Error using PEAR on Mac OS X

I have been trying in vain to get PEAR to work on my Mac for weeks. If I try to query a MySQL database for example I'll get this error: Fatal error: Class 'PEAR' not found in /System/Library/PHP/DB/common.php on line 48 I assume my include_path is correct as I no longer get the error during PEAR install that states WARNING! The include_path defined in the currently used php.ini does not contain the PEAR PHP directory you just specified: etc. If I try to use, for example, $db = DB::connect('mysql://etc'); I get a error 'Call to an undefined function'. It is driving my nuts because I really would like to use PEAR's DB class for several web projects. The only thing I can think of is maybe it is a problem with permissions. The file permissions of the PEAR directory are root & wheel. Don't see anything in the install documentation about permission however. Maybe those who have successfully set up PEAR on Mac OS X can shed some light on what the problem is. Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer! Regards, Markus Arike