I900 THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 173 



is stripped naked, taken into a hut, his body rubbed with 

 leaves of the Sinugaga tree (EnccEcaria agalloclia), a small 

 fire is lighted and heaped up with logs of the same tree, 

 the smoke from which is poisonous and pungent. The 

 patient is bound hand and foot, and a rope is made fast in 

 such a way that, from outside the hut, he can be hauled up 

 and suspended by the heels, his head hanging about 15 

 inches from the ground. His tortured screams and calls 

 for pity and release are disregarded until he faints away, 

 though this may not be for hours. He is then dragged out, 

 the slime is scraped from his body, and gashes are cut into 

 the skin to make the blood flow freely. This wonderful 

 treatment almost always kills the patient ; if it fails in pro- 

 ducing this effect it is said to cure. 



Such is a brief history of one of the most ancient diseases 

 still existing in the world, most interesting from a historical, 

 most mysterious from a professional point of view. 



