[y] Planta hæc unica [Aloe Americana] inquit Fr. Hernandez, quicquid vitæ esse potest necessarium præstare facilè potest, si esset rebus humanis modus. Tota enim illa lignorum sæpiendorumque agrorum usum præstat, caules tignorum, folia verò tecta regendi imbricum, lancium: eorundem nervuli, & fibra eundem habent usum ad linteamina, calceos, & vestimenta conficienda quem apud nos Linum, Cannabis, Gossipium, &c. E mucronibus siunt clavi, aculei, subula, quibus perforandis auribus, macerandi corporis gratiâ, Indis uti mos erat cùm Dæmonum vacarent cultui; item aciculæ, acus, tribuli militares & rastilla idonea pectendis subtegminibus. Præterea è succo mananti, cujus evulsis germinibus internis foliisve tenerioribus cultis [Yztlinis] in mediam cavitatem, stillat planta, unica ad 50 interdum amphoras (quod dictu est mirabile) Vina, Mel, Acetum ac Saccharum parantur [The Methods of which he tells]. Idem succus menses ciet, alvum lenit, Urinam evocat, Renes & Vesicam emundat. E radice quoque Restes fiunt firmissimæ. Crassiores foliorum partes, truncusque, decocta sub terrâ, edendo sunt apta, sapiuntque Citrea frusta saccharo condita: quin & vulnera recentia mirè conglutinant.——Folia quoque assa & affecto loco imposita convulsionem curant, ac dolores leniunt (præcipuè si succus ipse calens bibatur) quamvis ab Indicâ proficiscantur lue, sensum hebetant, atque torporem inducunt. Radicis succus luem Veneream curat apud Indos ut Dr. Palmer. Ray. ib. L. 21. c. 7. See also Dr. Sloane Voy. to Jamaica, p. 247.
There are also two Sorts of Aloe besides, mentioned by the same Dr. Sloane, one of which is made use of for Fishing-Lines, Bow-Strings, Stockings, and Hammocks. Another hath Leaves that hold Rain-Water, to which Travellers, &c. resort to quench their Thirst, in Scarcity of Wells, or Waters, in those dry Countries. Ibid. p. 249.
[z] For an Instance here, I shall name the Cortex Peruvianus, which Dr. Morton calls Antidotus in levamen crumnarum vitæ humanæ plurimarum divinitus concessa. De Febr. Exer. v. c. 3. In Sanitatem Gentium proculdubio à Deo O. M. conditus. Cujus gratiâ, Arbor vitæ, siqua alia, jure meritò appellari potest. Id. ib. c. 7. Eheu! quot convitiis Herculea & divina hæc Antidotus jactabatur? Ibid.
To this (if we may believe the Ephemer. German. Ann. 12. Obser. 74. and some other Authors) we may add Trifolium paludosum, which is become the Panacea of the German and Northern Nations.
[aa] Pro doloribus quibuscunque sedandis præstantissimi semper usus Opium habetur; quamobrem meritò Nepenthe appellari solet, & remedium verè divinum existit. Et quidem satìs mirari vix possumus, quomodo urgente viscerit aut membri cujuspiam torturâ insigni, & intolerabili cruciatu, pharmacum hoc, incantamenti instar, levamen & ἀναλγησίαν subitam, immò interdum absque somno, aut saltem priùs quàm advenerit, concedit. Porrò adhuc magìs stupendum est, quod donec particulæ Opiaticæ operari, & potentiam suam narcoticam exerere continuant, immò etiam aliquamdiu postquam somnus finitur, summa aleviatio, & indolentia in parte affectâ persisti. Willis, Phar. rat. par. 1. S. 7. c. 1. §. 15.
[bb] Tales Plantarum species in quacunque regione, à Deo creantur quales hominibus & animalibus ibidem natis maximè conveniunt; imò ex plantarum nascentium frequentiâ se fere animadvertere posse quibus morbis [endemiis] quælibet regio subjecta sit, scribit Solenander. Sic apud Danos, Frisios, Hollandos, quibus, Scorbutus frequens, Cochlearia copiose provenit. Ray. H. Pl. L. 16. c. 3.
To this may be added Elsner’s Observations concerning the Virtues of divers Things in his Observations de Vincetoxico Scrophularum remedio. F. Germ. T. 1. Obs. 57.
John Benerovinus, a Physician of Dort, may be here consulted, who wrote a Book on purpose to shew, that every Country hath every Thing serving to its Occasions, and particularly Remedies afforded to all the Distempers it is subjected unto. V. Bener. Ἀυτάρκεια, Batav. sive Introd. ad Medic. indigenam.
[cc] The Description Dr. Sloane gives of the Wild-Pine is, that its Leaves are chanelled fit to catch and convey Water down into their Reservatories, that these Reservatories are so made, as to hold much Water, and close at Top when full, to hinder its Evaporation; that these Plants grow on the Arms of the Trees in the Woods every where [in those Parts] as also on the Barks of their Trunks. And one Contrivance of Nature in this Vegetable, he saith, is very admirable. The Seed hath long and many Threads of Tomentum, not only that it may be carried every where by the Wind——but also that it may by those Threads, when driven through the Boughs, be held fast, and stick to the Arms, and extant Parts of the Barks of Trees. So soon as it sprouts or germinates, although it be on the under Part of a Bough,——its Leaves and Stalk rise perpendicular, or strait up, because if it had any other Position, the Cistern (before-mentioned, by which it is chiefly nourished——) made of the hollow Leaves, could not hold Water, which is necessary for the Nourishment and Life of the Plant——In Scarcity of Water, this Reservatory is necessary and sufficient, not only for the Plant it self, but likewise is very useful to Men, Birds, and all Sorts of Insects, whither they come in Troops, and seldom go away without Refreshment. Id. ib. p. 188. and Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 251, where a Figure is of this notable Plant, as also in Lowthorp’s Abridg. V. 2. p. 669.
The Wild-Pine, so called, &c. hath Leaves that will hold a Pint and a half, or Quart of Rain-Water; And this Water refreshes the Leaves, and nourishes the Root. When we find these Pines, we stick our Knives into the Leaves, just above the Root, and that lets out the Water, which we catch in our Hats, as I have done many Times to my great Relief. Dampier’s Voy. to Campeachy, c. 2. p. 56.