Studies in Paleopathology 



375 



material might be regarded, from a certain 

 standpoint, as fossil, meaning something 

 "dug up." The terra fossil, however, as used 

 in this paper refers to material which is 

 thoroughly petrified, the age of which must 

 be reckoned by geological standards. The 

 studies of the above-mentioned writers have 

 been briefly reviewed and summarized by 

 Garrison, 6 Klebs, 7 and Sudhoff, 8 and will be 

 extensively referred to elsewhere by the writer. 

 The studies of Ales Hrdlicka and Lang- 

 don 9 on the pathological anatomy of the 

 North American Indians, and of Hrdlicka, 

 Eaton 10 and other writers on the ancient 

 Peruvians, must also be neglected, as 

 well as the meager details of fossil man as 

 they are recounted in the various works on 

 anthropology. The subject of the diseases 

 of ancient human races has never been 

 systematically studied. The writer will pre- 

 sent a consideration of this subject at 

 some future time. 



PALEONTOLOGICAL EVIDENCES OF DISEASE 



The study of paleopathology is still in its 

 initial stages, and especially is the applica- 

 tion of pathological methods to fossil lesions 

 a new field. But the comparative scanti- 

 ness of facts so far brought out and the 

 difficulties of research should not hinder its 

 successful prosecution. What the final re- 

 sults may be remains to be seen. The imme- 

 diate results are certain to bring attention 

 to the presence of characteristic lesions of 

 disease far back in geological time, and it 

 is very interesting, if not important, to 

 find in past geological ages evidences of 



6 Garrison: "History of Medicine," 1917, 2nd 

 ed., p. 50; Ann. Med. History, 1917, vol. 1, No. 

 2, p. 219. 



7 Klebs: Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull. 191 7, vol. 

 28, pp. 261-266. 



s Sudhoff: J. L. Pagel's "Einfuhrung in die Ge- 

 schichte der Medizin," p. 33. 



9 Langdon : "The Madisonville Prehistoric Ceme- 

 tery. Anthropological Notes," J.Cincin. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist. 1880, vol. iii, p. 40; 1881, vol. iv, p. 250, 



pathological processes which are so familiar 

 to us today. If we can trace the known 

 lesions to any definite cause among the ex- 

 tinct animals it will be a step toward the erec- 

 tion of the newest branch of pathology, deal- 

 ing with the oldest aspects of that science. 

 In regard to the importance of this branch 

 of study, Klebs 11 says: 



"We need only consider what definite 

 influence diseases exert in our individual 

 lives, what profound social upheavals 

 were brought about through the incidence 

 of epidemics, less perceptibly perhaps 

 but none the less strongly, through wide- 

 spread chronic ailments, through profes- 

 sional diseases, how whole districts and 

 countries are forsaken because disease 

 made them uninhabitable, how disease 

 affecting early childhood and others 

 producing sterility led to the gradual 

 extinction of whole peoples. . . . For 

 the grasp of such problems, the study of 

 disease as it appears to us now does not 

 suffice; the traces left during immense 

 periods of time have to be taken into 

 account and it is in just such questions, 

 not approachable by other methods, that 

 paleopathology in time to come may 

 furnish important solutions." 



The attitude of students of paleontology 

 toward this subject has been negative. Even 

 men like Leidy, a trained anatomist and an 

 eminent medical man, paid scant attention 

 to the subject, although he did describe an 

 example of caries in a mastodon tooth 12 

 from Florida. Cuvier too, eminent as he was 

 in the field of comparative anatomy, failed 

 to recognize the importance of this phase 



Figs. 1-22. Good discussion of pathology of early 

 North American Indians. 



10 Eaton: "The Collection of Osteological Material 

 from Machu Picchu," Mem. Connect. Acad. Arts & 

 Sc. May, 1916, vol. v. 



11 Klebs: Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull., 1917. vol. 

 28, pp. 261-266. 



12 Leidy: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc, Philadelphia, 1886, 

 p. 38. 



