a group interested in fomenting natural nursing of babies 
through breast-feeding. Mrs. Nathusius points out that in the 
local Guatemalan chapter of La Leche League, young mothers 
are advised it is perfectly allright to take ixbut if they want to, 
just as their mothers and grandmothers used to many years 
ago, since it is not toxic and might indeed help them psycholog- 
ically — by giving them confidence, by relaxing them and so 
helping them to nurse their babies. Some young mothers have 
indeed informed Mrs. Nathusius that ixbut has aided them to 
breast-feed their babies. Mrs. Nathusiu confirms, however, 
that very little ixbut is utilized at the present time in Guatemala 
in comparison to two generations ago. 
In Maternity Nursing (19), it is emphasized that worry and 
emotional tension have an adverse effect on lactation in the 
nursing mother. Perhaps, as Mrs. Nathusius suggests above, 
ixbut itself may at times be beneficial as a tranquilizer — due to 
its soothing, relaxing effect upon those postpartum mothers 
who have confidence in its power as a tried and true galac- 
tagogue. 
In 1950 (13), Dr. Efren del Pozo, in fact, found in experi- 
ments of his own as a Mexican physician, that intravenous 
injections of ixbut caused a fall of blood pressure and a marked 
slowing of the heart, in tests carried out on lactating women in 
the Mexico City Penitentiary. 
Dr. Lewis H. Sarett, Senior Vice President, Science and 
Technology, of Merck & Co., Inc., has the following com- 
ments to make about ixbut: to date the active principle of this 
galactagogue has not been isolated: if found, it would consist 
probably of pure crystals resulting from a chemical fractiona- 
tion of the fresh plant material. 
Itis a long and costly process now to introduce a new drug. 
The problems following Thalidomide during the late 1950’s and 
early 1960's led to the Kefauver-Harris amendments of the 
Pure Food and Drug laws in 1962 — designed to prevent a 
recurrence of the Thalidomide tragedy in any new drug. 
Although there is a trend towards a greater utilization of 
products of nature, there are much longer delays in gaining 
Food and Drug Administration approval for their use. For 
example, even if ixbut, let us say, should prove to be an 
fis Ps 
