From Medicine Men to Men of Medicine :: Medical History Health Essays

From Medicine Men to Men of Medicine From the beginning of written history, men of medicine have played an important role in civilization and society. Each of these minds brought new ways of thinking to their particular era through experimentation and discovery. The 19th century was an age of pioneering, exploration, and change. These things were thought to apply mainly to the areas of invention and the quest for land, yet the extent reached as far as the field of medicine. Advancement in American medicine took place in the 19th century, particularly in the old west. This scope includes both the native healer, and the frontier doctor who traded big, bustling cities for mining camps and ghost towns. The 19th century was a time when the face of western American medicine was changed forever, a time when medicine transitioned from a religious ritual to a skilled practice. The introduction of the frontier physician was a catalyst for the medical evolution in the west from medicine men to men of medicine. Before pioneers began to move and settle out west, the Native Americans ruled the frontier. We find that in every tribe every person had a specific duty to perform. The tribal chief was overseer of every tribal affair, warriors fought battles for the tribe, women were responsible for cooking and raising children, and any ailment or injury was tended to by the medicine man. The life of the medicine man was probably the most trying and stress-filled of the whole tribe. The process of becoming a medicine man in itself was rigorous and challenging. At around the same time every year, most North American Indian tribes would perform a certain ritual that served as a means of choosing who the next medicine man would be. This test was a grueling ordeal, lasting several days. All young braves would assemble at the great medicine lodge. After three or four days of fasting, praying, privation, and observing older medicine men in practice, the ambitious young men were then to undergo the last and most trying part of the test for greatness. Any man that passed this part of the test was thought to be immortal by the tribe. They would gather once again in the medicine lodge and place themselves in a reclining position. The overseers of this ritual would then pinch an inch or two of the pectoral muscle on each side of each brave.