I(l6 THE MEDICINE MAN IN NATAL AND ZULULAND. 



) 



far towards ensuring success ; at all events, in functional dis- 

 orders. Suggestion has its psychological effect to perhaps a 

 greater extent on the mind oif a primitive and illiterate people 

 than on those of a higher standard of civilization. If the doctor 

 says that a definite result will follow a definite course of treat- 

 ment, that result is looked for with certainty. It is not intended 

 to imply that the medicine man is a faith-healer, or that the suc- 

 cess which often attends his efforts is simply the result of sug- 

 gestion. The power of mind over matter is a recognised factor 

 in disease, particularly those of a neurotic nature ; and the con- 

 fidence which Natives have in their doctors is in itself a powerful 

 aid to recovery. The medicinal qualities elf certain herbs and 

 roots are well known to the Native practitioner, but he is seldom 

 content to confine himself to these useful remedies, even in simple 

 ailments. His knowledge of pathology is very limited — indeed 

 from the standpoint of science it may be said to be non-existent ; 

 his diagnosis is based on symptoms which, however misleading, 

 he thinks he recognizes as requiring certain treatment, but of the 

 cause, effect, and nature of the disease he troubles little. The 

 cause is never looked for as a trespass against the laws of nature, 

 but as supernatural, the w'ork of a secret enemy ; with the disease 

 itself he has only such nodding ac(|uaintance as to seek to identify 

 it, erroneously or otherwise, with i)revious cases within his experi- 

 ence ; its effect comes not within the range of his study. Of 

 therapeutics he has acquired some elementary knowledge, not 

 based on scientific principles, but the outcome of a common sense 

 observation of experimental treatment. He is not ignorant of the 

 rudiments of pharmacy wMthin a strictly limited radius, and may 

 occasionally be surprisingly accurate in his selection and prepara- 

 tion of suitable remedies. 



His knowledge of animals, and the dissection of those killed 

 for food or medicine, has given him some conception of anatomy 

 and physiology, but he has never heard of the nervous system, 

 and his ideas about the circulation of blood are vague; the aorta 

 he associates with the seat of life, l)Ut since it is devoid of blood 

 when examined he has no clear estimate of its functions. In dry- 

 bone anatomy he might be able to make useful suggestions to a 

 medical student who had just taken up that course, and he is well 

 versed in many cif the organs of the body, and could give a super- 

 ficial explanation of the purposes they serve. His experiments in 

 surgery are crude, not to say barbaric : fortunately oi>erations of 

 a serious nature are not readily agreed to by his patients. In mid- 

 wifery it is seldom that the consequences to mother or child, or 

 both, are otherwise 'than dire in abnormal cases, to which alone 

 he is usually summoned. Instances to the contrary are alleged 

 where the happy result has been achieved — or so it is claimed — 

 by the administration of medicines only; but when the knife and 

 other instruments are employed, injury is rarely averted. 



In attempting to arrive at a just estimate of the capabilities 

 of. and degree of knowledge possessed by a body of men whose 



