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Story  of  the  Pap  aw. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharai. 
June,  1901. 
from  the  satiny  and  bright  hued  rinds  of  the  fruits  which  surround 
them.  If  they  are  to  be  believed,  the  mystery  of  their  clear,  clean 
complexion  and  exquisite  pulp-like  flesh  arises  from  the  use  of  the 
papaw  fruit  as  a  cosmetic.  A  slice  of  the  ripe  fruit  is  rubbed  over 
the  skin  and  is  said  to  dissolve  spare  flesh  and  remove  every 
blemish.  It  is  a  toilet  requisite  in  use  by  the  young  and  old,  pro- 
ducing, according  to  the  words  of  a  French  writer,  "  the  most  beau- 
tiful specimens  of  the  human  race." 
The  papaw  has  been  brought  to  America  as  a  cure  for  the  national 
disease,  dyspepsia.  In  its  tropical,  home  there  are  no  dyspeptics, 
but  its  use  along  similar  lines  is  by  no  means  unknown. 
The  meat  in  these  countries  is  tough  and  tasteless;  beef,  mutton, 
pork  or  fowl  have  the  same  flavor,  and  are  as  tough  as  hickory 
wood;  boiling  until  they  fall  to  pieces  does  not  render  them  any 
more  edible ;  they  simply  change  from  solid  wood  to  fine  tough 
splinters. 
One  reason  for  this  is  that  in  this  climate  meat  must  be  eaten 
immediately  after  slaughter.  (It  often  reaches  the  pot  in  an  hour 
after  killing.)  The  papaw  helps  to  overcome  this  Rubbed  over 
tough  meat  it  will  render  it  soft  and  change  a  piece  of  apparent 
leather  to  a  tender,  juicy  steak.  It  is  put  into  the  pot  with  meat, 
enters  into  the  cereals,  soups,  stews  and  other  dishes,  and  they  are 
made  at  least  more  edible  and  digestible. 
Most  of  the  half-breeds  of  Indian  extraction  upon  the  South 
American  Continent  and  adjacent  islands  are  particularly  given  to 
meat  diet  ;  many  of  them  eat  it  raw,3  sometimes  in  a  state  of  partial 
decay,  and  here  the  papaw  is  brought  into  use,  being  eaten  with  the 
flesh  or  rubbed  over  it  before  it  is  eaten. 
Some  of  these  people  are  great  gluttons ;  they  gorge  themselves 
until  the  skin  on  their  distended  stomach  is  stretched  to  its  utmost. 
It  is  certain  that  no  human  being  could  digest  the  kind  of  food  and 
the  enormous  amounts  they  consume  without  the  kindly  aid  of  the 
papaw  fruit  to  assist  digestion. 
NAMES  AND  CHARACTERISTICS. 
The  botanical  characteristics  of  this  family  having  been  more  or 
less  completely  described  by  various   authors,  need  not  here  be 
3  In  Bolivia  and  Paraguay  it  is  a  very  common  sight  at  the  railway  stations 
to  see  raw  meat  peddled  out  in  chunks  to  passengers. 
