July 30, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



101 



birch, bark or tops of Artemisia. Cottonwood 

 leaves for toy tipis and moccasins, the grren 

 pods for beads. Pods of spider bean (Pawnee 

 name for Acuan) black rattle-pod (Baptisia 

 iracteata) and little rattle-pod (Astragalus 

 carolinianus) for rattles. Jack-in-the-pulpit 

 seeds were used in gourds for rattles. 



Medicine. — Roots of hop, canaigre, wild 

 four-o'clock (AlUonia), wind flower (Anemone 

 canadensis), blue cohosh, wild black currant, 

 wild liquorice, prairie clover, sumac, purple 

 mallow (Oallirrhoe), sweet cicely, cow pars- 

 nip, genfian (G. puberula), butterfly weed, 

 bush morning glory, ground cherry (P. lance- 

 olata), wild gourd, purple cone-flower, cup 

 plant and burdock. 



Leaves of red cedar, curled dock, pasque 

 flower, wild liquorice, spurge (E. serpylli- 

 folia), sumac, touch-me-not, verbena (Y. 

 hastata), wild bergamot, rough pennyroyal and 

 fetid marigold. Tops of cow parsnip, wild 

 mint, broom- weed (Gutierrezia) , sticky head 

 (Pawnee name for Orindelia), milfoil and 

 wild sage (Artemisia spp.). Flowers of lily 

 (L. umhellatum) and false lupine (Ther- 

 mopsis). Berries of red cedar, seeds of hop 

 and sunflower. 



Conns of Jack-in-the-plpit and blazing 

 star; rootstocks of sweet flag and blue flag; 

 bark of roots of oaks and Kentucky coffeetree; 

 inner bark of red elm, stems of skeleton weed. 



The greater number of these were steeped 

 in water and used for various ailments, most 

 commonly fevers and intestinal disturbances. 

 A few, such as sweet flag and purple cone- 

 flower, were used in various ways. Cedar 

 twigs, roots of purple mallow and cup plant 

 were burned and the smoke inhaled for colds; 

 flowers of false lupine were burned for 

 rheumatism, the smoke and heat being con- 

 fined to the affected part by a close covering. 



Crushed leaves of dock were applied to 

 draw suppuration, of sumac for poisoning, of 

 touch-me-not for rash; roots of sweet cicely 

 and cow parsnip for boils. Eoots of butterfly 

 weed were eaten raw for throat and lung 

 trouble. 



The fine stems of leadplant, rabbit foot 

 (Pawnee name for Lespedeza capitata) and 



an aster were broken into short pieces, at- 

 tached to the skin by moistening one end 

 with the tongue, and burned for neuralgia 

 and rheumatism. [This treatment, known as 

 moxa, is found elsewhere and an Asiatic 

 species of Artemisia is named A. moxa.'] The 

 collecting of roots of wild gourd and butter- 

 fly weed was done only by certain persons of ■ 

 the tribe. 



Charms and Ceremonies. — Mystic properties 

 were assigned to cottonwood, ash yellow lotus, 

 wild gourd and cardinal flower. Flowers of 

 pasqueflower, spiderwort and wild rose were 

 revered. Fruits of Jong-fruited anemone were 

 used for luck at cards ; . seeds of columbine, 

 love seed (Cogswellia daucifolia), roots of 

 bloodroot and ginseng, roots and flowers of 

 cardinal flower, plants of dodder and fuzzy 

 top (Artemisia dracunculoides) for love 

 charms. Sweet grass and wild sage (Arte- 

 misia spp.) for incense. 



Poison ivy was known and dreaded. Moon- 

 seed was called " thunder grapes," " ghost 

 fruit " and " sore mouth," while spurges and 

 Parosela enneandra were regarded as of 

 poisonous nattire. The juice of red false 

 mallow and purple coneflower were used to 

 make skin insensible to heat. The compass 

 plant was associated with lighting and its 

 dried root burned during storms. Cedar 

 boughs were placed on tipis for the same 

 purpose. 



O. A. Stevens 



Agricdltukal College, 

 North Dakota 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



AGRICULTURE IN ALASKA 



The Department of Agriculture's experi- 

 ment stations located in Alaska have demon- 

 strated that Alaska is not only a food-produc- 

 ing country but that if the latent resources of 

 the territory are developed the Alaska wheat 

 fields are destined to play an important part 

 in the economic life of the nation. The 

 twenty-first annual report of the Alaska Ex- 

 periment Station is now available. When it is 

 considered that one of the experiment stations 

 is located in the Yukon Valley only Y5 miles 



