Medical ethnobiology of the Highland Maya of Chiapas, Mexico : the gastrointestinal diseases /

The authors and contributors present a detailed study of the gastrointestinal diseases encountered among the Mayan Indians of the highlands of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. They briefly describe the social, physical, and biological attributes of the study area and then, in detail, the municipalities from which data were gathered. Chapter 2 discusses in great detail the causes, symptoms, and cures for the several types of diarrheas encountered in the area. The plants utilized as biomedicines are described and pictured. Chapter 3 treats in like manner abdominal pains, followed by a chapter on intestinal worms. Throughout, the Mayan language is used with translation for names of plants, causes, symptoms, and effects of the diseases as told to the investigators. Chapter 5 summarizes the medicinal plants and their uses. An appendix explains various combinations of plants utilized in combating intestinal diseases. A glossary of medicinal, pharmaceutical, and botanical terms is followed by an index of Mayan terms. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. C. T. Mason Jr. emeritus, University of Arizona