a r t s am however inclined to believe that they have among thetafelve*
AND feme traditional knowledge o f .treating wounds by applying eata-
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plafmsc f bruifed plants ; this knowledge is perhaps confiderably
inferior to that of thefons of Æfculapius, who, in the Trojan Wat,
. affifted the wounded Grecian heroes with their remedies, and whofa
feience was Confined, it feems, to a few plaiilers and chirurgical
operations. T h e fears o f wounds which we few, were not all proofs
o f an equal fuceefs in their art. Some were really well healed, and
others had large elevated ieams. ’ However, there were ünquefiion,.
.able infiances o f their fkill and fuccefs in healing Wounds. O -R e t te e
the chief o f O -Hiddea, and the friend o f Mr. de Bougainville, had
.on the fide of his forehead, an impreffion on the Ikull made by a large
' fione,. o f fuch a fize, that a matt’s hand might be laid in i t ; and
yet there were no vifible fears o f fo dangerous a wound.
In the friendly iiles we ohîèrved, that the greater part o f the
■ nation, had on each cheek-bone a fpot, which in fome only appeared
to be o f a different colour, o f the Ikin, in others we faw thefe round
fpots covered with a frelh fenrf, and again in others they were quite
red and wounded, as i f they had been caufed by fome exulcerating
plants, -or by burning on it fome fubAance Anular to the Moxa of
the Japanefe, * and the natives intimated to us that it was. done on
account
* All the Oriental phyficians life fome ..cauteries again!! difeafes. The Arabs burn a
cylinder of blue cotton .cloth on the part affetted by pain. The Indians and Malays, the
yariou9
account of a cold or pain in the eyes; however we had neither arts
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time nor opportunity to learn from them m what manner thefe SCIENCES
round fpots were produced.
T h e ‘Tahouva-mai, or phyiician, is not only verfed in the
fcience o f remedies againA the difeafes common among thefe
iflanders; but he has really a knowledge o f nature, as far as is compatible
with the confined ideas o f the whole nation. I cannot but
imagine .that they mufi have fome ideas o f a n a t om y , as they
are well acquainted with all the internal parts o f the human body,
which they could not have learnt but by examining fome human
corpfe ;' and they have likewife peculiar names for all the internal
parts o f the body : thus for infiance, they name Roro the brains;-
o-b'obtto.o the.heart; paraia the liver; hoia-houa the kidneys;
opoo-orahai the fiomach ; am the bowels; . obooboo the bladder;
pow-ohobre the blind gu t ; . avia, the womb ' or matrix; and
S S S toa-c
various fubilances for cauteries applied on difeafed parts o f the body, the mod common of which
is the pith of rulhes, dipt in Sefam-oil. The Cllinefc and Japanefe ufe the downy. part
collected from the young leaves of the common mugwort (Artemijia vulgaris) form a little
cone o f it, put it on the body and burn it. This remedy has been recommended and ufed by
fome Dutch phyficians again!! the gout arid rheumatifms, but has hitherto gained but an indiffer-'
ent reputation. The Laplanders ufe the common punk or ioletus iguiarius for the fame purpofe
Knud Lem’s Defcription of the Laplanders. The Bedwin-Arabs fubffitute' common cotton.
£>’Arvitux Voyage dans la Palefliue; tyliich is likewife found by experiment to.be as good at.