VOL. XLI.] PHlLOSOi'HlCAL TKANSACTIONS. 33 1 



distemper called the yaws, and is nearly related to the French-pox ; which, it 

 is said, they cure with an herb tliat fluxes them. 



11. The Indians mind neither the pulse nor urine, only judge by the com- 

 mon most remarkable symptoms : and some pretend to form a judgment from 

 the countenance, and are fond of being thought physiognomists. 



12. Mr. C. never could find, that they practised blood-letting. They purge 

 much with several sorts of roots of their own country growth, and vomit fre- 

 quently with various herbs. They sweat boldly and excessively, and after a very 

 strange manner ; for they have their sweating-stoves always on the bank of some 

 river ; whence they rush forth in the height of their sweat, and run into the 

 water, where they wash and bathe themselves very plentifully. They use no 

 blistering-plasters, but are exquisite at cupping. As the East Indians use 

 moxa, so these burn with punk, which is the inner part of the excrescence or 

 exuberance of an oak. When they design to give a purge, they make use of 

 the following herbs : puake-root, i. e. solanum bacciferum, a strong purge, and 

 by most deemed poison. The roots of tythymal. of which there are two sorts ; 

 the one flore minimo herbaceo, the other flore albo. The flower of this last is 

 small, but large in comparison with the other : they are repentes, and grow in 

 old manured grounds. They chiefly make use of the latter of these, and it is a 

 most excellent purge, though it sometimes vomits. It is a quick, but moderate 

 worker enough ; and has this peculiarity, that it opens the body in the gripes, 

 when other more violent purgatives will not move it. There is another herb, 

 which they call the Indian purge. This plant has several woody stalks growing 

 near 3 feet tall, and perfoliat : it bears yellow berries round about the joints. 

 They only make use of the root of this plant. They use also the small fleur de 

 lis, whose virtues seem not yet half known, for it has some extraordinary qua- 

 lities : it does not grow above a hand high, it flowers in March, and is very 

 fragrant. They use also some sort of the apocynums ; particularly that which 

 he thinks Gerard calls vincetoxicum Americanum , for there are several sorts of 

 apocynums ; he thinks 1 3 or 1 4, but they are not all purgative. 



They have likewise several sorts of herbs for vomiting ; one of which is a little 

 sort of squills. They likewise take the leaves of a certain curious odoriferous 

 shrub, that grows in the swamps, which Mr.C. takes to be the lesser sassafras ; they 

 bruise them in water, and then express the juice, which they drink warm. The 

 Indian interpreter prized it much, as excellent physic, and said they found it a 

 very sovereign remedy. The name the Indian gave it was wisochis, which is 

 their general word for physic. 



13. The rest of their Materia Medica consists of herbs, of which they have 

 great plenty, and seldou» prescribe any thing else. Mr. C. collected above 



V u a 



