Note 599 — Chapter IV · CALIFORNIANS. (continued 2)

'For Gonorrhœa they used a strong decoction of an herb that grows very plentifully here, and is called by the Spanish "chancel agua," and wild pigeon manure, rolled up into pills. The decoction is a very bitter astringent, and may cure some sores, but that it fails in many, I have undeniable proof. In syphilis they use the actual cautery, a living coal of fire applied to the chancer, and a decoction of an herb, said to be something like sarsaparilla, called rosia.' Hoffman, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 152-3.