Almost all observers are agreed upon the fact of the intimate relation of religion and medicine. Not only do we find among all primitive and ancient peoples a close relation in practice, but most of the accounts of the origin of the healing art are mythological and colored with religious ideas.

A good example is that of the Menomini Indians (18 : 14th) who relate how a great "manitou" came to earth and chose a wife of the children of men. Of the four sons to which she gave birth, the first went to the spirit world when he arrived at manhood and learned all the mysteries of the "grand medicine." He then returned to earth and giving each of his family a medicine bag revealed to them the mysteries and told them to perpetuate the ceremonies into which he had initiated them, after which he departed and has since remained the intercessor with the Great Spirit.

In ancient China, Japan, and Tartary we find a religion of shamanism, worshipping magical powers above all else. So, too, in Chaldea where Maspero (57, p. 780) finds that "consultations and medical treatment were religious offices, in which were involved purification's, offerings and a whole ritual of mysterious words and gestures." Among the Ojibwa, as with most other Indian tribes, the practice of magic and medicine is limited to those who belong to the great medicine society into which they must be initiated by religious ceremonies comprising four degrees. For the Romans Cicero declared : "the art of medicine has been consecrated by the invention of the immortal gods."

Mooney (18) finds that "among the Indians the profession of medicine and religion are inseparable. The doctor is always priest, and the priest is always doctor" -- an opinion from which few would dissent, even if it had been applied to all primitive peoples.

Miracles of Healing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

By Charles W. Waddle (1909)

Primitive Christian Worship
Hereditary genius