Health and Medicine in the 18th Century Alta California

by Kenneth Jocewicz and Carmen Rosas

Today in the United States and the Western world medical doctors and the pharmacopeias offered by drug companies have erased many of the childhood illnesses that have plagued humans for millennia. While health care may not be universally available, medical doctors are omnipresent in the United States. The world of medicine known to Juan Bautista de Anza and the settlers he led to Alta California was very different. Over the arduous 1200 miles of the trail from Culiacán, Mexico to the San Francisco Bay, one woman died and many children were born. How did these settlers, their children and their aboriginal neighbors deal with illness? What drugs did they have and who were their “doctors”?

Health care was a major problem for the colonists as well as soldiers and sailors (Williams 2000:1). The shortage of medicine and knowledge of diseases was very common in the New World. There was a large shortage of professional care in Alta California (Perrissinotto 1998: 28). Spanish colonial medicine was based on balancing the four “humors” of the body (Perrissinotto 1998: 28). In 1838 medical care did not exist, nor was there a single drug store and only two real doctors (Lopez de Lowther 1954: 9). There were many drugs created with plants from within the region as well as plants imported from the Philippines (Perrissinotto 1998: 189). Those people that became ill had a hard time recovering and they had less of an opportunity to recover (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 1). The colonists of the time had no understanding of germs and bacteria and how easily diseases spread (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 1). The colonists simply accepted that their lives had pain and sickness and that there was not much they could do about it (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 1). Many times soldiers had to stop their careers because of medical problems (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 1).  The only cirujano or surgeon in Alta California was one that was in Monterey and he was unable to provide services and medical care all over California (Perrissinotto 1998: 29). Many times the residents of the missions or presidios along California had to fix broken bones and other wounds themselves (Perrissinotto 1998: 29). The most common diseases in California were: chicken pox, cholera, diphtheria, dysentery, encephalitis, gout, influenza, bronchitis, malaria, small pox, yellow fever, measles, mumps, pleurisy, pneumonia, rabies, scarlet fever, scrofula, and syphilis (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 3).

Medical care-givers, Doctors and Facilities

Many times the older women of the community would serve as the healers. One of the most famous healers or curandera was the wife of the explorer, Juan Bautista de Anza (Cohen- Williams 2001: 1-2). Sometimes men would also participate in the healing process and they were referred to as curanderos (Cohen- Williams 2001: 2). One of the most important thing offered by the colonists was the professional medical care that the natives did not know about (Cohen- Williams 2001: 2).

“On very rare occasions was there more than one doctor at a time in all the length and breadth of California.  And, according to Dr. Bard, ‘at the time of the founding of the Mission of San Diego, the science of surgery had hardly been separated from the trade of barber.  In fact, so servile was the position of the military surgeon throughout the world and the early part of the 18^th century that he was required to shave regimental officers” (Webb 1952: 285).  Hospitals and infirmaries were probably also constructed at all the missions in an attempt to segregate the neophytes afflicted with contagious diseases, from others.  In 1797, four such houses roofed with tiles were built.[1]The padres did what they could for the sick.  In fact, they even ordered medicines to be delivered from Mexico.  But of most help were the medical books that were in the Padres’ libraries.  The inventory from San Antonio included the following books: Broun, Medicina Domestica; Tissot, Medicina Domestica; Buchan, Medicina Domestica; and Stanciffer, Florilegio Medicinal (Medical Anthology)[2]. 

When people got sick, they had temporary field hospitals that were sometimes set up (Cohen- Williams 2001: 3). The doctors had one or two roomed homes that were used as residences, pharmacies and clinics (Cohen- Williams 2001: 3). Special surgical instruments were placed in leather cases and on wooden shelves they would store jars of different medicines (Cohen- Williams 2001: 4).

In all of California, the surgeons were stationed in Monterey.  Thus those people in other parts of the state who needed medical aid during times of sickness and injury had no choice but to rely upon the Indians, Padres, early settlers, or “foreign” visitors. 

Exchange of Diseases, Causes and Theories

            Many of the disease were caused by contact with new groups of people. Old World diseases consisted of those brought on by ships coming from the Asia and Latin America (Williams 2000: 3).  In Europe, small pox was widespread and 95% of the population was exposed (Williams 2000 4[7]: 4). This disease when brought to the Americas was the most destructive. Between 1800-1810, inoculations for small pox were given (Skowronek).

 “The Mexican government finally became alarmed at the increasing number of deaths among the soldiers and Indians and, in 1804, Viceroy Iturrigaray directed Dr. Jose Benites, military surgeon at Monterey, to investigate and ascertain the causes.” In his district, Dr. Benites reported, “that the chief causes of death among both were dysentery, fevers, pleurisy, pneumonia, venereal diseases, scrofula, moist climate and continuous fog” (Webb 1952: 282).  The doctor goes on further and attempts to explain why these conditions arose.  The doctors think it of course has to be the Indians fault.  “The causes of the first named diseases are impure water which they (Mexican Soldiers) use in the preparation of their food; want of cleanliness in their habitations and lack of inclination to cleanliness; want of care and prudence in eating when ill; the lack of vegetables and aversion for them; the continued exposure to dampness, fogs and rains in their season, when they are in the habit of letting the clothing dry on their bodies which results in eruptions” (Webb 1952: 282-3).  The doctors continue to discuss “the causes of the venereal diseases and kindred diseases among the Indians are impure intercourse, filthy habits, sleeping huddled together, the sick with the others, the interchange of clothing, passing the nights in gambling and dancing on which occasions they shout and exert themselves exceedingly; finally the unreasonable use of the temescal or sweat-house from which perspiring freely they jump into cold water.  Despite the zeal of the Fathers, who for the sake of charity took me to the rancheria in order to apply some remedies, the rudeness of the Indians reached such degree that they declared the missionaries wanted to kill them.  The sick would refuse medical aid.  They would wash their sores and wounds, and could scarify them with flint, even the eye-lids.  I omit other barbarous customs” (Webb 1952: 282-3) The Indians thought that the doctors were trying to kill them. According to Fathers Abella and Lucio, “the greatest favor that can be offered the sick and his relatives, is not to force him to take anything, because they say force makes the sick die” (Webb 1952: 283). The temescal that Dr. Benites noted is referred to as a “sweat-house” or “hot air bath.”  “It is the sovereign remedy for nearly all their diseases” (Webb 1952: 283-4). That is how the Indians thought they would get cured because they saw it as cleansing their bodies. The Spaniards claim that the Indians were so addicted to these “sweat houses” that the missionaries allowed for them to be built at the mission.

“Missionaries viewed wilderness as a source of disorder and a refuge of hechiceros (witch doctors, the Spanish term for Native American shamans), who communed to the Devil and turned their backs on God, who could only be reached through the intercession of a priestly hierarchy embodied by the Roman Catholic Church” (Sheridan, 150).

Father Boscana of San Juan Capistrano writes, “In internal diseases such as fevers, pains in the side, burning fevers, I don’t know if they may have used special remedies other than bathing; what they did was to lie down naked on top of a pile of sand or ashes, the little fire in front of them being in whatever condition it might be, and a basket of pot of water at the head of the person; they were also accustomed to set for this person a little basket of acorn mush, but the sick person, if he wanted to eat, ate, and if not, he left it, and without anyone importuning him to take food, and it is to be noted that he always had someone or other at his side day and night, and thus he remained until either nature conquered or the disease conquered” (Webb 1952: 283).

The Spanish claimed that the Indians were “sitting ducks”, and that all it took was three or four people to infect thousands. Dr. Cephas Bard writes, “There can be no doubt of the beneficial value of the temescal before the coming of the white man and his diseases.  For, until the Spanish and Mexican people invaded California, the Native Indian knew nothing of measles, mumps, small pox, and social diseases.  With regard to the last named affliction it would be well to remember that, with the little knowledge of sanitation and contagion, as well as the lack of remedy then possessed, even by medical men, for the cure of those dread diseases, it would have taken but three or four infected persons to have corrupted hundreds and eventually thousands of others.  It is therefore, calumnious and reprehensible to lay the blame for this disorder on either the soldiers or settlers as a class” (Webb 1952: 285).

Diseases among the Natives

In 1806 at the San Francisco Mission, there was an epidemic of measles that killed more than 300 neophytes.  During that same time, only 23 were born.  (Webb 1952: 288). This was not the only case where diseases overpowered the natives. All along California, Indians were dying from diseases they did not have cures for.

In the late twentieth century many desert-dwelling people, including Australian aborigines developed high rates of adult-onset Type II Diabetes.  This attracted the attention of many researchers in Arizona and Australia who decided to examine the traditional diets and find out what had protected these people fro diabetes in the past.  “They discovered that many desert plant foods – such as cholla buds, chia seeds, tepary beans, the pads of prickly pear cactus, and flour made from mesquite pods – kept blood sugars low and even.  Composed of complex carbohydrates, these foods break down into simple sugars at a very slow rate” (Sheridan, 130).[3] These researchers estimate that the O’odham of centuries before consumed four to five times more of these foods than their descendents today who have diabetes. 

Among the Navajo, pastoral life requires that the tribe or band society be mobile people.  Basically they move with the seasons to suit their needs.  “Their pastoral life also meant that the Navajo people were scattered over a large territory, minimizing death from contagious disease.  The smallpox epidemic of 1780, for example, had little effect on the Navajos, unlike the Hopis” (Parezo, 9).

Near the Gulf of California, the Seri people lived.  In 1826, Lieutenant Robert W. H. Hardy, a British Naval Officer searching for pearl beds came across one of the Seri camps.  He reports seeing, “a wooden figure with a carved hat, and others of different shapes and sizes.”  Among these, according to anthropologist Gwyneth Harrington Xavier, were santos, “carved talismans made of red elephant tree wood and painted with red and blue commercial pigments.”  Although anybody could make a santo, it was those made by the medicine men that held the greatest power.  Santos were worn usually tied to a house, “it was to prevent sickness, evil or death from entering that house.  Worn on the person, they were to cure a present illness.  When a person was seriously sick, the figurines were taken to a cave where the spirits live…and sometimes the medicine man sang to the santos there for a cure” (Dittemore 1952: 206).

The Tarahumaras that lived near the Gulf of California used Sugui or Batari, which “is a fermented beverage with an alcoholic content similar to beer.  It is usually made out of sprouted corn, although the baked heart of agave or sotol are sometimes used as well.” (Sheridan, 152).  It is mostly used for the tesguinada, or drinking party, but “they also rub it on the lips of sick children and then make them drink some” (Sheridan, 152).

Treatment and Medicines

The treatment done with home remedies were not any more harmful than home remedies of today (Williams 2000 4[7]: 3) There were no standard sets of treatments or guidelines to follow, but they believed that through sweating, bleeding or purging would renew the body (Cohen- Williams 2001: 4). Thus when those suffered from measles, mumps, smallpox and pulmonary afflictions, used the temescals, serious injury or fatality occurred.

The Indians had good knowledge of many herbs, plants, roots, etc., of medicinal value.  “And some of these the Padres were glad to employ on occasion.”  A San Carlos Padre said, “One of the tribe knows a root, a remedy against bloody dysentery.  The root is beaten to a powder and this is given with a little water.  Some have been cured and highly praise the remedy.  The Indian, who knows, does not care to tell where the root is found, because in this way he gains a livelihood and so guards his secret.  Recently we ordered him to bring it from the country and we saw that it is a root of a plant, large and tender, like the parsnip” (Webb 1952: 286). 

Dr. Bard writes of the San Buenaventura neophytes before they disappeared, “It has been reserved for the California Indian to furnish three of the most valuable vegetable additions which have been made to the pharmacopoeia during the last twenty years.  One, the Eriodyction Glutinosum, growing profusely in our foothills, was used by them in the affections of the respiratory tract, and its worth was so appreciated by the missionaries to be named Yerba Santa, or Holy Plant.  The second, the Rhamnus purshiana buckthorn gathered now for the market and the upper portions of the state, is found scattered through the Timber Mountains of Southern California.  It was used as a laxative, and on account of the constipating affect of an acorn diet, was doubtless in active demand.  So highly was it esteemed by the followers of the cross that is was christened Cascara Sagrada, or Sacred Bark.  The third, Grindelia Robusta common name gum weed, was used in the treatment of pulmonary problems, and externally in poising from Rhus Toxicodendron, or poison oak, and in various skin disease” (Webb 1952: 286).

Many dangerous surgical procedures were attempted. One known procedure known as trepanation, consisted of drilling a hole into the skull to relieve pressure on the brain and to allow fluid to discharge (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 14). Like this treatment, many were painful, but the doctors or practicing physician tried it hardest to make the patient comfortable. Another procedure done was bloodletting. In the case of Father Prayeras, he was bled to relieve his obesity (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 14). This process was very common among the settlers and natives. In their treatments, the patients were also told to not drink cold water because it would “excite” the organs and make the illness worse (Williams 2000 4 [7]: 15).

Overall the knowledge of medical practices and treatments grew the longer they were in Alta California. The settlers had to adapt to the native medicines and learn how to use the native plants to their advantage just as the natives had to adapt to the diseases the settlers brought in and those medicines they used to cure them.

Works Cited

Cohen-Williams, Anita

2001 (Draft) Tried and Tested! Medical Malpractice in the healing arts among the settlers of Monterey 1770-1835. California Mission Studies Meeting

Sheridan, Thomas E. and Parezo, Nancy J. (ed.)

1996 Paths of Life: American Indians of the Southwest and Northern Mexico. Tucson, AZ. The University of Arizona Press

Skowronek, Russel K. and Jelena Radovic Fanta, Editors

2004 [draft] Mission Santa Clara de Asís Account Book. Translated by Jelena Radovic Fanta with Russel K. Skowronek. Unpublished on file at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA.

Webb, Eidith

          1952 Indian Life at the Old Missions. Warren F. Lewis, Los Angeles

Wilbur, C. Keith, M.D.

1980, 1997 Revolutionary Medicine 1700-1800. Old Saybrook, CT. The Globe Pequot Press

Williams, Jack S.

2000 [draft] Los Presidios: Guardians of Alta California’s Mission Frontier. Volume 4, Everyday Life in the Presidios, 1763-1835

Acknowledgments

The research presented here was conducted as part of a college- level course at Santa Clara University. Anthropology 146 “Anthropological Perspectives on the Spanish and Native American Experience” taught by Russell K. Skowronek during the spring of 2004. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Meredith Kaplan, Superintendent, and David Smith, Park Ranger- Interpretive Specialist, of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail for their encouragement and support for the project. Special thanks are due to Jack S, Williams of the Center for Spanish Colonial Archaeology for graciously sharing a draft of his monumental California Mission Studies Association manuscript titled, Los Presidios: Guardians of Alta California’s Mission Frontier and to Anita Cohen- Williams for her draft of Tried and Tested! Medical Care and malpractice in the healing arts among the settlers of Monterey 1770-1835. We would also like to thank Dr. Skowronek for allowing us the opportunity to do such in depth research.