MEDICINE PIPES AND HEALING
From Blackfoot Lodge Tales by George Bird Grinnell
18 minute read
The person whom the whites term "medicine man" is called by the Blackfeet Ni-namp'-skan . Mr. Schultz believes this word to be compounded of nin'nah , man, and namp'-ski , horned toad ( Phrynosoma ), and in this he is supported by Mr. Thomas Bird, a very intelligent half-breed, who has translated a part of the Bible into the Blackfoot language for the Rev. S. Trivett, a Church of England missionary. These gentlemen conclude that the word means "all-face man." The horned toad is called namp'-ski , all-face; and as the medicine man, with his hair done up in a huge topknot, bore a certain resemblance to this creature, he was so named. No one among the Blackfeet appears to have any idea as to what the word means. The medicine pipes are really only pipe stems, very long, and beautifully decorated with bright-colored feathers and the fur of the...
ON PERSONAL ADORNMENT; ON SUBJUGATING THE HEARTS OF OTHERS; AND ON TONIC MEDICINES.
From The Kama Sutra Of Vatsyayana / Translated From The Sanscrit In Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction And Concluding Remarks by Vatsyayana
8 minute read
When a person fails to obtain the object of his desires by any of the ways previously related, he should then have recourse to other ways of attracting others to himself. Now, good looks, good qualities, youth, and liberality are the chief and most natural means of making a person agreeable in the eyes of others. But in the absence of these a man or a woman must have resort to artificial means, or to art, and the following are some recipes that may be found useful. (a). An ointment made of the tabernamontana coronaria, the costus speciosus or arabicus, and the flacourtia cataphracta, can be used as an unguent of adornment. (b). If a fine powder is made of the above plants, and applied to the wick of a lamp, which is made to burn with the oil of blue vitrol, the black pigment or lamp black produced therefrom,...
THE RELIGION OF HEALTH
From Essays In Medical Sociology by Elizabeth Blackwell
44 minute read
The words ‘the Religion of Health’ convey a profound meaning to the physician who has spent a lifetime in relieving physical suffering. I will try and state what those words seem to me to imply. Obedience to Divine law is the highest wisdom of the human race. Wherever God’s laws are clearly visible, stamped in immutable characters so plain that every human being who is willing to read them can do so, then the wisdom, the happiness—nay, the simple common-sense of the race—lies in obeying them. The first lesson every one of us has to learn profoundly is his subjection to law. There is no escaping this inexorable destiny. Although each one is born with free-will, his type—the plan and pattern of his being—is born with him also. This type is a limitation to the nature, but it is also a guide; it is the finger of Providence showing him...
CHAPTER XIX. MEDICINE AND FUNERAL RITES AMONG THE NAHUAS.
From The Native Races [Of The Pacific States] by Hubert Howe Bancroft
45 minute read
Mexican Contributions to Medical Science—The Botanical Gardens—Longevity—Prevalent Diseases—Introduction of Small-pox and Syphilis—Medical Treatment—The Temazcalli—Aboriginal Physicians—The Aztec Faculty—Standard Remedies—Surgery—Superstitious Ceremonies in Healing—Funeral Rites of Aztecs—Cremation—Royal Obsequies—Embalming—The Funeral Pyre—Human Sacrifice—Disposal of the Ashes and Ornaments—Mourners—Funeral Ceremonies of the People—Certain Classes Buried—Rites for the Slain in Battle—Burial among the Teo-Chichimecs and Tabascans—Cremation Ceremonies in Michoacan—Burial by the Miztecs in Oajaca. Writers on Mexico have paid but slight attention to aboriginal medical science, although the greatest benefit which Europe derived from that part of the New World came doubtless in the form of medicinal substances. Most of the additions to the world's stock of remedies since the sixteenth century were indigenous to tropical America, and in few instances, if any, were their curative properties unknown or unfamiliar to the native doctors. Jalap, sarsaparilla, tobacco, with numerous gums and balsams, were among the simples of American origin. Dr Hernandez, physician to Phillip II., was sent...
XI. FINAL BREAKING AWAY OF THE THEOLOGICAL THEORY IN MEDICINE.
From History Of The Warfare Of Science With Theology In Christendom by Andrew Dickson White
8 minute read
While this development of history was going on, the central idea on which the whole theologic view rested—the idea of diseases as resulting from the wrath of God or malice of Satan—was steadily weakened; and, out of the many things which show this, one may be selected as indicating the drift of thought among theologians themselves. Toward the end of the eighteenth century the most eminent divines of the American branch of the Anglican Church framed their Book of Common Prayer. Abounding as it does in evidences of their wisdom and piety, few things are more noteworthy than a change made in the exhortation to the faithful to present themselves at the communion. While, in the old form laid down in the English Prayer Book, the minister was required to warn his flock not "to kindle God's wrath" or "provoke him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds...
The Medicine-gods
From Myths & Legends Of China by E. T. C. Werner
54 minute read
The chief gods of medicine are the mythical kings P’an Ku, Fu Hsi, Shên Nung, and Huang Ti. The first two, being by different writers regarded as the first progenitor or creator of the Chinese people, are alternatives, so that Fu Hsi, Shên Nung, and Huang Ti may be said to be a sort of ancestral triad of medicine-gods, superior to the actual God or King of Medicine, Yao Wang. Of P’an Ku we have spoken sufficiently in Chapter III, and with regard to Fu Hsi, also called T’ien Huang Shih, ‘the Celestial Emperor,’ the mythical sovereign and Page 248 supposed inventor of cooking, musical instruments, the calendar, hunting, fishing, etc., the chief interest for our present purpose centres in his discovery of the pa kua , or Eight Trigrams. It is on the strength of these trigrams that Fu Hsi is regarded as the chief god of medicine, since...
Strange Medicine
From Myths & Legends Of China by E. T. C. Werner
1 minute read
One serious difficulty, however, presented itself, and that was that the right medicine was almost impossible to procure. The King showed his displeasure by saying: “For every illness there is a medical prescription, and for every prescription a specific medicine; how can you say that the diagnosis is easy, but that there is no remedy?” “Your Majesty,” replied the priest, “the remedy for your illness is not to be found in any pharmacy, and no one would agree to sell it.” The King became angry, believed that he was being imposed upon, and ordered those about him to drive away the priest, who left smiling. The following night the King saw in a dream an old man who said to him: “This priest alone can cure your illness, and if you ask him he himself will give you the right remedy.” The King awoke as soon as these words had...
Of the Temperature of Medicines.
20 minute read
Herbs, plants, and other medicines manifestly operate, either by heat, coldness, dryness, or moisture, for the world being composed of so many qualities, they and only they can be found in the world, and the mixtures of them one with another. But that they may appear as clear as the sun when he is upon the meridian, I shall treat of them severally, and in this order...
Of Medicines hot in the third degree.
21 minute read
Those which attain the third degree of heat, have the same faculties with those before mentioned; but as they are hotter, so are they more powerful in their operations, for they are so powerful in heating and cutting, that if unadvisedly given they cause fevers. Use. Their use is to cut tough and compacted humours, to provoke sweat abundantly; hence it comes to pass they all of them resist poison....
NAUGHTY BOY HAD TO TAKE HIS MEDICINE.
From "Abe" Lincoln's Yarns And Stories by Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly) McClure
2 minute read
The resistance to the military draft of 1863 by the City of New York, the result of which was the killing of several thousand persons, was illustrated on August 29th, 1863, by “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,” over the title of “The Naughty Boy, Gotham, Who Would Not Take the Draft.” Beneath was also the text: MAMMY LINCOLN: “There now, you bad boy, acting that way, when your little sister Penn (State of Pennsylvania) takes hers like a lady!” Horatio Seymour was then Governor of New York, and a prominent “the War is a failure” advocate. He was in Albany, the State capital, when the riots broke out in the City of New York, July 13th, and after the mob had burned the Colored Orphan Asylum and killed several hundred negroes, came to the city. He had only soft words for the rioters, promising them that the draft should be suspended....
The Income That Can Reasonably be Expected in the Practice of Medicine
From One Thousand Ways To Make A Living; Or, An EncyclopæDia Of Plans To Make Money by Harold Morse Dunphy
39 minute read
The practice of medicine does not hold out the hope of any great financial reward. There are some medical practitioners who have made small fortunes in their practice, but such cases are few. The ordinary practitioner can not count on much more than a comfortable living, in accordance with the living standards in the community in which he lives. Not only is the physician’s salary generally small, but it is uncertain as well. The following table gives the incomes of Harvard medical graduates, by classes and by years of experience, according to a study recently made: Average Earnings of Harvard medical graduates, by classes and by years of experience. [16] [16] Training Rewards of the Physician (Cabot), J. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa., v. 136....
How Much It Will Cost to Prepare for Practice of Medicine
From One Thousand Ways To Make A Living; Or, An EncyclopæDia Of Plans To Make Money by Harold Morse Dunphy
34 minute read
If you are a soldier or a sailor discharged from the service since October 6, 1917, with a disability for which the Bureau of War-Risk Insurance will grant you compensation, and if a course in medicine is approved for you by the Federal Board, your education will be furnished free by the Government. The Bureau of War-Risk Insurance, through its compensation, will meet a part of the expense, and the Federal Board for Vocational Education will add to that amount to a minimum of $65 a month with the purpose of meeting all of your expenses for living, clothing, transportation, tuition, and incidentals....