June 30, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



355 



Paleontology should form an inseparable part of biology and 

 should not be taught under geology except in its stratigraphic re- 

 lations. Fossil types should be studied in connection with their 

 ancestors and their nearest living relatives. 



The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of exclusive 

 microscopic and physiologic work. When it swings back (and 

 I believe the time is not far distant) the equilibrium will be re- 

 stored — the perverted meaning of the term "biology" will be 

 forgotten, and the present one-sided study of animals and plants 

 will give place to a rational biology and to the development of a 

 school of naturalists far in advance of those who have passed 

 away. 



NOTES ON PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN FOLK-MEDICINE. 



BT W. J. HOFFMAN, M.D., WASHINGTON, B.C. 



While collecting material relating to the folk-lore of the Penn- 

 sylvania Germans I obtained some curious beliefs pertaining to 

 the rattlesnake, and the alleged remedies employed for curing 

 those bitten by this reptile. Many newspaper reports are annually 

 circulated in various portions of the Atlantic Coast States to the 

 effect that the reporter had discovered a veritable "mountain 

 doctor," well versed in the secret properties of plants, and that 

 this personage was widely celebrated for his wonderful skill in 

 curing rattlesnake bites, but that the remedy was preserved with 

 the utmost care as a great and valued secret ; or, perhaps, that 

 the reporter of the article had received a sample, but through some 

 unavoidable misfortune he had lost it, etc. 



Having consulted with some of these so-called "mountain doc- 

 tors " to obtain and exchange matters of interest — during the past 

 twenty years — it has been found that nearly all of them employ 

 numerous species of plants for the ills that come under their ob- 

 servation, but that only a few are really acknowledged as possess- 

 ing a semblance of skill, and still less who are familiar with so- 

 called snake-bite remedies. 



The plant employed by one of these " mountain pow-wows," 

 and the only one claimed to possess any virtue, is Sanieula mary- 

 landica, or sanicle, termed by the natives "master-root," be- 

 cause it "masters the rattlesnake venom." The fresh plant 

 and roots are pounded and soaked in boiling milk, when the 

 mixture is applied to the wound as a poultice. A decoction of 

 the same plant is also taken internally to induce diaphoresis. The 

 decoction is said to be more efiBcacious if made with milk instead 

 of water. I believe this to be the first instance of bringing this 

 plant to public attention, at least as employed by these supersti- 

 tious herbalists, and for the purpose stated ; but as so much stress 

 is placed upon the good results, even by people of recognized in- 

 telligence and education, it might not be amiss to have made a 

 series of chemical and therapeutic experiments to test the efficacy 

 of the remedy. 



Another remedy employed by the superetitious of the mountain 

 regions of middle and eastern Pennsylvania is to cut a live chicken 

 in two, and to place the warm, raw surface of one part upon the 

 part bitten by the snake. 



Rattlesnakes are of value to the mountain doctors for several 

 reasons. The oil, obtained by draining the reptile after skinning 

 is used to cure deafness. The rattle, suspended from a string, 

 and worn by a baby, will have the power of preventing the wearer 

 from having convulsions during dentition. The tongue of the 

 snake, when worn in the glove, will have the power of compelling 

 any girl, who grasps the gloved hand, to love the one so greeted, 

 even should she ordinarily be indiflferent to his attentions. 



Finally, to secure rattlesnakes, the " doctor " grasps a silk 

 handkerchief at one corner, and allowing the other end to hang 

 toward the serpent, teases her until she strikes it with her fangs, 

 when he immediately raises the handkerchief from the ground, 

 thus depriving the snake of any opportunity of disengaging her- 

 self therefrom, as the slightly recurved fangs are hooked in the 

 material. The "doctor" then either kills the serpent by first 

 grasping her neck with the disengaged band, so as to prevent her 

 biting him, when he cuts off her head. Should he desire, how- 

 ever, to keep the snake as a curiosity or for sale, he will extract 

 the fangs with a small pair of forceps. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Professor Richard A. Proctor, the well-known astronomer 

 and writer, died in 1889, of yellow fever, in New York City. His 

 children were in Florida at the time, and could not be present at 

 the funeral. No suggestion of a resting-place being forthcoming, 

 the astronomer's remains were buried in the undertaker's private 

 lot in Greenwood. The body, it was understood, was to remain 

 there until other arrangements could be made. The lot was in an 

 out-of-the-way part of the cemetery, and the grave was neglected, 

 there being not even a stone to mark the place. The children of 

 the astronomer are all making their own living, and while their 

 wish was to bury their father better, the means were not at hand. 

 Recently, through the efforts of Mr. Edward W. Bok, attention 

 has been called to the matter, and Mr. George W. Childs of Phila- 

 delphia, has, with his usual generosity, purchased a lot in Green- 

 wood, near the Flatbush entrance, to which the astronomer's 

 remains will be removed, and in October it is hoped that a suitable 

 sarcophagus of granite will be dedicated with due ceremony. 



— The U. S. National Museum has recently come into posses- 

 sion of a very remarkable collection of petrified trunks of an ex- 

 tinct species of tree belonging to a family of plants that is now 

 very rare, but which once formed a prominent feature of the 

 landscape of nearly all countries. These plants are intermediate in 

 appearance between tree-ferns and palms, and have as their best 

 known living representative the common sago-palm, Cycas revo- 

 luta, of our greenhouses. The fossil trunks above mentioned are 

 from one to three feet in height and from six inches to two feet 

 in diameter. They are in a very perfect state of preservation, 

 turned to solid stone of a brown color. The largest one weighs 

 900 pounds, and is the largest object of the kind ever reported 

 from any part of the world. They were found lying on the sur- 

 face of the ground in the vicinity of Hot Springs, South Dakota, 

 and were all sent to Washington by mail under the frank of the 

 Interior Department. The geological formation in which they 

 occurred is not known with certainty, but this class of plants 

 reached its greatest perfection in what is known as Secondary, or 

 Mesozoic time. It is therefore altogether probable that these 

 trunks grew at that remote age and have lain strewn over the 

 plains for millions of years waiting for science to gather them in 

 and make them help tell the story of the earth. They have been 

 placed in the Department of Fossil Plants, in charge of Prof. 

 Lester P. Ward, who recently superintended the taking of fifteen 

 views of them by the accomplished photographer of the National 

 Museum, Mr. T. W. Smillie. This is one of the most important 

 accessions the museum has received of late, and when the collec- 

 tion is elaborated and the results published it will make a valu- 

 able contribution to science. 



— At Denison University, Granville, Ohio, a new scientific 

 building, known as Barney Hall, is approaching completion. The 

 building, which is one of the most substantial scientific buildings 

 in the West, will cost when finished about |65,000, and will in- 

 clude chemical and physical laboratories, as well as a museum 

 and laboratories of biology. Special attention is to be devoted 

 to neurology and comparative neurology. An extended gradu- 

 ate course iu biology, and a number of fellowships have been 

 provided with corresponding increase in faculty. 



— "The Story of My Life," by Dr. Georg Ebers, is the title of a 

 delightful autobiography, full of fascinating reminiscences, which 

 will be published immediately by D. Appleton & Co. This auto- 

 biography tells of Dr. Ebers's student life in Germany, his associ- 

 ation with movements like that for the establishment of kinder- 

 garten training, his acquaintance with distinguished men like 

 Froebel and the brothers Grimm, his glimpses of revolutionary 

 movements, his interest in Egyptology and the history of ancient 

 Greece and Rome, and the beginnings of his literary career. 



— Without making invidious comparisons, it is safe to say that 

 the exhibit which Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. have arranged 

 in the gallery in the northwestern corner of the Department 

 of Liberal Arts in the Manufacturers' Building at Chicago is in 

 all respects worthy of somewhat careful e.Karaination. The idea 

 evidently is to represent such a library as might be found in the 

 house of a man of cultivation in any part of the United States, 



