146 VENEZUELAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
used with bread to make small poultices for the swollen breasts of wet- 
nurses. 
Alrjarroho {Tlymen^ea Couj'laril.'L,, not ns in Spain, Ceratonia siUg?ia, 
L.). A resinous substance is obtained by making incisions in the 
bark of the stem or branches. There is also a considerable quantity of 
it in the pods ; and in the interior of the country, these pods are used in- 
stead of iucense in churches. I witnessed this ouce niyself, and was 
hardly able to distinguish between the smell of real incense and 
Algarrobo-pods. The resin is applied internally in diseases of the or- 
gans of respiration; the unripe pod is pounded, and, in form of a 
poultice, applied to fresh fractures, and cures them in a veiy short time- 
AlgoJon (Goss?/piiwi, sp.). An infusion of the leaves or of the 
toasted seeds is taken in rlieumatism ; the juice of the leaA^es is said to 
cure diarrhcea in children. On the Lake of Valencia a somewhat sin- 
gular medical use is made of cotton. People in those parts frequently 
suffer from mumps, perhaps in consequence of the abundance of sili- 
ceous n^atter in the water. Health is restored, I have been told, bv 
taking every morning a scruple of the dry powder of burnt cotton- 
fibres during the waning of the moon. A physician in Maracay, a 
small town at the western end of the lake, told me that mumps had 
become less frequent since people have begun to filter the ^vater they 
they drink. 
Aruhagato {Fagara lenUscifoUa, W. (Griseb. West Ind. Fl. p. 137), 
Zanthoxylmn Pterota, H. B. K.). Dr. Seeraann ('Botany Herald/ 
p. 95) observes, "I am not aware that it has previously been found 
on the continent of America, except in Mexico, by Bates." In the 
neighbourhood of Caracas it is one of the most common shrubs, but I 
am not quite sure whether it is indigenous or introduced. It forms 
in this country the most impenetrable hedges or fences, and is better 
adapted than any other plant for this purpose. Humboldt spells the 
popular name "Niaragato," It may be thus pronounced in Cuba, 
where he met with the plant. At Caracas it is Arauagato or Arufia- 
gato ; the latter gives a very good idea of one of the qualities of the 
bush, Arunngato meaning " scratching cat." The juice of the leaves, 
mixed with castor-oil, is employed for ear-ache. 
Astroloja (AridolocJiia, sp,). Poultices are made of the leaves 
for curing the swelling in dropsy. A short time ago a medical prac- 
titioner or " curioso " of the country brought pieces of the stem to a 
