DENSMORD] PLANTS AS MEDICINE 333 
been cut with 15 or 20 gashes about a quarter of an inch long. This 
treatment was given for a sprain, her elbow having swollen to twice 
its natural size. The most common use of this treatment was for 
headache, as described below, but it was used for any inflammation. 
A remedy for the bite of a snake was administered in this manner, 
the plant being identified as Plantago major L. 
(3) In connection with the incisions above described there was a 
small horn (pl. 46, e) if the treatment was for headache. In this 
treatment about six very short, deep incisions were made on the 
temples with the flint or glass, after which the doctor placed the 
larger end of the horn over the incisions and applied his mouth to 
the smaller end, sucking until the blood came to the surface. He 
then quickly removed his lips from the horn, placed his finger over 
the small end of the horn and lowered it so that the blood would 
run into it. When enough had been removed he wiped the skin and 
applied a healing medicine, as noted above, or some remedy for 
headache, or he might place a moist compress or “ grease” over the 
cuts. This cutting of the temples was also used for inflammation 
of the eyes. 
(4) An instrument for applying medicine beneath the skin consisted 
of several needles fastened at the end of a wooden handle (pl. 46, /). 
This was used in treating “dizzy headache,” neuralgia, or rheuma- 
tism in any part of the body. In giving the treatment the medicine 
was “worked in” with the needles. If only a small part were to be 
“gone over” it was customary to hold a knife in the left hand and 
to use the blade as a guide for the needles. These were “ worked up 
and down ” close to the blade, “ which kept the medicine from spread- 
ing.” The remedy used most often in this manner was made as 
follows: Hazel stalks or cedar wood was burned to a charcoal and a 
small quantity of the charcoal (or ash) was mixed with an equal 
quantity of the dried gall of a bear. It was mixed well and placed 
in a birch-bark dish. When used it was moistened a little with water 
and stirred, after which a little was taken on the blade at the end 
of the wooden instrument and laid on the affected part. It was then 
“worked in” with the needles. The dark spots seen on the temples 
of many Indians are left by the charcoal in this medicine. A remedy 
for rheumatism was applied in a similar manner. The plant was 
identified as Zrillium grandiflorum (Michx.) Salisb., and it was used 
in the form of a decoction. 
(5) The use of a knife in amputation was mentioned by Main’gans, 
whose limbs were amputated below the knee, the only instrument 
used being a common knife. When he was a boy his feet and limbs 
were badly frozen and in a hopeless condition. The pain was so 
intense that he begged a man to amputate them in this manner, and 
