Indian Givers

3 Pages 730 Words

Question #4: Discuss the Native American contributions to the medical field.



The Native Americans contributed enormously towards today’s medical field. Cures for today’s diseases have been traced as far back as to the Indians of America, yet still time after time, we have failed to recognize such achievements. For example, The Aztecs were probably the most advanced in understanding the human anatomy of any society in the world of the 16th century. Such knowledge came from human sacrifices they performed. They understood the role of the heart and blood circulation long before the new world. The doctors created a vocabulary then that now identifies almost all of the organs that the science of anatomy recognized today. Again, at the time The Aztecs were either parallel in regards to European organizations of the medicine or for the most part, surpassed them. For example, up till today there is no steel scalpel that has been made that cuts sharper than the obsidian implements of the Aztec surgeons. In fact, only today’s laser beam can cut a finer incision with less bleeding and less scarification. A second example of the instruments used by The Aztecs is bulbed syringe and rubber hoses that they used to give enemas with. The European doctors adopted both styles and continue to use them today. Even back then, Indian surgeons amputated limbs, prescribed artificial legs, and removed teeth such as today’s doctors perform.
Malaria ravages more people than any other disease in many areas of the world. For most of human history, no effective cure or preventive existed for this disease. Europeans brought the disease to America and the Indians. When this occurred, the Indians rapidly found that one of their traditional medicines, Peruvian bark, presented relief from malaria. The bark contained quinine, which is the active ingredient in chloroquine. This introduction of quinine marked the beginning of modern pharmacology. ...