MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPY AMONG THE
NORTH AMERICAN FOREST INDIANS*
by AUGUST C. MAHR
Professor of German, Ohio State
University
The rather bulky literature on North
American Indian medicine
derives from various sources: reports
of missioners and other
travelers; observations of medical men
and scientists; and, more
recently, systematic surveys of
anthropologists collecting their data
in present-day Indian reservations. A
wealth of details has been
assembled regarding curative practices
and appliances, medicinal
herbs and other remedies, prescriptions
and dosage, surgical and
other corrective manipulations, and
what not. Yet the medical
notions and curative efforts of all
North American Indians show
one common feature, in view of which
the various local and chron-
ological divergencies appear of minor
relevancy. This common
feature is the presence everywhere of
two distinct approaches to
healing. The one, being metaphysical,
assumes supernatural forces,
such as evil spirits or witchcraft, as
the sources of all diseases.
Hence the superhumanly endowed medicine
man attempts to drive
away or counteract the noxious agents
by means of exorcistic rites
and magic incantations, either with or
without material aids to
purification. The other approach to
healing is the physical one,
which follows essentially the same
principles as does the white
man's medicine: both aetiology and
therapy are based on the ob-
jective observation of physical
disorders. Indian practitioners adher-
ing to it can be called physicians in
any man's language, in view of
both their professional competence and
curative successes.
While the conjuring and juggling type
of medicine man is
represented over the entire North
American area as a common
aboriginal institution, the practice of
physical medicine, although
no less aboriginal than metaphysical
faith healing, appears to have
*This article, slightly abridged, was
read before the Committee on Medical History
and Archives of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society at its
annual
meeting, held at the Ohio State Museum
on April 28, 1951.
331
332 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
been begun and developed within the
Algonquian family of Indians,
both chronologically and culturally the
forerunners of the Iroquois,
in the Eastern Forest area. The varying
admixture of ritual to
the purely medical practices among
various tribes has been used
as a basis on which to determine the
relative age of such practices.
F. G. Speck writes as follows:
While the details of practice and belief
may have changed in the course
of time and become somewhat specialized
in different tribes of the same
group, the practical use of herbs is a
fundamentally primitive idea that has
survived in the American East devoid of
the complexities of ritual. A ritual
associated with the practice of herb
medicines denotes a higher stage in the
development of folklore thought. Among
the ethnic groups south and west
of the northeast area of North America,
magical practices with ritual and
mythical associations are the rule in
curing disease. In the northeast, the
farther we go from the sphere of outside
influence, that is, the nearer to
the North Atlantic coast, the more
prominent is the quasi-practical use of
herbs without ritual. . . . Hence, two
things seem naturally inferable: (1)
That the simple herbalism as it exists
among the northeastern tribes is a
more elementary institution than
herbalism accompanied by or subordinated
to magic and ritual, and (2) that the
area in which the former has sur-
vived as characteristic is a more
conservative and primitive one.
The remedies in this region consist . .
. mostly of single herbs. A few
mixed ingredients may, I think, be
regarded as being of late origin.1
Speck's opinion is borne out by what is
known about the Mide-
wiwin, "a famous secret [medical] society [which]
flourished south
of the lakes, especially among the
Ojibway (or Chippewa), Meno-
mini and Potawatomi, who are often
spoken of as the typical
Algonkin."2 This guild
of healers shows a highly differentiated
1 "Medicine Practices of the
Northeastern Algonquians," Nineteenth International
Congress of Americanists, Proceedings
(Washington, 1917), 303-321, quoted in
Thomas William Corlett, The Medicine
Man of the American Indian and His
Cultural Background (Springfield, Ill., and Baltimore, Md., 1935), 293-294.
2 Clark Wissler, Indians of the
United States (New York, 1940), 60, 99. Wissler
writes "Midewin," rather than
"Midewiwin," which is the more frequent form.
Frances Densmore lists Menom. Mita'win,
'organization known as the medicine
lodge,' and Menom. Mita'wit, 'member
of the medicine lodge'; in a note she states
that "according to Skinner [Alanson
B. Skinner, Medicine Ceremony of the Meno-
mini . . . (Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Indian
Notes and
Monographs, IV, New York, 1920), 16, 17], "Mitawit is
sometimes used to
denote a candidate for admission into
the lodge" and "a full-fledged member is
mitao." Menominee Music (Bureau
of American Ethnology, Bulletin 102, Wash-
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 333
social and professional structure, and
still operates at the present
day among these tribes.
Frances Densmore presents a series of
detailed studies of this
secret medicine lodge.3 Her
data were collected among the Chippewa
and Menominee Indians on reservations
in Minnesota, Wisconsin,
and Ontario, Canada, from 1907 to 1929.
Dependable and pene-
trating as her surveys are, they make
no direct mention of the
connection between this latter-day
Algonquian medicine and the
principles of medical knowledge and
practices among the Eastern
Forest Algonquin in times past.
Fortunately, however, we possess
authentic literature contain-
ing invaluable information on the
medical accomplishments of the
Lenni Lenape, better known as the
Delaware, an ancient Algonquian
nation of early contacts with the white
settlers in the Eastern Forest
area of the North American Colonies in
the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. The literary
documents in question form
part of the Indian mission writings of
the Moravian Church, with
headquarters, even today, at Bethlehem
in Pennsylvania. Those of
foremost importance to this study are
two authentic books on North
American Indians, mainly the Delaware
nation, one by David Zeis-
berger,4 and the other by John
Heckewelder,5 for many years his
fellow-worker. Other items of
information can be found in the
mission diaries, such as regularly
forwarded to the mother church
ington, 1932), 25. Menom. mita'o clearly
corresponds to Len. meteu [meteu], 'a
doctor'; it is derived from meteohet,
'to drum on a hollow body'; a turkey cock is
sometimes called meteu, from the
drumming sound of his wings. The ancient
medicine men used drums. D. G. Brinton
and A. S. Anthony, A Lenape-English
Dictionary (Philadelphia, 1888), 83. From this it appears that mete-
means 'drum';
in particular, 'the ceremonial drum of
the medicine man, and lodge.' Chipp. (Menom.,
Len.) -win seems to suggest
'being in or with'; Menom. mita'-win (Chipp. mide'-
win; Len. *mete'-win), therefore, would mean 'being
with the drum'; and, with
the copulative -wi- interposed,
Menom. *mita'(o)-wi-win (Chipp. mide'(o)-wi-
win; Len. *mete'(u)-wi-win) would mean 'being with
him who beats the drum.'
3 Frances Densmore, "Uses of Plants
by the Chippewa Indians," Bureau of
American Ethnology, Annual Report, No.
44 (1926-27) (Washington, 1928),
275-397; Chippewa Customs (Bureau
of American Ethnology, Bulletin 86, Wash-
ington, 1929); Menominee Music (Bureau
of American Ethnology, Bulletin 102,
Washington, 1932).
4 Archer
B. Hulbert and William N. Schwarze, eds., David Zeisberger's History
of the Northern American Indians (Columbus, 1910).
5 John Heckewelder, History, Manners,
and Customs of, the Indian Nations Who
Once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the
Neighboring States (Historical Society
of
Pennsylvania, Memoirs, XII,
Philadelphia, 1881).
334
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
at Bethlehem by the directing
missionary, David Zeisberger, and
his associates from the Moravian
mission towns in the Tuscarawas
Valley, in Ohio, during the 1770's.
The observations of both Zeisberger and
Heckewelder on Indian
health conditions both within the
missions and without; their
comments on the aboriginal medical
notions and practices, as well
as on the native practitioners' materia
medica and their therapeutical
successes and failures; their objective
appraisal as eyewitnesses,
if not as patients, of Indian healers
at work-all this information
provides an unequaled basis for a
survey of the fundamentals of
Algonquian medicine. This statement
needs no qualification either;
wherever the Moravians' eighteenth
century observations agree with
those of Miss Densmore on current
Chippewa practices, the con-
ditions recorded can be regarded as
commonly Algonquian. Quite
frequently in this study additional
confirmation was sought from
non-Moravian writings dealing with
Indian medicine in the Eastern
Forest area. One of these is Dr.
Benjamin Rush's "Inquiry into
the Natural History of Medicine Among
the Indians of North
America and a Comparative View of Their
Diseases and Remedies
with Those of Civilized Nations."6
The very title of this essay sug-
gests what the perusal of it bears out:
it is a typical product of
the Age of Rationalism, reflecting, on
the one side, the smug pride
of the contemporary academician in the
insurpassable achievements
within any given field of learning;
and, on the other, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau's arbitrary doctrine about all
things being perfect as they
issue from the Creator's hands but
deteriorating under the touch
of Man. As to Man himself, he is
perfect, according to Rousseau,
only at the primitive stage but
deteriorates at the rate at which he
acquires civilization. In the Indian
youths' long delayed accession
to the pleasures of Venus-according to
Heckewelder's and Zeis-
berger's observations, a mere
myth!-Rush finds a parallel with
Caesar's and Tacitus' statements
concerning the long-conserved chast-
ity of the young Teutons. Apart from
escapades of this sort into
pre-Romantic philosophical speculation;
and apart from Dr. Rush's
6 Benjamin Rush, Medical Inquiries
and Observations (4 vols. in 2, 5th ed.,
Philadelphia, 1818), I, 55-91.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 335
authoritative, though untenable,
opinions about the aetiology and
nature of various diseases, his essay
is valuable, in that it records
a great many observations which, on the
whole, not only agree
with Heckewelder's and Zeisberger's but
also, in a few instances,
essentially complement them.
Another important source for Indian
materia medica and therapy
was found in Dr. Zina Pitcher's chapter
on "Medical Knowledge
of the Indian" in Henry
Schoolcraft's History of the Indian Tribes
of the United States,7 published in 1854. The author, a medical offi-
cer in the United States government,
stationed at Detroit, Michigan,
presents in this essay a survey,
equally competent from both the
medical and historical points of view,
of Indian medicine in the
eastern half of the United States and,
therefore, mainly dealing
with the Eastern Forest Indians. In
Schoolcraft's History, Dr. Pitch-
er's discourse is preceded by an
introductory page entitled, "Pre-
liminary Remarks on the Indian Notions
of Anatomy and Medicine."
Since there is reference made to
opinions of "Dr. Pitcher in the
following paper," Dr. Pitcher
cannot be the author of these "Pre-
liminary Remarks." It is most
likely that they are from the pen
of Schoolcraft himself.
The Moravian authors obtained their
facts mainly among the
Lenni Lenape, both convert and pagan,
in the Tuscarawas Valley,
where the majority of this Indian
nation had moved, from eastern
Pennsylvania, before 1750; while
Schonbrunn and Gnadenhutten,
the first Moravian Indian missions in
Ohio, were founded in 1772.
In those days, no other white people
had settled in the present
state of Ohio as yet.
Heckewelder lists the principal Indian
ailments in this region
in the following order of their
frequency and severity of incidence:
"pulmonary consumptions"
(tuberculosis of the lungs), although
not diagnosed in the missions;
"fluxes," that is, diarrheic diseases,
such as dysentery; "fevers,"
especially malaria, as evident from
the mission diaries; and "severe
rheumatisms."8 Particularly as a
7 Zina Pitcher, "Medical Knowledge
of the Indian," in Henry R. Schoolcraft,
Information Respecting the History,
Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes
of the United States (6 vols., Philadelphia, 1851-57), IV, 499-519.
8 Op. cit., 222.
336 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
children's disease, a cough epidemic is
mentioned in the Schonbrunn
diaries of 1773, most probably whooping
cough, which killed off
many infants in both the Moravian and
pagan communities. In-
testinal worms, an endemic evil of the
area, caused the deaths of
many children. Infant mortality, in
general, was high; over one
half of all the persons buried each
year were small children.9 Ven-
ereal diseases, supposedly absent from
the Moravian missions, were
alarmingly frequent in the pagan
settlements of the neighborhood.10
Heckewelder expressly mentions gout,
gravel (that is, kidney
stones), scrofula, and rickets as not
occurring in the region. Since
the one or other or several of these
are listed by Rush,11 Pitcher,12
and especially by Densmore,13 they
appear to have followed the
westward advance of the white man into
formerly unaffected areas.
Both Heckewelderl4 and
Densmore,15 nearly 150 years after him,
draw a sharp line between the
"jugglers" (a term used by both),
who attempt cures by means of exorcism,
magic devices, and in-
cantations; and (to quote Heckewelder)
the
good and honest practitioners who are
in the habit of curing and healing
diseases and wounds, by the simple
application of natural remedies, with-
out any mixture of superstition in the
manner of preparing or administering
them.... They are very different
from... the jugglers.... In one point
only they seem to participate in their
ridiculous notions, that is, in the
different manner ... of drawing water
up or down the current of a stream,
as it is respectively employed as a
vehicle for an emetic or a cathartic. This
singular idea prevails generally among
the Indians of all classes. They
think that as the one remedy is to work
upwards and the other downwards,
care should be taken in the preparation
to follow the course of nature,
so that no confusion should take place
in the stomach or bowels of the
patient.
With this only exception the Indian
physicians are perhaps more free
from fanciful theories than those of any other nation
upon earth. Their
science is entirely founded on
observation, experience and the well tried
9 August C. Mahr, "Health
Conditions in the Moravian Indian Mission of Schon-
brunn in the 1770's," Ohio
Journal of Science, L (1950), 130.
10 Ibid., 129.
11 Loc. cit., 71.
12 Loc. cit., 512.
13 Loc. cit., passim.
14 Op. cit., 228.
15 Loc. cit., 322.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 337
efficacy of remedies. There are
physicians of both sexes, who take con-
siderable pains to acquire a correct
knowledge of the properties and
medical virtues of plants, roots and
barks, for the benefit of their fellow-
men. They are very careful to have at
all times a full assortment of their
medicines on hand, which they gather
and collect at the proper seasons,
sometimes fetching them from the
distance of several days' journey from
their homes, then they cure or dry them
properly, tie them up in small bun-
dles, and preserve them for use. It
were to be wished that they were better
skilled in the quantity of medicines
which they administer. But they are
too apt, in general, to give excessive
doses, on the mistaken principle that
"much of a good thing must necessarily do much good."16
What he here says about there being
"physicians of both sexes,"
and their taking "considerable
pains to acquire a correct knowledge
of the properties and medical virtues
of plants, roots and barks";
about their being "very careful to
have at all times a full assort-
ment of their medicines at hand";
about their gathering and col-
lecting them "at the proper
seasons" and sometimes at distances
"of several days' journey
from their homes"; about their
curing
and drying "them properly";
and, especially, about their tying "them
up in small bundles," and
preserving "them for use"-all these
items agree so strikingly with
Densmore's observations on the
established customs and practices of
the Midewiwin of the north-
west central Algonquin, that the
existence of such a secret medical
brother- and sisterhood can be safely
inferred, not only for the
Lenni Lenape of the 1770's, but also as
a basic Algonquian insti-
tution of the Eastern Forest area;
without a doubt the oldest
American Medical Association. In
another statement presently
to be quoted, Heckewelder clearly implied
that not a few of the
rituals attending the collecting,
bundling, storage, and even appli-
cation, of the vegetable drugs, such as
recorded by Densmore,
had been observed by the Lenni Lenape
among whom Heckewelder
lived and worked in the Tuscarawas Valley.
He writes as follows:
They prepare and compound these
medicines in different ways, which
they keep a profound secret. Those
preparations are frequently mixed
with superstitious practices,
calculated to guard against the powers of
witchcraft, in which, unfortunately,
they have a strong fixed belief. ...
16 Op. cit., 228-229.
338 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
There are, however, practitioners among
them who are free from these
prejudices, or at least do not introduce them into
their practice of the
medical art.17
Both Heckewelder's and Zeisberger's
judgment on the curative
success of the "honest"
native practitioners is very favorable. The
only fault they find with them is
excessive dosing.
Heckewelder being, on the whole, more
objective and pene-
trating in his remarks on Indian
medicine than Zeisberger, the
following quotation seems in order:
I must say that their practice in
general succeeds pretty well. I have
myself been benefited and cured by
taking their emetics and their medicines
in fevers, and by being sweated after
their manner while labouring under
a stubborn rheumatism [in September
177218). I have also known many,
both whites and Indians, who have with
the same success resorted to Indian
physicians while labouring under diseases. The wives
of the Missionaries,
in every instance in which they had to
apply to the female physicians,
for the cure of complaints peculiar to
their sex, experienced good results
from their abilities. They are also
well skilled in curing wounds and
bruises.19
He gratefully cites the speedy and
successful treatment he himself
had received, from an Indian woman
practitioner, for a most pain-
ful abscess on one of his fingers, by
"a poultice made of the root
of the common blue violet." He sums
it up in this significant remark:
"I firmly believe that there is no
wound, unless it be abolutely
mortal, or beyond the skill of our own
[white] practitioners, which
an Indian surgeon (I mean the best of
them) will not succeed in
healing."
He corroborates this statement by
citing the particular case of a
Shawnee Indian he had known, who,
against all odds, was entirely
cured by a practitioner of his own
tribe from a most severe gunshot
wound in the chest.
All this is fully borne out by the testimony
of various other
17 Ibid., 224.
18 Schonbrunn Mission Diaries,
1772-1777, September 11, 1772, manuscript in
the Moravian Archives, Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania.
19 Op. cit., 229.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 339
authors, including Densmore's recent
observations on the Chippewa
and Menominee.
Before proceeding to a discussion of
the more concrete phases
of Indian healing, it should be noted
that only the principal pat-
tern underlying both materia medica and
therapy can here be pre-
sented, and no more. In the first
place, most of the practitioners,
despite the basic agreement within the
Midewiwin on the general
curative principles, had each his set
of simple and compound herb
prescriptions which they kept strictly
secret from each other, and
many of which had been handed down from
one generation to
the other. Secondly, with every change
of geographic location,
herbs not occurring in the new
environment had to be replaced
by such as were available there;
provided, of course, that a certain
substance had not been recognized as
absolutely specific, and,
therefore, had to be imported, often at
a great distance, from its
nearest habitat. Densmore goes into
great detail about the per-
sonalization of the pharmacal
resources;20 and the Moravian authors
clearly point to the same conditions
among the eighteenth century
Lenni Lenape.21
What is here said about the preparation
of plants and other
substances for medicinal uses is, in
the main, based on Densmore's
observations, since, in principle, they
can be safely said to reflect
the common Algonquian situation. We
have it on Zeisberger's
testimony that the Indians whom he had
studied, " at times . . .
can secure desired results with only
two or three kinds of roots,
[while] at other times more are
required. If a simple remedy
does not afford relief, they may use twenty
or more kinds of roots."22
This preference for the roots of
medicinal plants is confirmed
by Densmore. "In a majority of
instances the whole root was used,
but in some plants the healing power
was supposed to be strongest
in a certain portion of the root.
.."
"If stalks, leaves, or flowers
were to be used as remedies," she
continues,
20 Loc. cit., 323 et seq.
21 Heckewelder,
op. cit., 228 et seq.; Hulbert and Schwarze, Zeisberger's
History,
55-57.
22 Op. cit., 55.
340 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
they were dried by hanging them with the
top downward and kept as
clean as possible. After being dried,
each variety was tied or wrapped
separately for storage. Bark was
gathered when the sap was in the tree
but roots intended for future medicinal
use were gathered before the sap
started in the spring or after it had
gone down in the fall. . . . After
drying, they were tied in packets [Fig.
1] and stored in bags unless it
was desired to have some special root
ready for immediate use. Such a
root was pulverized and stored in that
form. Certain roots, when used,
were broken in short pieces and boiled
or steeped, but a majority were
prepared for use either by pounding
until they were in shreds or by
pulverizing them in the hands, the
latter being always done if the roots
were small.... If several sorts of roots
were to be used in combination,
they were usually "pounded
together" before they were stored, in order
that they might be fully blended. . . .
The prepared pulverized roots
could be kept in either birch bark or
leather [bags], the latter being
preferred [Fig. 2].
Stalks, leaves, and flowers were usually
pulverized in a similar manner.
. . . If bark were to be used, the outer
skin was removed and the "inner
bark" scraped or removed in long
thin strips which were boiled, either
with or without pulverizing....
Vegetable substances were further
prepared for use by combining them
with water. Some were boiled a few
minutes, others were allowed to
come to a boil, then removed from the
fire, and others were scalded or
steeped. Some roots were boiled in a
thin syrup of maple sugar, to give a
pleasant flavor. Poultices and
compresses were made by moistening the
pounded fresh or dry roots or herbs. The
strength of a decoction varied
with the nature of the root and the age
of the patient. A common proportion
was a "hand-hollow-ful" of
pulverized root to about a quart of water
[Fig. 3], but some roots were
exceedingly strong and required special
direction. Thus one root (calamus),
although only about one-eighth of
an inch in diameter, was so strong that
the quantity used was measured
by the length of the patient's index
finger, whether an infant or an adult....
Liquid medicine was not measured when
taken. A "large swallow"
constituted an average dose, but a
cupful was occasionally taken. The
interval between doses varied.... If the
patient were in great suffering
he was told to take the medicine
"at short intervals," understood to be
about half an hour. In what was probably
a majority of cases the patient
took the medicine "at frequent
intervals," or whenever he felt inclined.
Sometimes he was instructed to
"drink it freely," or drink some after
an attack of coughing. These
instructions were given by the person who
prepared the medicine, and who gave
various other instructions, such as
rest after taking the medicine, or
abstinence from food. In a majority
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 341
of cases it was expected that
improvement, though perhaps slight, would
be evident after three or four doses had
been taken.23
Apart from being given by mouth,
remedies were further applied
internally in the following manner:
Powdered roots were used as
snuff; or fresh roots, or herbs, were
chewed. Slight incisions were
made with a piece of sharp flint or
glass, and dried, powdered
roots placed over the incision; this is
not to be confused with bleed-
ing, which was also practiced. Remedies
were also "pricked into the
skin" with a special instrument
used for this purpose (see Fig. 6).
Pulverized roots were mixed with
tobacco and "red willow" bark
and smoked in a pipe. They also knew
the enema, by which a
decoction of herbs was administered.
The syringe was composed of the bladder
of the deer. The proper
amount of medicine was put into this
bladder, then, a short piece of
clean hollow rush was tied in the
opening by means of a strip of wet
slippery elm, the rush projecting about
an inch. This was used only once
and then burned. The principal
medicines administered in this manner
were (a) the inner bark of the
common white birch. This was scraped
and about a hand-hollow[ful] steeped in
water; (b) the wood of a tree
identified as Fraxinus [Ash sp.].
A hand-hollow of this was steeped in
water.24
There were various ways of
administering herb remedies extern-
ally:
(1) Fresh roots or leaves were macerated
and applied.
(2) Dried roots or leaves were
pulverized, prepared in the form of
a decoction, and applied.
(3) Dried roots or leaves were
pulverized, moistened, and applied like
a poultice.
(4) Dried roots or leaves were
pulverized and strewn on hot stones,
the treatment being by fumes.
(5) A decoction was sprinkled on hot
stones, the treatment being by
steam.
(6) Herbs were boiled with grease for a
salve.
(7) Dried and powdered roots were mixed
with grease and used as
an emollient.25
23 Loc. cit., 326-330.
24 Ibid., 330-332.
25 Ibid., 330.
342 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Of non-vegetable substances, bear
grease and deer tallow were
applied as emollients, either single or
blended with vegetable
substances. Bear's gall, dried, in
combination with charcoal was
"pricked into the skin" with
needles, in a manner discussed below
(page 348). There is no proof that this
was likewise done by the
Lenni Lenape practitioners, although it
most likely was another
old-time Algonquian procedure; nor is
it certain that the Lenni
Lenape internally used bumblebees,
dried and powdered, in com-
bination with a decoction of alder root
(Alnus incana Moench.), for
women's diseases. Densmore further
lists burned and powdered
clamshell, mixed with bear's grease, as
an external application
to sores and ulcers;26 the
Moravian sources do not mention this
remedy although the use of clamshell
points to long-past Algon-
quian days near the Atlantic Coast.
The majority of the therapeutical
appliances, listed by Dens-
more,27 and now to be
discussed, were likewise found in the hands
of Lenni Lenape practitioners by the
Moravian missionaries. The
most widespread of these devices is the
sweating oven, which was,
in one form or another, an
indispensable institution in every Indian
community from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. Heckewelder discusses,
at great detail, both the sweating oven
and its use at the Moravian
mission of Schonbrunn in 1772. His
classic description reads as
follows:
The sweat oven is the first thing that
an Indian has recourse to when
he feels the least indisposed; it is the
place to which the wearied traveler,
hunter, or warrior looks for relief from
the fatigue he has endured, the
cold he has caught, or the restoration
of his lost appetite. This oven is
made of different sizes, so as to
accomodate from two to six persons at
a time, or according to the number of
men in the village, so that they
may be all successively served. It is
generally built on a bank or slope,
one half of it within and the other above
ground. It is well covered on
the top with split plank and earth, and
has a door in front, where the
ground is level, to go or rather creep
in. Here, on the outside, stones,
generally of about the size of a large
turnip, are heated by one or more
men appointed each day for that purpose.
While the oven is heating,
26 Ibid., 330-331.
27 Ibid., 331-332.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 343
decoctions from roots of plants are
prepared either by the person himself
who intends to sweat, or by one of the
men of the village, who boils a
large kettleful for the general use, so that when the
public cryer going
his rounds, calls out Pimook! "go
to sweat!" every one brings his small
kettle, which is filled for him with the
potion which at the same time
serves him as a medicine, promotes a profuse
perspiration, and quenches
his thirst. As soon as a sufficient number have come to
the oven, a number
of the hot stones are rolled into the
middle of it, and the sweaters go
in, seating themselves or rather
squatting around the stones, and there
they remain until the sweat ceases to
flow; then they come out, throwing
a blanket or two about them that they
may not catch cold; in the mean-
while, fresh heated stones are thrown in
for those who follow them.
While they are in the oven, water is now
and then poured on the hot
stones to produce a steam, which they
say increases the heat, and gives
suppleness to their limbs and joints.28
Densmore's description, although less
detailed, is essentially
identical, omitting, however, the
medicinal potion, but adding that,
after being wrapped in blankets and
dried, "the person was . . .
put to bed."
Both Heckewelder and Densmore mention a
special process of
sweating for rheumatic cases. In
continuance of the description
cited above, Heckewelder writes:
"In rheumatic complaints the
steam is produced by a decoction
of boiled roots, and the patient
during the operation is well wrapped in
blankets, to keep the cold
air from him, and promote perspiration
at the same time."
Densmore adds the following details to
her discussion of the
otherwise identical practice:
With the water they put any sort of
medicine which was supposed
to be good for that ailment. ... A
medicine frequently used in this con-
nection was identified as willow
(species doubtful). The prepared root
was put in hot water and allowed to boil
a short time. It was usually
cooled before using.
Heckewelder remarks that "the women
have their separate oven
in a different direction from that of
the men, and subjected to
the same rules."
28 Op. cit., 225.
344
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
The Rev. David McClure, when traveling
in 1772 through the
Lenni Lenape domain in the Tuscarawas
Valley, saw one of six
sweating ovens in operation in the
heathen Delaware capital
of Gekelemukpechunk (Newcomerstown). In
his Diary he de-
scribes these sweating contraptions, as
follows:
There were half a dozen cage-like
things, formed by sticking poles in
the earth & bending & fastening
the tops, in the conical form of a sugar
loaf. When a sick person is to be
operated upon, he is put into one of
them, together with large stones heated
hot; the cage is then covered with
blankets or skins, & the conjuror
pours water upon the red hot stones,
& raises such a suffocating steam
or vapour as brings on a profuse sweat
upon the patient. In the meantime, the
conjuror is in & out, as he can
bear it, yelling & capering &
making a thousand odd gesticulations, &
calling upon the Evil [!] Monetho (the
Devil [!]) to help.
This description is so different from
Heckewelder's and so much
in conformity with that given by
Densmore of a ceremonial Mide
sweating lodge used by the Chippewa,
that it is quite possible for
McClure to have come across, by sheer
accident, the medicine
lodge of the local Midewiwin, which he
calls "the old conjuring
place, where they were wont to hold
their Pow-wows over the
sick. It was about half a mile from
town, & by the side of a branch
of the Muskingum."
Densmore's description of the Mide
sweating lodge reads as
follows: "The lodge consisted of a
framework of bent poles
closely covered with blankets. No air
was allowed to enter, and
it was said that men sometimes were
almost suffocated and fell
asleep in the lodge." She also
mentions invocations and prayers
to the Mide Manido, such as may have
been similarly said by
the lodge members of the Lenni Lenape,
so that McClure really
may have heard the word
"manitto" called out, as he claims that
he did.
In conclusion of his diary entry,
McClure remarks that "to pul-
monary disorders it [the sweating
therapy] is fatal, as also in
the small pox." He further states
that "from the hot house, he
[the patient) is plunged into the
water, & from the water again
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 345
to the hot house, as his strength can
bear the operation."29 Pitcher
makes a similar statement,30 but
Heckewelder reports nothing of
the sort; while Zeisberger merely
mentions that, after sweating,
"they cool off, returning to
repeat the same thing three or four
times."31 According to
Densmore, in the treatment chiefly of head-
aches, "dry herbs were . . .
placed on heated stones. . . . The
patient covered his head and shoulders
with a blanket, inclosing
the stones and inhaling the
fumes."32
The deer-bladder syringe for enemas,
such as described above,
was also used for the forced feeding of
patients incapable of tak-
ing food by mouth.33
In addition to these remedial devices,
various surgical appliances
and manipulations were known to
Algonquian medicine. Blood
letting was universally practiced
within the Eastern Forest area.
Heckewelder lists "bleeding and
sweating" among the aboriginal
remedies for "fevers."34
Mrs. Jungmann, wife of a missionary at
Schonbrunn, when sick with tertian
malaria in 1775, improved after
"blood-letting and application of
medicinal remedies . . . ; the fever
left her and she was quite
restored."35
Bleeding, however, was not limited to
the treatment of fevers.
Pitcher raises the relevant question
"whether this practice is origi-
nal with the Indians, or has been
borrowed from the whites."36
Since bleeding was in common use among
the Mayas and Aztecs
in pre-Spanish times, and even in
Patagonia, and is quite universally
practiced by the North American
Indians, it may safely be regarded
as an aboriginal therapy.37 Nor
does the form of the universally
used instrument suggest importation
from the outside. Such as
29 Franklin B. Dexter, ed., Diary of David McClure, Doctor of Divinity,
1748-
1820 (New York, 1899), 67; Densmore, Chippewa Customs, 94-95.
Densmore,
in this instance, does not discuss the
sweating of a sick person, but ceremonial
sweating previous to a meeting of the
Midewiwin.
30 Loc. cit., 511,
516.
31 Op. cit., 27.
32 Loc. cit., 331.
33 Ibid.
34 Op. cit., 224-225.
35 Schonbrunn Diaries, October 22, 1775;
Mahr, loc. cit., 123.
36 Loc. cit., 515.
37 Corlett,
op. cit., 86, 109, 125, 144, 177, 182, 228, 242, 310.
346 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
described, and pictured, by Densmore
(Fig. 4),38 it had previously
been characterized by Zeisberger, in
these words: "For blood-let-
ting they use flint or glass. Of either
they break off little fragments
until a piece is secured that suits the
purpose. This is fixed to a
short stick, placed upon the artery39
and struck."40 Densmore adds
these details:
In using this instrument the part to be
cut was firmly stroked downward,
forcing the blood to the extremity; a
bandage was then applied above
the point at which the incision was to
be made. . . . The instrument was
held close to the flesh and lightly
snapped/ with the thumb and finger
of the right hand, thus inflicting a
slight incision of the vein. If too much
force were applied, the result might be
fatal; thus an instance was related
in which the vein was entirely severed
and the man died. It is said that
about "half a basin" of blood
was usually taken. A medicine to check
the bleeding was then applied and the
upper bandage removed. . . . The
. . . root [prepared for this purpose]
was either used dry or was moistened
with warm water, placed on soft
duck-down, and laid over the incision.
Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia
remarks about the Indians'
practice of bleeding, in 1774, that
"they confine bleeding entirely
to the part affected. To know that
opening a vein in the arm, or
foot, would relieve a pain in the head
or side, supposes some
knowledge of the animal economy, and
therefore marks an ad-
vanced period in the history of
medicine."41 This statement is
clearly contrary to fact. In the first
place, the Indians were in the
habit of taking the blood "from
the forearm or from the ankle";42
and, secondly, they resorted to
bleeding not merely in "fevers,"43
but quite commonly, too, after
accidents, such "as a fall or injury
to the back," in order to prevent
"the blood from settling in one
place." Moreover, it was used with
patients "who seemed to have
too much blood."44
38 Loc.
cit., 332, and plate 46, opposite.
39 Evidently erroneous;
"vein" is more likely.
40 Op. cit., 27.
41 Loc. cit., 67-68.
Dr. Rush was a militant advocate of the bleeding therapy.
See his essay, "A Defence of
Blood-Letting as a Remedy for Certain Diseases,"
in his Medical Inquiries, IV,
171-224.
42 Densmore,
loc. cit., 332.
43 Schonbrunn
Diaries, October 22, 1775; Heckewelder, op. cit., 224-225.
44 Densmore, loc. cit., 332.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 347
Another form of surgical therapy,
closely related to blood-letting
and universally practiced by the
Eastern Forest Algonquin, was
"cupping." It was no doubt
aboriginal, for Capt. John Smith of
Pocahontas fame observed in the early
1600's that the Virginia
Indians, evidently Lenni Lenape,45
for swellings . . . use small peeces of
touchewood, in the forme of cloves
[clous; that is, needles] which pricking
on the griefe [that is, the swell-
ing] they burne close to the flesh, and
from thence draw the corruption
with their mouth. . . . But to scarify a
swelling or make incision, their
best instruments are some splented
[splintered] stones.46
What Capt. Smith here intends to say is
this: They pierce the
skin, either by burning or by scarifying
it, and then draw out blood
or pus by creating a partial vacuum by
means of sucking. This
clearly describes the principle of
cupping. Densmore's Chippewa
practiced it by
cutting small gashes from which a small
amount of blood was removed.
These gashes were formerly made with a
piece of sharp flint, but in
later times a piece of thick glass is
carefully broken so as to leave a sharp
splinter. . . . These cuts might be made
in various parts of the body.
[Densmore] saw a woman whose elbow had
been cut with 15 or 20
gashes about a quarter of an inch long.
This treatment was given for a
sprain, her elbow having swollen to
twice its natural size. The most com-
mon use of this treatment was for
headache, as described below, but it
was used for any inflammation. A remedy
for the bite of a snake was
administered in this manner, the plant
being identified as Plantago major
L. [Plantain].
In connection with the incisions above
described there was a small horn
[Fig. 5],47 if the treatment was for
headache. Six very short incisions
were made on the temples with the flint
or glass, after which the doctor
placed the larger end of the horn over the
incisions and applied his
45 Discussing the etymology of Indian
names in Virginia, among them Pocahontas
("Pockohantes"), Heckewelder
writes: "These names, taken from an early written
history of Virginia, will show that the
people we call Delawares were at the time the
English arrived there in full possession of that
country, as they themselves say was
the case." "[On Indian Names]," Transactions
of the American Philosophical Society,
??i. s., IV [1834], 379n.
46 Quoted in Corlett, op. cit., 295.
47 Densmore, loc. cit., plate 46,
opposite 332; Densmore, Menominee Music,
plate 21.
348 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
mouth to the smaller end, sucking until
the blood came to the surface.
He then quickly removed his lips from
the horn, placed his finger over
the small end of the horn and lowered
it so that the blood would run
into it. When enough had been removed
he wiped the skin and applied
a healing medicine, as noted above, or
some remedy for headache, or he
might place a moist compress or
"grease" over the cuts. This cutting of
the temples was also used for
inflammation of the eyes.48
Zeisberger writes that "in case of
cupping, they open the skin
with a knife, put a little calabash
over the opening, burning birch-
bast [cambium} instead of a lamp."49
This remark is especially
interesting because it shows that,
after the manner of the white
physicians of the period, the partial
vacuum in the cupping vessel
was produced by removing the air with
the heat of a burning sub
stance. It is impossible to tell
whether or not this particular method
was followed in imitation of the white
man. At any rate, Dens-
more's Chippewa procedure of using a
horn, although adhered to
even today, seems to reflect a more
ancient practice.
The administering of drugs by
"pricking them into the skin
has already been touched upon in
passing. The surgical instruments
used in this combination therapy
consisted
of several needles fastened at the end
of a wooden handle [Fig. 63. This
was used in treating "dizzy
headache," neuralgia, or rheumatism in an
part of the body. In giving the
treatment, the medicine was "worked in
with the needles. If only a small part
were to be "gone over" it was
customary to hold a knife in the left
hand and to use the blade as a guide
for the needles. These were
"worked up and down" close to the
blade, "which kept the medicine
from spreading." The remedy used more
often in this manner was made as
follows: Hazel stalks [Corylus sp.]
or cedar wood [Juniperus virginiana L.]
was burned to a charcoal and
small quantity of the charcoal (or
ashes) was mixed with an equal quantity
of the dried gall of a bear. It was
mixed well and placed in a birch-bark
dish. When used, it was moistened a
little with water and stirred, after
which a little was taken . . . and laid
on the affected part. It was the
"worked in" with the needles.
The dark spots seen on the temples of many
Indians are left by the charcoal in
this medicine. A remedy for rheumatis
was applied in a similar manner. The
plant was identified as Trilliu
48 Loc. cit., 332-333.
49 Op. cit., 27.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 349
grandiflorum (Michx.) Salisb., and it was used in the form of a
decoction.50
It is likely that in earlier days
thorns or porcupine quills were
used in the place of the later metal
needles. The same purpose
may have been served by four fish-bone
needles which were un-
earthed, together with related
artifacts interpreted as the contents
of a medicine bag, in a pit grave of
the Anderson village site
(Warren County, Ohio), which represents
the late prehistoric, or
early protohistoric (Algonquian?), Fort
Ancient Culture.
Densmore knew of an amputation with a
"common knife" of a
person's both legs below the knee. The
operation had been per-
formed in the patient's boyhood,
when his feet and limbs were badly
frozen and in a hopeless condition.
The pain was so intense that he begged
a man to amputate them in this
manner, and he did so. This was
followed by a dressing of pounded bark
(Prunus serotina Ehrh. [Wild Cherry]) applied dry and renewed as often
as it became damp--usually twice a day.
Nothing else was used, and
the healing was perfect.51
Another instance of surgery is reported
by a native practitioner
who used the knife in the treatment of
a gangrenous wound,
not to remove but to "loosen"
the affected flesh, which was taken out
by the medicine he applied. He said
that in a case of this sort everything
must be very clean, care being taken
especially that the knife or remedies
did not come in contact with rust. In
this treatment he said that he used
a medicine which had been handed down by
the Mide and was particularly
valued. It consisted of the inner bark
of the White Pine [Pinus strobus
L.], the wild Plum [Prunus americana Marsh.], and the
Wild Cherry
[Prunus serotina Ehrh.], it being necessary to take the first two from
young
trees.... He cut a young pine tree for
this purpose . . . and in preparing
the medicine . . . the stalk of the pine
was cut in short sections and boiled
with the green inner bark of the two
other trees until all the bark was
soft. The water should be renewed when
necessary, and the last water
saved for later use. The bark was then
removed from the pine stems and
all the bark mashed with a heavy hammer
until it was a pulp. It was then
dried, and when needed it was moistened
with the water which had been
50 Densmore, loc. cit., 333, and
plate 46, opposite.
51 Ibid., 333-334.
350 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
kept for that purpose .... This wet pulp
was applied to any wound or to
a fresh cut and was a healing remedy,
but was especially used for neglected
wounds which had become gangrenous.52
Zeisberger states that "[the
Indians] are much inclined to boils
and sores. Upon these they lay a warm
poultice made of the flour
of Indian corn; when the boils are ripe
they are lanced."
The aboriginal surgeons apparently were
highly proficient in
taking care of bone fractures and
sprains. Zeisberger goes on:
Broken arms and legs they are able to
set very well, though limbs
are not broken often, dislocated joints
they are also able to correct. If an
Indian has dislocated his foot or knee,
when hunting alone, he crawls
to the nearest tree and tying one end
of his strap to it, fastens the other
to the dislocated limb and, lying on
his back, continues to pull until it is
reduced.53
Densmore supplies these technical
details:
The splints were best when made of very
thick birch-bark similar to
that used for canoes. The birch-bark was heated and
bent to the proper
shape, after which it was as rigid as
plaster of Paris.
What she describes here is really a
cast. She continues as follows:
Splints were also made of thin cedar [Juniperus
virginiana L.]. Tying
the splint with basswood twine added
greatly to its rigidity.
The treatment of a fractured arm was
described as follows: "Wash the
arm with warm water and apply grease.
Then apply a warm poultice,
cover with a doth and bind with a thin
cedar splint." The roots used
for the poultice were Asarum
canadense L. (wild ginger) and Aralia race-
mosa L. (spikenard). These two were dried and mashed
together in equal
parts. The directions added, "when
poultice becomes dry it should be
renewed, or, if the arm is very tender,
the poultice may be moistened with
warm water without removing it."
Another kind of cast served an
orthopedic purpose. According to
Densmore,
52 Ibid., 334.
53 Op. cit., 149.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 351
old women whose limbs or knees were
weak often made supports by tak-
ing wide strips of fresh basswood
[linden] bark and binding it around
their limbs in a kind of splint [cast].
When dried it was very hard and
supported their limbs so that they
could travel.54
In connection with surgical therapy,
Pitcher may be quoted on
Indian treatment of wounds. Not
referring to any particular tribe,
he writes:
Incised wounds, of any considerable
extent, are brought together
with sutures made of the inner bark of
the Bass-wood (Tilia americana L.)
or the fibre of the long tendon in the
leg of a deer, which they do not
remove till after the sixth day. After
this, they carefully wash the wound
with a decoction of a lichen found on
the borders of brooks, or the Bass-
wood or Slippery Elm.
About the treatment of gunshot wounds,
Pitcher has this to say:
Wounds received in that way are
cleansed by the vegetable decoctions
already mentioned, which are introduced
by means of a bladder and quill,
made to perform the functions of a
syringe. Great care is thus taken to
keep up the suppurating process; and to guard against
the premature
closing of the external orifice, they
introduce a tent made of a piece of
the bark of the Slippery Elm, which has
firmness enough to admit of
its introduction to any required depth,
whilst the great amount of mucilage
it contains prevents the irritation of
the surface with which it lies in
contact. They exhibit great patience
and assiduity in the treatment of
this description of wounds, to which
their success may be attributed, pos-
sibly more than to the remedies
applied.55
Note that the syringe here described
rests on the same principle
as the one used by the Chippewa for
enemas.
Speaking of surgery, a few words on
Indian dental treatment
may be of interest. Densmore states
that in case of toothache they
lanced the gums with splinters from a
tree struck by lightning "so
that the blood ran."
If a tooth were hollow the Chippewa
sometimes heated an awl or other
metal instrument almost red hot and put
it into the hollow of the tooth.
54 Loc.
cit., 334-335.
55 Loc. cit., 513.
352 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
If it were considered necessary to pull
a tooth they struck it forcibly
to loosen it.
If a tooth were partly loosened they
tied a sinew around the tooth, close
to the root, attached it to something solid and pulled
the tooth by jerk-
ing backward.56
Zeisberger states that "for
tooth-ache the Indians use roots also,
placing a little piece in the hollow
tooth, which sometimes affords
relief though not always."57 This
again sounds very much like a
personal experience.
Indian practitioners knew how to act in
case of poisoning. For
toxic substances introduced into the
digestive tract, they had no
certain, let alone specific,
antidotes.58 They tried to prevent the
worst by administering emetics. Various
plants were used to induce
vomiting; but not plants alone.
Heckewelder records the follow-
ing:
I saw an emetic once given to a man who
had poisoned himself with
the root of the May Apple [Podophyllum
peltatum L.]. It consisted of
a piece of raccoon skin burned with the
hair on and finely powdered,
pounded dry beans, and gun-powder.
These three ingredients were mixed
with water and poured down the
patient's throat. This brought on a severe
vomiting; the poisonous root was
entirely discharged and the man was
cured.59
For poisoning by snake bite they had
cures of assured effectiveness.
Zeisberger says this about the frequent
rattlesnake bites:
Indians who have been bitten, even if
they happen to be quite alone
in the forest, know what to do. They
seek certain herbs and roots that
may be found anywhere and cure
themselves of the bite, so that one rarely
hears of a death caused by the bite of
this serpent.60
Pitcher concurs with this statement,
naming five different plants
56 Loc. cit., 335.
57 Op. cit., 149.
58 Pitcher, loc.
cit., 515.
59 Op. cit., 225.
60 Op. cit., 222.
Indian Materia Medica and
Therapy 353
used as snake-bite remedies by five of
the six Iroquoian nations.
He adds this remark:
This diversity of remedies for the same
affection goes to show that
neither one is a specific, and to furnish good reason for
believing that
they relieve the system by their
general effect as secernent stimulants; and
that the bites and stings of venomous
reptiles and insects are not neces-
sarily fatal, unless the poison is
introduced directly into the blood, by
the puncture of a vein.61
Obstetrics and gynecology among the
Eastern Forest Indians,
to all appearances, were practiced
exclusively by women. Hecke-
welder, as quoted above (page 338),
comments very favorably on
their professional services; and
Zeisberger, with regard to parturi-
tion, says this:
There generally are clever and
experienced women enough who are
able to give assistance and advice in
time of labor; generally women will
remain in the house at this time. Some
go into the woods by themselves
and bring their children to the house
when they have seen the light of day.62
Densmore lists a great variety of plant
remedies for all kinds of
feminine troubles, including difficult
labor.63 No mechanical mani-
pulation for the inducement of labor is
on record in this particular
area, although it is likely that the
one or other practice was in use.
As to care of the sick, Zeisberger
makes this statement:
Care and attention for the sick amount
to but little, the Indians being
poor nurses. So long as they can go out
[to relieve themselves] they lie
on the hard bed of boards; no longer
able to do this they are laid on
the ground near the fire [which is in
the center of the tamped clay floor of
the house], possibly upon grass or hay,
a small hole in the ground under
the patient serving as a bed-pan.64
That indicates a rather low grade of
compassion for the sufferer,
61 Loc. cit., 515.
62 Op. cit., 80.
63 Loc. cit., 356-360.
64 Op. cit., 24.
354 Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
which is also borne out by Zeisberger's
following remark: "If one
who is being operated on cries out,
those present laugh."65
It is hardly consistent, however, with
Heckewelder's comment
on the Indians' exemplary attitude
toward the insane. It reads as
follows:
Insanity is not common among the
Indians;66 yet I have known several
who were afflicted with mental
derangement. Men in this situation are
always considered as objects of pity.
Every one, young and old, feels com-
passion for their misfortune; to laugh
or scoff at them would be considered
as a crime, much more so to insult or
molest them. The nation or colour
of the unfortunate object makes no
difference; the charity of the Indians
extends to all, and no discrimination
is made in such a lamentable case.67
To give but a modest excerpt from the
interminable catalogs
of medicinal herbs and their
preparation, such as found through-
out the available literature, would
mean a lengthy excursion into
ethnobotany and pharmacy, which is here
not intended.
65 Ibid., 149.
66 See Pitcher, loc. cit., 504-505,
where Heckewelder's opinion, as far as it per-
tains to the rare incidence of insanity among Indians,
is confirmed.
67 Op. cit., 257.