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Aztec advances in health (20): treating ear infection

2nd Apr 2023

The human body and associated day signs, Codex Vaticanus A

This is the twentieth in a series of entries based on information in the Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World by Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfield (2002). Aztec physicians were experts at treating earaches... (Compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

‘If the cause of the pain was an infection or abscess, these ancient doctors treated the problem in two steps. The first was to lance the infected gland or area, which drained the wound. Physicians then applied a poultice of datura (Datura stramonium), or jimson weed to the injured ear. The datura plaster provided anaesthesia and relief to the patient.’
Treatment of earache is mentioned in a number of early colonial Mexican manuscripts: the Florentine Codex, the Aztec Herbal of 1552 (also known as the Badianus Manuscript), and (indirectly) the Historia de las plantas de Nueva España by Francisco Hernández. In all cases a cocktail of different herbs is prescribed. For an infected ear Book X of the Florentine recommends as follows:-
’Its cure is to apply drops of tepid coyoxochitl sap with chilli in the ear thrice daily; also the same by night. These bring out either phlegm or pus’ and for ear ulcers ‘[Pulverised] coyoxochitl [leaves] (pic 1) mixed with pine resin are applied on the outside as a poultice, and, mixed with axin, pressed in the openings [of the ulcers].’

Coyoxochitl, incidentally, means ‘Coyote Flower’ - Hernández notes that the aroma of the heart-shaped leaves is similar to the smell of a skunk.
The Aztec Herbal (see pix 2 & 3) adds the following:-
’When instilled into discharging ears, the root of mazayelli, the seed of the herb xoxouhiquipahtli, and some leaves of tlaquilin with a pinch of salt in hot water are very helpful. And the ground leaves of two shrubs are to be smeared beneath the ears: the shrubs are called toloua and tlapahtl [Datura]. The gems tetlahuitl, tlahcalhuatzin, eztetl, and xoxouhqui chalchiuitl, pulverised and instilled together with leaves of the tlatlanquaye tree ground in hot water, open obstructed ears’ (Clayton et al, 2009:86).

In her commentary on the Badianus Manuscript Emmart (1940: 225) notes that ‘the treatment of abscessed, painful and obstructed ears involved the use of an astringent wash for the ear and an external application to relieve pain... pain was relieved with a counter-irritant which might consist of any herb which gave a burning sensation. A balsam was also used to relieve pain.’ She goes on to quote from an early twentieth century Mayan text showing that today ‘the hot juice of the maguey [century plant] and honey were squeezed into the ear to relieve pain, pus and deafness’.

Additional sources:-
• Clayton, Martin, Guerrini, Luigi and de Ávila, Alejandro (2009) Flora: The Aztec Herbal, Royal Collection Enterprises, London
• Emmart, Emily Walcott (1940) The Badianus Manuscript (Codex Barberini, Latin 241), Vatican Library - An Aztec Herbal of 1552, John Hopkins Press, Baltimore
• Florentine Codex (1961) Book 10 - The People, translated by Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J. O. Anderson, School of American Research and University of Utah
• Gates, William (2000) An Aztec Herbal, Dover Publications, New York
• Hernández, Francisco (1946) Historia de las plantas de Nueva España vol. III, Imprenta Universitaria, Mexico.

Image sources:-
• Main: Human body form with calendar sign associations, Codex Vaticanus A/Ríos, folio 54r (detail), image scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1979
• Pic 1: image scanned from Hernández, op cit
• Pic 2: image scanned from Gates, op cit
• Pic 3: image scanned from Emmart, op cit.