long to the same class, and of these more will be said 
later. But if we may rely on the number and quality of 
the witnesses, the importance that they attribute to these 
plants, and the strangely moving episodes that they tell 
us of the Indians’ utter faith in and defense of them— 
then these four were preéminent. 
The civilization of Europe had known nothing like 
these novel drugs of Mexico, at least not in recorded 
history. Similar miraculous powers were attributed, in 
a way, to the Elements in the Mass; and the Catholic 
Church in Mexico was quick to perceive this, to it, alarm- 
ing parallel. But belief in the divinity of the Sacrament 
called for an act of faith, whereas the Mexican plants 
spoke for themselves. In a number of situations the rec- 
ord is clear: the friars conceded the miracles wrought by 
these agents’ but attributed them to the machinations of 
the Evil One. Root and branch, the Church strove to ex- 
tirpate what it called this superstition, this idolatry of the 
miracle-working plants. The Church was unsuccessful ; 
just how unsuccessful can be seen from the fact that these 
plants are taken today, throughout the Indian country, 
in ceremonials invoking the very name of the Virgin 
Mary, of the Saints (especially St. Peter and St. Paul), of 
Our Lord. The accessories to the rite are sold in every 
market place, at a special stall, often in the shadow of 
the parish church. The miracle-working plants pass from 
hand to hand by private arrangement; they are never 
exposed like ordinary garden produce. The rite takes 
place in midnight vigils, sometimes accompanied by stir- 
ring age-old chants in the vernacular. The Indians at- 
tending these rites may include prominent lay officials 
of the church; rumor hath it that in certain places the 
priest is the leading eurandero. Let it not be forgotten 
that the primary use of the sacred plants was and con- 
tinues to be religious—and by the same token medicinal. 
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