The Healing Arts

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Native Americans, of course, had recognized and treated various illnesses for many centuries. They relied heavily on herbal knowledge. Herbalists, or herb doctors, received their knowledge about medicinal plants from dreams or visions.

Many healers had a tradition of walking past seven of the desired plants before picking one, so that enough was left for seven generations. They often left offerings in the holes they dug to remove plants, and expressed gratitude to them. Herb doctors tended to specialize in certain illnesses, since their dreams or visions did not generally encompass a wide range of sickness.

Observant healers discovered valuable herbs by trailing sick animals to see what they ate to help themselves. They particularly liked to follow bears, a symbol of healing as well as strength, bravery, and leadership. Herbalists typically studied the effects of the herbs they saw used by animals and experimented with dosages.

Here are how a few herbs were used:

Crane’s bill to stop bleeding.

Golden seal as a tonic.

Horse radish as a diuretic.

Sourwood for indigestion and dyspepsia.

These four examples are for information only and should not be considered safe and effective for actual use. They are taken from The Cherokee Physician, or Indian Guide to Health as Given by Richard Foreman, a Cherokee Physician printed in 1849.

Flathead (Salish) Medicine Man identified as Dead-dog, courtesy Library of Congress

Hopi Medicine Man

Medicine and Herb Doctor's Sign and Tent, Maricopa County, Arizona (about 1940) courtesy Library of Congress

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Alternative Healing

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In the heyday of medical schools (mid-1800s – 1920s) great philosophical differences existed in the practice of medicine. Regular medicine was more in line with what we know today–practitioners attended a medical college with standardized courses, and relied on drugs and “scientific” treatments.

Dr. John Franklin Gray, first U.S. Homeopathic Practitioner

Irregular medicine tended to be a reaction to the so-called “heroic” (and horrific) medical practices of the past, which relied on bleeding, purging, and blistering. Irregular medicine embraced practices like homeopathy, which was much gentler. Besides concentrating on sound nutrition and light exercise, homeopaths rarely used multiple drugs. They felt that “like cures like” and would prescribe a (highly diluted) substance that mimicked a patient’s symptoms.

Regular doctors relied on drugs such as calomel (mercury) which destroyed the health of anyone taking it regularly. Many citizens preferred alternative treatments (of which homeopathy was only one) because they tended to do no harm. Many illnesses run their course and patients recover with or without medicine, so alternative treatments were generally as successful as regular ones.

Regular doctors fought the irregular ones tooth and nail, and eventually managed to shut down both their colleges and most of their practitioners.

University of Iowa Homeopathy Class of 1882, courtesy UI College of Medicine

A Pennsylvania Homeopathic Company, 1880s

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What’s Up, Doc?

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Abraham Flexner

During the early part of the 20th century, Native American medicine men probably had as great a cure rate as their white counterparts, and certainly had as much credibility. American medical education was patchy at best, and no standards existed.

Before the early 1900s, many people became doctors through an apprenticeship, or by simply reading medical textbooks and setting up shop. Some, of course, attended medical school. In 1906 the American Medical Association’s Council on Medical Education inspected all 155 medical schools in the U.S. and Canada. It discovered that many of them simply churned out students so that the doctors who owned them could profit from tuition fees. In 1910 the Council issued a report, Medical Education in the United States and Canada (commonly known as the Flexner Report for its author, Abraham Flexner).

This report had significant repercussions for U.S. medical education. By 1920, the number of medical schools decreased to 85 and the number of students from 28,142 to 13,798. The percentage of schools requiring two years of college for admission rose from three to 92.

Medical Students Using Stethescope, circa 1900

Medical Students Using Stethoscope, circa 1900

Johns Hopkins in early 1900s, courtesy the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

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Where The Wild Things Are

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Native Americans depended on herbs for healing, cleansing, and spiritual well-being. Traditionally, there are four sacred herbs: cedar, sage, tobacco, and sweet grass. Only persons well-versed in their sacred properties should attempt to use them, especially to make teas; these can be dangerous if not composed and used properly.

Cedar: Used in sacred ceremonies and smudging, and as a tea for flushing out the system.

Sage: Used for smudging, as a tea to flush out impurities, and in sacred ceremonies. It especially clears out emotional energy.

Tobacco: Used for sending up prayers, and to communicate with spirit.

Sweet grass: Used for smudging, blessing, and purification.

Smudging is a simple way to cleanse a space by using a smoldering herb to drive out bad spirits or feelings, or to get rid of negative energy. Smoke from the smoldering herb carries the negative energy or spirit away with it. Traditionally it begins in the east of the space and travels clockwise.

Medicine Pipe, Edward S. Curtis photographs, courtesy Library of Congress

White Sage Smudge Stick

White Sage

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Tell Us All About It

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Amariah Brigham, courtesy National Library of Medicine

After the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane formed, they needed a format in which to discuss emerging ideas, treatments, and work experiences within the mental health field.

The superintendent of Utica (N.Y.) State Hospital, Amariah Brigham (1798-1849), created the American Journal of Insanity as a forum for this exchange of information, and probably wrote all the articles for its first issue. Though it was the mouthpiece of the association, Utica State Hospital owned the AJI until the Association of Medical Superintendents bought it in 1892. Its name was changed to the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1921.

AJI’s first issue (July 1844) discussed “Insanity Illustrated by Cases.” One such case began: “Mr. ___, aged 48, had uniformly enjoyed good health until the summer of 1842, when he complained some of not feeling well, was weak and dyspeptic, and in November had what was supposed to be a slight paralytic attack. For this and severe pain of the head he was bled seven or eight times, took cathartic medicines and was blistered largely. He remained dull and disinclined to exercise for five or six weeks, when he became suddenly deranged…”

American Journal of Insanity, courtesy National Library of Medicine

Ad from American Journal of Insanity

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Interest in the Insane

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American Psychiatric Association Emblem

Insanity was not new to the 19th and 20th centuries, of course, but some of its management was. The insane had often been cared for by monks and nuns under the supervision of various religious orders. Eventually, medical men ran the facilities where the insane were housed, and were often called mad-doctors or lunatic-doctors. By the late 1800s, these physicians began to be known as alienists, which referenced the insane person’s loss of a sense of self.

In the U.S., thirteen superintendents and organizers of insane asylums banded together to form the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane in 1844. The name was changed in 1892 to the American Medico-Psychological Association, and embraced more members of the medical field. Finally, the name was changed for the last time in 1921 to the American Psychiatric Association. Its emblem has a picture of Dr. Benjamin Rush (often called “The Father of American Psychiatry”) on it. The thirteen stars represent the thirteen superintendents who founded the original organization.

Association of Medical Superintendents, courtesy National Library of Medicine

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The Insane Cherokee

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Map of Cherokee Nation, circa 1903

The Cherokee Nation actually established an asylum for insane Indians before the U.S. government did. The Cherokee National Council selected a site for the Cherokee Home for the Insane, Deaf, Dumb, and Blind six miles south of Tahlequah in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1873. The asylum was governed by a board of trustees composed of the principal chief, assistant principal chief, the national treasurer, and three trustees appointed by the principal chief, with the consent of the Cherokee Senate.

Construction began in 1874 and on December 5, 1876, John A. Foreman was elected steward of the asylum at a salary of $400/year. The asylum opened March 1, 1877, and by October had accepted 14 males and 8 females. Foreman made a telling request in his first report: “I would hereby have to suggest that a change be made in the manner of receiving inmates into the asylum, and that such lines be drawn, as will prevent the Asylum from being made into a hospital.”

The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians never drew such a line, and quickly became a dumping ground for many inconvenient Indians who were not necessarily insane.

Cherokee National Female Seminary (1851-1887) Tahlequah

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A New Kind of Superintendent

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Dr. Peter Bryce

Dr. Peter Bryce (1834-1892) was a young man of 26 when he was elected superintendent (on the recommendation of Dorothea Dix–see posts for 5/13 and 5/16) of the newly built Alabama Insane Hospital in 1860. The first patient was admitted in 1861, and Bryce insisted from the start that his attendants display courtesy and kindness to anyone admitted.

He also instituted a system of work (farming, sewing) that helped the institution make ends meet and provided a sort of occupational therapy for patients; his program provided amusements as well, including music, that also benefited patients. His practices were very successful, and by 1882 he was able to institute a policy of “absolute non-restraint.”

Bryce died in 1892 and the hospital was renamed Alabama Bryce Insane Hospital in his honor.

Postcard of Bryce Hospital (circa 1900)

Bryce Hospital Laundry

And Why Not Shackles?

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Mentally Ill Man in Jail

Though most insane patients were restrained in earlier times, by the late 1800s/early 1900s, restraints were much more prevalent in the U.S. than in England. This was partially due to a real philosophical difference as to what was best for the patient.

U.S. asylum superintendents believed (generally) that Americans’ free spirits made them more violent patients than Europeans. They considered it a sounder practice to restrain patients so they couldn’t harm themselves or others. They also felt that attendants who had to subdue an unrestrained patient who suddenly became violent, were likelier to hurt the person in their efforts to restrain him.

In 1875 Dr. (Lord) John Bucknill, a British asylum superintendent, visited nearly a dozen U.S. insane asylums. He wrote that Americans overused restraints “despite their highest motives of humanity” in his Notes on Asylums for the Insane in America, published in 1876.

A study in 1885 showed that in 26 U. S. asylums housing nearly 14,000 patients, restraints were used on patients over 5,000 times in one month. The study also showed that (typically) one U.S. asylum used more restraints than all of Britain’s asylums put together.

Leg Irons

Straitjacket

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Comparing Canton Asylum

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O.S. Gifford

The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was too small to compare to the large institutions created by Kirkbride, and it wasn’t built with any particular treatment plan in mind. Its first superintendent, O.S. Gifford, (see 2/25/2010 post) was not even a medical man. He had to travel to Washington, D.C. to see an example (St. Elizabeths) of the kind of institution he was to run.

Canton Asylum was a two-story building with four wings, and had a seven-foot fence around it. In keeping with other government institutions of its kind, however, it was lushly landscaped with over 1,000 trees and bushes that in time looked lovely.

Because Gifford wasn’t an alienist, he defaulted to a type of moral treatment that consisted of giving patients chores to do, allowing them to fish and play games when possible, and even allowing them to act like Indians. He allowed native dancing except when it proved too much for excitable patients, and let women create beadwork. This was in direct contrast to most governmental attitudes toward Indians.

His laissez-faire approach both helped and hurt the patients at Canton Asylum. Though he had no pet psychological theories to impose, he also couldn’t be bothered with setting up real programs to enable cures. When patients ran away or became hard to handle, his staff just got out the shackles.

Beaded Vest (1890-1900), courtesy Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Tobacco Bags (1895) courtesy Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

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Indians, Insanity, and American History Blog

Asylums And Insanity Treatments 1800 – 1935

The Healing Arts

Alternative Healing

What’s Up, Doc?

Where The Wild Things Are

Tell Us All About It

Interest in the Insane

The Insane Cherokee

A New Kind of Superintendent

And Why Not Shackles?

Comparing Canton Asylum