THE PRIMITIVE INDIAN MEDICINE-MAN. 
DR. ROBERT BELL, F.R.S. 
Although a Doctor of Medicine, I do not 
practice the profession, but have been em- 
ployed for many years in making geolog- 
ical explorations and surveys for our gov- 
ernment in the wild North lands of Can- 
ada. For a part of this time my duties led 
me into vast country lying Northward of 
Lakes Huron and Superior. In the course 
of these travels I was often called on to 
exercise my knowledge of the healing art, 
and my interest in medicine induced me to 
inquire into the methods practiced by the 
Indians. 
The vast region I have mentioned is one 
continuous forest, sparsely inhabited by 
Ojibwés who are interesting on account 
of their native simplicity and honesty; but 
more particularly, to me, for their supersti- 
tions and their queer notions about medi- 
cine. Although they had medicine-men of 
their own, when they heard that a white 
doctor was passing through their country 
they brought their sick for treatment from 
far and near. They are credulous and are 
thorough believers in witchcraft. Their 
“doctors”. make only a limited use of 
medicines, relying mainly on sorcery or 
conjuring to effect cures. It is for this rea- 
son that among them the term “ medicine,” 
does not mean drugs, but magic. The con- 
-jurers or medicine-men form a sort of 
league and are bound to help each other in 
deceiving the simple-minded Indians. 
They think disease,-accidents and death are 
due to secret influences originating in the 
hatred of their enemies, or the wicked ef- 
forts of other medicine-men, who may be 
employed against them and who work by 
means of evil spirits which they can sum- 
mon to their service. The conjurer is able 
to exercise his occult art even from a long 
distance. 
Some of these men really think they pos- 
sess a mysterious power, but they must be 
well paid to induce them to use it, and so 
they live by preying on the superstitious 
fears of other people. They make them 
believe they can draw out or drive off the 
spirits which are working mischief in the 
bodies of their victims, by making pictorial 
representations, beating tom-toms, sing- 
ing and by other means. The belief that 
disease can be sucked from the body is 
deeply rooted. If a boy dreams of creat- 
ures which suck or draw nourishment to 
themselves; such as woodpeckers, wood- 
cock, suckers (fish), mosquitoes, etc., it is 
considered a sign the lad is destined to be- 
come a member of the medicine fraternity. 
_ When a medicine-man visits a sick Ind- 
ian, he usually says to his patient: “‘ My 
poor fellow, you have an enemy who 
has sent you this trouble.” After making 
an examination in order to locate the ex- 
act source of the disease, he will proceed to 
suck his patient’s shoulder or side, after 
having cut a small-incision in the skin. 
Along with the blood which he draws, he 
will spit out an arrow-head, a pebble, or 
some other hard object and will tell the 
man this has been sent in some mysterious 
way to carry disease and pain into his body, 
by the conjurer. 
Then he may make what he asserts to be 
a sketch of the enemy on a piece of birch 
bark, stab it in the region of the heart and 
pronounce the original powerless for 
further mischief. This operation is usually 
followed by a prolonged beating on the 
tom-tom, accompanied by a monotonous 
chant, to drive off the worsted spirits of evil. 
Then the sick man is considered in a fair 
way to recover. 
‘On subsequent visits of the doctor, eti- 
quette requires the patient to say he is bet- 
ter, even to his last gasp, if the case should 
end fatally. The doctor’s excuse for the 
latter contingency is that the “ medicine” 
of the conjurer conducting the case for the 
enemy has, after all, proved too strong for 
him, but “ never mind, he is bound to win 
the next time.” The inquiring friends will 
be told by the family that their doctor’s 
“medicine was not strong enough.” 
One day, some Indians came to my camp 
paddling a large canoe. In the bottom lay 
a sick relative of theirs. He was very 
weak and suffered from shortness of 
breath, fever and pain in one side. They 
had employed a conjurer to cure him, but 
while the patient was undergoing treat- 
ment they heard of me and lost no time 
in bringing their friend to the white doc- 
tor. 
I did not think it a breach of profes- 
sional etiquette to look into the case. The 
poor Indian was suffering from pneumo- 
nia, and so ill, that I could not help feeling 
sorry for him. But at the same time I 
could scarcely restrain a laugh when I un- 
covered his chest for examination. All 
around the seat of the pain my brother 
practitioner had painted, in various colors, 
as skillfully as he could, pictures of a tor- 
toise, a sucker, the sun and the crescent 
moon. The idea was that the spirits of 
these creatures and of the heavenly bodies 
would draw out the disease, while the med- 
icine-man performed his incantations. Al- 
though nothing could be more ludicrous 
than the spectacle thus presented by this 
poor dejected red man in his sore distress 
fresh from the hands of the medicine-man, 
I did not ridicule the notion, but pretended 
to take no notice of it. I gave his friends 
some medicines and appliances with di- 
rections for his treatment and I afterward 
heard he had recovered, 


