[808] Hernandez, Nova Plantarum, etc. The MSS., comprising 24 books of text and 11 books of plates, were sent to the Escurial in Spain, and from them abridged editions were published in Mexico, 1615, and Rome, 1651. The latter edition is the one in my collection. Sahagun also devotes considerable space to a description of herbs and their properties. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., xi.
[809] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 157; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xi.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 623-4.
[810] 'É da maravigliare, che i Messicani, e massimamente i poveri, non fossero a molte malattie sottoposti atteso la qualità de' loro alimenta.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 217; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 88.
[811] 'Las principales enfermedades que corrian entre esta gente, eran de abundancia de colera, y flema, o otros malos humores, causados de mala comida, y falta de abrigo.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.
[812] Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 64; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 365.
[813] 'Hacia malparir las Mugeres, de antojo de comer de aquello que asaban ... daban camazas á los Viejos de deseo de comer de aquello; y á las Mugeres se los hinchaban los brazos, las manos, y las piernas, que adolecian mucho, y morian con aquel deseo.' Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. x. Torquemada qualifies this by 'Esto dicho, pase por cuento.' Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 93; Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 21-2, 64.
[814] Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250.
[815] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 15; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148.
[816] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 117-19, tom. iv., pp. 303-28; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148; Pauw, Rech. Phil., tom. i., pp. 46-9; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 99-101; Prescott's Mex., vol. ii., pp. 434-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 66-71; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 53; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 182; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 280; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 246.
[817] 'Both men, women, and children, had great knowledge in herbs.... They did spend little among Physicians.' Gage's New Survey, p. 111. 'Casi todos sus males curan con yeruas.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. 'No se guardauan de males contagiosos, y enfermedades, y bestialmente se dexavan morir.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.