(Some readers may be startled at this name, applied to a remedy, but under that name it came before the profession and the name has stuck. It is the Western Indian's designation of the waters of what is now known as "Medical Lake." The following by Dr. W. D. Gentry appeared in the U. S. Med. Investigator, 1889:)

The water is of a deep amber and almost red in the sunlight. The following is an analysis of the salts, obtained by evaporation of the water; the proportion being in grains per U. S. gallon 231 cubic inches:

Sodic chloride,16.370
Potassic chloride,9.241
Sodic carbonate,63.543
Magnesic carbonate,.233
Ferrous carbonate,.526
Calcic carbonate,.186
Aluminic oxide,.175
Sodic silicate,10.638
Organic matter,.551
———
101.463
Lithic carbonate,
Potassic sulphate, } Each a trace.
Sodic bi-borate,

The lake has no outlet, but is fed by two enormous springs. It contains no living things with the exception of axolotl, a kind of salamander, such as are found in the lakes of the Mexican Cordilleras.

The medical and curative properties of this remarkable lake was known to the Indians of the northwest as far back as they have any legends or tribal history, and it was held in such reverence by them that the country around this lake was called 'Sahala Lyee Illihe,' or 'Sacred Grounds,' and no matter how hostile the tribes were to each other no Indians journeying to or from the 'Skookum Limechen Chuck,' or 'strong medicine water,' were ever molested.

When the Indians were considering the transfer of their lands to the government, many years ago, it is recorded as a matter of history, that old Quetahlguin, father of the present Chief Moses, and 'Old Joseph,' father of Chief Joseph, lately a prisoner of war, with the broken remnants of his band, after weeks of deliberation and consideration, with the 'Sahala Lyee,' or Great Spirit, through their medicine-men, or prophets, firmly said: 'We have talked with the Great Spirit and we have slept with his words in our ears. The Great Spirit is our father and the earth is our mother. We have a good home and it was made for us by the Great Spirit; it is a part of us; it is our mother. In Wallowa Lake are an abundance of fish created especially for our tribe. None other of his red children have such fish. In the 'Skookum Chuck' we have a remedy for all our ailments. We only have to bathe in and drink its water and we are made well. If we sign the treaty we will forever offend the Great Spirit; we will sign away our mother and she will cry. Her tears will dry up these lakes and we will be hungry and sick. We will go to the Skookum Chuck only to find that its waters have disappeared.'

The story is told of a Frenchman passing the lake many years ago, before the properties of the water became known to the whites, with a drove of sheep afflicted with a skin disease called 'the scab.' As soon as the sheep saw the water they ran to it, but would not drink. They stood in the water for some time, and in a few days they were well of the 'scab.' The Frenchman was suffering with rheumatism. He concluded to try the water of the lake for his disease. He was speedily cured. The whites were soon attracted to this lake by the stories of marvellous cures reported by the Indians, and by seeing Indians return in health and vigor from the lake, who had been taken there on litters, appearing at the point of death. It is estimated that over 20,000 people have visited this lake since 'Joseph's Band' were driven from that section of the country, and it is fast becoming as popular as any other of our great health resorts.

My attention was called to Skookum chuck some time since, and I procured some of the salts and triturated a quantity, making the first, second, third and sixth potencies. I partially proved the first potency by taking two grains every two hours. The first effect produced was a profuse coryza with constant sneezing, as in hay fever. This continued until the medicine was antidoted by tobacco. My appetite was greatly increased. Some rheumatic pains in limbs, and heaviness about the sacrum. The catarrhal effects were so severe I could not continue the remedy. I have used the third and sixth potency in my practice and have cured a number of cases of catarrh, and am confident that the remedy will be curative in hay fever.

(Later investigation, however, demonstrated that the chief curative action of the salts was in skin diseases. Dr. D. De Forest Cole, of Albion, N. Y., wrote the following to the firm from whom he procured the remedy:)

Some time since I received from you one bottle Skookum chuck 3x trit. I had a very bad case of urticaria which resisted the usual remedies as Apis, Urtica ur., etc., and I gave her (a girl twelve years old) four powders of about four grains each of the Skookum chuck, instructing her to take one powder in one-half glass water, one teaspoonful every two hours, and she returned in a week free from any urticaria. I gave her four powders more, and no appearance of urticaria since. Besides curing the urticaria the patient's health is in every way improving. I write this thinking you might desire to know of its value in urticaria, as well as eczema.