PRIMITIVE MEDICINES.
VALUE OF NATIVE HERBS. The remarkable medicinal qualities of New Zealand plants were explained by Miss L. M. Cranwell, of the War Memorial Museum staff, in an address last evening before the anthropology and Maori race section of tho Auckland Institute and Museum. The president, Mr. J. McVeagh, presided. Miss Cranwell exhibited a number of specimens of the principal medicinal herbs known to the Maoris and tho lecture was illustrated by slides. Although tho Maoris were inclined to superstition in regard to the incidence of illnesses and attributed the cause of affliction to fhe supernatural, said the lecturei*, they had a considerable knowledge of tho curative properties of the plants available. The remedies were applied in a decidedly practical way although they were accompanied by incantations. Among the plants used considerably in preparing medicines were the harakeke, or flax, titoki, koromiko, ti, or cabbage tree, ngaio and even the bush lawyer. Several native herbs were receiving some attention from modem medical science, but a highly promising field was still awaiting study.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20962, 27 August 1931, Page 12
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173PRIMITIVE MEDICINES. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20962, 27 August 1931, Page 12
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