MEDICINE OF THE PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT BEFORE AND AFTER CONQUISTS. Sources on history and medicine. The development of medical knowledge

 

History of medicine

Middle Ages

MEDICINE OF THE LATE MEDIEVAL PERIOD (XV — XVII centuries.)

MEDICINE OF THE PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT BEFORE AND AFTER CONQUISTS. Sources on history and medicine. The development of medical knowledge

 

Story

 

The indigenous population of the Americas passed in its development two periods: the first, which lasted more than 30 thousand years, was the epoch of the original history of the aborigines of the continent, who created the unique and unique cultures of ancient America; the second begins in 1492 and is associated with the discovery and colonization of the continent by Europeans. According to modern concepts, the natives of America came to the continent from Asia through the Bering Strait (Bering land). Settled on the mainland, they created three main centers of great cultures: the Mayans in Central America (from the 1st millennium BC), the Aztecs in the territory of modern Mexico (from the 12th century AD) and the Incas in the territory modern Peru (from the XIV century. AD.). Other lands of the continent were inhabited by many tribes that were at very different levels of development.

In the period of the peace of the first world (that is, before the 5th century AD), the first great civilization, Maya, was created on the American continent. (The Aztec and Incan civilizations did not exist then - they flourished during the period of the classical Middle Ages.) In the first centuries of the Mayan era, the first cities on the continent were built with stone structures (houses, temples, stepped pyramids, altars, ball game stadiums). More than 100 Mayan cities are known. Among them are T-cal, Copan, Chichen Itza. In general, the value of the Maya for the development of the Americas is comparable to the role of ancient Greece in the history of the ancient world of the Mediterranean.

 

In the Middle Ages, the peoples of Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire reached their highest development in the Americas. The history of the great civilizations of medieval Mesoamerica is divided into two periods: early, or classical (d. AD - IX.), And late, or postclassical (X.- beginning of the XVI.) '.

The most striking cultures of the classical period were Teotihuacan in Central Mexico, Zapotec in Oaxaca, Totonac in Veracruz and Mayan in Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. At the end of I millennium n. e. they died due to reasons that have not yet been fully clarified (foreign invasions, the decline of economic life, internal social upheavals).

In the postclassical period, new rapidly growing city-states appeared on the territory of Mexico and Central America. By the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in this part of the continent, three major civilizations flourished: Aztec, (Nahua) —the most powerful of all, the Mixtec and Yucatan Mayans. In 1325, the Aztecs founded the settlement of Tenochtitlan (now in its place is the city of Mexico), which became the capital of the Aztec state. By 1427 the lands from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean were subordinated to him. In the years 1519-1521. the Aztec state and its territories were conquered by the Spanish conquistadors under the leadership of Hernán Cortes. Longer than others (for 20 years after the conquest of the Aztecs), the Maya retained its independence - the highest culturally civilized pre-Columbian America. The Mayan state in northern Guatemala (the capital is Thaya Sal on Lake Peten Itza) remained independent until the end of the 17th century. (1696), when the Spaniards captured it.

 

The largest state in South America was the Inca Empire (more correctly “Inca”) - Tauantinsuyu, which was formed in 1438 in the territory of the modern states of Peru and partially in Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia. Its capital was the city of Cusco. In 1532 the Inca Empire was captured by the Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro.

The colonization of America was accompanied by the destruction of ancient cultures, the brutal exploitation of the indigenous population and the slaves imported from Africa.

The Spanish conquistadors pursued a twofold goal: to enrich themselves at the expense of their conquests and by any means to spread the tenets of the Catholic faith; as a result, the XVI century blazed with bonfires in America, in which the priceless manuscripts of the pagans were burned along with their recalcitrant defenders. Within seconds, destroyed what has been created for centuries and millennia. There were almost no people among the conquerors capable of realizing the epoch-making significance of what is happening and to understand that the unique achievements of the outstanding civilizations of an entire continent, which did not manage to exert their influence on the development of world culture and science, perish irrevocably in blood and fire; their story will never be fully restored.

The word "Inca" is mistakenly used to name the people who inhabited the territory of modern Peru and some adjacent countries in the pre-Hispanic period. In the Inca Empire, the word "Inca" referred to only men - representatives of the ruling clan of the state of Tauantinsuyu, that is, an extremely small part of the male population of this gigantic empire.

 

Sources on history and medicine

Written Monuments

 

The possibility of studying the ancient texts of the natives of America appeared only in the middle of our century, when the Soviet scholar Yu. V. Knorozov deciphered the Mayan hieroglyphic writing (pictographic manuscripts were studied from the 17th century). Among the miraculously preserved Mayan manuscripts are the “Codex of Malabechi” (“Codex Magliabe-chi”), the “Codex Borgia” (“Codex Borgia”), the Codex of the Aztec physician De la Cruz (De la Crus), etc. written testimonies of participants and eyewitnesses to the events of the conquest: soldiers (Bernal Diaz), military leaders (E. Cortes), monks (Diego de Landa, Las Casas, Sahagun), local people (Inca Garcilaso de la Vega), royal officials, chroniclers.

 

Archaeological data

 

Targeted archaeological research in the Americas began about 100 years ago. Mayan pyramids, Inca mummies, Chichen Itza’s treasures, works of art and tools confirm written reports about the 'high level of development of medieval civilizations of Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire. Numerous ceramics of ancient Peru tell about the diseases of that time and their healing, which depict developmental anomalies (“cleft lip”, acromegaly), illnesses (blindness, skin diseases, enlargement of the thyroid gland), consequences of surgical interventions (amputation of limbs, craniotomy) ), as well as the process of childbirth (Fig. 102) and the provision of medical care.

Ethnographic data The study of the cultural traditions and way of life of the Aboriginal tribes that have survived in America after the conquest is important.

All this taken together allows us to somewhat recreate the history of the indigenous population of the continent and fill in the gaps in our knowledge of healing in pre-Columbian America.

 

The development of empirical knowledge

 

As already mentioned, the peoples of pre-Columbian America reached a high level in various fields of knowledge. They cultivated potatoes, ku-kuruz, tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, melons, cocoa, cotton, pineapples, tobacco, which before the discovery of Columbus were not known in the Eastern Hemisphere. At the same time, in America they did not know wheat, barley and rice - the main food of the Old World. The exchange of food between the two hemispheres doubled the agricultural potential of the world.

The Maya, the most ancient and highest civilization of pre-Columbian America, determined the cultural development of the entire continent. Maya created the only hieroglyphic writing and an unusually complex philosophy on the continent, reached great heights in mathematics, architecture, astronomy. The Mayan calendar, spanning millions of years, as well as their number I, was much more accurate than those enjoyed by the whole of enlightened Europe until the space flight era.

The Aztecs, whose state existed for less than a hundred years, perceived and summarized the achievements of many conquered peoples. They used the twenty-year number system, the solar calendar, they knew the pictographic (pictorial) writing. Their medicine was the most popular on the continent.

The Incas achieved high perfection in construction and pottery art, gold, copper and bronze works, scored and written through a system of knots and pictography. Their mummies are perfectly preserved to this day.

By the beginning of the Conquest, the great civilizations of pre-Columbian America were at the stage of early slavery relations. They did not know wheels, iron and gunpowder, which greatly accelerated their conquest by Europeans, who had already entered the period of anti-feudal revolutions.

 

The development of medical knowledge

 

The medicine of the great civilizations of pre-Columbian America was at the level of the main achievements of the developed slaveholding societies of the ancient East. In a number of positions, it is comparable with the medicine of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and in some respects even surpassed modern medicine of feudal Europe.

The most developed ideas about the structure of human body on the continent were among the Aztecs: they had several hundred terms to designate parts of the human body, much more than the ancients Maia knew. Most researchers associate this knowledge with the tradition of ritual sacrifice, when on fixed days a large number of people sacrificed to the gods had their breasts opened and their hearts were taken out. At the same time, the victims' skulls remained: in the capital of the Aztecs. Tenochtitlan near the temple discovered a pyramid of 62,000 human skulls. (In Maya, human sacrifices took place only in the post-classical period (from the 10th century) and in extremely rare cases.)

 

The pagan religions of the Incas, Aztecs, and other nations were closely associated with faith in life after death. This led to the veneration of the dead, the magnificent rituals of the burial of noble persons and the practice of embalming the dead.

The Incas knew the chemical methods of preserving the corpses that were used in the mummification of the deceased rulers and noble people. The technique of opening the Incas is reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian. After extraction of the viscera and the brain (often through the large occipital foramen), the body was treated with Tolu balm, whose composition was determined by the success of modern chemistry. It included: Peruvian balsam, wood tar, salts, alkaloids, menthol, tannin, and many other local natural substances. At the burial of the mummy, a sedentary man was attached. She was dressed in the best clothes, wrapped with head in blankets and placed in specially constructed buildings with a lot of rooms, deep sand caves dug under the ground (Paracas culture) or natural alpine caves, whose cold and clean air contributed to the preservation of the corpses. Together with the mummies, they buried the things that the person used during his lifetime, believing that they would be necessary for him after death. In Inca mythology there was a special god - the patron of corpses - Totem Wari. During the holidays, the mummies of the rulers (the Incas) were carried to the main square, dressed in expensive clothes and hung with gold and silver weapons. According to researchers, the removal of mummies was sometimes accompanied by the spread of rotting products, which led to mass diseases.

 

Aboriginal mummies were also found on the territory of Central and North America: in the Valley of Mummies (Kentucky, USA), in the Cave of Mummies (Arizona, USA), etc. The study of the burials of Miami and Aztec showed that the customs of these peoples included intentional change of certain parts of the body in certain sections of society: sharpening of the upper teeth, teeth inlay with nephrite, obsidian, jasper (Fig. 103) and gold, changing the shape of the skull, piercing the nasal septum, earlobe, tongue and other members (for the purpose of sacrificial bleeding). The concept of beauty in Maya included a flat forehead, an elongated skull and squint. In this regard, immediately after birth, the child’s head was fastened between two planks, and a noticeable bead was hung on the forehead between the eyes.

Causes of disease were considered the features of the calendar year, bad deeds and sins, failure to perform sacrifices, extraterrestrial and magical powers that are not dependent on humans. The Aztecs, for example, believed that the diseases of the feet, ulcers and colds were sent by the rain god Tlaloc, and the Mayans associated fevers, jaundices, hematemesis and hemorrhoids with monkeys, which they considered to be their ancestors. Along with this, quite natural causes of diseases associated with the life of the patient were also recognized.

 

Maya had certain ideas about infection from a sick person. In the codes that have come down to us, there are descriptions of massive infectious diseases. Thus, the fall of the state of Tula was due to a massive disease characterized by bloody vomiting and diarrhea. One of the diseases, accompanied by fever, later became known as malaria (Latin malaria, from Spanish mal aires - bad, air).

For the designation of various disease states there were many names (over 200), which significantly exceeded the number of similar terms available by that time (the period of the conquest) in Western Europe. Thus, in the Mayan language there were words to refer to diseases of the teeth, pharynx, food indigestion states and various stomach acidities, constipation, various types of diarrhea (diarrhea with blood; diarrhea similar to dysenteric and cholera, etc.), pulsating pain in the intestines , intestinal and renal colic, laryngeal and bronchial cough, rhinitis, inflammation of the nasopharynx, diphtheria, pharyngeal dyspnea, ascites, heart attack, various types of bleeding, painful urination and hematuria, etc. Maya distinguished several types of feverish conditions and coma GOVERNMENTAL diseases. . When syphilis was determined primary chancre, bubo and other skin manifestations. Special terms (which correspond to modern concepts: facial paralysis, hemiplegia, loss of consciousness, epilepsy, hallucinations, melancholia, insanity, etc.) were also used to denote nervous diseases and mental states.

 

Our knowledge of the Maya medical dictionary was largely replenished after the discovery of the Soviet scientist Yu. V. Knorozov, who deciphered Maya hieroglyphic writing.

Medicinal healing on the continent was closely related to magic, but in its essence it was based on the centuries-old empirical experience of peoples. The priests and folk healers were engaged in the treatment of diseases. The Aztecs called them ticl (ticitl). In ancient Peru, there was a whole tribe of healers, the Coleual, who treated the Inca rulers. The secrets of their art they kept inside the tribe.

Inca Garcilaso de la Vega wrote about the achievements of traditional Peruvian medicine. In his History of the State of the Incas, he reports on the use of bleeding and gastric lavage with local laxatives and emetics, expelling worms and cleansing with a diet, treating wounds and strengthening the gums, as well as the effective effect of matecllu herb, the application of which cured acute inflammatory diseases of the eyes and for two days dissolved thorn.

The medicine of pre-Columbian America had a rich arsenal of herbal medicines, most of which were not known in the Eastern Hemisphere.

According to some scientists, the Aztec healers knew about 3,000 medicinal plants (Fig. 104).

 

The gardens of medicinal plants created by them struck the Spanish conquistadors (Western Europe of that time did not yet know the 'pharmaceutical gardens and vegetable gardens). In the Badiano codex (books X and XI), 251 medicinal plants are described in special sections on herbs and 185 color drawings are given. Today, many of them have been studied and introduced into world medical practice. These include ipecacuanus and foxglove, cinchona and guayacoba bark, narcotic drugs, Peruvian balsam, coca leaves, and many other medicines. However, most of them remain unknown to modern science.

The art of giving birth and treating female diseases has reached a high level on the continent. According to most researchers, Aztec medicine in this area was not inferior to its modern European.

Births in Dacolumbian America were performed by women who were already giving birth. They were universally respected and invited to the family immediately after marriage, in order to give the necessary advice on hygiene and rules of conduct during pregnancy. A few months before giving birth, a pregnant woman was given a steam bath, during which she felt her stomach, determined the position of the fetus and, if necessary, corrected it. When the first signs of childbirth appeared, the woman in labor was washed in a bath, she was given Sasa-Uaktli medicine to prevent ruptures and watered with juices, infusions and decoctions of plants that contributed to pain relief and stimulation of childbirth. Gave birth on all fours or squatting. As a rule, two women helped the woman in labor: one supported her from behind, and the other received a newborn baby (see Fig. 102). Breast feeding started from 2-3 days after birth and sometimes continued up to 3-4 years (special medical plants were used to stimulate the release of milk).

For pathological childbirth embryotomy was used. Reliable information about intravital caesarean section in the Aztec is not available.

The treatment of women’s pain was very effective due to the numerous medicines that were prepared from local plants, minerals and parts of animals with strict adherence to their dose. Some pre-Columbian American medicine products are used today in obstetric and gynecological practice. However, most of them are unknown to modern science. In particular, this applies to contraception and the regulation of pregnancy. So, if a woman of the modern Indian tribe of Brazil decides to abstain from childbearing, she drinks the tincture from the local herb she knows, and then ceases to give birth; it may take several years, and if she wants to have a baby again, she will look for another herb that removes the effect first. The secret of these herbs is strictly preserved within the tribe and is passed on in oral tradition from generation to generation.

 

In the field of operative healing, the Inca and their predecessors of the First Prankas (Paracas culture) achieved the greatest success. Inca healers successfully healed wounds and fractures using “tires” from the feathers of large birds; carried out amputation of the upper and lower extremities, made trepanning skulls.

Traces of trepanation retained 2% of fossil skulls found in the regions of he. Cusco and Paracas. The trephination holes, often in the area of ​​the frontal and parietal bones, were usually square or polygonal in shape (see Fig. 5) and in some cases were covered with gold plates. The dura mater, as a rule, was not damaged. About 70% of the operated patients recovered, as evidenced by the formation of callus at the edges of the surgical opening. The painstaking study of trepanned skulls by scientists from Peru, France, the USA and other countries showed that trepanning was performed not only for ritual, but also for medical purposes (for injuries and traumatic injuries of the skull, inflammatory processes in bone tissue, syphilitic ulcers, etc.) .

Surgical instruments for trepanning — tumi were made of obsidian, gold, silver (fig. 105), and copper.

"Suture material was also unusual and was often borrowed from nature. Thus, the Brazilian Indians brought together the edges of the wound and brought large ants with strong jaws to them. When the ant seized the edges of the wound with jaws, the body was cut off and the head was left in the wound until it was fully healed; the number of ants used depended on the size of the wound, and there was a double effect: the mechanical convergence of the wound edges and its disinfection due to formic acid, the existence and effect of which the Indians did not yet know. f, it was believed to be common and achieved by the use of infusions of herbs with narcotic effect, the juices of cacti and other plants; their juices and infusions lasted for several days (which struck the 16th century Spanish conquistadors who had arrived from Europe that was not yet familiar with pain relief ).

 

Medical affairs organization

 

In the states of pre-Columbian America (Aztec and Inca), clear forms of organization of medical affairs were developed.

In the Aztec state, there was a special body that was in charge of regulating the activity of "healers. In the Aztec army, which, according to E. Cortes, numbered 150 thousand people and was larger than any of the European armies of the time, there were special people to carry the wounded from the field In Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and other cities, military “hospitals” were created, as well as special premises for the isolation of freaks, albinos, patients with incurable and unknown diseases. During mass diseases, enterprises There were effective measures to limit the focus of a dangerous disease, and the families of the ruler and nobles immediately left the disaster area.

In the Empire of the Incas also existed strict rules that can be defined as elements of state regulation. This is the organization of shelters for the sick, a ban on seriously ill people living in cities, and injuring and sick from birth to marry, etc.

The centers of high civilizations of pre-Columbian America differed favorably from the modern Western European cities. Thus, in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (with a population of about 150 thousand people), special teams, with a total of about 1000 people, followed the cleanliness. The streets of this city were so clean that, according to the testimony of the conquistadors, "there was nothing to stumble about." Pure drinking water flowed into Tenochtitlan from the mountains through two stone water pipes. Of great importance in the life of the Mayans and Aztecs played steam baths (temazcaili), which were used for hygienic, therapeutic and ritual purposes. The Aztec baths (Fig. 106) were low, with a narrow entrance, 1.5 m high, 2-3 m long. One of their walls was laid out of natural stone. For steam, it was doused with water. In the baths we prepared for childbirth and washed the newborn, massaged and treated skin diseases with sulphurous waters.

With all the fragmentation of our knowledge of pre-Columbian medicine in America, it is obvious that it was a brilliant medicine of its time. Much of her achievements are lost during the conquest. However, what survived, was one of the origins of the formation of the American, European, and with them, and world medicine.

The tragic end of the civilizations of pre-Columbian America constantly reminds of the great duty of mankind: to preserve and study the heritage of the past, use it in the present and preserve it for the future.

 

 

The history of medicine