460 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
common sense underlying the hocus-pocus of which one 
hears so much in travellers’ tales. The natives are observant; 
they recognise the fact that such diseases as small-pox and 
syphilis are contagious, and they attempt with varying 
success to prevent their spread. In many districts in Africa 
a rigid system of isolation is practised with regard to small- 
pox. The patients are treated in a hut set apart for the 
purpose, they are attended only by those who have previously 
suffered from the disease; a definite dietary is prescribed for 
them, simples are administered, the pustules are pricked with 
a sharp thorn, and thereafter various unguents, famed for 
their healing properties, are applied to the patient. In one 
district, at any rate, in Africa, inoculation is practised 
with the syphilitic virus, and neither young man nor maid 
there may marry until they have been through the inocula- 
tion ceremonies. The African natives have a considerable 
knowledge of the virtues:of plants. Sudorifics, diuretics, 
febrifuges, purgatives, and emetics are known. Numerous 
barks and plants are selected as possessing these various pro- 
perties, and, accompanied by incantations, are applied with 
no little success. The actual cautery and cupping are well- 
recognised procedures, and are employed in many diseases. 
With regard to surgical operations, amputations are 
practised in some parts, but in many the patients would 
sooner die than suffer mutilation. Splints for the treatment 
of fractures are known and widely utilised ; hemorrhage is 
stayed in various ways, either by cautery, by the application 
of boiling oil or water, or of compresses composed either of 
astringent herbs, coffee grounds (in the Soudan), or cobwebs. 
It is when dealing with such diseases as epilepsy, insanity, 
or nervous disorders, that the natives completely fail, 
and where incantations pure and simple are resorted to. 
In dealing with labours, considerable ingenuity is often 
manifested ; turning is sometimes practised; the child may 
be expressed, so may a retained placenta; in difficult labours 
positional treatment is in vogue in many places, and in 
some, even abdominal section is practised with more or less 
success. 
As is well known, poisons and their antidotes -find a not 
