180 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



for, or purchased, and such traffic is carried on not only intra-tribally, but 

 also among other groups such as the Potawatomi and Winnebago. However 

 (p. 324), "In the old days a person would not transmit any facts concern- 

 ing medicines to even a member of his own family without compensation, 

 one reason for this restriction seeming to be a fear that the information would 

 not be treated with proper respect. So great was the secrecy surrounding 

 these remedies that names were seldom given to plants, the person imparting 

 the information showing the fresh plant." One chap offered to show me 

 a plant used for curing toothache for a fee of one dollar. 



Another method of acquiring knowledge of medicines was through the 

 Midewiwin when such information was dispensed for a fee, especially at 

 the time of one's initiation. "Although the Midewiwin was a repository of 

 knowledge of herbs (Densmore, pp. 322-323), it did not have a pharma- 

 copoeia accessible to every member. The remedies are individual, not general, 

 and an individual when questioned invariably replied, 'I can tell you about 

 my own medicines. I do not know about other people's medicines nor their 

 uses of the same plants.' " 



Medicinal plants are commonly collected on a special expedition, or in 

 conjunction with other activities. The people know the best places to go to 

 gather a certain type of plant, and when the plant is dug up, a pinch of 

 tobacco is usually placed in the hole as an offering to the spirits (manidog), 

 or put next to the tree if bark or leaves are removed. The home stock of 

 medicines may also include non-vegetal substances such as clam-shells, cat- 

 linite, dried bumblebees, bear's-gall, deer-tallow, bear-grease (Densmore, 

 1928, pp. 330-1), gypsum, and native lead (Jones, p. 133). A small stock 

 of drug-store remedies such as aspirin and iodine will round ou^ the 

 average "medicine cabinet" of the Indian. Dr. Adams, the Medical Officer 

 at the Government hospital, and who had also worked in Indian hospitals 

 among the Dakota Sioux and on the Northwest Coast, made the observa- 

 tion that the Chippewa made much more use of Indian medicines than 

 either of the other tv.o groups. 



While it can never be said that the Chippewa were, or are, fastidious 

 concerning matters of cleanliness and sanitation, they nevertheless observed 

 certain health measures. The following is a list compiled by Densmore 

 (1929, pp. 46-7) for the Minnesota and Wisconsin Chippewa: 



