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Peyote (Lophopora williamsii) is also called the mescal button but in truth, peyote is not mescal. It is a small cactus that grows only a few inches above the ground and has some stiff whitish needles in the center primarily. These should be scraped off or singed off before consumption of the cacti. The active ingredient in peyote is mescaline, which is a hallucinogen and the whitish hairs on the outside towards the center contain strychnine, which is also a hallucinogen in small doses. Mescaline is a narcotic that acts as a heart and respiratory stimulant but, according to how much peyote one has consumed, it slightly slows the pulse.
The Indians use peyote as a medicine and to give them phrophetic visions and the answers to questions that they have quested for. The correct dosage seems to be reached when the person consuming the buttons vomits. This is considered to be a good sign as far as the Indians are concerned. Fasting and purification rituals preceede the actual consumption of the buttons and are held as sacred things that one must do to have the correct visions.
The only way to really explain this process is to go through the rituals and eat the cacti for yourself and learn from the experience.
The root of the peyote cactus is used to treat diseases of the scalp and as a hair tonic by the Cahuilla Indians.