On the Eupatorium Huaco. 281 



brated physician of New Grenada, consequently regards this plant 

 as the most beneficent gift bestowed by nature, on the regions which 

 abound with venomous reptiles. Cabanillas affirms, that the Huaco 

 is an excellent stomachic and vermifuge. In the states of Chiapas and 

 Tabasco it is applied as a remedy for intermittents, diarrhaea, and se- 

 vere bilious fevers. Several physicians in the city of Mexico, (and 

 among them, my associate and friend Dr. Pedro del Villar,) have 

 employed it in cases of nervous affection accompanied with a de- 

 rangement o[ the nervous system or a diminution of its energy. In 

 the hospital of San Carlos at Vera Cruz, it has been used in inter- 

 mittents, which had withstood the power of all other known febri- 

 fuges. It has been frequently applied solely with a view to re- 

 move diseases or severe pains of the breast, to excite warmth of the 

 skin, and create perspiration. The effects have always been favora- 

 ble, and have never deceived the expectations of the practitioner. 

 Finally, according to the statement of Don Pedro Bolio, Commissa- 

 ry General of Tabasco, in a letter dated the 31st of July, 1832, the 

 Huaco is regarded in that state, as a sure antidote against the bite of 

 the mad dog, and even as a specific against confirmed hydrophobia* 

 This latter quality, it has recently been proved to possess, by the 

 testimony of a physician at Oajaca, who, by administering this plant, 

 has cured a patient suffering under hydrophobia with all the symp- 

 toms completely developed. Were the Huaco endued with no other 

 virtue than that of a specific against this dreadful disease, still should 

 that be indisputably established by new facts, its introduction into the 

 materia medica must doubtless be regarded as an inestimable bless- 

 ing to mankind." 



11 The Indians and Creoles of the districts of country in which it 

 grows, attribute to the Huaco properties almost miraculous; but 

 without overstepping the bounds of reason and observation, may we 

 not reasonably infer that a plant, which by a simple application to the 

 bite of a rattlesnake, or other venomous reptile, removes at once the 

 tremendous consequences of such an occurrence, must be endowed 

 with qualities extremely active, the analysis and developments of 

 which would afford numerous benefits to the human race ? 



This reflexion, and the resemblance between the most striking phe- 

 nomena observed after inoculation with the rattlesnake poison, and 

 those violent symptoms which often transpire during the yellow fever r 

 had created in my mind a strong desire to ascertain by direct expe- 

 periment its efficacy in combating the later disease/' 



