A Little 21st Century Witchcraft

The bedrabbled stranger stumbled out from the jungle, bursting into the coastal tribe’s semi-civilisation. Malgra, the medicine man, sensed his illness and—after providing a good, hot meal—set to work.

Clearly, the stranger had eaten little for many months. To ease his beriberic symptoms, Malgra decided to acetylize a pot of cnidaria, add a pinch of erysiphe, and acetometrically re-analyse the results until satisfied. Lastly, a few obscure words spoken in Yucateco—and he pronounced the concentrated brew complete. Once diluted in the traditional fashion (nonhygroscopically, and without adding water), his patient imbibed.

“Gee whillikers! It worked like magic!”