836 



MEDFTELD MEDICINE AND MEDICINE-MEN 



Ib. a. e. 



In 1877, during the administration of 

 President Hayes, change was made to an 

 oval medal: 



Obverse, bust of president to right, nude; leg- 

 end, Rutherjord B. Hayes, President of the United 

 States, 1877. Reverse, figure of a pioneer with ax 

 in left hand and pointing with right to a cabin 

 in right background, before which a woman is 

 seated with a child in her lap; in middle back- 

 ground, a man plowing, a mountain beyond, fig- 

 ure of an Indian in full war dress facing pioneer, 

 to right a tree, above in rays Peace; in exergue, 

 crossed calumet and tomahawk within wreath. 

 Silver; bronze; size, 2| by Sf in. 



No change was made in size or type 

 until the administration of Benjamin 

 Harrison, when the old round form of 

 medal was resumed: 



Obverse, bust of president to right, draped; 

 legend, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United 

 States, 1889. Reverse, two hands clasped, crossed 

 calumet and tomahawk; legend, Peace and 

 Friendship. Sizes, 3 in., 2^ in., 2 in. 



This medal was continued to the ad- 

 ministration of President Roosevelt. 



The issuance of peace medals was not 

 confined to the governments, as the vari- 

 ous fur companies also presented to In- 

 dian chiefs medals of various kinds and 

 in various metals, as, for example, the 

 medals of the Hudson's Bay Company 

 from 1790 to 1805, above described. The 

 Chouteau Fur Company, of St Louis, 

 caused to be given by its agents in the 

 N. W. the following: 



Obverse, bust of Pierre Chouteau, to left, 

 clothed; legend, Pierre Choideau, Jr., & Co., Up- 

 per Missouri Outfit. Reverse, in field, crossed 

 tomahawk and calumet, and clasped hands; 

 legend. Peace and Friendship, ISUS. Silver; size, 

 3f in. 



Consult Beauchamp, Metallic Orna- 

 ments of the New York Indians, 1903; 

 Belts, American Colonial History Illus- 

 trated by Contemporaneous Medals, 1894; 

 Carr, Dress and Ornaments of Certain 

 American Indians, 1897 ; Carter, Medals of 

 the British Army, 1861; Catalogue du 

 Musee Monetaire, 1833; Clark, Onondaga, 

 1849; Fisher, American Medals of the Rev- 

 olution, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 3d s., vi; 

 Halsey, Old New York Frontier, 1901; 

 Hawkins, Medallic Illustrations of British 

 History; Hayden, Silver and Copper 

 Medals, in Proc. Wyo. Hist, and Geol. 

 Soc, II, pt. 2, 1886; Irwin, War Medals, 

 1890; Leroux, Medaillier du Canada, 

 1888; McLachlan in Canadian Antiq. 

 and Numismat. Jour., 3d s., ii, 1899; 

 Wheeler, Trail of Lewis and Clark, 1900; 

 Miner, History of Wyoming Valley, 1845; 

 O'Callaghan, Documentarv History of the 

 State of New York, 1856-87; Penhallow, 

 History of the Wars of New England, 

 1824; "Pinkerton, Medallic History of 

 England, 1790; Snowden,Medalsof Wash- 

 ington in the U. S. Mint, 1861. 



(p. E. B. ) 



Medfield. In 1677 there was a settle- 

 ment of Christian Indians (perhaps 



Nipmuc) at this place, in Norfolk co., 

 Mass.— Gookin( 1677) in Drake, Bk.Inds., 

 bk. 2, 115, 1848. 



Medicine and Medicine-men, Med- 

 icine is an agent or influence employed 

 to prevent, alleviate, or cure some patho- 

 logical condition or its symptoms. The 

 scope of such agents among the Indians 

 was extensive, ranging, as among other 

 primitive peoples, from magic, prayer, 

 force of suggestion, and a multitude of 

 symbolic and empirical means, to actual 

 and more rationally used remedies. 

 Where the Indians are in contact with 

 whites the old methods of combating 

 physical ills are slowly giving way to the 

 curative agencies of civilization. The 

 white man in turn has adopted from 

 the Indians a number of valuable medic- 

 inal plants, such as cinchona, jalapa, hy- 

 drastis, etc. 



In general the tribes show many sim- 

 ilarities in regard to medicine, but the 

 actual agents employed differ with the 

 tril)es and localities, as well as with in- 

 dividual healers. Magic, prayers, songs, 

 exhortation, suggestion, ceremonies, ' 

 fetishes, and certain specifics and me- 

 chanical processes ai'e employed only by 

 the medicine-men or medicine-women; 

 other specific remedies or procedures are 

 proprietary, generally among a few old 

 women in the tribe; while many vegetal 

 remedies and simple manipulations are 

 of common knowledge in a given locality. 



The employment of magic consists in 

 opposing a supposed malign influence, 

 such as that of a sorcerer, spirits of the 

 dead, mythic animals, etc., by the super- 

 natural power of the healer's fetishes and 

 other means. Prayers are addressed to 

 benevolent deities and spirits, invoking 

 their aid. Healing songs, consisting of 

 prayers or exhortations, are sung. Ha- 

 rangues are directed to evil spirits sup- 

 posed to cause the sickness, and often are 

 accentuated by noises to frighten such 

 spirits away. Suggestion is exercised in 

 many ways directly and indirectly. Cur- 

 ative ceremonies usuallj' combine all or 

 most of the agencies mentioned. Some of 

 them, such as Matthews describes among 

 the Navaho, are very elaborate, prolong- 

 ed, and costly. The fetishes used are pe- 

 culiarly shaped stones or wooden objects, 

 lightning-riven wood, feathers, claws, 

 hair, figurines of mythic animals, repre- 

 sentations of the sun, of lightning, etc., 

 and are supposed to embody a mysteri- 

 ous power capable of preventing disease 

 or of counteracting its effects. Mechan- 

 ical means of curing consist of rubbing, 

 pressure with the hands or feet, or with 

 a sash or cord (as in labor or in painful 

 affections of the chest), bonesetting, cut- 

 ting, cauterizing, scarifying, cupping ( by 



