CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 19 
«Their principal therapeutic measures consisted in patience and strict diet, the patient being 
allowed only a gargle and two spoonfuls of water in the twenty-four hours. Dangerous wounds 
were treated by prolonged fasting, as they considered food and drink extraordinarily dangerous 
for the patient, and creating a liquid in the wound which caused inflammation and even death. 
The writer states that this method of treatment is still pursued, and thinks that even now it saves 
many from death. Accidental wounds from fox-traps were quite common, the barbed iron teeth 
usually taking effect in or near the knee-joint. At Ounalaska out of forty or fifty cases but two 
are known to have died. In gunshot wounds, aside from diet, they used for cleansing and keeping 
unds alive the fat of fishes and various land animals, especially fat from the head of the fox. 
Over deep wounds they sifted burnt teeth reduced to powder and applied a fresh mouse-skin every 
day. Swellings and rheumatisms they treated with various fomentations and ointments, or by 
poultices made of roots. Other external diseases they hardly treated at all, except by employing 
the universal medicines, diet and patience. 
“In fevers they employed decoctions of bitter herbs and guarded the patient carefully from 
the external air. Herbs were also used in consumption of the first kind, but if the expectoration 
proved troublesome, the patient was submitted further to the operation of ‘pricking.’ In both 
kinds of consumption the Aleut doctors supposed the bad symptoms to proceed from bad blood, 
or a ferment, or spirit. The operation just mentioned was performed by thrusting stone lancets 
on both sides immediately under the ribs, and was done by the most skillful surgeons only, 
because it required accurate knowledge of the internal parts and of just how much of the spirit to 
let out, as there was danger of letting it all out and thus sending the patient to the other world. 
The operation, also used as a remedy for ‘internal disease,’ was considered the most approved 
treatment for colic, and patients expressed themselves as having received decided benefit therefrom. 
‘Puncture’ in critical conditions was resorted to as the last and sole remedy. It was also used 
in many other diseases, for example in diseases of the eyes, where the skin was pricked between 
the eyes or on the nape of the neck. In fact, this operation was done on all parts of the body, 
and an instance was known of an Aleut having submitted to it forty times, various parts of his 
body having been punctured. The operators were men famous for their skill, and imparted their 
knowledge to the best-beloved of their children or nephews; for this reason the art is of late become 
almost lost. Common bleeding from the arm and leg was employed to reduce large swellings and 
correct morbid conditions of the blood; also to combat sluggishness or weakness, headache, and 
loss of appetite. 
‘For diarrhea astringent roots and diet were employed or the root of the ‘makarsha.’ Another 
treatment in ‘internal diseases,’ generally resorted to by old women, consisted in a sort of manipu- 
lation of the belly while the patient was lying on his back. It was used principally against griping 
pains, and elicited high praise from the men who have experienced the treatment.” 
EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 
The principal vices among these people, who are generally mild and inoffensive, seem to be a 
fondness for games of chance and an uncontrollable craving for alcoholic drinks—an appetite 
which, by the way, two seasons of personal observation and experience in the Arctic convince me 
is something of a physiological necessity. The taste, however, seems to be an acquired one by 
the aborigines, for I saw a man at Nounivak Island to whom the taste was foreign, and on tasting 
both brandy and whiskey he made a wry face and spat them out with evident disgust. 
Late authorities testify strongly in favor of the benefit to be derived from moderate indulgence 
in drink during an Arctic sojourn. In looking over a précis of the evidence taken by the Parlia- 
mentary Committee appointed to inquire into the adequacy of the provision in the way of food, 
medicines, and medical comforts furnished to the Nares Arctic Search Expedition, we learn that 
Sir Edward Parry attributed the greatest antiscorbutic effect to beer; and Dr. Colan, R. N., fleet 
surgeon (Alert), says it is the opinion of all the men he has read about who spoke about beer in the 
Arctie regions. Dr. Barnes believes beer decidedly antiscorbutic and recommends it should be 
given. Sir George Nares says abstainers are no better off than others as regards scurvy. Captain 
Markham says he would as soon take a man of temperate habits on an expedition as an abstainer ; 
the two total abstainers of his sledge suffered severely, and he himself felt better after he took to 
drinking his rum. Sir lL. McClintock says there is no advantage in teetotalers; Mr, Alexander 
