posted
So ausar brought up the subject to me of indigenous African medicine. Haven't had a lot of time to research the topic but I've read plenty of articles/reports concerning African medicines, long known to the inhabitants of the continent, that are repackaged by pharmaceutical companies and sold for mass profits without due credit.
Apparently a weight loss supplement used by indigenous Africans for centuries to reduce hunger during periods of drought.
The earliest example that I know of is through "Oneissimus", an African-American slave who saved hundreds of lives by introducing an inoculation method that he knew from Africa, which effectively cured many of the rampant cases of small pox emerging in the 18th century prior to the creation of a vaccine. --Source
Other cases:
* South Africans use a plant known as "White Willow" to reduce arthritic pain and swelling. This is also used to stem internal bleeding.
* Then you have Pygeum, which is a bark used by Cameroonians to cure/treat things from inflammation to prostate enlargement.
* Hoodia is also found all over Africa and like African mango is known for its hunger reducing abilities, mostly utilized by the San while going on long hunting trips (usually without provisions).
* Iboga is a shrub used in Gabon which western pharmacists are now citing for its potential to treat cancer patients. I'm not exactly sure what Africans used it for.
^Anyways, there's plenty more, like the cataract eye-surgery performed at Djenne mentioned in the Tarikh al Fattah, among other things.
Here's an excellent website with very specific information on African traditional medicines and plants. You are even able to search according to the symptom, for instance, I clicked on "internal injury/bleeding" and up came the plant Calpurnia aurea, which has traditionally been used by the Amhara of Ethiopia to relieve such symptoms.
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Give thanks for this thread...we need more like this. Posts: 3446 | From: U.S. by way of JA by way of Africa | Registered: Jan 2010
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Born in Africa, Onesimus was a slave of Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister in Boston. When a smallpox epidemic broke out in Boston in 1721, Onesimus informed his master about an inoculation procedure practiced in Africa. The centuries-old practice was practiced throughout Africa and involved the extraction of material from the pustule of an infected person and, using a thorn, scratching it into the skin of the unaffected person. The deliberate introduction of smallpox gives the inoculated person immunity from the disease. In some cases, there is no reaction while a mild non-fatal form of the disease may occur in others.
Although inoculation was considered to be extremely dangerous, Cotton Mather was steadfast in accepting the reliability of the information provided by Onesimus, and convinced Dr. Zabdiel Boylston to experiment with the procedure. Beginning with his son and two slaves, he inoculated over 240 people.
The process of inoculation was politically, medically and religiously opposed in the United States and Europe. In religious circles, it was deemed unnatural and perceived as subverting God's will. Public reaction to the experiment was so adverse that both Mather and Boylston's lives were threatened. Records indicate that the inoculation process itself killed 2 percent of the patients who requested it, while 15 percent of the people who contracted the disease and were not inoculated died from the virus.
Onesimus' recollection of a traditional African medical practice saved numerous lives and sparked the introduction of smallpox inoculation in the United States. http://blackhistorypages.net/pages/onesimus.php
See Blacks In Science Ancient and Modern.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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^ I've long known about the practice of Cesarian as well as other surgical procedures used in Africa centuries before Westerners. The practice of Cesarian was revived in Europe via the Moors.
Mind you this phenomena of Africans "discovered" for involvement and uses of advanced medicine is not new but goes back to ancient times when the Greeks praised the Egyptians for their medicinal even surgical knowledge.
It's funny that many of these innovative medical practices by the ancient Egyptians were medical traditions among other Africans such as the use of honey as antiseptic, to contraceptives, to surgery.
Let's not forget the greatest physician in the ancient world before Galen and Hypocrates:
Also unlike the Western tradition, there existed in Egypt as well as other African societies a long held tradition of female physicians.
Posts: 26237 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Born in Africa, Onesimus was a slave of Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister in Boston. When a smallpox epidemic broke out in Boston in 1721, Onesimus informed his master about an inoculation procedure practiced in Africa. The centuries-old practice was practiced throughout Africa and involved the extraction of material from the pustule of an infected person and, using a thorn, scratching it into the skin of the unaffected person. The deliberate introduction of smallpox gives the inoculated person immunity from the disease. In some cases, there is no reaction while a mild non-fatal form of the disease may occur in others.
Although inoculation was considered to be extremely dangerous, Cotton Mather was steadfast in accepting the reliability of the information provided by Onesimus, and convinced Dr. Zabdiel Boylston to experiment with the procedure. Beginning with his son and two slaves, he inoculated over 240 people.
The process of inoculation was politically, medically and religiously opposed in the United States and Europe. In religious circles, it was deemed unnatural and perceived as subverting God's will. Public reaction to the experiment was so adverse that both Mather and Boylston's lives were threatened. Records indicate that the inoculation process itself killed 2 percent of the patients who requested it, while 15 percent of the people who contracted the disease and were not inoculated died from the virus.
Onesimus' recollection of a traditional African medical practice saved numerous lives and sparked the introduction of smallpox inoculation in the United States. http://blackhistorypages.net/pages/onesimus.php
See Blacks In Science Ancient and Modern.
Damn, Brada! You just beat in making a post on inoculation being a long held African practice.
While Africans did not know about germs, they attributed disease to bad spirits, and some African societies recognized that immunity can be conferred through exposure to someone recovered from a "bad spirit". Tattoo or scarification tools were used to mark one with a needle or blade who was already infected.
Posts: 26237 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Medical Prescription - The origin of the Rx abbreviation, that doctors use all over the world, and in all languages, originated from the eye symbol of Heru (Horus).
The World first Dental Bridge
The Edwin Smith surgical papyrus shows a profound empirical knowledge of the different types of injuries and how to treat them: this is a copy from the Second Intermediate Period of a work at least 1000 years older. Other medical documents include the Great Berlin Papyrus, the London Papyrus, Chester Beatty Papyrus NO.VI, Papyrus Ny Carlsberg NO.VIII and the Kahun Papyrus, the last dealing with gynecology. These are largely copies of Old Kingdom treatises made during the Middle and New Kingdoms.
Wow, that was a very interesting read. As I understand C-section births are difficult to perform. Before you posted this I was searching around for sources of indigenous anesthesia, but here it seems they merely used intoxicants.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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