TROPICAL WEED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 75

TROPICAL WEED.

ALLEGED CURE FOR DIABETES, DOCTORS INTERESTED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 9. Medical men throughout Australia and New Zealand will be interested in a report from Cairns (Queensland) that a ease of acute diabetes has been relieved, and possibly cured, by a tropical weed commonly known as “ Billy Stinker.” This weed, the Vinca Rosea or Cape Periwingle, thrives along the Queensland coast from Moreton Bay to Thursday Island. Unconfirmed reports of its efficacy in treating diabetes so stirred the Queensland Government recently that for months it has been under test in the State pharmaceutical laboratory. So promising has that been that experiment is now being made upon further test supplies of the weed from Government reserves and botanical gardens. Queensland medical men hope that the humble Billy Stinker may hide a long-sought diabetic specific. Writing to the Sydney Guardian from Cairns, Mr James Marshland describes a self-conducted experiment with the weed, which further substantiates the claims made as to 'the value of the weed. Pronounced as acute diabetic by a doctor, Mr Marshland took the opportunity afforded by his medical adviser’s absence to treat himself with a concoction from Vinca Rosea, which, he says, is “ as old as the hills and has been prescribed by the local medical fraternity for some considerable time. For six weeks Mr Marshland drank after every meal a cup of the “ vile concoction ” (his own words) made from 21 leaves of the Vinca Rosea stewed in three and a-half cups of water. At the end of that time all his distressing symptoms had disappeared, he claimed. Mr Marshland persevered with the treatment for another month, and now says that he is enjoying health such as he has never had for years. He declares that self-treatment was popular locally, and that the identical preparation from the Billy Stinker was being sold as a proprietary medicine in South Africa. When approached on the subject Sydney doctors expressed great interest in the claims that were being made for the weed, but said that the claim that it was a sure cure for diabetes needed very careful investigation. It was, however,quite possible that an important discovery had been made.