THE INDIAN'S HEALTH PROBLEM 5' 



Furthermore, the Indian had not become in any sense immune to 

 disease, and his ignorance placed no check upon contagion and infec- 

 tion. Even the simpler children's diseases, such as measles, were gener- 

 ally fatal. The death rate of children under five was terrific. I have 

 known women to bear families of six or eight or ten children, and out- 

 live them all, most dying in infancy. In their state of deep depression, 

 disease had its golden opportunity, and there seemed to be no escape. 

 What was there to save the race from annihilation within a few years? 

 IvTothing, save its heritage of a superb physique and a wonderful patience. 



The Indian Service Physician 



The doctors who were in the service in those days had an easy time 

 of it. They scarcely ever went outside of the agency enclosure, and is- 

 sued their pills and compounds after the most casual inquiry. As late 

 as 1890, when the government sent me out as physician to ten thousand 

 Ogallalla Sioux and N"orthern Cheyennes at Pine Ridge agency, I found 

 my predecessor still practising his profession through a small hole in 

 the wall between his office and the general assembly room of the Indians. 

 One of the first things I did was to close that hole; and I allowed n© 

 man to diagnose his own trouble or choose his pills. I told him I pre- 

 ferred to do that myself ; and I insisted upon thoroughly examining my 

 patients. It was a revelation to them, but they soon appreciated the 

 point, and the demand for my services doubled and trebled. 



As no team was provided for my use to visit my patients on a reser- 

 vation nearly a hundred miles square (or for any other agency doctor at 

 that time), I bought a riding horse, saddle and saddle-bags, and was soon 

 on the road almost day and night. A night ride of fifty to seventj- 

 five miles was an ordinary occurrence ; and even a Dakota blizzard made 

 no difference, for I never refused to answer a call. Before many month* 

 I was supplied by the government with a covered buggy and two good 

 horses. 



I found it necessary to buy, partly with my own funds and partly 

 with money contributed by generous friends, a supply of suitable rem- 

 edies as well as a full set of surgical instruments. The drugs sup- 

 plied by contractors to the Indian service were at that period often 

 obsolete in kind, and either stale or of the poorest quality. Much of 

 my labor was wasted, moreover, because of the impossibility of seeing 

 that my directions were followed, and of securing proper nursing and 

 attention. Major operations were generally out of the question on 

 account of the lack of hospital facilities, as well as the prejudice of the 

 people, though I did operate on several of the severely injured, after the 

 massacre at Wounded Knee. In many cases, it was my task to supply 

 my patients with suitable food and other necessaries, and my wife was 



