In support of my assertion, I only ask that you visit the Historical Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, Calif., and see with your own eyes what a medicine case consisted of for the general practice of medicine in the early days, in those days when most people of the white race thought themselves further advanced in medicine than the Indians. Such was not the case by far, and for a comparison and evidence of my assertion I submit a résumé of the contents used by the first white doctor to practice medicine in the State of California. His name I omit. His soul is at rest!
His medicine case contained a few vials: (1) Oil of Cloves, (2) Spirits of Ammonia, (3) Spirits of Peppermint, (4) Wintergreen, (5) Jamaica Ginger, (6) Castor Oil, (7) Quinine.
And that was all he had to serve as a comparison with what the Indians used, and in this I prefer that you, kind reader, be the judge. I am not exaggerating but speak only in the light of truth. A great deal of misinterpretation of Indian life has been written by white authors who gathered their information from Indians who knew a great deal but were unable to give comprehensive data to the white writer. Others were there who could have done so, but their lips were sealed where the white man was concerned. This accounts for the mistakes which have been made and whereby Datura meteloides has failed to gain recognition for its meritorious medicinal value. It is worth knowing that the plant is antivenin and will effect cures of rattlesnake and tarantula bites. What improvement has the hard-shelled scientist made to counteract the deadly poison of the tarantula? None, of course!
Not so long ago a man in New Orleans, La., gave up his life for want of a serum that would counteract the poison of a tarantula which had bitten him. Three doctors, equipped with all the white man’s knowledge of medicine and chemistry, strove desperately hard to save the man’s life but finally gave up in despair and frankly admitted that to date no serum had been discovered to conquer the poison of the tarantula!
Yet there is one and it behooves the medical profession to get acquainted with Datura meteloides.
A practical and effective demonstration was given in the presence of a group of mission friars at San Gabriel, California, in the year 1828. The friars, having heard that toulache was used by the Indians to cure rattlesnake bites, lost no time in watching attentively the procedure followed by the Indian in charge—Genio Guana-pia-pa was the medicine man. The patient was seated before them well-covered with a blanket, with only an opening remaining around the neck in order to permit Datura meteloides to be poured over his body. All this, of course, was very simple. But what of the process used to extract the poison, when, and what compounds? Yes, there is just one other which belongs in the formula, a formula which has cost me thirty-two years of waiting to finally wrest it from my uncle, Chief Pablo of Pe-we-pe and Guana-pia-pa who gave me access to the ancient historical records of the Indians of California, records which many historians, archaeologists, and practically all men of science would welcome.
The white man has missed the true and better half of the Indian history of the Pacific Southwest. This I shall describe in another book after the translation has been made.
The rattlesnake and tarantula formula I will donate to the good of mankind, free under patent rights under my control to avoid medical exploitation, speculation, and selfish rights of monopoly. I am not in search of mere money. Honor and character are of far more value to me. My happiness comes to me from the good I can do to others, and this to me is almost an obligation to clear and right every wrong done to my people; not with a deadly weapon, but with pen and ink, the Lord willing!
We Indians have not yet learned some of the ways and customs of our white brothers, and, therefore, I could not say that what cannot be done today can be done ten years from now. Our religion and philosophy teach us that the heart is the pendulum of life, each stroke representing timely death which may befall us with one of these strokes any moment, and so don’t forget Datura meteloides.
Once an incident occurred when Datura meteloides was being prepared at a place where the spying eyes of the friars couldn’t observe it. Enough plundering had been done already, and the Indians had no desire to divulge their secret. They would only show them what they could do. One of the friars, full of doubt and curiosity, asked one of the Indians who, the day before, had assisted a patient bitten by a rattlesnake to go with him into one of the fields north of the Mission, pretending he wanted information as to certain plants growing there. When there, the friar drew near to a Datura meteloides, and at once began questioning the Indian about the plant, whereupon the Indian refused to give information. The friar, seeing he couldn’t make him yield, began kicking at the plant, uttering at the same time Latin words, which of course were wholly unintelligible to the Indian. The friar did that only to make the Indian show resentment, thinking he had cursed a plant which, to the Indian, was sacred.