110 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 
incident scouted the idea of a rattlesnake-bite being 
dangerous, and exemplified his confidence in the effi- 
ciency of an antidote by bringing a snake of twelve 
rattles the following day, and allowing himself to be 
bitten by it. He then took a cedran bean, and, having 
chewed it, swallowed a portion, and saturated the wound 
with his saliva; after which treatment no disagreeable 
feelings or unpleasant effects resulted from the bite. 
Mr. Curry, after having been thus satisfied of the mar- 
vellous curative powers of these beans, verified his ex- 
perience by writing to the Alta California newspaper, 
and carried about a peck of the beans to San Francisco, 
where many successful experiments of their efficiency 
were made by Professor Lanzwert, a German physician, 
on dogs, cats, rabbits, etc., which were allowed to be 
bitten by rattlesnakes. After these tests the neutraliz- 
ing power of these beans was found never to fail when 
applied to human beings bitten by these reptiles. 
Very few physicians, however, had any knowledge of 
the curative properties possessed by this tree until a tinct- 
ure was manufactured from its roots by Parke Davis 
& Co. about three years ago. Its extracts are consid- 
ered a safer antidote than whiskey or alcohol, producing 
as they do a chemical reaction of the blood in from six 
to eight hours ; but for snake-bite their neutralizing ef- 
fect is almost instantaneous after being taken into the 
system. They are also a cure for gout, and an antidote 
for hydrophobia. 
Mr. Curry’s experience, since, further evinces the fre- 
quency of rattlesnake-bite being completely neutralized 
and cured by simply eating a portion of a bean, or taking 
a tea made from half a bean. 
Therefore it would seem, from the incident of the 
buzzard having been bitten, and its instinctive knowl- 
edge of the antidotary power of this tree, that to science 
has been given a remedy for prevention of the effects 
of so many occasional diseases before considered incur- 
