The maguey that furnishes, in one way or another, food, shelter and raiment for the toiling millions, is also lavish in the bestowal of various medicinal gifts.
Pulque—the national beverage, a prolific and profitable product of the maguey—affords many remedies. For coughs, they drink warm pulque; for indigestion, pulque with a little starch or tequisquiti; and it has been recently discovered that for Bright's disease and diabetes it is a sovereign remedy, while it is a specific for lung trouble, by placing under the bed at night a large vessel filled with pulque from which the patient inhales its healing fumes.
In proof of its wonderful virtues, a Mexican lady told me that the venders of pulque are always blessed with health, flesh, and strength.
For ear-ache, Mexican mothers resort to the leaf of a plant called Santa Maria, which is reputed to have a magical effect on the sufferer.
For headache, a rose leaf pasted on the temples, with perhaps the addition of some kind of salve, is said to be a sovereign remedy, and is used by all classes.
For catarrh and colds, rub the breast, forehead, and soles of the feet with hot tallow, in which a little snuff has been stirred. Be careful not to wash the face the next day.
For chills and fever, take a dose of oil, followed by a tea made from Hojosen and the camphor-tree, to produce perspiration. Then rub the body with a salve made from the Balsamo Tranquillo or lobelia, and the leaf of the cactus, bitter like quinine. Eucalyptus, which grows luxuriantly in many places, is also used.
For whooping-cough, the patient is kept closely in a room without a breath of fresh air for forty days; emetics are frequently given, and pitch is burned at night.
For measles and scarlet fever, tea is made from violets and the Noche Buena flower; the patient is also quarantined for forty days.
