NATURE OF DISEASE AND OF ITS CURE 61 
THE NATURE OF DISEASE AND OF ITS CURE 
By Dr. JAMES FREDERICK ROGERS 
YALH UNIVERSITY 
Aes earliest explanation of disease, corresponding to the ideas of 
nature which first impressed the dawning human consciousness, 
was that the usual working of the body had been upset by the entrance 
into it of an evil spirit. This spirit proceeded to disturb the “ ease” 
of the body of the sick man, causing it to reject and eject food, racking 
it with pain, and burning it with the slow fire of fever, and even talking 
through its lips in incoherent or mysterious utterances. So satisfactory 
an explanation did this seem that, in modified form, it has a hold with 
the more superstitious even in the present day. 
Such being the cause for his sufferings, the primitive man was 
prompt to see that the cure should be the driving out of the evil spirit 
which had taken up its abode in the body, by the most appropriate 
methods. The medicine man of the tribe assumed a superior knowledge 
in such affairs and took upon himself the responsibility of dealing with 
these unseen powers. Working upon the reasonable assumption that 
what appealed to human senses must also appeal to the dwellers in the 
spirit realm, that what was agreeable or disagreeable to one must be 
agreeable or disagreeable to the other, this healer proceeded to make it 
very unpleasant for the tormentor of the sick man by appearing before 
him in his most hideous garb, by the repetition of frightful cries and 
thunderous thumpings upon his tom-tom, while draughts made of the 
most vile and disgusting substances were poured down the throat of 
the victim in the hope that the spirit would be induced to let go his hold 
and depart. It was the most logical treatment imaginable, and it 
seemed so proved by the fact that the sick man very often recovered. 
Nor did the primitive mind stop at the mere driving out of the source 
of disease, but followed up its success in this direction by equally 
rational attempts at prevention by the wearing of some magic object 
to keep away the demon of sickness in the future. 
As men became more observant and thoughtful, it became apparent 
that certain physical conditions seemed to have much to do with the 
presence of sickness. While the spirit realm might be finally respon- 
sible for the singling out of the sufferer, yet extremes of heat and cold, 
dampness, lack of food, and some other agencies were seen to be get-at- 
able causes. Moreover, it was discovered, more or less accidentally, 
that the application of heat and cold, bathing, rubbing, and the use of 
