In the making of some of today's scientific medical drugs and remedies, some of the native plants and products of the Southwest are being used. The curing and healing powers from them were known to many of the older Mexicans and Indians, as their grandparents had used them hundreds of years ago. As late as the twenties, many of the Mexican men and women over forty years of age that lived in the lower parts of the Big Bend knew of the curing powers of the various plants that grew wild in that region. Some also had in their gardens a few herbs that originally came from Mexico. Those that knew of all these plants and had attained a reputation for the curing of the sick were known as Curanderos (the men) and Curanderas (the women). That means a healer, but not a doctor. Those that had become known for their abilities were called Brujerias, which has a meaning of Wizard, or as we refer to a specialist among our doctors.

     It was not a profession that these people followed, as they made their living as goat herders, gathering and selling chino grass, working for American ranchers, or other kinds of work. In most cases, the women were superior, as they acted not only as a doctor, but also as a nurse. They charged no fees for what they did for the patient, and besides the treatment, they often fed them for several days while they were in their care. This is a true demonstration of the generosity of Mexicans to share what they had, even if they knew they would have to do without certain foods after their guests or patients left.

     What these people knew of their skills had been passed on to them from many generations. Few were able to read or write. They not only made the medicines, but they diagnosed the patient for his ills and treated them. They were both doctors and pharmacists without a license, but from results of numerous cases they treated, they were capable and did much for many people.

     From personal treatments and from knowledge of others, it appears that the women were better than the men. This belief that the women were better might be biased, for during the years that this writer lived among the Mexicans, as a critically ill patient, it was two different women to whom I am most grateful.

     When a patient went to a Curandero, he had to go to him early in the morning, before sunup, or have his illness diagnosed by the woman. Most patients arranged their visits late in the afternoon, planning a stay of several days. When the patient's aliment had been diagnosed, then the necessary plants were gathered.

     Some of those plants grew nearby, but some were several miles away. Usually one of the boys was sent to gather the needed plants, which were always prepared and made into the medicine by the woman with her household utensils. When the plants or flowers were put into cazuela (clay pot) to be boiled, they were put in just as they were gathered. Nothing was done to destroy Nature's touch.

     A few of their remedies this writer cannot vouch for, except that they were told by persons who knew that they were successful. One was for a severe case of sunstroke, pico el sol, as they called it. I was alone when I passed out, but recovered and was able to reach Johnson's ranch. This was June 1930. Mr. Johnson thought that old Juana would be the best doctor. In the shade, at the east side of her house, she placed a couple of goat skins on the ground for me to lie on. She sent to children to gather some of the plants known as wild tobacco (Nicotina Clauca), Hojo de Igera they called it, also Piel de Elephante, which means elephant skin. This plant grew abundantly along the Rio Grande.

     While the children were gathering the plants, Juana took from a jar some dried sunflower seeds. These were from the large sunflowers that they cultivated in their garden. They called it Mira Sol, which means looking at the sun. The seeds were placed in her molcajete, which is a stone bowl they use to mash up chile by pounding it with another long shaped stone. The mashed-up seeds were then mixed with cotton seed oil. That mixture was spread on the "wild tobacco" leaves, some of them six inches long. They are a heavy, pliable leaf. Juana covered all my forehead and temples with these leaves and told me that another treatment would be given me in the morning, as the brew had to be boiled, then left to cool overnight. She let the first batch of leaves stay on about one half hour.

     Juana kept asking me if I had any pains in my heart, but I did not. It was about sundown when she took the leaves off and told me not to wash that night, but to come back early the next morning for the next treatment. I felt much better, but was sure weak and sore, felt like I had been given a terrific beating.

     The next morning after breakfast, I went back to Juana's house for the second treatment. They had probably been boiling flowers all night from the amount of brew that they had ready. This was not to be taken, but was prepared to treat my head with this solution, a sort of shampoo. In a sitting position with my head down, she slowly poured about a quart of the brew on my head from my neck to the brow. She allowed me to sit erect about half an hour, then repeated the treatment. After the second treatment of pouring the sunflower brew over my head, she again allowed me to sit up and let the juice soak into my head, then she poured on small amounts of the liquid with her fingers gently massaging all of my head for nearly half an hour. That completed her cure for me.

     At the time of this sunstroke, I was a veteran of 15 years of this region. Five years were with the Cavalry and pack trains. On numerous occasions I had seen the medics care for a trooper that was knocked out by the heat. It was not known what the convalescent period of the soldiers was when they suffered a similar attack, but I think it was from three to five days that they were on the "sick list." Mine was about 24 hours. No one took my temperature, nor did I take any medicine except two aspirins that Mr. Johnson gave me.

     For severe cases of arthritis, the patient was immersed in a tub of a brew made from the Gobornadora (Creosote). this plant is often erroneously called greasewood. It grows abundantly throughout the entire Southwest.

     The brew for the treatment was made by boiling large amounts of the leaves and parts of the upper stalks, then poured into the largest washtub. The patient was put in to soak and be sponged all over all the ailing parts for about one-half hour. The brew was as hot as he could stand and a treatment was repeated for three days. For this same rheumatic aliment they also used a different plant made into a brew and used about the same as the creosote. The other plant was the Lechuguilla (common name) Agave lechuguilla. It is a cluster of heavy blades about 12 inches long. Mr. J. E. Casner, a rancher and General Motors dealer in Alpine, has worked with scientists during the past few years and a definite quantity of cortisone has been found in the lechuguilla. The entire plant is boiled to make the formula.

     The lechuguilla, besides being a medicinal plant, was used for several useful purposes. The blades were stripped into fiber, in about half-inch strips, that made an ideal cord to tie bundles. When stripped into finer strands, they wove it into ropes, mats and brushes.

     In the Big Bend, the old Curanderos are now few in number. Their children have no desire to learn all those primitive remedies. Even those who live in the farthest parts can reach a doctor's office in less than three hours by car, and they prefer a doctor's better-tasting medicine than what their grandparents used to make up.