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Show H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. ' BOOK vn. fufficient to hold the root to the nofe to produce fi1eezing. F0r in- ,. .. terrnittent fevers they genera11y employed the Cbatalhuic, and in· other S £ C T . LX. Oils, ointments, and in fulions, &c. kind of fevers the Chiautz olli, the I z tacxal!i, the Huehuetz.o1lticomatl,. and above all the Izticpatli. To prevent the illnefs which frequently followed too much exercife at the game of the ball, they ufed to· eat the bark of the ApitM/prztli fonked in water. We fhould never fi.nifh if we were to mention all the plants, gum~, minerals, and other medicines, both fimple and compound, which they employed againfi aH the difl:empers which were known to them. Whoever defires to- be more amply informed on this fubjeCl: may confult the above mentioned· work of Hernandez, and the two treatifes publifhed by Dr. Monardes~ a Sevillian phyfician, on the medicinal articles, which ufed to be brought from America to Europe. The Mexican phyficians made ufe of infufions, decoCl:ions, ointments, and oils,. and all thofe things were fold at market, as Cortes and Ber~al Diaz, both eye-witnefies, affirm. The moft common oils· were thofe of ule, or elafl:ic gum, 'I'Iapatl, a tree fimilar to the fig; Chilli, or great pepper, Chian, and Ocotl, a fpecies of pirre. The b.ft they obtained by difl:illation, the others by decoction. That of Chian: was more ufcd by painters than phyficians. They exrraCl:ed from the Huitziloxitl, as we have already mention·-·' cd, thofe two· forts of bal.Cam defcribed by Pliny and other ancient naturalifts, that is, the opoba!Jtrm, or balfam di!l:illed from the tree, and the xyloba!fam obtained by decoCl:ion of the branches. . From the bark of the Huaconex, foaked four days continooHy in water, they extract-· ed ano.ther liquor equal to balf.tm. From the plailt called by the Spaniards maripenda,· (a name taken it appears frotn the langnage of the Ta.rafcas, they obtained alfo a liquor equal to balfam, as much in its odour as wo.ndc::rfnl effects, by putting the tender !l:ones of the plant, together with the fi·uit, to bo.il in water, until the water became as thick as mufl:. In the G'lmc manner they obtained many other valuable oils· and liquors,_ namely, that of liq_uid amber, and that of the fir. Si!c r. LXI. Blood-letting~ an operation which their phyficians performed with. great llloo,l!c rtin g- dexterity and {afi ty with lancets of lt ztlt", was extremely common among ~ nd. bath s. h M t e exicans, and other nations of Anahuac. The country people ufed to let themfelves blood as they il:ill do with the prickles of the rna-guc1,.. |