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Show ' BbOK VII. ~ S !: CT. XLIII. Surgery. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X 1 C 0. maize. He then caufes a fire to be made in the furnace, which is kept burning, until the il:ones which join the Temazcalli and furnace are quite h!lt. The pcrfon who is to ufe the bath enters commonly naked, and generally accompanied for the fake of convenience, or on account of infirmity, by one of his domefiics. As foon as he enters, he !huts the entrance clofe, but leaves the air-hole at top for a little time open, to 1 tout any fmokc which may have been introduced through the chinks of the ilo ue; when it is all out he likewife il:ops up the airhole. He then throws water upon the hot il:ones, from which immediately arifes a thick fieam to the top of the Temazcalli. While the fick perfon lies upon the mat, the domeil:ic drives the vapour downwards, and gently beats the fick perfon, particularly on the ailing part, with the bunch of herbs, which are dipped for a little while in the wa .. ter of the pitcher, which has then becon~e a little warm. The fick perfon falls immediately into a foft and copious fweat, ·which is encre. a(ed <>r diminiChed at pleafure, according as the cafe requires. When the evacuation defired is obtained, the vapour is let oft: the entrance is cleared, and the !ick perfon clothes himfclf, or is tranfported on the mat to his chamber; as the entrance to the bath is ufually within fame chamber of his habitation. The Temazcalli has been regularly ufed in feveral diforders, par ti .. cularly in fever.s occafioned by cQll:ivene[&. The Indian women ufe it commonly after child- birth, and alfo thofe perfons who have been fiung or wounded by any poifonons anim:1l. It is, undoubtedly, a powerful remedy for all thofe who have occaflon to carry off grois humours, and certainly it w.ould be n1oll: uft:ful in It~lly where the rheumatifm is fo frequent and affliCting. When a very copious fweat is defir:ed, the fick perfon is raifed up and held in the vapour; as be fweats the more, the nearer he is to it. The Temazcalli is fo common, that in every place inhabited by the Indians there arc many of them. With refpeCt to the furgcry of the Mexicans, the Spaniili conquerors audl: their expedition and fuccefs in dreffing and curing wounds()) . Befides t~e balfam and maripenda, they employed the milk of the . (f) Cortes himfelf being in great danger of his life from a wound he rc<'civcd on his head M the famou s battle of 0tOin});lo1 was grc:J.tly relieved, :J.nd at lafi pcrfcaly cured by the Tlaf. c:alaa art of furg.ery. Itzon~ , H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M. E X I C 0. 431 Itzontecpatli (lpecil's of' thijlle), tobacco, and other herbs For ulcers h ~d 1 "'7 l BJOK vn. t ey -u t t1e J. \ ~1ltltJUaj'>tJtli,. the Zacatlipatli, and the ffzcuinpat/i ; ~· for abfcdfes and !everal fwellmgs, the 'l'lalrzmatl, and the; milk of the Chi!patli ;. and for fract ures_ the Nacazol, or 'l'olorztzirz. After drying, and reduCing the fr.:ed of th1s plant to powder, they mixed it with a cer-t< lin gum, and applied it to the affeCted part, covered the part with feathers, and over it laid little boards to fe t the bones. T.h~ phylicians were in general the perfons who prepared and applieu m ed1cm~s ; bu.t t~ ey acc~m,Panied their cures with feveral fuperfiitions c~remomes, .wlth mvocat.JOns to their gods, and imprecations againtl: dtll:ernpers, m order to render their art more myfierious and efl:imable .. The phyficians held the goddc:fs 'Tzapot!cttenrm in veneration, as the proteCtrefs of their ar t, and believed her to have been the difcoverer of many medicinal fecrets, and amongil: others of the oil which they e~ tracred by diil:illation from the Ocotl. It is wonderful that the Mexicans, and efpeciaHy me· poor ~mong s p; cT. them, were not fubjeet to numberlefs dift:aie.;, confidering the qual'ity LXlV. o f t he 1· r Jl'O O d • · Th'IS i·S an article in which fingular circumtl:ances at- tAhleim Mencxt io- f tended them; for having been, for many years after the fo undation of cans. , Mexico fubjeCted to the mofl: miferable kind of life upon the little iOands of the lake, they were conil:rained by neceffity to feed upon whatever they could .find in the waters. During that difafirous time, they learned to e.1t, not only the roots of the marili plants, water fer-pents, which abounded there, the Axolotl, Atetepiz, Atopinan, and other fuch little animals, inhabitants of the water; but even ants, marili flies, and the very eggs of the fame flies . T hey fi(hed fudt quantities of thofe flies, called by them .Axajatl, that they eat them, fed feveral kinds of birds with them, and carried th~m to market. They pounded them together, and made little balls of them, which they rolled up in leaves of maize, and boiled in watet with nitre. Some hifiorians who have tafl:ed this food, pronounce it not diG'lgreeable .. From the eggs, which thofe flies depoil t in gre::tt abundance on the· ruilies in the lake, they extraCted that fingular fpecies of caviare, which they called .Ahuauhtli . Not contented with feeding upon living things, they cat alfo a cer~ tain muddy fub!hnce that floats upon the waters of the lake, which. thef .. |