1953] RITZENTHALER, CHIPPEWA HEALTH 223 



health is long estabhshed and traditional, or whether it is of recent vintage 

 generated by modern conditions. The following analysis will attempt to 

 I show that a deep concern for health was present in the Chippewa before 

 I white contact; that this concern was sustained and apparently deepened 

 during the first part of the contact period due to the introducion of new 

 diseases, particularly smallpox, to the Indians; and that this concern was 

 further sustained in modern times due primarily to the replacement of tuber- 

 culosis as a serious health threat as the problem of smallpox was brought 

 under control. 



The evidence for the hypothesis that the Chippewa interest in health is an 



old one rests largely on the impressive array of both disease concepts and 



native curative devices in existence at the time of the coming of the white 



man. These have already been discussed and need no further elaboration. 



Added to this is the probable pre-contact existence of the Midewiwin — a 



religious ceremony with ciaring as an important element, and the logical 



assumption that health is always an important concern among hunting peo- 



1 pies whose very survival depends upon the physical fitness and well-being ot 



I the hunter. While one would expect to find this attitude reflected in folklore 



and mythology, it is interesting to note that health and curing are only minor 



/themes. About the only recurrent related theme is the wish for long lite. 



The coming of the white man and the subsequent introduction of new 

 diseases had important repercussions upon the health of the American 

 Indian. Precisely which diseases were pre-Columbian and which were intro- 

 duced into America is a problem still involving debate. Hrdlicka states 

 (1907, p. 540), "The condition of the skeletal remains, the testimony of 

 early observers, and the present state of some of the tribes in this regard, 

 warrant the conclusion that on the whole the Indian race was a compara- 

 tively healthy one. It was probably spared at least some of the epidemics 

 and diseases of the Old World, such as smallpox and rachitis, while other 

 scourges such as tuberculosis, syphilis (pre-Columbian), typhus, cholera, 

 scarlet fever, cancer, etc., were rare, if occurring at all." 



The greatest scourge of the Indian during the early, as well as most of 

 the historical period, was smallpox. Stearn and Steam (p. 13) state that 

 "Smallpox, which was introduced into the mainland of the Americas in the 

 early part of the sixteenth century . . . decimated the native population for 

 four centuries ..." and add, "Smallpox killed more Indians in the early 

 centuries than did any other single disease." Although specific references to 



