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USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS [eth. ann. a 



he did so. This was followed by a dressing of pounded bark (Prunus 

 serotina, Ehrh.) applied 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. 

 It 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 Asarmn 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 



