Am.  Tour.  Pharm  .  ) 
Feb.,  1875.  J 
Agave  Americana, 
79 
in  a  small  isolated  spot  on  the  Texas  border.  The  disagreeable  smell 
of  the  juice,  which  has  been  compared  to  that  of  putrid  meat,  causes  a 
person  at  first  to  turn  from  it  in  disgust,  but  after  awhile  the  odor  is 
overcome,  and  a  liking  for  it  takes  the  place  of  the  previous  dislike. 
From  the  compulsory  doses  of  this  juice  taken  by  Sheridan's  small 
army,  the  effectual  stay  of  scurvy  is  attributed.  In  Mexico  the  plant 
is  very  highly  valued  for  its  medicinal  properties,  the  belief  in  which, 
amongst  the  Mexican  peasants,  has  been  handed  dpwn  from  a  remote 
period  of  history.  Thus,  the  gum  found  in  the  lower  part  of  the  stem 
is  used  as  a  cure  for  toothache,  whilst  the  juice  of  the  leaf  is  applied  to 
bruises  and  contusions.  This  juice  forms  a  large  article  of  interna! 
trade  in  Mexico.  The  plant  is  known  as  the  "  Maguey,"  or  "  tree  of 
wonders,"  and  even  at  the  present  time,  in  some  parts  of  Mexico  it  is 
considered  one  of  the  most  important  productions  of  the  soil.  The 
discovery  of  the  juice  of  the  plant  as  an  intoxicating  beverage  is  said 
by  some  to  date  back  to  the  days  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  Mex- 
ican continent.  In  an  interesting  report  on  the  history,  culture  and 
trade  in  the  plant  furnished  to  the  Foreign  Office  some  short  time  since, 
we  read  that  more  modern  tradition  has  fixed  the  epoch  of  its  discovery 
as  having  been  about  the  year  1045-1050,  under  the  reign  to  the  eighth 
King  of  the  Taltec  tribe,  named  Tepancaltzin,  at  whose  court  a  rela- 
tion of  his,  named  Pepantzin,  presented  himself,  and  informed  him  that 
his  daughter  had  discovered  that  a  sweet  and  aromatic  liquid  sprung 
forth  from  the  Metl  plants  in  her  garden.  The  King  ordered  her  into 
his  presence,  and  she  brought  him  '  Tecomati,'  or  vase  of  the  liquid 
she  had  discovered,  which  he  tasted,  and  then  ordered  her  to  bring  him 
more  ;  and,  subsequently,  becoming  enamored  of  the  maiden,  whose 
beauty  was  great,  and  whose  name  was  '  Xochil,'  or  flower,  he  mar- 
ried her  ;  of  which  union  a  child  was  born,  to  whom  was  given  the 
name  of  Meconetzin,  or  'Son  of  the  Metl  \  or  Maguey,  in  allusion  to 
the  circumstance  which  was  the  origin  of  his  parent's  first  interview." 
Leaving  its  very  remote  history,  there  seems  "  no  doubt  that  the 
divers  properties  of  the  plant  itself  were  known  many  years  before  the 
discovery  of  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards,  for  not  only  is  it  mentioned  as 
furnishing  thorny  scourges,  as  well  as  whips  made  of  the  fibres  of  the 
plants'  leaves  for  the  multitudes  who  annually  met  to  celebrate  a  fes- 
tival in  honor  of  the  god,  Texcatlipuca,  in  the  great  Temple  of  Ten- 
ochtitlau  (the  modern  Mexico),  but  the  use  of  the  juice  became  so 
general  that  manv  severe  laws  against  the  drunkenness  resulting  from 
