay Area and you can find different plants in them in different seasons of different phases of their progression and that's kind of fun. And it's also, this picture is also a good reminder that there's so much abundance and you also do want to harvest with care. A lot of people ask me, well, how much should I forage if something, when is it okay to forage? And the general rule of thumb is, the general rule of thumb is don't harvest more than one third of a part of a plant. I tend to go for way less than that. And my first thing that I do is just look around and determine does this seem like a good place to forage? Is there only one of this type of plant or are there several? Does it seem like these plants are doing well and it's a good idea to forage them? The really good news is that most of the plants I'm going to talk about today and most of the plants in the Bay Area forager are actually plants that are either considered invasive or just very abundant and most people would be happy if you removed some from their yards. A lot of them are what a lot of people would call weeds. So there's that. I see a lot of things in the chat. Are there any questions? Yes, there's a question from Doug. What solution of hydrogen peroxide to clean forage leaves? 100% or what percentage diluted with water? Oh, yeah, no, not 100%. You mean what solution of hydrogen peroxide just depend that you can easily get in a pharmacy and just like even a teaspoon to your whole wash bucket is fine. And how to differentiate between poison hemlock and queen antlates? That is an advanced question and I would say my first answer to that question is if you don't really know, then avoid eating those. And my second answer would be to say what I would actually recommend is find a confirmed poison hemlock and find a confirmed queen antlates in the stages of their development. So when it's flowering or when it's seeding, the ones where it's really easy to identify them, you can even use an app like I seek to help you. I seek is usually pretty good. Not disclaimer. I would never use I seek to eat something edible. What I mean is find the plant that you think is most likely queen antlates in a flowering stage or a seeding stage where it's very easy to identify, confirm that it's that if I seek things so too and observe that plant through its stages. So from flower to seed to leaf and actually see that one plant that you go to every time. Same thing with the poison hemlock, go to it at different phases and that is your best way to identify those two types of plants fully. That's actually what's recommended if you're going to be harvesting APACA family plants for like medicine making or such is to really get to know the same patch of plants over time so that there's really no question about what it is. You could of course like get a general internet search answer but it's not going to, it's really best just to get to know the certain one that you know is it and observe it. Alrighty for some of our common plants might as well start with our bay tree which actually is named, it's in the bay area, it's a bay tree, it's the bay areas tree. I'm sure many of you have seen them. It's a wonderful plant because it's very easy to identify. The smell is pretty much unmistakable. It's an evergreen tree and it has these oval leaves and in the fall it makes these little fruits, these bay nuts. So you'll see in this picture there's a green one, they turn an olive purple color when they are older and they are actually relatives of the avocado which is really strange because they have a completely different smell but when you see the way that the bay nut, the seed is in there, it actually is very similar to an avocado. Now the whole thing is edible, the whole plant really is but it's very strong. So the leaves are great to use for seasoning just like Greek laurel leaves. This is a laurel tree so any recipe that calls for bay laurel leaves you can use an actual bay area bay leaf instead just be aware that the bay leaves are really a lot stronger so you use about a third of the amount that the recipe calls for. They're best if you dry them that also makes them a little bit milder. You can also eat bay nuts and right now you should still be able to actually find bay nuts even if they've just fallen to the ground and they're old, they preserve for a long time and they're very easy to harvest so you'll see them on the on the ground or on the tree when they're ripe and soft and you take off the fruit which is kind of orange just yellow on the inside it's very fragrant you can actually eat that part but it's really strong I don't know many people who actually enjoy the fruit of the bay but inside there is a little seed nut and you dry those and then you roast them in the oven at 350 for maybe like 20 minutes or something so depends a little bit on your oven you just look out for when they get lightish brown and then you crack them and inside the shell of the nut you'll find yet another little inside nut that will hopefully have roasted to kind of a coffee color and that nut actually is very similar to chocolate or coffee so very similar to a cacao bean so it's bitter and it's very caffeinated and you can use it just like you would chocolate you can even make truffles with it you can make a drink now it's very strong it's more like coffee and taste than chocolate but it is our local kind of chocolate and cacao bean so that's kind of fun and it's very easy to harvest and it's very hard to mistake because if it smells like a bay leaf it probably is a bay leaf I couldn't think of anything else that smells like a bay leaf so that's kind of a fun one here is a picture of the actual bay nuts when they're purple and somebody's bowl here these are very beautiful ones but even if they are further gone than this like even if they're rotting on the ground the nut is often still completely edible because these actually have preservative qualities and they bay leaves can be used as an insect repellent and also as a preservative so the nut stays good for a long time and if you want to find out more I know I shared that kind of quickly the bay nut recipe and such it is in my book my book has a lot of recipes and bay nut I think we have maybe bay nut truffles or something like that but definitely directions on how to work with bay nuts are in there in more specifics and oh right here's a picture of somebody actually opening the bay nut you can see the fruit and it's it's quite messy there but there's the bay nut coming through and this is that that picture there that went by a little bit fast was just the picture of some bay nut chocolate that somebody had made and there's actually these days a lot of bay nut chocolate for sale I've noticed it's kind of a new thing so this one hopefully many of you have seen too this is another great foraging plant because it is also very difficult to mistake for anything poisonous this one is called miner's lettuce and it looks almost like an upside down umbrella with a little flower in the middle and its texture is very leathery kind of thick almost like a succulent and so it's very easy to recognize in this way this is actually a native plant but it is very abundant when harvesting it it's just important to carefully pinch it rather than pulling because if you pull the whole thing with the roots comes out miner's lettuce is a really yummy salad it's high in vitamins which I think is why they named it miner's lettuce because it helped keep scurvy at bay it's very tasty very mild and a great plant to forage put in your salads and it usually grows in the in the spring time and its friend here is chickweed chickweed also grows in the spring they'll start coming up by spring I actually mean like very soon in February even they'll start even January they'll start coming up and it's a great time to start harvesting wild salads chickweed too is very mild very tasty in a salad it's also medicinal people make salves with it and you can fairly easily recognize it it's this is a little bit harder miners lettuce and bay are very easy this one there is a very simple key identifying feature but you have to get up close with the plant and really look and in this picture I think you can see it on the side there if you look very carefully you'll see little teeny hairs and it only has hair on one side of the stem which is very unusual most things that have hair have it all over but this plant only has it on one side of the stem so if you see that and you see the the opposite leaves and it's a little plant so it's it's just very low growing then you might have a chickweed and for I always of course recommend going out with somebody who already knows how to forage like going on a foraging walk if you can't do that if you don't have a foraging walk in person around you then just go ahead and cross reference so that you really can be 200 percent certain that it is the right plant and if there is a way to to eat plants that you are not familiar with as well that involves kind of very slowly upping the dose that you take but ideally that's not the way you go about it ideally you cross reference you ask people that know and that way you get to know the plant fully this is another popular popular or spring time a common green in the bay area especially in the early spring late winter the you know bay area seasons I don't even know whether to call them winter spring or what but the rainy season the start of the rainy season is when these little low growing salad greens start popping up this one is called cleavers and it is very easy to identify as it has the whirls of leaves around its stem and sometimes I call it the velcro plant or the cat's tongue plant because it is just like velcro you might even see it in this picture there's tiny little they're not really spikes they're they're just kind of this texture like a cat's tongue where if you put it on your shirt it'll actually stick and I think I confirm that it really is true that they use this very plant to design velcro that if you really zoom in on these little spiky things they have a unique hook like structure so they really cling to things so that's why it's called cleavers it cleaves to you and therefore is very easy to identify it is a tasty salad green it can also be cooked only thing is it does have that funny texture so it's best picked very young or you can crush it up in a blender something that kind of destroys that texture it is very good for you it's very tonifying rich in minerals so and also has a very nice mild taste so that's another fun one to know about Mia some question in chat I missed a question from a previous picture it's about chickweed the question is chickweed have flowers in picture white or orange flowers or purple oh great question because there's actually not really a super poisonous but non-edible lookalike which is called scarlet pimpurna which has gorgeous orangey purplish flowers like they're orange with purple details and that is not chickweed chickweed has a very plain very very tiny white flower but normally don't want to wait until these green plants flower to eat them because they get bitter when they flower so with these green low-growing salad greens you want to harvest them as young as possible which is where you really want to get to know them but again like I said earlier to some other question a good way to start is really to get to know a patch that comes back year after year and you can get to know it and all its cycles all its stages before you eat it that way you can really be sure that it's the plant so you can wait for it to flower maybe not harvest it that time because then it's bitter and too big by then but next year you know oh that's the patch where I saw the chickweed last year it's come back I can see that I've observed it through its stages and now I'm sure it's it it's not as quite necessary as with the BAC a plant family but it is a good technique especially if you don't have a guide was there another question yes in the book it says chickweed has opposite leaves what does that mean yeah um so opposite means that they so if this is the plants then the the I guess I don't have enough arms for that example actually I'll do it like this so opposite is like this they grow off the stem opposite each other the other option is alternate so they grow like steps are these stems also good to eat or just the leaves the stems are good to eat the whole plant in these low-growing greens these tender greens is good to eat Lolita asked a question please let her know if you're organizing a foraging group yes you know I do a little bit less walks I will tell you all that I am very receptive to receiving requests for talks and walks and because I tend to be very busy running my organization build up and with my children I don't as often anymore um declare one-off classes so please if if you have interest usually many people will join you could just contact me via my website which is miaandler.com or this feralfin.com which goes to the same place and just let me know you want to walk and your kind of initial love hey can you do a walk here around this time of year might be the kind of push for me to declare a walk there and I also gladly do custom walks I just often these days I don't tend to just come up with those walks myself because as I said I get unfortunately very busy but that doesn't mean I don't want to do them I love doing walks and I often in the spring I'll do a couple also and unfortunately Kevin moved to Tennessee I think so he doesn't do many walks here but I will gladly thank you Mia question from Doug does your book list the vitamins mineral content for the various forage splints we've been asked that before and we actually even tried to do that at some point but it actually isn't very easily available information and if it is it's not necessarily totally reliable there haven't been they probably have but there aren't that many accessible studies for all these plants food value right now so some of them I will just say when there's something particularly noteworthy like this plant is very high in iron or this plant is very high in vitamin C but we don't list like the particular ones thank you Mia yeah so this one is another very easy plant to use a lot of the flavors of forage plants are quite different some people like them and some people don't they can be a little bit more bitter than your usual store bought plant or just stronger in flavor and actually referring to the past question there they're also much higher in nutrition and minerals than other store bought plants so you might be surprised if you make a fully wild edible salad that you get full very quickly and can't actually have a salad of the same size as you would of your normal salad plants but this here is wild onion and it is very easy to find in the springtime with its white flowers and this one you can harvest once it's already flowering too and it has a very nice triangular leaf that smells of course like onion and it's easy to identify because it smells like onion and most plants that smell like onion and garlic are onion and garlic and that's kind of a nice thing to to know and forage so this one has a very leathery leaf that's kind of a triangular it has a ridge right here a triangular shape and grows often in patches like this with many wild onions around it and it has a little teeny onion bulb and that is edible but most of the time it's much better to use it like chives so use the leaves and the flowers in salad or cooking and it has a nice mild onion flavor and that will come up probably February or so and here's a big patch of it I think at the Berkeley marina possibly another spring plant that's going to come up very soon it actually stays around too longer than that but this one is sorrel this one is the non-native sorrel and kids also call it sour grass they like to eat the flower stems you can also eat the leaves and the Latin name is oxalis and that refers to that this plant is high in oxalic acid it's similar to rhubarb and the flavor is actually very similar to rhubarb too and there is a caution against eating too much oxalic acid but honestly I think you'd have to eat a lot of sour grass to reach those levels that inhibit calcium absorption so it's not really a true danger unless you're eating it every day otherwise it's just a really lovely plant to eat fresh as a green it tastes nice and sour or just to cook it actually makes a great cooked green like to have with eggs or something so that's a that's another one to easily look out for there's also redwood sorrel that has smaller leaves and teeny pink flowers and that one I kind of avoid picking because it's a more sensitive plant but it looks very similar and it is it is used the same way many people think this is clover clover is also edible but if you look closely you might see that this is this has really heart shaped leaves like very pronouncedly defined leaves and clover doesn't have quite these kind of heart shaped leaves but both are edible so it wouldn't really be a big mistake to make and here is one that many people are surprised to learn that would be edible because it looks so spiky but it's actually a very very flavorful plant this is a close cousin of the artichoke in fact artichokes are giant thistles but the one pictured here is a thistle and in artichokes we eat the flower and here you can see the flower now it's much tinier on a thistle you could eat it but it'd be very spiky and uncomfortable so on these wild thistles what we eat is usually the stem which is actually quite easy to harvest when it's first growing in the spring and it's fresh and nice the stem can just be peeled with a knife and all the spiky parts removed and then you can eat it fresh it's quite crunchy and nice or you can cook it like an asparagus you can also eat the leaves and just cut off the little prickles I think I already mentioned the wild mustards and radishes at the very beginning of the talk but this is another plant family that has a lot of edible members the brassicae family which has broccoli and cabbage and a lot of our favorite things to eat that are so good for us and this is a wild mustard and you can see also the purple ones the wild radishes and mustards are all edible and fairly easy to identify by their cruciferous flowers which are four petals in a cross shape that's a pretty good sign if you see a flower that has four petals in a cross shape you're probably looking at brassicae family plant and most of those are edible some of them are very strong tasting but and some of them are milder and nicer to eat one of my favorite plants to eat or parts to eat on these plants besides the flower is the little seed pod when it's fresh before it gets hard is like a little teeny radish and it has a very nice flavor here's another picture of a of a wild uh radish oh and then these this is another one that you can actually forage all around the world as we thought we started with Christmas trees um Christmas trees are edible turns out and they're particularly tasty when they have these young little uh buds on it this is a Douglas fir and fir tips are really really tasty really high in vitamin c you can eat them fresh make a tea out of them basically any pine or fir tree is edible there are some poisonous lookalikes but they're very uncommon and they do not smell like a Christmas tree so if it smells like a Christmas tree looks like a Christmas tree most likely is edible and that's pretty easy to identify I have eaten pines and furs from the Himalayas to different places in Europe so they're a very easy to identify edible family and I really like the taste it's kind of lemony that this is this is the one where people who are like very cautious to forage anything if they ask me I say well just go try a little piece of pine or first to start with it's easy to identify low risk it's off the ground and see if you like that yeah quick question does your book have a lot of pictures like these as and you as useful to bring in the field yes and this this here by the way just pictures of pines and furs here um yes my book has a lot of big pictures now whether it's useful to bring in the field um I tend to be one for not bringing books in the field and instead making my observations even taking a picture or making a drawing and then consulting my books and the internet later but I do know people like to take books in the field and I do know people take our book in the field so it does have we have really attempted to get very easily big and identifiable pictures we really focused on big color photographs yes this plant here is stinging nettle and it's another one that many might be surprised that is edible because it stings you but the stingers are actually little mechanical formic acid injectors so if you break them they can't sting you and it's fairly easy to break them stinging nettle is one of my favorite plants to harvest it's one of the few plants that I actually go out and forage big amounts of because it's so good for you it is really really high in minerals vitamins it it can be easily used instead of spinach and pretty much any recipe um it makes a great tea it's great to prevent allergies it's really a super food so I highly recommend stinging nettle do not know why my slide is not oh maybe this is the last slide that could be it but that is actually an appropriate last slide because it is it happened to be both me and Kevin's favorite plant to really go forage for because it is such a super food and tastes so good it really has a nice soft spinach like flavor um so that's just a few of the bay area plants in this little one hour time um there there are really so many wonderful plants to harvest in the bay area and our book tries to outline most of the common ones in a way that's very accessible and these were just a few to highlight today to hopefully get you curious to get out there and look for more plants and maybe try some of these ones but I know we have a few minutes left here so I'd love to open up for any questions that are remaining yes I just saw a question does stinging nettle have a lookalike that has no spines yes so stinging nettle for one has been bred also these days to have a non stinging variant so you can actually buy non stinging stinging nettle and grow it in fact stinging nettle is a great plant to grow in a container in your garden as well um and there is something called hedge nettle if you are wondering if that's what you've seen you could look up a picture of hedge nettle it is fuzzy not stinging and it smells kind of acidic strong it it is actually edible but it doesn't taste very good um and is very common in the bay area and is one of my most common commonly asked questions on my walks is what's this plant and it's usually hedge nettle there's a question related to stinging nettle can you please repeat how to avoid getting stung by the stinging nettle well how to avoid getting stung so well to avoid getting stung you can just wear clothing and gloves when you're harvesting gloves are the key or just use scissors to harvest but you can also harvest it with your bare hands you might get stung but there's a way to do it where you press it down firmly i think i actually have a video about that on my instagram on how to harvest stinging oh yeah because the california naturalist lady too shared it on instagram i think i have it through her channel on my instagram as well um which i'm this feral fin it's a public instagram account if you want to follow my videos um there is a way to harvest with bare hands as well um but but basically gloves is the way to not get stung it's not bad for you to get stung though some people do it on purpose it's it's an acupuncture technique it's not really yeah it's not bad for you okay um we have a question about uh oh walking route is there a walking route that you would recommend for someone trying to start foraging you mean an actual area to foraging um no the bay area is a very big place actually what i might recommend is starting not in the fully wild but rather in the suburban wild it's actually often easier to find these plants in the suburban wild so even just walking around your local park or well well watered neighborhood might be an easier place to start than going into the wilds and then otherwise it's also good to know that different parks have different rules about foraging so it's not always okay to harvest things on public lands either thank you have you noticed any health impacts since you started foraging well i grew up foraging so i've always eaten foraged food since i was a child but i do know that foraged foods are really high in in nutrients minerals vitamins so and i definitely experienced the impact of on purpose like stinging nettle for example i have seasonal allergies and it helps immensely if i start taking stinging nettles months ahead of when i know the allergies will hit it helps a lot so definitely have experienced the healing impact of many plants thank you uh what's the name of the plant of the last photo shown is it stinging nettle yes stinging okay got it and then uh what are the best and easiest plans for the beginner to go out and look for in the bay area now in this season so all of these plants that i've shown pictures of today are good ones to start with because they're easy to identify and they're also nice and flavor and practical to use uh right now let's see um well bay nuts are an easy one to if you can still find bay nuts those might be a good way to start again the furs and the pines are an easy way to start um there are also some places still probably madrone berries are usually in the season you can try a madrone berry madrones are really easy to identify because they have their red smooth bark and they're really colorful berries that's a seasonal one right now those are maybe the three that i might that probably would be available everywhere right now and easy to easy to find thank you does stinging nettle only grow near bodies of water ponds and streams no not always it does like water but i've seen it in drier places as well it needs some degree of water for sure but like in point rays it grows in the meadows it doesn't have to be constantly in water or near water but it is more common to find near like creeks more easily that's the last question we have in chat okay anyone knows a question please feel free to um type it in oh in the picture is that poison plant next to it oh great observation nice i'm i'm glad i was wondering if anybody would notice no i don't actually think that that is poison hemlock i'm not a percent sure what that is and i think it's this other flowering plant that has leaves similar to apacea family but it's not or it could be a type of wild parsley um and i will say i don't always identify apacea plants correctly myself in fact me and another naturalist friend have a current mystery about an apacea family plant in point rays that we just saw some weeks ago and we're not totally sure what it is it can be quite hard but this one might not even be an apacea family this one might be there's some other flowering plants with similar leaves but very good observation because it is very similar looking so that's that's great that you're noticing that question from david i'm not sure uh if i understand correctly i think he want to know if your book talks about mushroom uh yes that's a also very commonly asked question and i will say right now that i'm offering a beginner mushroom class in uh in fairfax and marine on this sunday and that class is available through my organization vilda v i l v a so if anybody's interested in an actual in-person mushroom mushrooms for beginners class i am teaching that this sunday actually so that that just happens to be the case um but no i am not a mushroom while i can while i do the beginner mushroom workshops mushrooms are a whole different category um and there is a great book on just mushrooms and it's called all the the rain promises and more by david aurora it's the best foraging book i know of anywhere it's got the greatest pictures it's an awesome awesome book it's the highest standard for i wish i wish i had the wealth of pictures that he has to make a book like that it's a great book and he also has a bigger one so there's no need to have a mushroom guide because there's already an amazing mushroom guide out there and mushrooms are essentially quite different from plants so it's a whole other area of of um of study really so we didn't want to we thought about it and we didn't want to just cover it in brief our book is apparently already too long with the pictures in it so no we do not cover mushrooms but i highly highly recommend all the rain promises and more uh mia did you um say apac apac what does that stand for apac yeah that's a latin name for the family that has poison hemlock um queen ansley's wild carrot it's the carrot family latin name got it let's see i think that's the last question let me read it oh uh david want to ask you to repeat the mushroom book author's name yeah i think i think i can put it in the chat here let's see yes i can all that the rain promises more and then here's my website for anybody interest or the for the mushroom class and here's my normal website for any other um any other requests and since i have such a large audience i promise myself that i would say if anybody knows anybody who would like to teach children in nature we are training and highly looking for more staff at my organization build up which is based in marin so if you know any could also be a great fit for any younger college kids wanting to just work a summer but really any age of person who enjoys being outdoors with kids and we will train you and we are looking for people so please please tell your friends um yes you can also volunteer um but yeah it's getting harder and harder for us to find staff because of the cost of living in the bay area so now we're having to really advertise it out but we need people to hang out with kids in nature and learn these skills um thank you so much everybody for for uh joining this talk i really do hope it inspired you to get out there and notice more plants thank you so much we really appreciate you taking the time to share with us the art and science of foraging in the bay area i also want to thank everyone for joining the program i hope you guys um enjoy the presentation find it informative and helpful to you i will send out an evaluation survey together with a link to today's recording please give us your feedback so we can continue to improve again thank you everyone have a wonderful rest of your day bye bye now bye thank you