268 
Hitherto Hidden Medicinal Treasures. 
effect is at all events astonisliing.* The patient drinks one to two 
cups of a decoction of tliis jjlant every morning, and in from 4 to 0 
days lie is completely cured. During treatment, tlie negroes and 
coloured folk do not once abstain from rum or brandy. I brought 
away a fair quantity of the plant, to have some experiments made 
with it, but unfortunately the paeket was spoilt by water getting 
in it. 
G19. Foi- frequency of micturition and other diseases of the 1 (lad- 
der one generally employs a decoction of the l)ark of llhizoiihora 
gijinnorvliha Linn., of PlnjUaathm Uruiai'ia Linn., of Ahuta 
rirfcsccns Aubl., Iliicllia Uihcrosa, different species of Siiiilax, Rciiiirca 
viaritlma. 
020. Ivcmedies for ulcers and skin eruptions: — sap of the Bli/risfica 
sclnfcra S\v., decoction of the bark of A/nona A mhota i/ Auld., of ^Hcnn'm 
alata DeC, Vismia sessilifoliä Pers., Virccta pratensis Vahl., Heliotro- 
piiDii scoi-pioidcs Humb. Bou]!., Oiiiplidlca diandra. They make a 
decoction out of the last one for cleaning wounds. 
621. As vernufugc the Indians likewise uiake use of Chenopodi ti in 
amhroftioides Linn. 
622. These are only some of the most commonly used and effective 
remedies, but how many medicinal treasures may not the forests con- 
tain, the healing ijowers of which are known neither to the colonists nor 
to the Indians, so that like buried wealth they bring advantage to no 
one. What an infinitely rich field for research a^\•aits the physician 
alone in the innumerable species of Euphorhiaccae, from the highest 
tree down to the lowliest plant, of which certainly none is Avithout 
medicinal properties. The Lmirincac family are of equal importance 
not only on account of their aromatic qualities, but also in conse- 
quence of the volatile oil which is used by the Indians for rheuuuitic 
troul)les as an external application, as well as for diuretic and sudorific 
purposes. Among Cinch oncac are still to be found a number of new 
species l)ccause, as already mentioned, I discovered two species. 
Ladcnhcrf/i(i Ixoiriimdc Klotzsch, and Ladrnhcrfjui SIrhnnihurrfl-ii 
Klotzsch, in the neighbourhood of Roraima alone, at 4,000 feet al)ove 
sea-level, but their properties were entirely u.nknoA\-]i to the aboi-ioi]u>'>'. 
On the other hand they know the diuretic and mollifying effects of 
Smilrt.r, of which Guiana possesses several species, although fs'niiJa.r 
siirsd parilht and ■'^irpJiillHra. are not forthcoming. .\iiiomist 
Cacsdlphirac I Avould direct attention to several species of Coitdifmi 
and to BiimcndCd Courhnrtt, amoncs; Anii/ridrdr to Amijrif^ Cdmna 
Humll, Tvhich suppTies a suTistance that resembles Gum Elemi, to 
'Ämyrh hcfcropJii/lht Willd. that yields the Acouchi Balsaui, aud to 
* The reference is to Gonorrhea, which he confuses with Syphilis. It is certainly not 
the case at the present clay that it does not here " assume the same virnlent character " as 
in cold climates. Its well-known sequelae are as frequent and as far-rcachiuiT as elsewhere. 
I have no knowledge of the use of Euphorbia erythrocarpa, Klotzsch. In "these days the 
prevailing fashions of vaccines and sera and electrical treatment have led to some neglect of 
the study (^f pharmacy. Much of the old lore has been forgotten, and the empiricism of 
the old methods has cast perhaps_ undue discredit upon them, but it would seem that a 
scientific study of the modes of action of these substances in which these forests so abound 
would be of 'considerable value and would mean a valuable addition to the arrnamentarium 
of the medical practitiouer, when the wind veers round again. (F.G.R.) 
