The seeds of the _ololiuhqui_ appear to have been employed externally. They were the efficient element in the mysterious unguent known as “the divine remedy” (_teopatli_), about which we find some information in the works of Father Augustin de Vetancurt, who lived in Mexico in the middle of the seventeenth century. He writes: “The pagan priests made use of an ointment composed of insects, such as spiders, scorpions, centipedes and the like, which the neophytes in the temples prepared. They burned these insects in a basin, collected the ashes, and rubbed it up with green tobacco leaves, living worms and insects, and the powdered seeds of a plant called _ololiuhqui_, which has the power of inducing visions, and the effect of which is to destroy the reasoning powers. Under the influence of this ointment, they conversed with the Devil, and he with them, practicing his deceptions upon them. They also believed that it protected them, so they had no fear of going into the woods at night. “This was also employed by them as a remedy in various diseases, and the soothing influence of the tobacco and the _ololiuhqui_ was attributed by them to divine agency. There are some in our own day who make use of this ointment for sorcery, shutting themselves up, and losing their reason under its influence; especially some old men and old women, who are prepared to fall an easy prey to the Devil.”[8-†] The botanist Hernandez observes that another name for this plant was _coaxihuitl_, “serpent plant,” and adds that its seeds contain a narcotic poison, and that it is allied to the genus _Solanum_, of which the deadly night-shade is a familiar species. He speaks of its use in the sacred rites in these words: “Indorum sacrifici, cum videri volebant versari cum superis, ac responsa accipere ab eis, ea vescebantur planta, ut desiperent, milleque phantasmata et demonum observatium effigies circumspectarent.”[8-‡] Of the two plants mentioned, the _ololiuhqui_ and the _peyotl_, the former was considered the more potent in spiritual virtues. “They hold it in as much veneration as if it were God,” says a theologian of the seventeenth century.[9-*] One who partook of these herbs was called _payni_ (from the verb _pay_, to take medicine); and more especially _tlachixqui_, a Seer, referring to the mystic “second sight,” hence a diviner or prophet (from the verb _tlachia_, to see). Tobacco also held a prominent, though less important, place in these rites. It was employed in two forms, the one the dried leaf, _picietl_, which for sacred uses must be broken and rubbed up either seven or nine times; and the green leaf mixed with lime, hence called _tenextlecietl_ (from _tenextli_, lime).