Evening star., 1935-03-31

y cine man drove into town,
set up his gaslight and para
phernalia, then began his
hoarse, monotonous chant:
''Laa-deez and -til-men! Once
again come among you as friend,
as one who bears the balm of Gilead
from out of Judea, the healer of hurt
hearts and savior of souls. I am the
bearer of phosphorescent and beauti-
fully burning Goals of life-the healer
who goes to out-of-the-way places and
takes up the blistered and fevered
agonies of men and gives them sur
cease.
LAS walked down the streets of
your magnificent and beauty-laden
little city this evening, little children
followed me. 1t gave me meditation.
A divine inner glow came to me- My
medicine encircles the world, I may
say, to use a strange simile-children
cry for it in many and diverse Ian
guages-"
He went on and on, winding up, of
course, by distributing his brown bot
ties at a dollar bottle. Its formula,
handed down to me by my father,
who got it from his fathers father,
to whom 1t was entrusted by that IA
NOUS brave, Chief Tshi Kwaset, Sound
of the Thunder, as he lay dying in
my great-grandfathers arms in his
lonely tee-pee on the plains of Okla
homa"-its formula contained three
fourths water. The rest was epson
salts, powdered rhubarb, licorice root,
burnt sugar and wintergreen.
THE travelling medicine man, how
ever, and his immediate predeces-
sor, the wandering herb DOCTOR" with
his cry of Roots, YARDS, gums and
berries" has pretty well passed from
the picture. Except in the far hinter-
lands, and then even rarely, he makes
his annual visit to the town no more.
But the lore he dispensed, the litany
OF simples he recited and the whole
cabinet of roots and herbs that were
his stock in trade are still very much
alive. There is going on a current
revival, in fact, of the study of herb
alism.
Dozens of firms over the Nation
deal exclusively in herbs. One of the
largest, Midwest concern, annually
publishes 400-page catalogue called
THE Herbalist." In predatory para
graph the compiler modestly claims
that his company aims to handle
every root, herb, bark, seed and flower
grown"
Within the month four departments
OF the University of Washington began
thorough, scientific analysis of an
cient herbalists' lore. Study was start
ed last Summer by DR.. Erna Gunther,
assistant professor of anthropology
and director of the university museum.
This effort is being carried on cur
rently by members of the botany,
pharmacy and home economics de-
partments. They have identified and
are studying the specimens of North
west roots and berries, moses and
leaves which DR.. Gunther brought
back from an expedition into Cape
Flattery, home of the $50 remnants
OF the once warlike Makah tribe of
Indians
Under the direction of Ada Mark
ashtun, Makah herbalist, who received
her store of knowledge from her
grandmother-an "old one" of the
tribe-Dr. Gunther gathered the
herbs. It is the purpose of the new
group to analyze these simples and
determine which Of their traditionally
reputed powers are only traditional"
and which are of possible value to
science.
Two rather healthy sized publica-
tions by the Department of Agricul-
ture, Drug Plants Under Cultivation"
and American Medicinal Plants of
Commercial Importance" continue to
be In constant demand by the public.
The first gives general suggestions
relative to the culture, harvesting, dis
tillation, yield, marketing and COM
mercial products for drug plants. The
other pamphlet lists the Latin name,
common names, habitat and range,
description and part used, accom-
panied by photograph, of more than
lao wild plants.
Medicine discovered that one stimu-
liant which worked directly on the
nerve centers was alpha lobelin, an
alkaloid from the herb lobelia. The
herb, an old Indian remedy, was dis
covered in America by physicians Of
King James I of England. Not until
quite recently, however, was the es-
sential substance, alpha lobelin, ex-
tracted in pure form. Medical au-
thorities regard It's possibilities now
with growing favor. II is used n