History of Latin American Dermatology

LUIS DAVID PIERINIHerbal treatmentsWe shall mention some ingredients.Mistol (Mistol jujube): also known to other ethnic groups, this tree of beautiful aspectis very common in Santa Fe and Santiago del Estero forests. It has a sweet, red fruit, usedfor making aloja; its leaves are employed for the treatment of wounds.Cebil (yopo): belongs to the mimosa family; its macerated leaves and bark were oftenapplied as poultices in the mutilating lesions of leprosy.Guayacán (Soap-bush): in addition to alleviating rheumatic illnesses and the pain ofgout, its resin was employed to neutralize the complications of the third stage of syphilis.Our Indians drank a brew of its leaves and bark as a general tonic.Pindo palm tree or large palm tree (Coco Romango flianum): a species much appreciatedfor roofing huts, also employed in the manufacture of numerous utensils, and itsshoots are used for nourishment.This variety of palm houses a white worm the size of a finger, which the aboriginalpeople call tombú. Dr. Esteban Laureano Maradona states that this worm (verme espeluznante),when placed on the fire, segregates an oil which the Indians employ to treattheir injuries. Its body, fried or on a spit, is also edible, like a strip of fried dried meat.Ortica dioca (Ortiga mayor) (urtica dioica) (nettle): in popular and aboriginalmedicine, it is indicated for almost all systems. It was praised for its galactogogic and diureticeffects, as well as for acting on hair follicles.Solimán or snake fang: it was employed against snakebite. The areas inhabited byIndians correspond to a vast habitat for ophidians, populated with coral snakes (Elapscorallino) (micrurus), rattlesnakes (Crotalus terrificus) and the yarará (Lachesis alternatus),whose bites can be lethal.Mastuerzo (lesser swinecress): it was employed in brews to neutralize skin ailments,scurvy and diverse forms of pulmonary tuberculosis.C) ABIPONEHerbal treatmentsThe many-colored botanical wealth allowed the original inhabitants of the GreaterChaco to create a kind of pharmacopoeia, which brought together empirical knowledgeand shamanic sorcery. We shall mention some varieties.Abariguay: it was used to prepare a balm employed to heal injuries. They believedthat applying it inside the mouth halted hemorrhages and coughing.Ambay (ambay pumpwood): it has been mentioned as an anti-venereal treatment andas a frictional element for the obtainment of fire.Quinoa (quinoa): legume which in addition to serving as food was applied as a poulticeon the injured or traumatized wound.Zarzaparrilla (sarsaparrilla): used against the bites and stings of poisonous animals.PathologyDespite the Abipone’s exceptional physique, the illnesses ensuing from the region’secology, the insects and parasites, the internal and external wars, together with the diseasestransmitted by the white man, led to the almost complete extinction of this race.Epidemics also made their effects felt; in 1734, smallpox killed 30,000 inhabitants, includingadults and children.Another plague we find mentioned was the pique (itch), bicho de pie (foot bug) oragrani, an Abipone word meaning “gag.”These groups recognized the hematophagous action of the vinchuca (cone-nosedbug), which they called “winged leech,” as well as the consequences derived from wasp,spider and scorpion stings.24