NO. 2 THE BADIANUS MANUSCRIPT— EM MART II 



For the Atochietl. the second plant shown on the same page, we have 

 but a single reference in which it is described as an aromatic plant, 

 the pennyroyal (Simeon, p. 37). 



The text for the treatment of catarrh reads as follows : 



Gravedo 



Qui narium distillatione seu coriza infestatur herbas atochietl. et Tzompili- 

 huizxihuitl olfaciet et ita gravedini subveniet. [Those troubled with a dripping 

 nose or cold are to sniff the herbs Atochietl and Tzompilihuizxihuitl and help 

 the cold thus.] 



A second remedy in the fourth chapter is entitled " Medicine to 

 be instilled into the nose." The following remedy for a headache 

 reads, " The root of the herb Yztac pahtli [lit. " white-medicine "] 

 is to be bruised in a little clear water and the licjuor poured into the 

 nostrils drop by drop for those sufifering from a headache." 



The herb depicted above the text is of the family Mimosaceae, be- 

 longing to the genus Acacia farnesiana Willd.*' An ointment made 

 from the flowers is used today in Mexico as a remedy for headache. 

 In addition an infusion of the flowers is used for dyspepsia. 



The chapter closes with a remedy to stop nose bleeding. The plant 

 Atzitzicaztli, or water nettle, is used also for maladies of the neck 

 (Simeon, p. 664). 



The remedy reads as follows : 



The juice of nettles ground with salt in urine and milk poured into the 

 nostrils, stops bleeding. 



Two of the most interesting plants used as a cure for pain are the 

 Tolohuaxihuitl and the Nexehuac (pi. 3). Both of these are Daturas 

 (Solanaceae). The first of these, Tolohuaxihuitl or Tolohua plant, 

 is referred to by Hernandez as D. stramonium. Sahagun '" and 

 Clavigero ^' refer to it as Toloache. Both the white-flowered and pur- 

 ple-flowered forms of this species occur in Mexico as well as in the 

 United States ; the purple forms are usually called D. tatiila. The 

 white-flowered forms may bear either smooth or prickly capsules, the 

 smooth variety being called D. iiiennis."' The adjacent plant, called 



'^ Standley, P.,C., Trees and shrubs of Mexico. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., vol. 

 23, pt. 2, p. 378, 1922. 



^' Sahagun, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana (1590). Publicase 

 con fondes de la secretaria de instrucion publica y bellas artes de Mexico, por 

 Francisco del Paso y Troncoso. Publ. Madrid Tototipia de Hauser y Menet, 

 1905-07. 



'' Clavigero, F. J., Historia Antigua de Mexico. London, 1826. 



'' Safford, W. E., Narcotic Daturas of the Old and New World. Ann. Rep. 

 Smithsonian Inst. 1920, Publ. 2644, 1922. 



