wondrous powers of ixbut as a galactagogue, some of which 
border on the sensational: for example, there are numerous 
claims that aged grandmothers, or even great-grandmothers, 
after taking ixbut, have been able to suckle newlyborn infants 
through their withered breasts when the young mothers died in 
child birth. 
An even more curious incident involving ixbut was reported 
in a Guatemalan newspaper in November 1952 (3): during the 
late 1890's, a Guatemalan physician, Dr. Pedro Molina F., was 
at his home near Flores, Peten. One afternoon, he received a 
message that he was urgently needed by a woman in labor. By 
the time he arrived at the isolated, humble, native hut, he 
managed to save the life of the baby girl, but the mother died. 
Dr. Molina thereupon asked the feeble great-grandfather, who 
appeared to be at least ninety years old, what woman was going 
to nurse the infant. This venerable progenitor replied that no 
woman was around, but no woman was in fact needed since he 
himself would be the wet nurse; he was going to drink a tea of 
the medicinal herb ixbut which would enable him to provide 
milk for his new great-granddaughter. The physician objected 
and reluctantly departed. Six days later, Dr. Molina returned to 
check on the condition of the baby: he found the old man 
boiling ixbut leaves in a pot of water: for five days he had been 
drinking the infusion, but he complained that his swollen 
breasts hurt him when the infant suckled. The physician exam- 
ined the great-grandfather’s breasts which indeed were 
enlarged like the teats of a perfect wet nurse and were exuding a 
milky juice that tasted like mother’s milk. The baby was thriv- 
ing. 
I know of one authentic case: in 1963, Senorita Bertha 
Garcia, a teacher in the dietary and anthropological service of 
the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (IN- 
CAP), was on a dietary survey with an INCAP technical, 
nutritional team in the village of Santa Cruz Balanya, Depart- 
amento de Chimaltanango, when she met a 45-year-old Indian 
woman who was nursing a small 14-month-old baby. The wom- 
an’s sister had recently died in child birth, and since the family 
was so poor they couldn't afford to buy milk or any other food 
for the infant — this woman, who had one son of twenty-five, 
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