DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING INFORMATION 



AND OBJECTS ILLUSTRATING THE. 



HISTORY OF MEDICINE. 



The Division of Medicine in the United States National Museum 

 seeks to illustrate in the fullest possible manner the medical theories 

 and practices of mankind in every part of the world and at all 

 periods. For this purpose it asks aid of those who may be interested 

 in this branch of anthropology in the collection of information and 

 illustrative objects. 



To make clear the subject which it is desired to investigate, the 

 following provisional classification of theories of disease and remedial 

 measures is presented: 



THEORIES OF DISEASE. 



(1) Disease, a malevolent spirit, assuming material form either animate or inani- 

 mate, attacking the victim with or without provocation. Primitive. 



(2) Disease, a spirit, acting at the suggestion of a human enemy possessing super- 

 natural powers (sorcerj', witchcraft, conjury). Savage and half-civilized peoples. 



(3) Disease caused by the angered spirits of the dead, either men or animals, or 

 even plants. Savage and half-civilized peoples. 



(4) Disease, a punishment inflicted by an offended deity. Ancient; persistent. 



(5) Disease due to the influence of the planets or other heavenly bodies. (Astrology. ) 

 Arabians; persistent in Europe to the seventeenth century. 



(6) Disease due to a variation in the relative activity of two controlling principles 

 of life, namely, heat and moisture, or "yin" and "yung," or the male and female 

 principles. Persian, Chinese. 



(7) Disease due to a disturbance in the relative proportions or distribution of the 

 fluids or "humors" of the body, namely, blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. 

 Hippocrates, Galen. (" Humoralists.") 



(8) Disease due to changes in the form, number, arrangement, or movement of 

 the "atoms" of which the body is composed. Asclepias. ("Solidists" or "Meth- 

 odists.") 



(9) Disease due to the abnormal action of the dynamic or vital force ("spirit," 

 "pneuma," "archseus"). Athenpeus, Paracelsus,. Hahnemann. ( " Vitalists. " ) 



(10) Disease considered only with respect to its manifestations or "symptoms," 

 regardless of causes. Philenus, Sydenham, Hahnemann. ("Empiricists.") 



(11) Disease due to various and complex modifications of normal structure and 

 function resulting from the conditions of environment or inherent tendencies. 

 Modern scientific medicine. 



[3] 



