ANCIENT MAORI SURGERY

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1928, Page 3

ANCIENT MAORI SURGERY

CRUDE BUT EFFICIENT. FREEDOM FROM INFECTIOUS DISEASE. AUCKLAND, Sept. 23. A surprisingly comprehensive knowledge of medicine and surgery was possessed by the Polynesian races before the coming of the Europeans, according to details given by Dr E. P. Ellison, Director of Maori Hygiene, in a public lecture under the auspices of the Anthropology and -Maori Race Section of the Auckland Institute. “When I mentioned to some friends in Wellington that I was going to speak on the Maoris’ knowledge of surgery, -I was asked whether I meant Maori carvings,” said Dr Ellison, with a smile. However, it was a fact that amputations carried out with the aid of flints were performed in extreme cases. That delicate operation, the Caesarean section, had also -been practised on rare occasions, as was demonstrated by a carving which the speaker had seen in Wellington. The Maori also bad a knowledge of cauterisation. A supplejack stick was placed in a fire until it was carbonised, and was used red hot for searing. Blood-letting was practised to a certain extent among the Polynesian races. Dr (Ellison told of a novel cure for headache he had heard of in Niue. A shark’s tooth attached to a stick ivas placed to the forehead and tapped with another stick, to cause bleeding, which was said to relieve the headache. , The Polynesians treated fractures in the usual way, trying to- get an align merit and then using splints, made' for instance, from a flax butt. (Manuka bark was also used in the same way. A /Son" setter in Mangaia, Rarotonga, did fairly good work. The speaker had examined several cases, and only one could he pronounced to be a failure. As the bone-setter said, “I haven’t killed anyone.” Cuts and war wound* were treated with herbs, oil being used; for the more severe cases. Cases of apparent drowning were treated by smoking, said the doctor. The patient was inverted feet uppermost over a fire of dry (branches, with green trees on top to cause a dense smoke. Treatment by warmth 'followed in the usual way. Dr Ellison belibyed that authentic recoveries had been induced by that method. The Polynesian used to extract teeth in rather a crude way, but he got them out all. right,,, said the lecturer. iSometimes. t’hd’tooth was tied” ..and a hot ember was .poked at the patient, who jumped back suddenly, and tlm tooth came out. “I have heard of no cases of broken jaws resulting from that treatment, but toothache was a rare complaint,” said Dr Ellison. Jn cases of shock the patient was kept- still, and a herbal lotion was applied to deaden the pain. The success of .that treatment was really due. to the quietness enjoined. For burns, oil was msed. and in other cases peaty mud; which was allowed to- cake on the affected part, thus keeping out the air and allowing the skin to re-form. In some Polynesian islands, massage was also practised,. and, particularly in Niue, the native masseur knew all the parts of the body perfectly, and all his strokes were scientific, but some massage treatments were somewhat drastic. A patient with fedomimil pains might be placed wtih his back on the floor, while a masseur, weighing perhaps 14 stone, conducted treatment with his feet. The Polynesian was very careful in regard to infection, and isolated patients with infectious diseases: la case of death the Tint used for the patient was at once burned. “I have never heard of an instance of a Maori contracting diphtheria,” said Dr Ellison. “Several doctors have commented on that (fact, but no explanation appears to be forthcoming. Perhaps the Maori has special immunity. Perhaps his diet has something to do with it.” Among the old-time Maoris, .cases of infectious disease, such as scarlet fever or measles, were virtually unknown. Very seldom did the Maori oi the earlier days contract colds. Generally speaking,, the doctor believed that the Polynesian race*? were stronger abdominally than the European, (but nowadays their respiratory system was more easily affected, in such forms as influenza and tuberculosis, than was the ca*e with Europeans. Half-castes, particularly in the second generation, had to take special care to avoid complications following respiratory complaints. “I do not know what Sir Oliver Lodge would say, but it i.s lby opinion that the Maori hag probably forgotten as much about Spiritualism as the Europeans know to-day,” said Ur Ell’son. The speaker referred to the belief that the Maoris had in charms and magic, and . mentioned that he had been present as an investigator at Maori seances. It had ccrtainD appeared to him from a distance that the tohunga’s face was contorted in i different directions, according to the ! nature of the spirit. In one ease the ; jaw appeared to become elongated.