48 ETHNOBOTANY OF THE ZUNI INDIANS turn. axn. 30 



slow; there was no fever, but intense thirst and violent perspiration from incessant 

 motion." Br. Turner ' describes the effects upon two children who had eaten the 

 seeds: "In an hour and a half they were fully under the influence of the poison. 

 They were lying on their backs, eyes bright, pupils widely dilated and insensible 

 to light, conjunctiva injected, faces deeply suffused, and of a dark-crimson color; 

 difficulty of breathing, inability to articulate, and in a state of complete insensi- 

 bility, broken occasionally by a paroxysm, during which they would utter some 

 indistinct sounds and throw their hands about, as if trying to ward off some threatening 

 evil. They then fell into a comatose state, but were easily roused into a state of 

 \aolent excitement; they grasped at imaginary objects; there was picking of the 

 bedclothes, with paroxysms of excessive laughter." 



The Thugs, a society of stealthy fanatic murderers of India, often employ D. J'ustuosa 

 and alba to render their intended victims unconscious . . . 



From the symptoms caused by this drug, its homoeopathic adaptability to hydro- 

 phobia will be at once evident. There is no drug so far i)roven that deserves as 

 thorough and careful a trial in this dread disease as stramonium. The following, 

 from a letter written by the Catholic Bishop of Singapore to the Straits Times, has 

 just come to my notice. This Bishop says he thinks it is his duty to publish the 

 remedies used in the missions in Tonquin for the cure of hydrophobia. These, he 

 says, consist, first, in giving as much star-ani.seed as may be contained on a cent 

 piece; and, secondly, in making the patient take some water in which a handful 

 of the leaves of stramony, or thorn-apple, or pear-apple, is infused. These will cause 

 an access of the convulsions or delirium, diu'ing which the patient must be tied; 

 but on its abatement he will be cured. If the remedy act too violently, either by 

 too much being administered, or on account of there being no virus of real hydro- 

 phobia, the consequences may be ameliorated by making the patient drink an 

 infusion of licorice root, a most precious antidote against poisoning by stramony. 

 In 18G9, the Bishop relates, a very honorable member of the clergy of Paris was bitten 

 by a pet dog, which died thirty hours afterwards with the most characterized con- 

 vulsions of rabies. The following day he felt the first symptoms of the dreadful 

 disease, and these augmented in intensity every day. The priest, however, applied 

 at once all sorts of known remedies, ancient and modern, and even employed a very 

 small dose of stramony. Each time he used the latter the progress of the disease 

 ceased for some hours, even days, and then continued its ravages with greater intensity 

 than before. When the fatal issue was at hand, just at the crisis of the disease, when 

 the paroxysms had attained the greatest violence, the patient, with almost super- 

 human energy, began chewing a pinch of dried stramony leaves, swallowing the 

 juice. The effect was not long in making itself felt. In half an hour the disease 

 had attained its height, the patient being delirious during the convulsions; but on 

 the following day he was perfectly cured. "The same remedy," concludes the 

 Bishop, "is used in India, and is always successful." — Millspauoh, Medicinal Plants, 

 vol II., 1887, pp. 127^ to 127-6. 



DitJiyrsea wislizeni Engelm. Spectacle-pod. Brassicace.^. 



Mustard family. 

 Ha'lco'loTcfa, '.Sand-hill crane'; so named because the plant is a 

 favorite of this bird. 

 The entire plant is boiled by the officiating tliourgist-, who adminis- 

 ters the tea for delirium.- This medicine originally belonged to the 



1 Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1864, p. 552. 



2 It has been observed (p. 89) that D. jrhlizevi Engelm., made into a tea, is taken ceremonially by the 

 Galaxy fraternity "to loosen their tongues and make them talk like fools." From this it would appear 

 that sometimes, at least, they practice the homeopathic principle in doctoring. 



