The clash of epistemologies: Indigenous pharmacopoeia versus the demands of modern science

“ They claim to have herbs that will cure everything to which humanity is subject. It is a fact that there is no section of the globe to-day where so many modern drugs come from as the northern half of South America, [227] and it is quite probable that these primitive doctors first discovered the medicinal value of many plants that are now common pharmaceutical terms. Many stories are told among miners and others, who have been obliged to live in the interior, where regular physicians were not obtainable, of climatic fevers and other illnesses which have been cured by these doctors. ”

“ Native knowledge of natural history differs from much of their rude science in its quality, often being of great positive value. The savage or barbarian hunter knows the animals of his own region and their habits with remarkable accuracy, and inherited experience has taught him that certain plants have industrial and medicinal uses. Thus, in South America the Europeans learnt the use of India-rubber or caoutchouc, which the native tribes were accustomed to make into vessels and playing-balls, and of the Peruvian bark or cinchona, which was already given to patients in fever. ”

“ We ignore all of the East. There's also the wis­dom of the indigenous peoples here in the Western Hemi­sphere, the Native Americans. Who are we to say they don't have a lot to teach?" He smiled, as though embarrassed to be passing along such a commonplace. "For example, West­ern medical practice, virtually until this century, consisted mainly of using leeches to drain away 'humors' in the blood. At the same time, the indigenous peoples of this continent knew more about the curative powers of plants, even drugs, than Europe ever dreamed of. ”

“ Uses.—The oil expressed from the seeds is used in India for lighting purposes, and in addition is of notable therapeutic value. It is an excellent local remedy for the itch, for herpes and especially for pityriasis versicolor, used alone or emulsified with lemon juice. In stubborn cases Dymock recommends the addition of oil of hydrocarpus, camphor and powdered sulphur. Dr. Gibson states that he knows of no plant in the vegetable kingdom possessing more notable curative properties in itch, herpes and other cutaneous diseases than the plant under consideration. ”

“ The infusion of the root is useful in strangury and hæmaturia
The infusion of the root is said to be useful in leprosy. The seeds are given in the treatment of coughs.
According to the Chinese in Hong-Kong, the seeds are employed as an emollient and demulcent ; the root is used as a diuretic and pulmonary sedative, and the flowers and leaves as a local application to boils and ulcers. Porter Smith states that the seeds and the entire plant are used as " demulcent, lenitive, diuretic, laxative and discutient remedies. ”

“ According to Bellew, the seeds are also considered to be galactagogue in the Punjab, and are administered after being boiled with milk, to cause abortion. O'Shaughnessy found the drug answer as a gentle and warm aperient. Moodeen Sheriff writes of the seeds thus: — " Externally, it is of great service in all the diseases in which the mustard is resorted to. The thick and very gummy mucilage of the seeds acts as a mechanical antidote in cases of poisoning by irritant substances, enveloping the poisonous particles and sheathing the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestine." ”

“ These medicine-men are experts in poisons, and their enemies have a way of dying suddenly. It cannot be denied that the Indians have a very real knowledge of the healing virtues of many plants. The writer has marvelled at the cures he has seen, and was not slow to add some of their methods to his medical knowledge. Not a few who have been healed, since the writer's return to civilization, owe their new life to the knowledge there learned. ”

“ The natives of Africa have discovered their own materia medica by actual practice and experience with the medicinal value of minerals and plants. It must be borne in mind that any pharmacopeia must rest upon the basis of practical experiment and experience. The science of medicine was developed by man in his groping to relieve pain and to curb disease, and was not handed down ready made from the skies. ”

“ Medicinal, &c.—The majority of cures effected by native doctors are the result of good constitutions, and not science. There are doubtless native remedies that are effective, but as few or any of these have been analysed it is impossible to ascertain their efficacy. ”

“ If true science can ratify its method, its success or immunity is accounted for. Otherwise we must learn from it another lesson as to the capacities of endurance in the human organism.
A revolting subject, often brought under discussion and led on to widely contrasted decisions by historians and inquirers, has kept under debate the question whether that foul scourge, the penalty of sensual vice, now so prevalent here among the aborigines, was indigenous or introduced by Europeans. It has borne the titles of the French disease, the Italian disease, and the Indian disease. ”

“ Next in importance to a correct understanding of the patient's disease, is the possession of reliable remedies for its treatment. Many of the medicines employed by physicians engaged in general practice are prepared from old drugs that have lost all their medicinal virtues, and hence are utterly useless and ineffectual. Many vegetable extracts are inert, because the plants from which they are produced were not gathered at the proper time. ”

“ Using vast quantities of these indigenous medicines, we can afford and do not neglect to have them gathered with great care, at the proper seasons of the year, so that their medicinal properties may be most reliable. Too little attention is generally paid to this matter, and many failures result from the prescribing of worthless medicines by physicians who have to depend for their supplies upon manufacturers who are careless or indifferent in obtaining the crude plants and roots from which to manufacture their medicines for the market. ”

“ Nevertheless, among these people, a plant not found by any medical scientist to possess any curative powers is used almost universally, to cure every kind of ailment and has been so used for generations. ”

“ Intelligent observers who have known the natives well, and have lived with them for years in their wild state, report to us most inconsistently and diversely on this subject. The weight of trustworthy testimony, however, reduces any claim in behalf of the natives for medical skill to a very slender substance, and the large majority of witnesses pronounce the claim absurd and wholly unfounded, while they describe the processes and material of Indian medical practice as monstrous, revolting, fraudulent, and utterly ineffectual, when not absolutely mischievous and fatal. ”

“ Take, for example, the case of the last medicine-man of an indigenous Amazonian group: as an individual he possesses a rich knowledge about the use of plants and herbs, but his knowledge is not his personal property but the product of the collective experience of his people in their century-long coexistence with the tropical forest; the fact that in principle the last medicine-man can transmit his medicinal knowledge through language practically to anybody poses a problem to the distribution of such knowledge and the property of it in relation to his people. ”

“ With the extermination of the blacks this information has completely died out, and it can only now be obtained in far-distant places like North Queensland, where the aborigines have not been killed off by contact with civilization. They have much experience in the healing virtues and properties of plants, as also of the kinds best suited for poisoning fish.”78 Great skill is exhibited by their mode of preparing plants by fire and water and other processes, before using them as food ”

“ Ethical and legal issues in orality and literacy concerning indigenous peoples The folklorisation of indigenous cultures in Ecuador by governmental and non-governmental agencies has prevented their consideration as objects of legal protection. By considering intangible culture as people’s heritage, the 2003 Convention paves the way for their protection as property with all of the related rights. The fact that intangible cultural heritage often lacks physical support and is mainly collective in nature makes it more sensitive to illegal appropriation by outsiders. ”

“ The collectors of medicinal plants cut from the roadside and rubbish heaps, plants whose "operations" for good are quite well known, and have been handed down by tradition for centuries, cannot be absolutely ignorant of the other side of the picture, the toxic properties which other plants, or sometimes even the same plants, contain. Foxglove, for instance, from which digitalis used as a medicine is extracted, is a good example of these kill-or-cure plants. Every portion of the plant is poisonous, leaves, flowers, stalks, and berries. ”

“ The Algonquins would sing medicine-songs to Mesukkummik Okwi, the Earth, the Great-Grandmother of all. In her charge (and she must be ever at home in her lodge) are left the animals whose flesh and skins are man’s food and clothing, and the roots and medicines of sovereign power to heal sickness and kill game in time of hunger; therefore good Indians never dig up the roots of which their medicines are made, without depositing an offering in the earth for Mesukkummik Okwi. ”

“ Menstrual disorders, and notably the varieties of dysmenorrhœa, are very prevalent in this country, and it seems nature has supplied it with a simple efficacious medicine by endowing the roots of an indigenous plant with such singular virtues. ”

“ According to Padre Mercado, “When the seeds are taken with wine, sensation is so dulled that the drinker may be whipped without feeling the lashes, and even if put to the torment, does not feel it.” These properties, if true, make this plant one of the most useful in the Philippines. The entire plant is stimulant. The infusion, given internally, causes sweating, excites the circulation, is diuretic, tonic, stomachic, and useful as well as an antispasmodic in nervous troubles. The leaves are employed in making the infusion, 8 grams to 200 of boiling water. ”

“ Dr. W. Ingledew states that the natives of Mysore (south of India) treat rheumatism and febrile catarrhs by steam baths of the decoction of vitex. A decoction of the leaves is in common use in the Philippines, Malay Islands and India as a bath for women in the puerperal state.
The dry leaves are smoked for headache and catarrh. According to creditable authority the application of the heated leaves in orchitis produces good results. The root is tonic, febrifuge and expectorant and the fruit nervine and emmenagogue according to the Sanscrit writer. ”

“ An accurate study of the healing art as practiced by Negroes in Africa as well as its continuance after transplantation in America would form an investigation of great historical interest. This, however, is not the purpose of this paper. It is sufficient to note the fact that witchcraft and the control of disease through roots, herbs, charms and conjuration are universally practiced on the continent of Africa. Indeed, the medicine man has a standing and influence that is sometimes superior to that of kings and queens. ”

“ Pursuing our study of aboriginal traits, we may, at last, come to an understanding of the workings of the Indian mind, and we may learn that the man placed 435greater faith in the potency of his medicine, or of his charms, than he did in his actual implements made use of in capturing game or defeating the enemy. Such things as these plummets and other problematical forms served as charms, amulets, and medicine-stones. ”

“ It is much more than that to an Indian. The term “medicine,” as current among the natives through the continent, in its equivalents in all their languages and dialects, carries with it all the associations which the word has for civilized people, and far more mysterious ones beside. The treatment of disease by the conjurers, jongleurs, or “pow-wows” among the natives, as has been before noted, is believed to be more or less of a magical art. So, every process and means connected with it is associated for the Indian with some quality of mystery and charm. ”

“ Medicine, as we understand it, is not the kind 159of medicine used by the witch doctor of East Africa, who relies more upon incantations than upon the potency of any drugs to doctor the complaints of those who seek his aid, the ailments he is expected to cure being more of a mental than a physical nature, as, when a native complains that some one has given him poisoned medicine, he really means that some one has put some spell on him to cause something to happen to him. ”

“ I have now spoken of the manner in which the medicine-men, according to the beliefs of the aborigines, are accustomed to work ill upon them. It remains to show these men in a more favourable light, as alleviating suffering, and shielding their friends from the evil magic of others. One of the special functions of the medicine-man is to counteract the spells made by others. ”

“ Stir with the right hand into the left, and afterwards blow into the latter.—All persons familiar with Indians will understand that the term "medicine" foolishly enough adopted by both the French and English to express the aboriginal magic arts, has no therapeutic significance. Very few even pretended remedies were administered to the natives, and probably never by the professional shaman, who worked by incantation, often pulverizing and mixing the substances mystically used, to prevent their detection. ”

“ If these cures are somewhat more rapid than with our more civilised methods of bone-setting, it is merely due to the wholesome climate and the fact that the natives spend most of their days out in the open air and in the sun, undoubtedly the best cure for any complaint of that kind ”

“ They are not skillful nor clean in these things, seldom washing a wound. From actual observation, which has been pretty extensive with regard to cuts and wounds of all kinds, we are disposed to believe that their cure does not depend upon any skill in treatment nor care taken of them, but upon their vigorous constitutions, extremely healthy climate, and strictly temperate mode of life, with perhaps a disposition to heal naturally in the absence of scientific knowledge vouchsafed to the ignorant Indian by an all-wise Creator. ”

“ It is very evident that a drug possessing the extraordinary merits that have been claimed for wild indigo would not have remained unnoticed by the leading authorities on pharmacology and therapeutics, especially after its prolonged use in medicine. ”

“ Whether the medicine man deceives himself—believes in himself or not—is another matter.
Undoubtedly, through generations of inherited knowledge concerning herbs, etc., they possess some remedies that do their patients good; and there are many faith cures—the results of an implicit belief in the medicine man and the means he uses. I have noticed that the Congo medicine man cures just that class of ailments that the different branches of “faith healers” cure in Europe and America. ”

“ This is an invariable part of a missionary’s duties, as the natives have unbounded faith in the medicinal powers of all white men, and naturally think that those who come to heal their souls must know how to heal their bodies. Fortunately, their faith makes them excellent patients, and is in itself the best cure for affections of a nervous character, to which all men seem liable, no matter what may be the color of their skin. They are passionately desirous of medicine, and it is impossible to mix a draught that can be too nauseous for them ”

“ When I gave tuberculin injections to the wild men of Malaita they believed that I was doing something to remove a wicked spell. In thousands and thousands of cases which I have treated, either for cure or diagnosis, they have gone away with the same simple faith. Good magic has been working against bad. At first I worried about fooling all the people all the time. Then I followed the only expedient that is practical in jungle medicine.
When we regard the native tribe as a unit we must not push the witch doctor aside as a buffoon and a faker. ”

“ Despite a belief in and a dependence on shamanistic curing or its latter-day counterpart, the peyote curing session, most Washo are willing patients of white doctors. This suggests that perhaps the old views are disappearing under the scientific certainty of Western medicine. Quite the reverse seems true, however. Every failure of white medicine strengthens the Indians' belief that the real source of curing power is a gift from nature. Every success is attributed to assistance the white men have received from Indians' power. ”

“ So deeply rooted in the native mind is this belief in the power of these quacks that I 121know of a native doctor, holding the post of Assistant Colonial Medical Officer in one of our West Coast colonies, who definitely stated that he could do nothing for a certain man who was ill, and of whom it was rumoured among the natives that he had trodden on poison which had been scattered on the floor of his house by a native medicine man for the purpose of poisoning him. ”

“ Faith in the healing powers of the medicine-men is not confined to the tribesmen, for I knew one case of an Indian woman who had been married for years to a white man and lived in the rubber district. She fell ill, and her husband, instead of trusting to the white man’s remedies, insisted on sending for a medicine-man. ”

“ These hives are placed in a horizontal position on high trees in different parts of the forest, and in this way all the wax exported from Benguela and Loanda is collected. It is all the produce of free labor. A "piece of medicine" is tied round the trunk of the tree, and proves sufficient protection against thieves. The natives seldom rob each other, for all believe that certain medicines can inflict disease and death; and though they consider that these are only known to a few, they act on the principle that it is best to let them all alone. ”

“ Beside this, before a science of ethnology applied to the American aborigines can come into existence, the misconceptions, and erroneous interpretations which now encumber the original memorials must be removed. Unless this can in some way be effectually accomplished, this science can never be established among us.
Our ethnography was initiated for us by European investigators, and corrupted in its foundation from a misconception of the facts. ”

“ Writers on Mexico have paid but slight attention to aboriginal medical science, although the greatest benefit which Europe derived from that part of the New World came doubtless in the form of medicinal substances. ”

“ Residential schools suppressed Aboriginal language and culture, contributing to the loss of culture, language, and traditional knowledge. Even when those direct attacks came to a stop, culture remained devalued. There is a need for the recognition of the continuing value to communities and society of Aboriginal traditional knowledge, including spiritual, cultural, and linguistic knowledge. ”

“ In response to this critique, the research team facilitated a process in which research partners questioned exploitative research relations in the project, claimed their right to refuse to share knowledge, and created frameworks to center indigenous sovereignty and indigenous ways of thinking. ”

“ Ethical research systems and practices should enable indigenous nations, people, and communities to exercise control over information related to their knowledge and heritage and to themselves. [...] To act otherwise is to repeat that familiar pattern of decisions being made for Indigenous people by those who presume to know what is best for them. ”

“ We recognize that the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous peoples and local communities make an important contribution to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. We acknowledge the importance of the participation of indigenous peoples, wherever possible, in the benefits of their knowledge, innovations and practices. ”

“ The instrumentality of intangible cultural heritage has been seriously considered by governmental agencies and is being evaluated by indigenous peoples as a mechanism to enforce their collective rights before the state. This is made possible because intangible cultural heritage is linked to other fields of public policy such as health care and education, and because the concept of cultural heritage includes a network of multifarious expressions and prescribes the understanding of cultures in their own specificities. ”

“ Ideally, Aboriginal health professionals who can combine their Western medical training with knowledge of their own healing traditions and culture should be found to do this work. However, given the lack of sufficient numbers of such professionals, the current ideal formula appears to be a balanced team approach: specially trained cultural supports and traditional knowledge keepers from within the respective Aboriginal communities, working together with academically trained health specialists from the non-Aboriginal community. ”

“ There is, indeed, a good deal of eclecticism in the supposed surrender of indigenous institutions; foreign methods have been adopted only on the evidence of their efficiency, and always with a view to making them subservient to national purposes. ”

“ There, he expressed the Commission's support for an international experts' seminar on truth and reconciliation processes. Such commissions can play an important role in resolving conflict and improving relations between states and Indigenous peoples.
In September 2010, Commissioners Littlechild and Wilson presented at the sixth gathering of Healing Our Spirit Worldwide, an international forum and healing initiative that focuses on health, governance, and drug and alcohol issues and programs in Indigenous communities across the globe. ”

“ When this is conceded, the question arises, will no native botany suffice? Are we of necessity driven to import tea from China or Assam? Such are the wonderful and deep harmonies of Nature that in each long-inhabited country the constitution of animals becomes adapted to its plants as well as to its climate, and finds among them not only its food, but its remedies for disease. Native herbs are often found more health-restoring than pretentious foreign drugs ”