STEVENSON] MEDICAL PRACTICES AND MEDICINAL PLANTS 57 



Mentzelia pumila Torr. & Gray. Stick-leaf. Loas'ace^. Loasa 



family. 

 Mi'hana i'pachihla, 'sacred embroidered cotton blanket hold- 

 fast' (mi'^a, sacred embroidered cotton blanket; i'pacJtilcia, 

 hold-fast), meaning that ^.'hen the plant touches the blanket 

 it adheres to it. The plant is supposed to have received its 

 name from having touched a mi'ha and held fast to it when 

 worn by a persouator of an anthrojiic god. 

 The powdered root is employed to reheve constipation, the medicme 

 being inserted into the rectum with the finger. The remedy belongs 

 to all the people. 



Pedis papposa Harv. & Gray. Carduace.*;. Thistle family. 

 Ham'pasa. 

 A good pinch of the blossoms is tied tight in a small piece of 

 cloth, which is well moistened with water. This small sack is 

 squeezed, allowing the medicine to drop into the eyes to reUeve 

 suffering from the effect of theii" exposure to snow. The medicine 

 belongs to all the people." 



Pinus edulis Engelm. Piilon. Pinace^. Pine family. 



He'slio tsi'tonne, 'gum branch' Qie'slio, gum: tsi'tonM, branch). 



The tree takes its name from the quantity of gum which 



exudes from it. 



The needles of the tree are given for syphihs. The patient chews 



the needles, and after swallowing them tlrmks a quantity of cold 



water and then runs for about a mile, or mitil he perspires profusely, 



when he returns home and wTaps in a heavy blanket. The kidneys 



are so acted on that frequent micturatioii is the result. Women 



afflicted with the same disease wrap in blankets after taking the 



medicine, but do not run. Frequently a tea is made of the twigs 



and drunk warm m conjum'tion ^\-ith the needles. The ulcers are 



scraped with the finger-nail until they bleed, when the powdered 



1 Dr. Washington Matthews (Navajo Names for Plants, Amer. Naturalist, ISSfi, vol. u, p. 769) records 

 the foUoNving interesting observation on the belief of the Navaho respecting Pectix: 



" I met the same Indian carrying, in the fold of his blanket, some specimens of Pcctis angustifoUa, a plant 

 which on the dry mesas of New Mexico does not attain a height of more than two or three inches, but it has 

 a delightful odor, like tliat of lemon verbena, and its infusion is used by the Navajos as a carminative. 

 Their attention has therefore l)een ilrawni to it. The name given for the plant was so peculiar, signifying 

 'a breeze blowing through a rock/ tscganikhce, that I made no delay in getting an explanation from him. 

 He led me to the top of a desert mesa where the plant grew fresh. Here he picked up a piece of sandstone 

 about a foot square and three inches thick, and held it up to my nose siiying, ' Do you smell anything on 

 that stone? ' The dry hard stone was of course inodorous. Ho then rubbed a little of the fragment Pectin 

 on one of the broad surfaces of the stone and immediately applied the opposite surface to my nostrils. The 

 agreeable odor was at once distinctly perceptible through the rock. Some minutes later it could be detected 

 in all parts of the fragment; but at first it was perceived at a point directly opposite to the point of applica- 

 tion. Later he performed the experiment on a large stone nearly two feet thick; the results were the same 

 as with the smaller stone, but more time was required for the odor to penetrate the sandstone. The odor 

 he said, went through the rock as if it were blown by a breeze, hence the name." 



