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Liber Quartus
De arboribus, fructibus et herbis medicinalibus, ac alimentosis, in Brasilia et circumiacentibus Indiae Occidentalis regionibus nascentibus.
Caput LIII. Caa-atája, Ipecacuánha, et Caa-apiá.
In pratis uliginosis et apricis campis elegans planta Caa-atája reperitur: Lusitanis Erva de purga de Joan Pays dicta. Unico tenuissimo quadrangulari caule, vix palmae altitudine assurgit, semper laete virescens, partim terrae incumbens, ad genicula iterum in terram radices agens parvulas, partim erecta stans. Ad quodlibet geniculum, duo foliola sibi opponuntur, Nummulariae figura et magnitudine seu rectius Veronicae aut Chamaedryos, in ambitu serrata, et pallide viridia. Ad quodlibet par foliorum flosculus minimus provenit, quasi galeatus, albus. Post hunc sequitur siliquula grani avenae magnitudine et figura, quae sponte se aperiens, semen effundit minimum, rotundum, obscure flavum, minus semine papaveris minimi. Nullius odoris est planta, sed saporis amari.
Radice est fibrosa, tenui, parva, subamari saporis.
Inter nobilissimas et vere medicinales purgantes et aperientes haec herba merito censetur a peritioribus Incolis: a vulgo profano vix cognita, et nondum in usus applicata: utpote cuius manibus vix tuto permittitur tam efficax medicamentum.
Quippe illius decoctum vel succus, tum quoque pulvis, si exsiccetur, pauca quantitate exhibitus, tam valide menses movet, ut non impune ab omnibus capiatur. Ego succum recenter expressum ad 3 j. circiter, ex convenienti liquore propinatum, menstrua et urinas, tum quoque excrementa per alvum satis vehementer aliquando exturbasse observavi.
Ipecacuánha. Tandem ad decantatas has salutiferas radices ordo nos deducit, quae praeter facultatem purgatricem per superiora et inferiora,
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Caa-atája.
Ipecacuánha.
Illustrations of De Indiae utriusque re naturali et medica.
PL. II.
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Caa-apiá.
Illustration of De Indiae utriusque re naturali et medica.
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Fourth Book
Dealing with the trees, fruits and herbs, used for medicinal purposes and for food, which grow in Brazil and the adjoining countries of the West Indias.
Chapter LIII. Caa-atája, Ipecacuánha and Caa-apiá.
In damp meadows and sunny fields one can find the beautiful plant Caa-atája, called by the Portuguese: Erva de purga de Joan Pays. It grows with a single very thin and square stalk and gets scarcely as high as a palm of the hand; it has a clear green colour and lies partly on the ground, while the rest of the stalk bends upwards and in the place where it does so, sends out little roots into the ground. At every bend there are two little leaves, opposite to each other, on the stalk. They are as large and have the same form as money wort or rather as veronica or speedwell, have a sawed edge and are light green in colour. In the same place as every pair of leaves, there is a white helmet shaped little flower. The little, pod-like fruits growing out of it are like grains of oats in form and size, and when they open little round seeds appear, dark yellow in colour and smaller than the seeds of the smallest poppy. This plant has no smell but a bitter taste.
The root is fibrous, thin and somewhat bitter to the taste. Although the more experienced natives rightly consider this plant as one of the most effective and trustworthy laxative herbs, it is hardly known by the lower classes, and is not used by them: such an effective remedy would indeed not be safe in their hands.
A decoction of this plant as well as the juice or the dried powder administered in a small quantity, brings on the menstruation so acutely, that it cannot be used by everyone with impunity. I have seen that the fresh pressed out juice given in the dose of about 3 j. in a suitable fluid, sometimes not only excited the passage of menses and urine but also a violent passage of the stools.
Ipecacuánha. Lastly I must praise the curative roots which together with the power to cleanse the body by vomiting and purging, also
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omni veneno eximie adversantur. Nec credo, praestantius remedium adversus plurimos morbos ex longa obstructione ortos, imprimis in ventris fluxibus medendis, in hisce terris reperiri facile.
Duae existunt species, neutra a nemine, quod sciam, descripta, earumve qualitates, eximiae in lucem protractae. Utraque eidem usui dicata, sed gradibus facultatum, tum et facie, et natali solo, differunt. Una enim earum humi depressa, exiguior in pratis crescit, Pugelio non admodum dissimilis, nam caulis foliis lanuginosis exsurgit multis, albisque flosculis cingitur: radix illius est crassa, filosa, albicans, a Lusitanis ad differentiam, Ipecacuánha Blanca dicta, quae quod minus turbet corpus, et venenis validissime resistat, aeque pueris ac gravidis exhibetur.
Altera, cuius Iconem hie damus, est longitudinis semicubitalis, trinis vel quinis tantum foliis ornata. Gaudet locis opacis, et tantum in densioribus reperitur nemoribus. In summitate caulis baccas producit nigras, sed paucas. Radice est tenui, tortuosa, nodosa, fusci colons, saporis ingrati, amari, calidi et acris. Exsiccata in multos annos reservatur, nec facile vires deponit antidotales, sudoriferas, sed quidem vomitivas. Eius in pulverem redactae dosis est drachma; in infuso, drachmae, plus, minus duae. Facultatem habet abstergendi, meatus reserandi, ac infarctus exsolvendi.
Utriusque quotidianus est usus, malunt tamen dilutum, quod vel unius noctis sub dio maceratione aut coctione in aqua, medicam suam virtutem abunde liquoribus communicet. Postea caput mortuum reservatum, denuoque eodem modo praeparatum, in eundem usum exhibetur; minus quidem efficax ad purgandum vel vomendum, sed magis adstringens. Ita ut radix haec non solum materiam morbificam, licet tenacissimam, a parte affecta revellat, eamque per superiora expellat, sed et astringendo viscerum tonum restituat. Praeterquam enim quod fluxibus ventris, aliisque morbis medeatur, venenis adversatur, virusque, tum occulta qualitate, tum manifesta, per vomitum statim expellit. Quamobrem religiose a Brasiliensibus reservatur, qui illius virtutes primi nobis revelarunt.
Caa-apiá. Secretum huius herbae Lusitanis debemus, qui nobis
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possess the property of a valuable, antidote. I really do not believe that it would be easy to find a more excellent remedy in these parts for most of the illnesses arising from a long continued obstruction, still less for the purpose of curing the diarrhoea.
There are two kinds, neither of which, as far as I know has, ever been described by anyone. Still less has attention ever been paid to their excellent properties. Although both are suitable for the same purpose, they differ in the strength of their curing properties, as also in the places in which they occur and in their appearance. The first kind is the smaller, it grows lying along the ground and occurs in meadows. It is like flea bane having on its stalks many hairy leaves, and bearing flowers placed in the form of a wreath, the root is thick, fibrous and whitish, so that it is distinctively called by the Portuguese Ipecacuánha Blanca. Since it is an excellent anti-poison, and yet does not violently, upset the body it is administered to children and pregnant women.
The other plant of which we have given an illustration here, is rather more than a foot long and bears only from three to five leaves. It chooses shady places and is only found in dense woods. At the top of the stalk it has a few black berries. The root is thin, twisted, knotted, yellow in colour and has a disgusting, bitter, hot and sharp taste. When dried, it can be preserved for many years, not easily losing its properties, as an antidote and an antidiaphoretic although it does lose its emetic properties. When rubbed to a powder the dose is about one drachm, in an infusion about two. It has the power to cleanse, to relax the openings of the body and to resolve obstructions.
It is given regularly in both forms; as a rule the fluid form is chosen, since a watery extract of this root (after standing a night in water or when boiled in water) contains a rich amount of its medicinal properties. After this the remaining caput mortuum can be again prepared and administered in the same way, this being less active as a purgative and an emetic than as an astringent; so that this root does not only detract the noxious matter, even the most obdurate from the affected places and gets rid of them by causing vomiting, but also renews the healthy tension of the fibres of the intestines. Besides being able to cure diarrhoea and other diseases, it acts as an antidote and can, by reason of its hidden, and also by its natural properties immediately effect the elimination of ale poisons trough vomiting.
Caa-apiá. We owe our knowledge of this herb to the Portuguese
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eam suppeditarunt. Pusilla est planta et depressa, sed quae humilitatem praeclaris dotibus abunde compenset. Ex radice enim pennam olorinam crassa, verrucosa, filamentis ad latera, et inferius tenuibus praedita, exterius e griseo flavescente, interius alba, tres vel quatuor pullulant pediculi, teretes, qui quilibet unicum folium sustinent, obrotundum vel oblongum, tenerrimum, superius splendide viride inferius paulum albicans, habens nervum et inferius venas transversum conspicuas.
Florem fert in proprio pediculo rotundum, umbilici figura, floris Bellidis aemulum, multis staminulis constantem, ex quo semen provenit minus Sinapi. Radix eiusdem fere cum Ipecacuánha praestantitae et efficaciae, unde et Ipecacuánha abusive a quibusdam appellatur. Cuius vicem in vomitu ciendo, et alvi profluvio compescendo egregie supplet. Eo tamen discrimine observato, quod primam suam dignitatem a virtute antidotali sortiatur, quam an aliunde mereatur, nisi quod viscera terris fuliginibus liberet, mihi nondum experiri licuit. Radix primum haud manifesto sapore est praedita, sed mansa, quodammodo acris est, et relinquit in lingua vellicantem humorem.
Differt porro ab Ipecacuánha, quod ad vomitum proritandum minus sit valida, nec pari efficacia humores peccantes per superiora exturbet: quo sit, ut radix, quae odore et sapore alteri cedit, maiori quantitate exhibeatur.
Indigenae integram plantam contundunt, et succo praelibato virus a ventre excludunt: a colubris laesi, aut sagittis venenatis percussi, eundem, antidoti loco, vulneri instillant non sine successu.
Datur hic et alia Caa-apiae species, priori per omnia similis, exceptis foliis; quae quidem eiusdem sunt figurae, sed in ambitu serrata et hirsuta: pediculum horum raris vestiuntur pilis. Florem fert in proprio pediculo rotundum cum umbilico in medio, instar floris Chamomeli.
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who told us about it. It is very small, grows low down near the ground, but makes up for its lowly appearance by its excellent qualities. The root is as thick as the quill of a swan's feather, knotted, covered with thick fibres at the sides and with thin ones underneath, grey yellow in colour on the outside, and white inside. Three or four thin stalks spring from it, each of which bears a delicate small roundish or more oblong leaf, bright green on the top, and underneath whitish in colour, provided with a middle vein, while underneath veins, running cross- wise, can be seen.
It bears white flowers, each on its own stalk, in the form of a umbilicus like the daisy, consisting of many small little pistils from which seeds are separated even smaller than mustard seeds. Its root is as effective and beneficial as that of Ipecacuánha so that it is sometimes falsely called by that name. It can take the place of the latter to obtain vomiting and the passage of stools, but there is this difference, that its antidotal properties must be considered its chief value. Whether it has other powers than that of freeing the intestines from rotting offal, I have not had the opportunity of finding out. This root has at first no definite taste; when it is chewed it is a bit sharp and gives off a juice that irritates the tongue.
The root also differs from the Ipecacuánha in that it less violently evokes vomiting and so is not so effective in getting rid of the noxious matter in this way, so that, having less smell and taste, it has to be aken in larger quantities than its competitor.
The natives crush the whole plant and take the liberated juice thus obtained as a remedy for poison which has penetrated the body; if they have been bitten by an adder, or, wounded by poisonous arrows, they wet these wounds with this juice and on the whole with good results.
There is another sort of Caa-apia altogether like the former, with the exception of the leaves, which indeed have the same form, but have sawed and hairy edges. The stalk is covered with scattered hairs. It bears a single flower on its own stalk, sunk in the centre, like the camomile.
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