334 USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS  [erH. ANN. 44 
he did so. This was followed by a dressing of pounded bark (Prunus 
serotina Ehrh.) appled dry and renewed as often as it became 
damp—usually twice a day. Nothing else was used and the healing 
was perfect. 
(6) Another use of the knife in surgery was described by Weza- 
wange, who said he had treated a case in which this became necessary. 
Tt was a gangrenous wound, and he used the knife, not to remove, 
but to “loosen” the affected flesh, which was taken out by the 
medicine he applied. He said that in a case of this sort everything 
must be very clean, care being taken especially that the knife or 
remedies did not come in contact with rust. In this treatment he 
said that he used a medicine which had been handed down by the 
Mide and was particularly valued. It consisted of the inner bark 
of the white pine, the wild plum, and the wild cherry, it being 
necessary to take the first two from young trees. The writer saw 
him cut a young pine tree for this purpose and place tobacco in 
the ground close to the root before doing so. In preparing the 
medicine he said that the stalk of the pine was cut in short sections 
and boiled with the green inner: bark of the other two trees until 
all the bark was soft. The water should be renewed when necessary, 
and the last water saved for later use. The bark was then removed 
from the pine stems and all the bark mashed with a heavy hammer 
until it was a pulp. It was then dried, and when needed it was 
moistened with the water which had been kept for that purpose. He 
said this medicine was usually prepared when needed, as the materials 
were so readily at hand. This wet pulp was applied to any wound 
or to a fresh cut and was a healing remedy, but was especially used 
for neglected wounds which had become gangrenous. 
(7) Splints were placed on fractured limbs. The splints were 
best when made of very thick birch bark similar to that used for 
canoes. The birch bark was heated and bent to the proper shape, 
after which it was as rigid as plaster of Paris. Splints were also 
made of thin cedar. Tying the splint with basswood twine added 
greatly to its rigidity. 
The treatment of a fractured arm was described as follows: “ Wash 
the arm with warm water and apply grease. Then apply a warm 
poultice, cover with a cloth and bind with a thin cedar splint.” The 
roots used for the poultice were Asarwm canadense L. (wild ginger) 
and Aralia racemosa L. (spikenard). 
These two were dried and mashed together in equal parts. The 
directions added “ when poultice becomes dry it should be renewed, 
or, if the arm is very tender, the poultice may be moistened with 
warm water without removing it.” 
(8) Old women whose limbs or knees were weak often made sup- 
ports by taking wide strips of fresh basswood bark and binding it 
