The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-03-09
INDIAN SURGERY.
How the Red Men Perform Operations
With Their Rude Instruments.

How tho Red Men Perform Opsratiens
With Their Rude Instruments.
IL, IN the depths of the forest, an In.
dian breaks his leg or arm (said DIR.
kingston In his address at the British
Medical Association meeting at Not
tingham), splints of softest material
are at once improvised. Straight
branches are cut of uniform length and
thickness. These are lined with down
like moss OF scrapings or shavings OF
wood, or with fine twigs interlaid with
leaves, IL in summer; or with the
curled-up leaves of the evergreen, cedar
or hemlock II in the winter; and the
whole is surrounded with whites of
willow or osier or young birch. Occa-
sionally IL is the soft but sufficiently un-
yielding bark of the popular or the bass
wood. Sometimes, when near the
marshy margins of our lakes or rivers,
the wounded limb is afforded support
with wild hay or reeds of uniform
length and thickness.
To carry patient to his wigwam or
to an encampment stretcher is quickly
made OF uryoung saplings, interviewer
at their upper ends, and on this elastic,
springy couch the injured man is borne
away by his companions. When there
are but two persons and an accident
happens to one of them, two young
trees Of birch or beech or hickory are
used Their tops are allowed to remain
TO aid In diminishing the jolting caused
by the inequalities of the ground. No
London carriagemalser ever constructed
a spring which could better accomplish
the purpose. A couple of crossbars
preserve the saplings in position, and
the bark of the elm or birch cut into
broad bands and joined to either side
forms an even bed.
In this way an injured man Is
brought by his companion to settle
ment, and often IL has been found on
arrival that the fractured bones are
firmly united and che limb is whole
again. This is effected in less time
than with the whites, for the reparative
power of these children of the forest is
remarkable. In their plentitude of
health, osseous matter is poured out in
large quantity, and firm union is soon
effected.
The reparative power of the abort
gines when injured is equalled by the
wonderful stoicism with which they
bear injuries and inflict upon them
selves the severest torture. They are
accustomed to cut into Assesses with
pointed hint; they light up fire at a
distance from the affected part (our
counter-irritation); they amputate
limbs with their hunting knives, check
ing the hemorrhage with heated
stones, as surgeons were accustomed to
do in Europe in the time of Ambrose
Pare, and sometimes they amputate
their own limbs with more sang froid
than many young surgeons will display
when operating on others. The stumps
of limbs amputated in this primitive
manner are well formed, for neatness
is the characteristic Of all the Indians
handiwork.
The aborigines are familiar with and
practise extensively the use of warm
lamentations. In every tribe their old
women are credited with the possession
of a knowledge of local bathing with
hot water and of medicated decoctions.
The herbs they use are known to a
privileged few and enhance the con-
sideration in which their possessors 40
held.
The Turkish bath, In simpler but
not less effective form, is we'll known to
them. If one of their tribe suffers from
fever or from the effects of long ex-
posure to cold, a steam bath is readily
improvised. The tent of deerskin is
tightly closed, the patient is placed in
one corner, heated stones are placed
near him, and on these water is poured
till the confined air is saturated with
vapor. Any degree of heat and any
degree of moisture can be obtained in
this way. Europeans often avail them
selves of this powerful sudatory when
suffering from rheumatism.
The aborigines have their herbs-a
few, not many. They have their emet-
les and laxatives, astringents and emol-
lients, all of which are proffered to the
suffering without fee or reward. The
'Indian teas Indian balsams" and
other Indian ure-alls"-the virtues of
which it sometimes takes columns of
the daily journals to chronicle-are not
theirs To the white man is left this
species of deception. Pail Mall Gazette.