86 
toner's address. 
of cure through magic. I seek rather to present them 
fairly, if not at their best. With this explanation of the 
standard by which to estimate the skill of the Indian 
physician in the treatment of the ills common to their 
condition and modes of life, it presents, in the main, 
no mean degree of success. It is nevertheless true 
that their strange and ridiculous maneuvers and jug- 
glery offend the common sense of the present day, and 
were doubtless often carried to an extent that lost 
sight of the essential points in the treatment of the 
sick."^ 
The theory of disease held by the Indian was so 
entirely different from that of the educated physician 
of the present age, that it is proper his practice should 
be viewed in connection with it. It was believed that 
disease was produced by evil spirits, and that the 
medicine-men had power to hold close communion 
with the unseen, and thus discover the secret causes 
of all disorders and by incantation insure their expul- 
sion. Notwithstanding this absurd notion, they were 
not entirely ignorant of the functions of some of the 
■^^Catlin says that all tribes have their physicians, who are also 
medicine or mystery men. "These professional men are worthies of 
the highest order in all tribes. They are regularly called and paid as 
physicians to prescribe for their sick, and many of them acquire great 
skill in the medical world and gain much celebrity in the nation. 
Their first prescriptions are roots and herbs, of which they have a 
great variety of species, and where these have all failed, the last resort 
is to ' medicine' or mystery." The fact is mentioned by many authors 
that the physician is always dressed with elaborate care. Drawings 
of the physicians' costumes may be seen in Catlin's History of North 
American Indians, vol. i., p. 40. The doctor's dress is graphically 
described in Lawson's History of North Carolina, p. 37, and in Los- 
kiel's Mission of the United Brethren, p. iii. 
