History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

The Rise of Medical Specialism 93The medicine men or priests who dealt with religious beliefs were notclearly differentiated from other members of the tribe, and often they wereidentical individuals. For the most part, these groups were fakirs, witches,charlatans and magicians who practiced the "tricks of their trade" on thesick by presuming to cast out the evil spirits.In addition to these "spirit men," there were other specialists in thisfield. A large number were the so-called "herbalists," who devoted theirtime to wandering through the forests and fields, collecting herbs which inthe form of decoctions or extracts were used or tested upon themselves orthe sick. Many of them acquired an uncanny knowledge of herbs of allkinds. These became their "materia medica." The men and women whofound and prepared these products sometimes became a group apart. Theywere looked up to at times with an august respect, or again with fear.Another group that often became differentiated more or less clearly fromthe rank and file were the midwives and those persons dealing with thespecial diseases of women. In some Indian tribes this specialty was conductedin a private manner and often in separate huts. The patient at timeswas left entirely alone to manage her own labor as best she could and administerwhatever therapy the crude Indian practices required. 1Still another specialty was physiotherapy, particularly treatment withhot and cold baths and with the salt waters and springs that were widelydistributed in this territory. In the United States there are some 2,000 mineralsprings, many of which have hot or warm chemical waters. The Illinicountry is well supplied with all these waters. At such places, the nativescongregated for sweat baths, massage, purging and other treatments. Here,too, animals came in large numbers attracted by the salt, thus becomingan easy prey for the Indians. These localities became the sites of some ofour early settlements and cities, Danville for example.Among the Indians, surgery in an indefinite way was early differentiatedfrom the more general medical practices. Thus arose groups of specializedpractitioners of which the bone setters, bleeders and those who trephinedskulls are examples. 2 During times of war, which for many tribes was analmost continuous engagement, the care of wounds and injuries became aspecial assignment for these primitive surgeons.Crude as their medical methods seem to us today, they were no more sothan were their efforts in other lines of activity. The Indians took theirmedical work seriously, with the result that this particular art played asignificant role in their lives in many ways. In general, it existed as a universalinstitution among all the Indian tribes in this country.aFor a more detailed account of this specialty in Indian tribes, see Chapter IX inthis Volume.3Moodie, R. L.: Paleopathology. Urbana, 111., University of Illinois Press, 1923.