THE 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
APRIL, 1849. 
ART. XXIV. — HISTORY AND ANALYSIS OF A BARK USED 
ON THE COAST OF AFRICA, FOR THE DETECTION OF 
WITCHES. 
By C. A. Santos. 
Through the kindness of Moses Sheppard, Esq. of Bal- 
timore, the writer was presented with a parcel of this bark, 
and on account of its interesting nature, and the attention 
it has received from missionaries and others on the coast of 
Africa, it was presumed that the present paper would be 
interesting, and consequently has been prepared. 
It is said that when a person is charged with witchcraft, 
he is compelled to drink a decoction of the bark ; if death 
ensues, proof of guilt is afforded ; if, however ; he recovers 
from its effects, he is considered innocent. 
Its application does not end here, but unhappily, it fur- 
nishes a means of gratifying private revenge, and nume- 
rous are the cases in which an enemy is accused of sorcery, 
and the administration of the fatal draught terminates his 
existence. 
In a number of the published communications and pri- 
vate journals of the missionaries, and other writers in 
Africa, the use of this Saucy Bark or Gidu is denounced as 
9 
