Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1899. 
Investigation  into  uHusa. 
211 
Naturally,  the  author  endeavored  to  identify  these  herbs,"  but 
the  negro  refused  to  divulge  his  secret.  He  then  made  the  negro 
drunk  and  learned  that,  11  Boss,  de  is  viellies  an'  husen,  an'  I  gets 
'em  from  de  Semmes  in  de  dales,"  which  the  author  interpreted  as 
«  Seminole  Indians  who  live  in  the  everglades."  At  once  he  started 
for  the  everglades,  but  found  that  "  I  could  elicit  nothing  from  the 
Indians,  men  or  women."  None  would  give  up  the  valuable 
secret.  Then  came  a  friend  in  need  in  the  form  of  a  remarkable 
naturalist  from  Scotland  who  supplied  the  missing  information, 
the  event  being  chronicled  as  follows: 
"Just  as  I  was  about  to  give  up  the  matter  in  disgust  I  met 
a  Dr.  McGregor,  a  Scotchman,  from  the  University  of  Aberdeen, 
Scotland,  who  has  spent  many  years  in  Florida  and  along  the 
Gulf  coasts.  He  was  gathering  orchids  and  other  plants  for  his 
university  or  museum.  From  him  I  learned  all  I  wanted  to 
know.  ( Viellies  an'  huser,'  as  translated  by  him,  means  the 
spear-eared  violet,  Viola  sagittata,  '  huser '  is  husa,  so-called  by 
the  Indians,  sometimes  hoosu ;  the  whites  call  it  yousa  and 
yusee." 
Proceeding,  the  author  {Dr.  Winthrop)  informs  us  that  "  The 
Viola  sagittata  has  long  been  known  as  possessing  antidotal  proper- 
ties for  snake  poison.  The  eclectic  school  of  medicine  use  it  for 
many  purposes.  Husa,  however,  is  not  much  known.  It  is  an  un- 
classified plant  of  a  dirty  whitish-green  color,  about  2  or  3  inches 
long.  It  has  at  its  summit  a  ball-like  white  formation.  Where 
the  flower  should  be  this  is  hard,  slightly  lobulated,  and  is  to  all 
appearances  like  a  small  cauliflower.  It  grows  in  clumps,  in  moist, 
shady  places,  particularly  on  the  hammocks  at  the  roots  of  the 
cabbage  palms.  It  is  of  a  low  order  of  plants,  above  the  mosses ; 
it  is,  I  believe,  a  cryptogam." 
Thus  it  appears  that  this  mixture  of  herbs  that  the  negro  used 
was  (Winthrop)  a  mixture  of  two  plants,  one  {viola  sagittata)  long, 
according  to  the  author,  known  to  eclectic  medicine,  the  other 
(husa),  unclassified.  But,  while  the  first  of  these  was,  according  to 
the  author,  used  by  the  eclectics  in  snake  bite,  etc.,  the  second, 
unknown  to  science,  was  a  remarkable  cure  for  the  morphine  habit. 
This  is  asserted  as  follows:  "  From  Dr.  McGregor  I  learned  that 
it  is  a  perfect  antidote  for  all  snake  bites,  stings  of  insects,  etc., 
also  an  antidote  for  narcotic  poisons.     It  is  the  most  diffusible 
