2US 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



from tr^es ; but it may be allowable to include this species 

 of greasewood. It is one of a group of related species 

 of which some of the western Indians made arrows, and 

 in so doing they had their mouths constantly filled with 

 the bark, because it was their cus- 

 tom to strip off the bark with their 

 teeth from the young shoots in the 

 process of arrow making. Small 

 crooks in the stems were straight- 

 ened by using the teeth as a vise. 

 The arrow maker pronounced the 

 bark "good medicinei for the stom- 

 ach," and that may have led to the 

 use of greasewood tea as a medicine 

 by those who felt the need of it. The 

 Pima Indians were still using this 

 remedy a few years ago. 



Indians had as much toothache 

 and rheumatism as the less barbar- 

 ous people, and they suffered from 

 headache, and had remedies for these 

 and kindred pains. They were able 

 to extract their own teeth by attach- 

 ing a sinew or cord to the aching 

 member, tying the other end to the 

 limb of a tree, and allowing their 

 weight to give the necessary pull. 

 Bat they had cures without surgery. 



Writing about the year 1794 Loskiel, a German trav- 

 eler, said in his "History of the Missions of the United 

 Brethren Among the Indians of North America" that 

 the Indians applied the bark of the "toothache tree," or 

 prickly ash, as a cure. That tree was the same as the 

 angelica tree referred to above as a 

 fever cure. It was also known as 

 Hercules club, which name it still 

 bears in some regions. There are 

 two species known as toothache tree 

 and Hercules club in this country ; 

 both of which were used as medicine 

 by the Indians. The northern spe- 

 cies to which Loskiel referred was 

 Aralia spinosa. The southern spe- 

 cies which is known by the same 

 English and Indian names, is desig- 

 nated by botanists as Xanthoxylum 

 clava-hercules and is wholly differ- 

 ent from the northern tree which it 

 so closely resembles. 



Butternut (Juglans cinera) was 

 another toothache remedy among 

 the Indians, and was likewise em- 

 ployed to relieve headache and rheu- 

 matism. Loskiel refers to it in his 

 book as follows, speaking of the 

 savages which at that time inhabite'd 

 Ohio and Pennsylvania: 



For rheumatism some apply the bark 

 of the white walnut to the part affected, 

 by which the pain is frequently removed 

 and an eruption produced in some parts 

 of the body. It is extremely acrid and 



YELLOW POPLAR FRUIT 



The savages of eastern United States made 

 medicine of bark. buds, and fruit of yellow poplar 

 or tulip tree, and white settlers learned its use 

 from them. It was a fever remedy as well as an 

 external application for sores. 



UMBRELLA TREE 



The bitter bark of the Magnolia tripetela (um 

 'in II. i tree) was diligently sought by 

 doctors as a cure for chills and fever, 

 article of commerce with them. 



occasions a pungent pain on the part of the skin to which it is 

 applied, which afterwards appears as if it had been scorched. 

 For the headache they apply a small piece of the bark to the tem- 

 ples, and for the toothache on the cheek near the tooth affected. 



Butternut bark, and also the bark of the angelica tree, 

 have been in use as medicine by reg- 

 ular physicians ever since the secret 

 was learned from the Indian doctors, 

 but no longer as toothache remedies 

 The common elder (Sambucus 

 canadensis) is still another addition 

 to American medicine learned from 

 the Indians. Peter Kalm said in 

 1749 of this elder as a toothache 

 cure: 



1 have seen the Iroquois boil the inner 

 bark and put it on that part of the cheek 

 in which the pain was most violent. 

 This, 1 am told, often diminishes the 

 pain. 



Early American doctors laid great 

 stress on the elder as a source of 

 medicine, and they used every part 

 of it, flower, fruit, bark, root, and 

 pith. Some parts ot it are still for 

 sale in drugstores, but elder does not 

 enjoy the reputation it once had. 

 Fortunately the Indians who suffer- 

 ed from toothache applied the elder 

 bark to the outside of the cheek in- 

 stead of the inside of the mouth, for elder bark is a dead- 

 ly poison, due to the hydrocyanic acid it contains, and 

 it has been known to cause death almost instantly when 

 swallowed. Who knows how many Indians were fatally 

 poisoned before they learned to apply the elder tooth- 

 ache remedy externally instead of 

 internally? The Indian's usual 

 treatment for rheumatism was a 

 steam bath in an airtight hut ; but 

 he had remedies of other kinds, 

 chiefly drinks made from bark and 

 roots. One of the Indian's favorite 

 cures for rheumatism and valued 

 higher than probably any other tree, 

 so far as it was known, was the um- 

 brella tree (Magnolia tripetela). 

 This is known also as cucumber 

 tree, magnolia, and elkwood. It is 

 found among the Appalachian Moun- 

 tains of Pennsylvania and south- 

 ward, and in some localities as far 

 west as the Mississippi River. The 

 grouping of the leaves on the outer 

 ends of the branches, in the form of 

 a parasol, gives the name "umbrella 

 tree." In Dr. Barton's "Collec- 

 tions," published in 1798, he speaks 

 thus of the umbrella tree : 



The bark of this tree is celebrated 

 among the western Indians as a remedy 

 in rheumatism and fevers. The tree 

 grows in great profusion upon the River 

 Kanhaway (Kanawha) whither the In- 

 dians resort for the purpose of procuring 



the red 

 It was an 



