ROCKY MOUNTAIN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. I I I 
born, lived and died upon it before the discovery of 
Columbus! All must grant there was a first family. 
Race may have succeeded race and nation succeeded 
unto nation, and yet have left few traces of their exist- 
ence. And although none of these people may have 
possessed the intellectual development and arts known 
to those of ancient history, nevertheless they were 
human, endowed with human hearts and human sym- 
pathies, and in a degree susceptible to most of the 
joys and sorrows, as well as to the bodily ills, in- 
herited by man in all conditions of life. 
You may consider the problem of the cosmogony of 
the universe and the genesis of man according to your 
several predilections, or as you have studied the ques- 
tion. I have simply attempted in a popular manner to 
outline the subject as it has presented itself to my mind. 
As physicians you can speculate as to the possible 
origin of medicine among savage and uncultured peo- 
ple. You can picture to yourselves a world of but a 
few thousand years old or one of immense antiquity, 
and a sparse or a considerable population. That the 
early races in North America were subject to sick- 
ness, accidents, and death, is beyond question. That 
human sympathy attempted to relieve them by some 
means I believe all will concede. What degree of 
skill we should accord to these primitive physicians 
and surgeons is uncertain. That efforts were actually 
made by recognized physicians to the end of obtain- 
ing relief and cure cannot be doubted. This study re- 
mains but deserves to be made. The meager outline 
of Indian medical practice which I have presented, I 
am conscious falls far short of doing justice to the race. 
