A JEWEL IN THE CROWN

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It is generally believed that syphilis and gonorrhea were introduced to North America by the Europeans. Early American doctors generally agreed that venereal diseases were unknown in pre-Columbian times. As you may imagine, the Indian was usually bewildered by these diseases, and he usually treated only the visible sores and rashes. Unaware of the systemic nature of these diseases, he resorted to many different plant remedies, some of which are enumerated below. The records also show other treatments. For example, the Crow practitioners had the patient squat, bringing the genitals into close proximity with rocks which were heated in a fire.

In reviewing the following plant remedies which were used by various Indian tribes, it is well to remember that gonorrhea is an inflammation of the mucous membranes of the genitals and that this disease is caused by the gonococcus bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Syphilis is a chronic venereal disease that is characterized by a lesion which appears two to four weeks after contact, and which changes from a small red swellnig to an ulcer to a hardened chancre. It is transmitted by direct contact between people or by contact with contaminated objects or by the transfusion of infected blood or in the birth canal from an infected mother to the fetus. The spirochete which causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum, may enter the body through any break in the skin or mucous membrane. If any of these remedies were effective (and this is impossible for us to decide), the plants would have had to contain specific antibacterial properties.

Prickly Ash:

The bark and roots of prickly ash were boiled in fresh water and about one pint of the decoction was taken in a single dose. An interesting record of the use of this plant by a Winnebago chief who cured a white trader of gonorrhea around 1766 is found in J.Carver's Travels through the Interior Parts of North America.

The dried bark of this species was official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1926, when it was used to treat rheumatic complaints. The berries, used for antispasmodic, stimulant, and antirheumatic purposes, were listed in the National Formulary from 1916 to 1947.

The Dispensatory of the United States notes that several species contain berberine which may be a mild sedative. Perhaps for this reason the plant was also used to treat toothache by the Houmas, who inserted the ground bark and roots into cavities; by the Alabamas, who used the scraped roots on aching teeth; and by the Comanches, who also used the bark to treat toothache.

A related species found in the south, southern prickly ash, is also known by the name toothache tree. Another relative, Zanthoxylum macrophyllum, is used in Africa to treat toothache.

Longleaf Ephedra:

The dried, crushed longleaf ephedra was applied externally to syphilitic sores by the Navajos. the Hopis drank a tea from the branches and twigs of a related species to treat the same disease.

Balsam Fir:

The Ojibwas made a warm liquid of the gummy sap of balsam fir and drank it freely to cure gonorrhea.

Oregon Grape:

The Klikata tribe drank strong doses of boiled root decoctions of the Oregon grape. The roots, which contain berberine and three other alkaloids, were official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1905 to 1916 when they were used as a bitter tonic.

Rocky Mountain Juniper:

The Paiute Indians drank a tea of the terminal twigs of Rocky Mountain Juniper in the treatment of syphilis.

The scientific name of the great lobelia, siphilitica, indicates that it was widely used to treat this disease. The Iroquois in the Mohawk Valley of New York used a root decoction to treat syphilis as did English physicians of the early 1800s. Dr. Millspaugh offers an interesting theory as to why the plant failed to effect a cure when employed in Europe:

The natives of North America are said to have held this plant a secret in the cure of syphilis, until it was purchased from them .... and introduced ... as a drug of great repute in that disease. European physicians, however, failed to cure with it, and finally cast it aside, though Linnaeus, thinking it justified its Indian reputation, gave the species its distinctive name, syphilitica. The cause of failure may be the fact that the aborigines did not trust to the plant alone, but always used it in combination with may-apple roots (Podophyllum peltatum), the bark of the wild cherry (Prunus Virginica), and dusted the ulcers with the powdered bark of New Jersey tea (Ceanothus Americanus). Another chance of failure lay in the volatility of its active principle, as the dried herb was used.

The Fox and Chippewa boiled the inner bark of pine and drank large quanities of the resulting liquid to cure gonorrhea.

The Mescalero Apaches boiled wild rose buds and imbibed the resulting tea to cure gonorrhea.

Slenderleaf Skeleton Plant:

A decoction of the whole slenderleaf skeleton plant was drunk by tribes of the Southwest in the treatment of syphilis.

Either the smooth upland sumac or the mountain sumac was used to treat the external sores of gonorrhea by the Chippewas of Minnesota and the Thompsons of British Columbia.

Although it is not clear which plant was employed, the preparation consisted of the boiled stems and roots in water. About one pint of the decoction was taken in a single dose; this was often not repeated through the course of the disease. The Thompsons were aware of the dangerous properties of these species, and they considered this remedy poisonous in large doses.

The use of mountain sumac by the American Indians was noted in 1806 in the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition:

The Chippawas use a decoction of the root ... of a species of Sumac common to the Atlantic States and to this country near and on the western side of the Rocky Mountains ... These decoctions are drank freely and without limitation.

The same decoctions are used also in cases of the Gonnarea and are effecatious and sovereign. Not-withstanding that this disorder does exist among the indians on the Columbia yet it is witnessed in but few individuals, high up the river, or at least the males who are always sufficiently exposed to the observation or inspection of the physician.

In my whole route down this river I did not see more than two or three with Gonnarea and about double that number with the pox.

Mountain sumac is easily distinguished from other sumacs by the winged shape of its leaf stalk between the leaflets.

The Zunis steeped the whole thistle plant overnight in cold water and drank the infusion three times daily. Men were required to run after each dose of the medicine to encourage sweating and they were then wrapped in blankets. This treatment often caused nausea and vomiting.

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