THE ROOTS OF NORTH AMERICAN MEDICINE

When early explorers discovered a vast new wilderness that one day would
be known as North American they also came upon this continent’s first
medical team. The inhabitants of the unexplored land were a race of
people distinguished as the North American Indians. Long before that
first contact with the whiteman these aboriginal peoples were clever in
finding ways to help themselves.

Physician, surgeon, pharmacist at one and the same time, the skilled
tribal persons operated on the injured, treated disease and effected cures
among their people. The system of medicine, surprisingly complete, was
handed down unwritten from generation to generation.

While remarkably free of disease, Indian people did have ailments which
made it necessary for them to seek curative herbs. The predominant
disorders besides besides external injuries, seem to have been arthritis
digestive disorders and respiratory infections. Apparently the Native
American’s generally harmonius quiet way of life, apart from warfare,
protected them from a whole category of the white man’s ills. It seems
that heart disease, arteriosclerosis, and cancer were rare indeed.
Neurological and psychiatric disturbances were also uncommon.

Many traditional Native Indian medicines have made their way into the
white man’s pharmacopeia; and the active agents of many important drugs in
use today, such as cascara sagrada - presently the most widely used
cathartic in the world - is still widely used in the U.S. Pharmacopeia
since so synthetic substite has ever been found to replace it. Cascara
sagrada is derived from the bark of the buckthorn tree. This tree was
given the name of the ’sacred bark’ by Europeans who were impressed by
it’s mildness and efficacy.

It is only in comparatively modern times that some of the most astonishing
Indian early medical knowlege has been uncovered by scientific
investigators. For example, Dr. Frederick Banting, discoverer of
insulin, credited Indian healers with the ‘pharmaceutical’ spade work
which lead to his discovery.

As a surgeon, how did the North American Indian compare with his European
colleague? Judging by reports of white men, the Indian’s surgical
technique for the pruning of a human limb was one of spectacular skill
since successful operations depended on speed. An amputation at the joint
was performed with a knife of flint. Blood vessels were sealed with
stones heated to redness, thus arresting hemmorrhage. Deer sinews were
used as sutures. Other materials used in the joining together of two edges
of a wound or incision included human hair, vegetable fibres, and those of
the light, soft, durable, basswood. Excess bleeding was arrested by
spider webs or pulverized puffballs.

With regard to patient-comfort, the aboriginal surgeon knew a great deal
about pain-allaying medicines to put him patient “under”. In fact, as far
as anesthetics were concerned , the Indian medicall practitioner was
centuries ahead of the European ‘conquerors’.

In the treatment of wounds one of the most remarkable aspects of Indian
practice was the use of some form of aseptic technique. It was the late
19th centure before Europeans or white doctors learned the necessity of
keeping wounds clean. One historical report indicates that when an Indian
of the Illinois tribe was wounded by shot or arrow, a quantity of warm
water with diluted drugs was poured into him.

As a bone setter, the North American Indian dexterously and with care, set
fractures of the bones. Splints of cedar were applied, padded with leaves
or grass and then bound with soft, pliable branches of the young birch.
Dislocations were reduced by the simple medium of force.

The sweat bath was also considered an important remedy for painful
conditions of joints and muscles as well as a means of cleanliness.
Again, in contrast to the derogatory disdain with which many white people
viewed Native American life, North Amerca’s original inhabitants were
practically ‘health nuts’ in this respect. Almost all Europeans commented
on the custom of frequent bathing whenever these Indians lived near water.

To rid the body of venom from a reptile or insect bite and to draw off pus
from an infected wound, the healing technique of sucking was employed
rationally and effectively. Treatment included a preliminary does of
snakeroot powder taken by both patient and treatment giver.

In the Indian’s pharmaceutical supply of both humble week and bright
flower, roots, herbs, plants, tree barks, even odors served a medicinal
purpose. An example is the powdered roots of buttercups which, when
inhaled, relieved headaches. All medications were stored in skins to keep
them clean and dry.

So far, we have talked about the persons who we would identify as the
‘doctors’ in the tribe. What about the ‘nurse’, the other half of this
first North America Native medical team? She was a woman of the tribe,
gentle and confident in her skills. Hollywood not withstanding, she did
not shake rattes, blow dust, or do weird dances to fight off the maladies
that beset her patient. If she crooned softly while whiping the
perspiration from a fretful patient’s brow, she soothed worries as well as
wounds. Observing and charting a patient’s progress in her own manner was
an important responsibility. So also was the brewing and making of
poultices and other applications from nature’s pharmaceutical array. This
latter task was an art in itself and one of the nurse’s duties. An Indian
woman’s reliability could be judged by the faithfulness in carrying out
orders in the absence of the healer (’doctor’) A patient’s life might
depend on it.

There were many kinds of wounds to dress, for injuries were common affairs
in the life of hunting and engaging in warfare. But the women of the tribe
treated them all and probably cheered their patients with their gentle
ways.

Almost all the Indian’s diseases came about by the weather, and hardships
such as famine and injuries. It was only with the arrival of the white
man that the North American Indian’s system of medicine broke down. New,
and to the Native ‘doctors’ and ‘nurses’ unknown diseases such as scarlet
fever, tuberculosis, smallpos, and other frightful diseases spread through
the tribes like a devastating flame. It is noted that the entire western
plains region of Canada was ravages by smallpox in the fall and winter of
the 1870’s. An estimated five thousand Cree and Blackfeet (sometimes
referred to as Blackfoot) died. The fatal blossoms of smallpox almost
decimated the Indian population. In the providence of God, only the
discovery of a vaccination by an English physician, Edward Jenner, saved
the North American inhabitants. In a sense, western medical science gave
back to Native Americans a little of what it owed.

From the early Indian healer’s knife of sharp edged stone to the
contemporary surgeon’s steel scalpel and laster surgery has been a long
journey - a journey which has been eased and enriched by contributions
from both societies.