4 THE PLANT WOELD 



raw ajo {Allium sativum) will break a bottle by blowing upon it imme- 

 diately afterwards." 



Tlie medicinal value of many plants is truly marvelous, and tlieir 

 explanation equally so. Cane sugar given in cold water is more re- 

 freshing to one wlio has fever than water alone. The " reason for the 

 water's appearing more refreshing with it is that since it is so tempered 

 it converts itself immediately into the nature of him to whom it is 

 given ; and as it receives into itself the coldness of the water becaiise of 

 its spongy substance, the coldness of the latter is more felt with it than 

 when taken alone, by the consistency of the body of the sugar itself." 



With the powdered leaves of Artocarpus wteg7"ifolius penitents are 

 cured, also pimples and spasms. 



A native carpenter cut a toe with a hatchet so that it merely hung 

 by the skin. The bark of the root of Ficus aUimaloo having been 

 applied, he returned to work on the following day, the toe healed with- 

 out swelling or pain. The tree is, by the way, disliked by planters, 

 since it often breaks down walls in its growth. The only way to kill it 

 is said to be to cut off the branches and insert the spines of certain fish 

 in the wounds. 



Kalanchoe is another invaluable healer. If the head of a chicken 

 be cut its whole length with a sharp knife which has been rubbed with 

 the juice of this herb, and afterwards both parts of the wound be again 

 anointed with the same juice, " within a Credo " the fowl will revive as 

 if nothing had happened. 



A general rule for the application of medicines speaks volumes for 

 the trust of the physician in the common sense of the average Filipino 

 patient. It is jDreceded by reference to a saying of Laguna's that every 

 kind of sour herb may be used as a substitute for sorrel. " I say this 

 because there are some so manacled that not having the very thing of 

 which the book teaches them, they do not kiiow how to avail themselves 

 nor how to put out the hand to another fit and equivalent thing in its 

 place." " On this account every time that there is to be found a thing 

 equivalent in the essential particular, according to the good counsel of 

 the reason it should be used. For exami)le, if for a swelling, a plaster 

 of habas be ordered when there are none, then use the flour of frijoles, 

 or gulay Patnai, for all these seeds are, in the most essential, of the 

 quality of habas. " * * The same is to be considered in all things 

 which should be aj)plied in the place of something else." 



A part of the dissertation on Agarics may be quoted for the en- 

 couragement of the modern student who is perplexed by the apparent 

 multiplicity of species of the genus : " The Agaric is some mushrooms 

 which arise on the trunks of old trees and are so hard that they api:»ear 

 to be wood. There are white and black. The transparent is the bet- 



