228 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



* pre-contact times. It is further apparent that this attitude was not only 

 sustained, but doubtlessly deepened during the historic period due to the 

 acute health problems resulting largely from white contact. Such problems 

 as the high rate of infant mortality, the death and disabilities wrought by 

 the introduction of new diseases by the white man, particularly smallpox 

 which was an almost constant ravager from early to relatively late historic 

 times, and tuberculosis which replaced smallpox as the most serious disease 

 and remains today as the major threat to the well-being of the community, 

 gave the Chippewa a realistic basis for intensification of their concern 

 with health. 



3. CONCLUSIONS 



This report thus far has really had three minor objectives and a major 

 one. One of the former was to put on record some previously unreported 

 data obtained in our field-work. Another was to bring together for the first 

 time all the curative techniques known for the tribe. A third objective was 

 to present a picture of the rather unfortunate health situation existing at 

 present and to indicate the reasons for it, particularly in terms of the effect 

 of white contact. 



The major objective, however, has been to show the existence and 

 history of an attitude. The first section of the paper was concerned with the 

 problem of establishing the fact that a preoccupation with health does exist 

 among the modern Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin. The attitude was 

 apparent in their daily life as expressed in their every-day conversation, 

 their well-filled "medicine chests" where the aspirin tablet mingles with 

 native herbs drying on the rafters, and in their considerable knowledge and 

 traffic in native medicines. The attitude was even more clearly discernible 

 in their health-seeking ceremonial complex. It was showri that two of the 

 three religious ceremonies had curing as their primary purpose, and the third 

 had a curing ritual up to recent times. Another expression of their health 

 interest was found in an analysis of the traditional disease concepts. It was 

 seen that the Chippewa have all five of the disease concepts as defined by 

 Clements, a phenomenon uncommon among primitive peoples of the world. 

 An examination of the curative and preventive techniques employed by both 

 professional healers and private individuals revealed an impressive array 

 dominated by magico- religious devices, but also including mechanical and 



