NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS 445 



(1843, p. xvii.): "At valcle fallerentur, qui putarent, 

 Brasiliae plantas medicas omnes per autochthones 

 colonis esse oblatas ; potius multa me movent, ut 

 dicam, totidem, quae nunc adhibentur, a nigris et 

 albis incolis esse detectas et usu cognatas, quot ab 

 illis." Of external applications, I have seen only 

 the following. For a wound or bruise or swelling, 

 the milky juice of some tree is spread thick on the 

 skin, where it hardens into a sort of plaster, and 

 is allowed to remain on until it falls* of itself. 

 Almost any milky tree may serve, if the juice be not 

 acrid; but the Heveas (India-rubbers), Sapotads, 

 and some Clusiads are preferred. Such a plaster 

 has sometimes an excellent effect in protecting the 

 injured part from the external air. 



At Tarapoto, in the Eastern Peruvian Andes, 

 where the people are all Christians, and some of 

 them almost pure white, where there are churches 

 and priests and schools, such medicine as they have 

 is little more than necromantic practices of their 

 curanderos. In all sicknesses the first curative 

 operation is to sobar el espanto (rub out the fright), 

 which is done thus : Chew a piece of the gum-resin 

 called "sonitonio," place it in the hollow of the 

 hand, and with it rub the legs of the sick person, 

 from the knees downwards, and end by whistling 

 between all the toes. There are other ridiculous 

 and useless operations, but in some cases the 

 rubbing is really beneficial. Take this mode of 

 "rubbing out colic" as an example. Put a little 

 fowl's grease in the hand, and rub it over the body 

 of the patient, round and round, over the course 

 of the colon, making every now and then a forcible 

 twist and pressure on the navel, para soltar el 



