The Cherokee Physician: Or Indian Guide to Health, as Given by Richard Foreman, a Cherokee Doctor

The Cherokee Physician

Or Indian Guide to Health, as Given by Richard Foreman, a Cherokee Doctor

By Richard Foreman and James W. Mahoney

A DocSouth Books Edition

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library

Chapel Hill

A DocSouth Books Edition, 2018

ISBN 978-1-4696-4172-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)

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Documenting the American South

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About This Edition

This edition is made available under the imprint of DocSouth Books, a collaborative endeavor between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library and the University of North Carolina Press. Titles in DocSouth Books are drawn from the Library’s Documenting the American South (DocSouth) digital publishing program, online at docsouth.unc.edu. These print and downloadable e-book editions have been prepared from the DocSouth electronic editions.

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Summary

Dr. James W. Mahoney, whose dates are uncertain, married Amanda M. Turnley; both were Tennessee-born Irish Americans. The first part of Mahoney’s practice in medicine and surgery was in Tennessee, experiences that inform The Cherokee Physician and his collaboration with Richard Foreman. Mahoney eventually made his way to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, following a stay of three or four years in Kentucky. Among his ten children was Oscar L. Mahoney, a Confederate infantryman who in his footsteps to practicing medicine, eventually settling in Phoenix, Arizona, where he became superintendent of the Arizona State Hospital. Little can be ascertained about coauthor Richard Bark Foreman (b. 1779), apart from what is available in genealogical sources. Sotheby’s recently auctioned a first edition of The Cherokee Physician that fetched more than $1000. The auction house’s researchers note that Foreman’s mother was a Cherokee, and his father was Scotsman John Anthony Foreman, who was an Indian trader (born probably in Scotland, whose family settled in Pennsylvania).

The extended title of The Cherokee Physician serves as an apt summary of its contents: The Cherokee Physician, or Indian Guide to Health, as Given by Richard Foreman, a Cherokee Doctor; Comprising a Brief View of Anatomy, With General Rules for Preserving Health without the Use of Medicines. The Diseases of the U. States, with Their Symptoms, Causes, and Means of Prevention, are Treated on in a Satisfactory Manner. It Also Contains a Description of a Variety of Herbs and Roots, Many of which are not Explained in Any Other Book, and their Medical Virtues have Hitherto been Unknown to the Whites; To which is Added a Short Dispensatory. The book was the result of a remarkable collaboration between James Mahoney, an Irish American and native Tennessean, and Richard Foreman, whose parental ancestry was probably Scottish and Cherokee. Typical of its time, the book dispenses moral advice as cheerfully as medical advice. Needless to say, much of its advice flies in the face of modern medical practice and should not be applied. Foreman and Mahoney warn against sitting by an open window and offer conjecture, now disproven, about the pathologies of illnesses such as yellow fever and undulant fever (milk sickness). They claim, for instance, to be able to cure cancerous lesions, without fail, through a mixture of herbal poultices, diet, and blood-cleansing teas. One might be tempted to say Cherokee Physician, cure thyself—except that many of its cures have come into vogue or else find modern scientific endorsement, with examples from the text including the anti-inflammatory properties of red pepper and the usefulness of the European plantain.

The volume has intrigued homeopathic practitioners through the years, and it attracted the interest of contemporary practitioners, including, for instance, one doctor who wrote to the Therapeutic Gazette (September 1881) to enthusiastically endorse its cure for gravel through Gravel Weed (Actinomeris Helianthoides). Gravel translates to kidney stones in contemporary parlance; modern homeopathic sources say little about the common flower’s use as a diuretic, furnishing one example of knowledge in The Cherokee Physician that has escaped modern evaluation. The book offers, by slant, interesting ethnographic observations, equally unproven. For example, it notes that dyspepsia (indigestion) is seldom to be met with among the Indians, owing, we suppose to the great simplicity of their diet, and … liberal exercise, whereas the disease appears to increase yearly among the whites, attributable to an excessive use of spirituous liquors … tobacco, mercurial preparations, and other poisonous mineral substances used for medicines.

Bryan Giemza

THE

CHEROKEE PHYSICIAN,

OR

INDIAN GUIDE TO HEALTH,

AS GIVEN BY

RICHARD FOREMAN, A CHEROKEE DOCTOR;

COMPRISING A BRIEF VIEW OF ANATOMY, WITH

GENERAL RULES FOR PRESERVING HEALTH

WITHOUT THE USE OF MEDICINES.

THE DISEASES OF THE U. STATES,

WITH THEIR SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, AND

MEANS OF PREVENTION, ARE TREATED

ON IN A SATISFACTORY

MANNER.

IT ALSO CONTAINS

A DESCRIPTION OF A VARIETY OF

HERBS AND ROOTS,

MANY OF WHICH ARE NOT EXPLAINED IN ANY

OTHER BOOK, AND THEIR MEDICAL VIRTUES

HAVE HITHER TO BEEN UNKNOWN

TO THE WHITES; TO WHICH

IS ADDED A SHORT

DISPENSATORY:

BY

JAS. W. MAHONEY.

EDNEY & DEDMAN,

ASHEVILLE, N. C.

1849.

[Page verso]DISTRICT OF EAST TENNESSEE:

Be it Remembered, That on the 6th day of October, 1845, William Mahoney, of said District, hath deposited in this office, the Title of a Book, which is in the words and figures following, to wit:

"The Cherokee Physician, or Indian Guide to Health,

"as given by Richard Foreman, a Cherokee Doctor, com-

"prising a brief view of Anatomy, with General Rules

"for Preserving Health, without the use of Medicines.—

"It also contains a description of a variety of Herbs and

"Roots, many of which are not explained in any other

"Book, and their medical virtues have hitherto been un-

"known to the Whites; to which is added a short Dispen-

satory, by James W. Mahoney, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in conformity with an act of Congress, entitled an act to amend the several acts respecting copy-rights.

A true copy from the Records in my office.

SEAL.

JAMES W. CALDWELL,

Clerk of the United States

Court for the District of

East Tennessee.

[Page 5] INTRODUCTION.

Every new publication on this, as well as other subjects, should have some grounds upon which it can set up its claim to a share of public patronage and support. Had I not believed that this work contained something new and useful, I would not have published it. But, believing as I do, that the HEALING ART, as known and practised by the Cherokee Indians, would be welcomely received by many: and having personally tested the efficacy of their remedies, in the cure of diseases after such remedies as are usually prescribed by the whites had been tried and had utterly failed to effect a cure, I have been induced to commit this system to paper. I am sensible that in so doing, I expose myself to the animadversions of the critics. I am also sensible, (to some extent) of the prejudice which prevails in the minds of many, against Medical works, which are not decked in the flowery drapery of a fine and ornamented style and technical lore. Believing, as I do, that medicine should not be merely a study of curious enquiry, but one of the deepest interest to every son of mortality, I have endeavored to adorn it with plain practical sense, rather than with the fascinating decorations of high standing, unmeaning names, and technical phrases.

Those who will take the pains to read and study, will soon be convinced that the All-wise Creator in the infinitude of his mercy, has furnished man with the means of curing his own diseases, in all the climates and countries of which he is an inhabitant; and that a knowledge of the means of curing all common diseases, is not so difficult to obtain as has been generally represented.

The really valuable materials in medicine, and those which act with the greatest promptitude and power, in the cure of diseases, are few and simple, and easily to be procured in all countries.

The Aborigines of our country found the means of mitigating [Page 6] and curing their diseases, in the uncultivated wilds which gave them birth,—they knew nothing of foreign drugs, but with roots, herbs, and plants found in their own country, they mitigated and cured the diseases most common to that country. That their knowledge of the medical properties of the roots and herbs common in the American forest, is superior to that possessed by the whites will hardly be denied. Neither will it be denied by those acquainted with their success, in treating disease, that they have, in many instances, performed cures, by means of roots, herbs and plants, after the usual remedies prescribed by white physicians had failed. The articles employed by them in the cure of diseases, are simple, and principally such as can be procured in this country.

The time is not far distant, when most; if not all the diseases, of our country, will be healed without the use of calomel and mercurial preparations, and when foreign drugs will be disused by administering physicians.

My principal design, in the publication of this work, is to lay before the heads of families, the means of guarding against diseases, and also such remedies as are best calculated to arrest diseases in their incipient, or forming stages. I have labored to give such instruction, with regard to the nature and symptoms of diseases, as will enable the reader to determine, with some degree of accuracy, when the aid of a skillful physician is really necessary, and also to distinguish the man of practical science and wisdom, from the ignorant pretender, and the assuming quack.

With these remarks, I submit the work to the inspection of a liberal and enlightened American people. The impartial and intelligent reader will doubtless award to it its due portion of merit and demerit.

[Page 7] PART ONE.

CHAPTER 1. ANATOMY.

Anatomy treats of the structure of the human body, its various organs, and their use.

Practical Anatomy, is the dissecting or dividing of the organized substances, to exhibit the structure, situation, and uses of the parts. Those wishing to practice surgery, will find that subject discussed at length in books that treat on that alone. A knowledge of Anatomy is indispensable to him who would become either a safe or a skillful Surgeon; but to a practical Physician, in the treatment of diseases, it is of little value, comparatively speaking. But as this work is designed for all who may see proper to give it a perusal, and not limited to the use of any in particular, it is reasonable to suppose that some will be pleased, and perhaps benefitted, by this part of the work. A minute and extensive treatise on Anatomy will not be expected by the intelligent reader, in a work of this kind. But I will endeavor to give the outlines of the whole human system, in a plain and concise manner. This short treatise on this subject, will be sufficient to enable the heads of families, and others, who practice under the directions of this book, to ascertain with some degree of accuracy, the seat of disease, and also to enable them to return, to its proper place, a dislocated joint; and this is all that the writer believes will be worth its room in this work.

SECTION 1.

ORGANS OF THE HUMAN BODY & THEIR USES.

The most natural general divisions of the human body, are—

1. The head (Craneum.)

2. The body, (Trunk.)

3. The legs, feet and hands, (upper and lower extremities.)

These general divisions are composed of bones, muscles, glands, ligaments, cartilages, tendons, nerves, blood vessels, absorbents, and the brain and spinal marrow.

[Page 8]SUB-DIVISIONS.—The body, (Trunk,) is divided into two cavities:

1. The breast, (Chest or Thorax.)

2. The belly, (Abdomen.)

The breast, (thorax) and belly (abdomen,) are separated by a strong membrane, called the midriff or diaphragm, which will be described hereafter.

The upper division, breast (thorax,) contains the heart and lungs, called the thoracic viscera; and the lower division, belly (abdomen) contains the stomach, kidneys, liver, intestines, &c., called abdominal viscera.

The bones will now be taken into view. They may properly be considered as the braces of the human frame —they give to it shape, stature and firmness. The number of bones in the human body, is estimated at two hundred and forty-eight. Of these, sixty-three are in the head; fifty-three in the trunk; sixty-eight in the upper extremities, or arms, and sixty-four in the lower extremities.—This estimation includes the four sesamoid bones in the great toes, and the four sceamoid bones in the thumbs, which are not always found.

SKULL—(Cranium.)

The skull contains the eight following bones:

One in the forehead—os frontis. Two temple bones—ossa temporalia. Two walls, or sides—ossa parietalia. One full of holes—os ethmoides. One wedge-like form—os spenoides. One back of the head—os occipitis. The os frontis, is the bone of the forehead, reaching from its upper edge, downwards, so as to include the upper part of the eye sockets, and backwards on each side, so as to join the temple bones. The temple bones join the walls, or sides, and the forehead.

The Os Ethmoides, or bone full of holes, is a very curious bone, situated on the inside of the head, or rather forehead. It is a light spongy bone, having somewhat the appearance of net-work.