RHEUMATISM

Because they were constantly exposed to the weather, the Indians suffered from rheumatism to a considerable extent. Botanical remedies were frequently employed, and some of them will be described, but sweat baths were particularly favored. That of the Yokias of California as described by V.K. Chestnut is in cluded as an interesting example.

These people ... have a novel way of using the small twigs and leaves for the cure of rheumatism and for bodily bruises. A fire is built over some rocks and allowed to burn down. The pine twigs are then thrown upon the warm ashes and the patient, wrapped well in blankets, lies down upon them. Water is occasionally sprinkled on the rocks beneath, so that steam together with the volatile oil from the leaves is constantly given off. After inhaling this and sweating most profusely for eight or ten hours, the patient is said to be invariably able to move without pain.

The species of pine mentioned in the above account of the Yokia sweat bath is the well-known digger pine. The same tribe sometimes employed the leaves of Douglas fir or wormwood in this cure for rheumatism.

Some of the plants used as remedies for this disorder include the following:

POKEWEED

The American Indiands utilized the smooth perennial pokeweed as an emetic; however, at least one tribe, the Pamunkey Indians of Virginia, drank a tea of the boiled berries to cure rheumatism. It was borrowed from the Indians and adopted in domestic medicine where the root was applied for various skin diseases.

The dried troot of poke was official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1916; it was used to relieve pain and to allay inflammation. It has also been employed in chronic rheumatism. Pokeweed is presently being evaluated for its snail-killing properties. A related species, which is found in Africa, has shown molluscicidal properties and the American pokeweed, it is hoped, will be useful in the control of fresh-water snails.

According to the Dispensatory of the United States, the dried root has been used in domestic American medicine in the treatment of skin parasites and rheumatism. The fruit juice has been used to treat hemmorrhoids, cancer, and tremors.

Appalachian folk practitioners have employed pokeweed berry wine to treat rheumatism. The Pennsylvania Dutch used the plant for its laxitive properties.

This is a common, native weed that is found in most soil in the eastern and central United States. The long-stalked clusters of white flowers begin to appear in July, and its beautiful bunches of purple berries appear in the fall.

The stems and spouts of young plants are sometimes boiled in two changes of water and eaten as cooked greens, like asparagus. Poisoning has resulted when inexperienced "naturalists" have eaten pokeweed without proper boiling. The berries have been used in pies, but in the uncooked state should be considered unsafe for children.

BLOODROOT (PUCCOON)

Bloodroot was a favorite rheumatism remedy among the Indians of the Mississippi region. In Virginia, the Rappahannocks drank a tea of the root for rheumatism, while other tribes used it to induce vomiting.

The bloodroot became popular in domestic American medicine as a stimulating expectorant and was official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1926.

This plant, which belongs to the same family as the opium poppy, contains alkaloids of the protopine series. All these alkaloids are found in other members of the poppy family.

Bloodroot grows in rich open woodlands east of the Mississippi. The waxy white blossoms are among the first of the spring flowers to appear. The generic name, Sanguinaria, means "bloddy" which refers to the blood-red juice contained in the stem and root.

When used for medicine the rhizome was collected in the fall after the leaves had withered. It was stored in a dry place because moisture encourages deterioration.

The Indians used the red juice to dye their faces and implements, but we are cautioned against attempting to eat the rootstock, whether cooked or not. In large quantities it is said to promote poisoning.

Some other plants taken for rheumatism include the plantain, the green leaves of which were applied on the chest as a poultice by the Shoshoni; black cohosh, a decoction of which was taken by the Winnebagos and the Dakotas; and the California polypody fern. The Indians of Mendocino County rubbed the juice from the bruised rhizome of this fern on the regions of rheumatic pain.