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The substance called Cow-itch is the long sharp brittle 

 hairs that clothe the pods, and some other parts of this and 

 other allied plants. When applied to the skin they produce 

 a painfuland intolerable itching ; this is however not owing 

 to anything positively deleterious in the hairs themselves, but 

 to their mechanical action as they break and pierce the skin. 

 It is on account of the latter property that Cow-itch has been 

 used medicinally as an anthelmintic. Dr. Macfadyen says, 

 that the stinging sensation may be removed by rubbing so as 

 to bruise the hairs, and by afterwards smearing with oil the 

 part affected ; or it is said the bristles will attach themselves 

 to the rim of a hat passed over the skin, and may thus be 

 withdrawn. 



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Speaking of the Cow-itch plant of the East Indies, Dr. 

 Roxburgh says, " I have never been able to learn that the 

 natives of these parts of India make any use of any part of 

 this plant, except the hairs of the legumes, which they do not 

 use as a medicine (vermifuge), but as an ingredient to help tq 

 poison wells. However, its being of late taken inwardly to 

 destroy worms proves that it is not the poison they take it 

 for ; and it is more than likely that the other plants employed 

 for the same base end, are fortunately much less dangerous 

 than those who employ them imagine. Indeed it is only the 

 most ignorant superstitious Poligar mountaineers who are 

 known to attempt to poison water." 



Jacquin says, that in the West Indies the hairs of this 

 species pierce even the thick hide of the savages and ne- 

 groes : it would appear however that other species are yet 

 more formidable, for in India there is a kind called Enooga 

 doola-gunda, or Elephant's scratch wort, whose stings pro- 

 duce a greater degree of pain and itching. 



Notwithstanding their offensive coating, the pods of some 

 of the species are skinned and eaten like kidney beans by the 

 natives of India. 



The large round flattened hard seeds, with a scar running 

 all round them, which are often brought from the West Indies, 

 'which bear a rude resemblance to an asses eye, and which 

 the French call Yeux hourriques, belong to some one or other 

 of the Cow-itch plants. 



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