OBSTETRICS IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 247 



tail of a sting-ray. This woman, after a normal delivery, had con- 

 tracted puerpal fever, and the violent chills which seized her were 

 attributed by the quack to the presence of the asuang, which needed to 

 be driven out of her by a severe whipping with some bruising instrument 

 which, like the tail of the sting-ray, had the medicinal virtue of expelling 

 all malignant spirits. 



INFLUENCE OF THE MISSIONARIES. 



At a later period, bearers of a new civilization arrived on these shores 

 in the shape of the Spanish missionaries or friars. These representatives 

 of the church spread throughout the villages of the Philippines and 

 there they organized parishes. These holy men, ministers of a religion 

 which is all peace and charity, could not long remain indifferent to the 

 ailments of the body, and in the same manner as that in which they 

 ministered to the afflictions of the soul, the woman in the throes of 

 childbirth was also made the object of their solicitous care. 



In order to give a slight idea of remedies which were used by the 

 friars in these early days, I will here transcribe a curious chapter from 

 the work of Father Pablo Clain, S. J., entitled "Easy Eemedies for 

 Various Diseases." The work was published in Manila in the year 1710, 

 being practically two centuries old. The chapter mentioned, which is 

 entitled "Parturition, How to Facilitate it," reads, literally translated, 

 as follows : 



"Cause the woman about to give birth to sneeze, by blowing into her nostrils 

 some of the powder known as Verbo apoplegia, or mustard seed, and white 

 pepper. Give her a spoonful of mass wine from time to time, or give her to 

 drink, in tepid water, the balls of hair formed on deer or hogs (weight of nine 

 or ten grains of pepper ) . 



"As to the exterior, the midwife should frequently anoint the abdomen with 

 tepid coconut oil, mixed with escobilla juice 2 ( Sida carpinifolia L. ) . 



"Apply to the abdomen fomentations of a decoction of emollient herbs, such 

 as escobilla, mallows, castiogum root (Hibiscus abelmoschus L. ), camantigue 

 leaves (Impatiens balsamina L.) and costmary (Tanacetum balsamita L.) . Give 

 her acrid and irritating injections. Some praise the gall of a black hen 

 applied to the navel ; others mouse excrements dissolved in tepid wine or tepid 

 water given to drink (as high as six grains). A duferro 3 stone should be 

 tied to the thighs (or applied to the lower parts) ; but it should be removed im- 

 mediately after the placenta has been expelled. A loadstone tied to the thigh, on 

 the inner side, is likewise efficacious. If the new-born infant is weak, strengthen 

 it by giving 'the mother a swallow or spoonful of tepid Castile wine, and 

 externally, by placing on her abdomen a piece of toasted bread, sprinkled with 

 hot mass wine and powdered cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. If the child begins 

 to emerge in an unfavorable manner, such as presenting first an arm or a foot, 



- The scientific names of the plants mentioned have been supplied by Dr. Leon 

 Guerrero and by Mr. Merrill, Bureau of Science. 

 3 A translation of this word can not be supplied. 



