An aboriginal girdle / by Edgar R. Waite.

  • Waite, Edgar R. (Edgar Ravenswood), 1866-1928
Date:
[1923]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An aboriginal girdle / by Edgar R. Waite. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    make the exhibits of value not only to those who find it conveni¬ ent to pass through the exhibition halls, but to many others. In en¬ deavoring* thus to carry into efiect the purpose of the Smithsonian Institution, “the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,’’ it, has been considered preferable to describe small groups of related exhibits in detail rather than to compile a larger and more complete list which would necessarily be limited to very meager information. The collections herein described are located on the east gallery, Arts and Industries Building. Plate 1 gives a view of one side of the gallery. Plates 2, 3, 4, and 5 show the arrangement of the separate exhibits. EARLY THEORIES OF DISEASE. Disease, a malevolent spirit, assuming material form either animate or inanimate, attacking the victim with or without provocation. Primitive. Disease, a spirit, acting at the suggestion of a human enemy possessing supernatural powers. (Sorcery, witchcraft, conjury.) Savage and lialf-civilized people. Disease caused by the angered spirits of the dead, either men or animals, or even plants. Savage and half-civilized people. Disease, a punishment, inflicted by an offended deity. Ancient. Disease due to the influence of the planets or other heavenly bodies. Astrology. Disease due to a disturbance in the relative proportions or dis¬ tribution of the fluids, or “ humors ” of the body, namely, blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. (Hippocrates, Galen.) ARRANGEMENT OF EXHIBITS. Magic medicine: Exorcism; invocation; incantation; amulets and charms; talismans; fetiches; transference of disease; signatures; the evil eye; sympathetical cures. Psychic medicine: Music; metallotlierapy; laying on of hands; royal touch; hypnotism. Pharmacological medicine: Egyptian medicine; Greek and Roman medicine. MAGIC MEDICINE. Ma gic is the “ pretended art of producing supernatural effects by bringing into play the action of supernatural or spiritual beings, of departed spirits, or of the occult powers of nature.” Its application to the treatment of disease is magic medicine. The agents may be