ABSTRACT
This selection shows that even substances or treatments that seem to be inert stimuli of placebo or meaning responses may in fact be chemically efficacious. The authors propose a pharmacologically active substance and a likely means of absorption for a remedy used by Poarch Creek Indian people in Alabama to treat teething in infants. This topic connects to readings in Parts I and II on the rise in interest in pharmaceutically useful substances from non-Western healing traditions, and on the principle that such healing traditions are rooted in local plant and animal products and involve knowledge of how to use poisonous plants safely. The selection is comparative in its review of the cross-cultural use of the same plant and others in its family for similar or related ailments. It highlights the possibility that plants used against the skin (such as belts, necklaces, or armbands) for ritual or protective purposes may not be just magical substances but medicinal ones also.
