INDIAN MEDICINES MADE FROM TREES 



207 



mine at this late date what kinds of fevers prevailed, 

 but the old-fashioned "fever and ague" was common. 

 It could not have been otherwise, for mosquitoes were 

 swarming in the woods, and among them doubtless were 

 numerous anopheles, the species which transmits the 

 germs which cause ague. Naturally Indians would suf- 

 fer greatly from the bites of these germ-carrying insects, 

 and chills and fever would develop. Contemporary 

 writers bear abundant testimony that malarial sickness 

 was common among the Indians, and the red doctor 

 knew what medicines the forest afforded for the cure of 

 intermittent fevers. 



Wounds constituted the third class of sickness calling 

 for cures. The most usual wounds were cuts, bruises, 

 sprains, fractures, burns, and frostbite. The savage's 

 mode of life made these hurts of frequent occurrence. 



The fourth class might be listed as a subclass of the 

 truid, but it was 

 so common and 

 so distinct that 

 it properly 

 stands separate 

 from others. It 

 was the wound 

 caused by the 

 bite of a poison- 

 ous snake. Every 

 part of the 

 United States 

 was infested by 

 venomous ser- 

 pents, and the 

 bare-legged sav- 

 ages, walking 

 through weeds 

 and among 

 rocks, were pe- 

 culiarly liable to 

 attack. The In- 

 dian doctors 

 ransacked the 

 American for- 

 ests for snake- 

 b i t e remedies, 

 and no fewer 

 than 35 sepa- 

 rate cures, or alleged cures, were known and used, but 

 not all in the same regions. All of these were derived 

 from trees and herbs. Several plants known as "snake 

 root" have come down to the present day. Two of the 

 best known are "Virginia snake root" (Aristolochia ser- 

 pcntaria) and "Seneca snake root" (Polygalia senega). 

 The Virginia snake root was so highly valued by the 

 Cherokee Indians that they placed an embargo on its ex- 

 port, with the death penalty for any one attempting to 

 carry the forbidden root out of the country. 



Quinine was unknown to the Indians who inhabited 

 this country in early times, but they sought out the best 

 obtainable substitutes for it and used them as medicines 



COMMON ELDER 



The bark was beaten to a pulp by Indian doctors 

 and was applied as a poultice to relieve tooth- 

 ache. It was afterwards used extensively by 

 civilized physicians. The bark contains hydro- 

 cyanic acid and is poisonous. 



in treatment of fevers. Several native trees yielded bark, 

 flowers, or fruit so bitter in taste that they filled the 

 place of quinine. Some of those remedies were adopted 

 by civilized physicians as treatment for intermittent 

 fevers. 



One of the most widely used fever medicines employed 

 by the Indians was dogwood (Comus florida). The tree 

 grew in nearly all forested regions east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, and other species very similar were found in 

 some parts of the United States, so that Indians in 

 widely separated regions could procure it. Flowers, 



fruit, and bark 

 were steeped in 

 water and were 

 thus made into 

 an intensely bit- 

 ter drink which 

 was administer- 

 ed in large doses. 

 White physi- 

 cians who learn- 

 ed the remedy 

 from the sav- 

 ages used whis- 

 key or gin as 

 the fluid part of 

 the medicine, 

 and it has re- 

 mained in use to 

 the present day, 

 though it is not 

 so popular as it 

 once was. It was 

 the "bitters" for- 

 merly prescribed 

 by many a coun- 

 try doctor for "fever and ague," just as the Indians ad- 

 ministered it. 



Yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) was as bitter 

 as dogwood and Indians administered it for the same 

 purpose. They preferred bark from the roots, but the 

 inner bark of the trunk and even the green fruit, were 

 given as a chill and fever remedy. The white man 

 adopted that remedy from the Indians and occasionally 

 he still employs it. 



The angelica tree (Aralia spinosa) supplied a fever 

 medicine which enriched the savage doctor's pharmaco- 

 poeia. The inner bark was used. It is less bitter than 

 dogwood and yellow poplar, but it possesses a peculiar 

 acrid taste which commended it to the barbarians; for 

 the more disagreeable the taste, the greater virtue in the 

 medicine, according to their opinion. 



Grease wood {Covillea tridentata) was a medicine 

 formerly in use among the Indians of the southwestern 

 arid region of the United States. The leaves and twigs 

 were boiled and the resulting tea was drunk. It is not 

 very bitter and its efficiency as a fever medicine is doubt- 

 ful. It is not a tree but a shrub. It is the purpose to 

 restrict this article pretty closely to medicines derived 



WHITE ASH TRUNK 



From this bark the Indians manufactured one of 

 their thirty-five recorded snakebite cures. Most 

 ash lumber is cut from this species. 



