618 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

one hundred and fifty patients and to be modern in every respect.
In Vancouver, in addition to the General, there is St. Paul's, a Sisters'
Hospital, and shortly they will move into a new building erected at
a cost of nearly $400,000. All the other towns also have hospital ac-
commodation proportionate to their requirements, and all over the
province are to be found small hospitals, for the needs of the district.
Remote places like Atlin, Cariboo, etc., are not neglected. All this has
been due to the aid willingly afforded by the Provincial Government,
to non-sectarian public hospitals, which generally assists in the build-
ing in the first instance, and by granting a per capita allowance for
the patients treated in them, materially assists in helping to maintain
them. In addition, the Government bonuses doctors in remote set-
tlements, where the amount of work oftering would not be sufficient
of itself to furnish fees enough to keep a doctor there. In this way
the pioneer settlers are not left helpless when sickness falls upon
them. 

In the larger centers, as well as the regular hospitals, are to be
found a number of private ones, so that the needs of the community
may be fully satisfied. 

In public life, the members of the profession have taken a promi-
nent part as befits men of education. Thus we have seen that Dr. J.
S. Helmcken was a member of the first Legislative Assembly in the
province and its Speaker for several years. In those early days along
with his name we find those of Drs. J. Trimble, I. W. Powell and
J. C. Davie; while after confederation, the names of Drs. John Ash,
Hugh Watt, Geo. L. Milne, W. W. Walkem, R. E. McKechnie, J. H.
King, G. A. B. Hall, and Henry E. Young are found in the list of law
makers. The last named is worthy of wider recognition. As Provin-
cial Secretary in the McBride Government, he has directed the affairs
of the Hospital for the Insane at New Westminster and inaugurating
a far-sighted policy, has already developed a magnificent system, with
splendid buildings and equipment, and with a plan, capable of uni-
form expansion, to look after the needs of future generations. As
Minister of Education, he has also launched the Provincial Univer-
sity, by his influence secured an endowment of two million acres of
public lands, secured a magnificent site at Point Grey in the vicinity
of Vancouver and also a grant of $2,500,000 in money for initiating
the undertaking. It is proposed that this will be one of the greatest 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 619 

universities of the continent and if Dr. Young continues in his present
position for a reasonable time longer, he, with his zeal for the project,
will see it accomplish all that he has hoped for. And when it is firmly
established, the formation of a medical faculty will be in order and
has already been discussed. 

In connection with this project, the Provincial University, it is
also of interest to note that a medical man has been chosen as its prin-
cipal in the person of Dr. Frank Wesbrook. His selection was only
made after a very careful study of the various men available, and it
reflects honour on the medical profession as well as on Dr. Wesbrook
that an eminently suitable man was found in and selected from its
ranks. 

In a humbler capacity, Dr. R. E. McKechnie's name is found as
a Senator of the University and a member of the Board of Governors. 

In other public capacities the profession has furnished many use-
ful men. Dr. W. J. McGuigan, after years of faithful work as an
Alderman in the City of Vancouver, crowned his ambition by becom-
ing Mayor. Dr. W. D. Brydone-Jack, who also won aldermanic
honours, is at present Chairman of the School Board in the same city.
Dr. Hamilton is at present Mayor of Revelstoke and Dr. Kingston
of Grand Forks, and many other e.xamples could be cited to instance
the part played by the profession in public life. 

The campaign against tuberculosis in the province owes its origin
practically to Dr. C. J. Fagan, and without his Irish fighting spirit
the Sanitarium at Tranquille would not have been built. In this
connection the names of Drs. A. P. Procter and R. E. Walker deserve
more than honourable mention, and the former is continuing the
good work on the platform, whenever the opportunity afifords. 

Concerning public health matters, as early as 1869, it was deemed
advisable to have some legislative machinery to work with. Accord-
ingly in that year was passed, "An ordinance for promoting the public
health in the Colony of British Columbia." The preamble states
that, "Whereas, it is necessary to adopt measures with the object of
preventing or guarding against the origin, rise, or progress of
endemic, epidemic or contagious diseases and to protect the health
of the inhabitants of this colony, and for the purpose, to grant to the
Governor-in-Council extraordinary powers to be used when urgent
.occasion demands — therefore, etc." 

620 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

This ordinance empowered the Governor-in-Council to create
Health Districts, establish Local Boards of Health, define the duties
and jurisdiction of these boards, with the proper method of enforc-
ing their rules by fines and imprisonment. There was also special
provision for the appointment of an extraordinary officer to be called
the Health Officer, to act during extraordinary crises such as serious
epidemics "whose duties it shall be to provide that the Local Boards
carry out the orders in Council." 

In municipalities, the Council of the municipality constituted
the Local Board, while in unorganized districts the Government
Agent of the district acted. 

The ordinance was very imperfect, but still served its purpose
till the first stress came in a small-pox epidemic in 1892. To combat
this. Dr. J. C. Davie was appointed Health Officer and by his efforts
the storm was passed. But the need of better legislation was obvious.
Accordingly in the following year the "Health Act, 1893" was passed.
As the epidemic had subsided, the act was not at once put in force.
However, later on, there was an outbreak of cholera in Japan which
spread over into Honolulu. As this was getting near home, the Gov-
ernment, on September 26, 1895, proclaimed the act whereupon it
came into force. This act called for the creation of a central board
with very extensive powers. The board appointed consisted of Dr.
J. C. Davie, chairman, Drs. J. M. Lefevre, R. E. Walker, L. T. Davis,
and Geo. H. Duncan, who was the secretary. It at once commenced
the work of organization. It prepared regulations regarding small-
pox, scarlet fever and diphtheria, and supplemented them by a well
digested pamphlet on disinfection. The regulations embodied pro-
visions for the enforcement of modern methods of isolation and quar-
antine, disinfection, and vaccination, etc. They provided also for the
appointment of medical and other health officers, and establishment
of isolation hospitals and suspect stations. A serious outbreak of ty-
phoid, in the Kootenays, in 1896 proved the value of the new order of
things. Dr. A. T. Watt, who was the secretary, toured the infected
district, and on his return, Clive Phillips Wooley was appointed as a
special officer to see that the provisions of the board were carried out.
Some of the regulations at this time were impossible and so gave rise
to considerable dissatisfaction. Sandon was prohibited from using the
only water supply available and from disposing of its sewage into the. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 621 

only place which nature had provided. Rossland was treated much
in the same way. Later on, when the Semlin Government came into
power, the board was abolished. Health matters came under the jur-
isdiction of the Attorney-General, the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Coun-
cil became the Board of Health, and Dr. C. J. Fagan was appointed
secretary and practically chief executive officer. This is the order of
things at the present day. In Dr. Fagan the Government secured a
very valuable officer. With his tact he smoothed away friction wher-
ever encountered and with his untiring energy and zeal for the work,
he perfected the system, kept the local boards up to their duties, and
raised the sanitary conditions of the province to a high state of
efficiency. 

Little more need be said as to the work of the medical profession
in British Columbia. In a profession, whose main duty is to minister
to the sick and afflicted, to comfort the dying and bring hope to those
who are struggling for life, all performed quietly and unseen by the
public eye, it has been shown, that when occasion arises it can respond
to other if not higher duties. In the legislative halls, in educational
matters, in municipal affairs, in the fight against the terrors of epi-
demics and in the providing of better sanitary conditions, all of which
call for exceptional ability, it has been found, that the profession in
this province was not wanting, but as occasion arose could furnish
the men suited for the needs of the times, with honour which re-
dounded to the profession. 

REFERENCES 

Paul Kane — Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of
North America. Longman Green & Co., 1859. 

j. R. SWANTON — Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida. 

Duncan George Forbes McDonald — British Columbia and
Vancouver Island. Longman Green & Co., London, 1862. 

J. G. Kohl — Kitchi Gami — Wanderings around Lake Superior.
Chapman & Hall, London, i860. 

AxDKLW Dickson White— History of the Warfare of Science
with Theology. Appleton, New York, 1899. 

James Teit — The Thompson Indians of British Columbia. 

Parkman — The Jesuits in North .-Xmcrica. 

622 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Vancouver — A Voyage of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean and
Round the World. London, 1798. 

Relacion del Viage Hecho Por las Goletas, Sutil y Mexicana,
en el ano de 1792, Para Recononcer el estrecho, de Fuca. Madrid,
1802. 

Edmund S. Mel^NV — Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound.
TheMacMillan Co., London, 1907. 

R. E. GOSNELL — The Year Book of British Columbia. 

C. W. Parker — Who's Who and Why. International Press Co.,
Vancouver, 1913. 

612 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

ing, a resolution of condolence with his widow was passed. Dr. De
Wolf Smith was elected a member of the Council in his stead. 

At this meeting the examinations resulted in the admission to the
register of Drs. Bodington, Sanson and Fagan. 

At the May meeting in 1888, Dr. Davie was elected President,
Dr. McGuigan, Vice President. 

Dr. Milne, who was appointed Registrar, continued in that office
until May, 1897, when Dr. Fagan, the present Registrar, was
appointed. 

The Act of 1886 was further amended in 1898 and an entirely
new act passed in 1909. In this, the representation of the Medical
Council was altered. Previously, seven members were elected by
votes of the profession at large, the province constituting one electoral
district. In the new act, the province was divided into five electoral
districts, whose boundaries may be altered from time to time by a
two-thirds vote of the Council. 

The first election under the new act took place in 191 1, when the
present Council, which is serving its third and last year, was elected. ^
They, with their official positions in 1913, and the year in which each ,
was first elected to the Council, are as follows: Dr. O. M. Jones, J
President, first elected 1899; Dr. A. P. Procter, Vice President, first \
elected 1902; Dr. C. J. Fagan, Registrar and Secretary, first elected
1896; Dr. R. E. Walker, Treasurer, first elected 1902; Dr. R. E.
McKechnie, first elected 1896; Dr. W. H. Sutherland, first elected
1908; Dr. S. Bonnell, first elected 191 1. 

Reciprocity in Medicine. 

The theory and practice of medicine and surgery are universalin
their application. Thus, a doctor who is qualified to practise in
London, should be well enough equipped to do justice to his patients
if he resided in Montreal or Vancouver. But the British North
America Act, under whose provisions the Dominion of Canada, con-
sisting of united provinces, was formed, contained provisions hostile
to universality in the practice of medicine. Under its provisions,
each province retains complete control of its own educational matters.
Hence not only are the ordinary educational matters under the ex-
clusive control of each individual province, but the specialized 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 613 

branches of law, medicine, dentistry, etc. If Ontario has decided that
a man has sufficient medical education and given him a permit to
practise his profession there, the other provinces do not have to ac-
cept this qualification. Accordingly, each province has its own
medical board, except the three Eastern Maritime Provinces, which
have a joint board, and candidates to practise must pass the examining
board of the province they wish to practise in. 

Various arguments can be advanced against this practice, the main
one being as stated above, that medicine is a universal profession,
applicable to all peoples and all countries, and that the individual
provinces of one Dominion should not have artificial barriers raised
between each other. 

On the other hand, it was felt that not every one who graduated
from a medical school, even a good one, was necessarily well qualified.
Familiarity with the peculiarities of various examiners, and a happy
chance in being asked just what he happened to know, allows a num-
ber each year to pass the prescribed number of marks and scrub
through. Competition between medical schools does not allow for
too rigorous treatment of students, and so it is best that an independent
body of examiners, outside of the schools, should further sift the
applicants before they are admitted to practise. The schools do their
duty in imparting a medical education. The provinces, through their
medical examining boards, protect the public by still further culling
the weaklings. Speaking as a medical man, and in the interests of the
public, the writer affirms that this second culling is justified by the
results of the examinations, for men are frequently found whose de-
ficiency in medical knowledge is so marked, that the wonder is
expressed as to how they ever passed successfully through a medical
school. 

An attempt though was made, j'ears ago, to find a way out of the
difficulty, but it could not be through the provinces. Jealousy was
not at work, but some of the provinces did not think that some of the
others demanded a thorough enough examination and so were not
willing to recognize their licenses. The only workable plan was to
organize a central board, which could exact an examination satisfac-
tory to all the provinces, and whose licenses would be recognized
by any or all the provinces, without further examination. This was
the object sought to be attained by Dr. T. G. Roddick of Montreal, 

614 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

and after many years fight the Canada Medical Act was passed at
Ottawa two sessions ago. But in order to conform with the British
North America Act it could not become operative until each province
had surrendered some of its powers and agreed to accept the findings
of the Medical Council of Canada. This has been done, British Co-
lumbia having passed its enabling act in 1912. Under the various
enabling acts, the provinces do not lose the right of examining those
who come direct to them, not wishing to take the Dominion examina-
tion, which must at least equal in thoroughness the highest standard
set by any of the provinces, but may examine and license those appli-
cants to practise only in their respective boundaries. But one who
has passed the Dominion Council can register without further exami-
nation, in any of the provinces, and so at last there is a Dominion
reciprocity established. This month, October, 1913, the first exami-
nation was held at Ottawa and seventy-five presented themselves for
examination. 

A second provision of the Canada Medical Act provided, that
any one having been registered ten years and in active practice in any
of the provinces of the Dominion, could obtain Dominion registration
without examination. This clause was objected to by the western
provinces, especially by British Columbia, and the argument against
it was very strong. During recent years, the movement from East to
West has been very marked and British Columbia has been the
chosen haven for many on account of its better climate and its golden
opportunities. It is felt that this province would likely see a large
influx of doctors who would qualify under this clause. Now the only
reason any country has ever given exclusive powers to the medical
profession has been, not for the benefit of the profession, but for the
benefit of the public. One of the duties of the profession, therefore,
has been, through its examinations to cull out the weak applicants,
and so furnish a good grade of practitioners to look after the people.
The powers were given for this purpose and hence the profession
was expected to do its work. Therefore, it was incumbent to scruti-
nize those who obtained Dominion registration. Those who passed
its high standard of examination could not be found fault with, but
those who qualified by ten years' practice were of another class. It
was felt, that ten years would prove the man either a success or a
failure. If a success, he would not be likely to want to move, if a 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 615 

failure we did not want him out here. By years of careful work of
the Examination Board, the standard had been raised in this province
and for its own sake the profession did not want to see it lowered,
and it had no moral right to let the public suffer either. Accordingly
this province refused to come into the scheme until a clause was
assented to, which gave every province the right to exact an exami-
nation in the final branches, from those who obtained Dominion regis-
tration by means of the ten-year clause. While this provision is
optional with the other provinces it is obligatory in this one, as the
Enabling Act specifically states that such applicants must pass such
examination. 

The members of the Medical Council of Canada from British
Columbia, are, Drs. R. E. McKechnie and R. E. Walker, appointed
by the profession, and Dr. Walter Bapty appointed by the Govern-
ment, their term of office being four years. Thus is seen the comple-
tion of a long fight and the beginning of medical reciprocity in
Canada. It is felt that as years go by, the majority of recent gradu-
ates will take the Dominion examinations, those taking advantage of
the ten-year clause will grow less and that finally there will be but
one examining board for Canada. 

In collecting information for this article, the writer asked Dr.
H. E. Langis for some of his reminiscences and, as the letter in reply
is very interesting, it is quoted verbatim: 

"Parksville, B. C.
"My Dear R. E. M.: 

"When I came to British Columbia in 1884, Mr. Onderdonk
had almost completed his contract of the C. P. R. from Port Moody
to Savona's Ferry and taken another one from Savona's to Griffin
Lake. The medical staff for those contracts was very simple, E. B.
Hannington was in charge at Yale and S. J. Tunstal! at Ivamloops.
In April, 1885, I took Hannington's place and had for field of duty
from Port Moody to Savona's. We had a small hospital (twelve
beds) at Yale, with very little apparatus and had to furnish our own
surgical instruments. The accommodation was very scant and when
we had to perform under anaesthetics, the only anaesthetist available
was the steward and head nurse and at my time, only nurse, who
would administer chloroform under the vigilant eye of the performer.
Anyhow, we had very few mishaps and bad results, as the contractors, 

616 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

in blasting, would kill their men outright and do very little injury to
those that fell under our care. 

"In the fall of 1885, we all came to Granville, which a few months
afterwards was going to be Vancouver. S. J. Tunstall remained in
Kamloops and, if I remember well, came to Vancouver only in 1891
or 1892. 

"When I reached Granville, I found Dr. D. L. Beckingsale, who
is now in California, in practice. He had been preceded in the local-
ity by Drs. Masters, who had died in New Westminster two or three
years previous, Duncan Bell-Irving, who had left for the West Indies,
and W. W. Walkem, who had removed to Nanaimo. A few weeks
after my arrival, W. J. McGuigan came down from the Rockies. 

"At the time of the incorporation of the City of Vancouver in
April, 1886, there were in practice, Drs. D. L. Beckingsale, H. E.
Langis, J. M. Lefevre, and W. J. McGuigan. 

"Lefevre had come with Mr. H. Abbott and other C. P. R. of-
ficials, as in the fall of 1885 the last spike had been driven at Revel-
stoke by Lord Strathcona, and in the winter 1885-6 the Dominion
Government, that had built this western part of the road, had turned
it over to the C. P. R. Co., and Dr. Lefevre was going to be the C. P.
R. surgeon. He had charge of the whole western division and had
Dr. J. A. Sweat at Revelstoke to look after the mountain section.
He had requested me to take the position, but I preferred to remain
in Vancouver. 

"The first few years the clientele was not very big, as most of the
heads of the families worked for the C. P. R. and were attended by
their own surgeons. Lefevre was alone at first and then Lefevre and
A. M. Robertson, who came in 1887. In that year of 1887, Lefevre
built a small R. R. Hospital on Powell street, between Hawkes and
Campbell avenues, where his patients who had no home in Vancouver
could be attended to. He forsook this small hospital in 1890 to send
his patients to the City Hospital, which had just been opened, and
of which first stafif he was a member. 

"If I remember well, the members of that first medical stafif of the
City Hospital (sic nomen) were, Duncan Bell-Irving, who had come
back to British Columbia in 1888, J. T. Carroll, H. E. Langis, J. M.
Lefevre. W. J. McGuigan and A. M. Robertson. 

"In the fall of 1887, I had associated myself with Dr. McGuigan. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 617 

an association that lasted for twenty-one years, up to the time of the
death of Dr. McGuigan on Christmas morning, 1908. 

"Yours very truly, 

"H. E. Langis." 

As instancing the rapid progress of this province, one has but to
note the number of doctors therein. In 1850, there was but one, Dr.
J. S. Helmcken, while at the present time, 1913, there are no less than
six hundred and seventy-six names on the register. As there is no
medical school in the province, these men have come from far and
wide and owing to the high standard maintained by the Council, in
its examinations, the average ability of its medical practitioners will
compare favourably with that of any other province in the Dominion.
Besides representatives from every medical school in Canada, several
of whom are gold medallists of their graduating classes, there are to
be found many from the mother country, with a fair sprinkling of
those who can write F. R. C S. Eng., or F. R. C S. Edin. after their
names, while there are many from the best schools in the United
States and some from almost every country on the European continent. 

It is also satisfactory to note, that the doctors in British Columbia
have not been content to rest with what education they received in
the first instance from their parent schools, but very many have had
special training in the clinics of the East and Europe, and every year
a number leave their work to spend a few months or a year, or more,
improving their education in more favoured medical centres. In con-
sequence of this, the people of this far western province receive the
benefits of the latest advances in medicine or surgery as quickly as do
those residing in Montreal or Toronto. The West is progressive, and
while such visits to strange clinics cost time and money both are freely
and cheerfully spent, by the progressive members of the profession
here, in the desire to keep abreast of the times. 

The hospitals of the province are a credit to such a young com-
munity. The Vancouver General, which is easily the premier one,
has constantly over four hundred patients. Victoria has the Royal
Jubilee Hospital as well as a magnificent Sisters' Hospital, St. Jo-
seph's, and is now planning a new one to cost over $600,000. New-
Westminster, while having the Royal Columbian and St. Mary's, is
now erecting a new building in connection with the former to house

BRITISH COLUMBIA <i"' 

lished in the colony in 1855, and was appointed Speaker, which post
he occupied for several terms. He was a member of the Legislative
Council, from 1864 to 1871, when the colony came into the Dominion,
and was one of the delegates sent to Ottawa in 1871 to discuss the
terms of union. In this year he also declined a Senatorship at Ottawa.
He married a daughter of Sir James Douglas, the first Governor of
British Columbia. And the best is yet to come, for he is still living
in Victoria, at the age of eighty-eight, in lull possession of his facul-
ties and as genial and lovable as in the past vears. Gosnell, in men-
tioning him, says, "A name whicli will never die, while benevolence,
high courage, ability, and patriotism are of any value here." 

The population of the colony gradually increasing and other
practitioners coming in, it was felt necessarv to organize the profes-
sion and give it a legal standing. Accordingly, what was commonly
called the "Medical Ordinance" was enacted. It was termed "An
ordinance respecting practitioners in medicine and surgery" and
was passed at New Westminster in 1867. A synopsis will prove
interesting. 

"Whereas, it is e.xpedient, that persons requiring medical aid
should be enabled to distinguish between qualified and unqualiticd
practitioners, be it enacted by the Governor of British Columbia
and with the consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows: 

Section i provided for appointment of a registrar, and 

Sections 2 and 3 outlined his duties. 

Section 4 designed w ho might be registered, viz. : 

"Any person, being possessed of any diploma, license or privilege
to practise medicine or surgerv from anv school, college, societv or
faculty of medicine or surgery, either in the United Kingdom or in
? foreign country, such school, college, societv or faculty requiring
a coinpulsory course of study, extending over not less than three
years, such person shall, on pa\inent of a fee of $10, be entitled to be
registered, etc., provided always, that nothing in this ordinance shall
be so construed as to prevent any one, possessing a diploma, who is
now practising in this colony from continuing to practise as hereto-
fore, etc.'' 

Section 6 renders it impossible for an unregistered [lerson to col-
lect fees for medical services. The ordinance concluded with sev-
eral other sections as to fines and procedure, and passed the .Assemblv 

60S BRITISH COLUMBIA 

April I, 1867, and was assented to April 2, 1867, by Frederick S.
Seymour, Governor. 

It was later found that the act ran counter to an Imperial act, 21
and 22 Victoria Cap. 90, which enacted that, "Every person regis-
tered under this act (Imperial) shall be entitled, according to his
qualification or qualifications, to practise medicine or surgery or
medicine and surgery, as the case may be, in any part of Her JVIaj-
esty's Dominions, and to demand and receive in any Court of Law,
with full costs of suit, reasonable charges for professional aid, advice,
and visits, and the cost of any medicines or other medical or surgical
appliances rendered or supplied by him to his patients." 

Accordingly, the following notice was gazetted: "To All Whom
It May Concern, Greeting. 

"Notice is hereby given that the ordinance passed by the Legis-
lature of British Columbia entitled, 'No. 31. An ordinance respect-
ing practitioners in medicine and surgery,' is, in one respect, at
variance with the Imperial act, 21 and 22 Victoria Cap. 90, section 31. 

"Medical practitioners who have registered themselves under
that act are entitled, by virtue of such registration, to practise and
recover fees in any of Her Majesty's Dominions, free from any
restrictions. 

"So far then, as the 6th section of this ordinance imposes an
obligation or restriction upon such registered practitioners, it is
repugnant to the Imperial act and void. Under these circum- f
stances the ordinance will not be enforced against such registered
practitioners. 

"Dated at New Westminster in the Colony of British Columbia
this 8th day of May, 1868. 

"By command of the Governor." 

This exemption of old country graduates from the provisions of
the Ordinance of 1867 lasted but a short time, as a notice dated May
8, 1868, appeared in the Government Gazette of May 9, 1868, declar- I
ing that, "So far as the 6th section of 'The Medical Ordinance, 1867' f
imposed an obligation or restriction upon such registered practi- |
tioners, it was repugnant to the Imperial act and void, and that under
those circumstances the ordinance would not be enforced against such
registered practitioners — and, whereas, so much of the said Imperial 

tl 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 609 

act to which Section 6 of the said ordinance was repugnant, has since
been repealed and Section 6 of the said ordinance is now in full force,
and effect, such medical practitioners as aforesaid are hereby noti-
fied, that any previous registration in England has now no effect in
enabling them to legally collect fees in the colony, unless registered,
as other practitioners under 'The Medical Ordinance, 1867.' " 

A copy of this was sent by the medical registrar to the various
practitioners in the province. 

The name of the first registrar was Charles Good, who was also
clerk of the Legislative Council. 

In 1869 there was passed "An ordinance respecting the practice
of surgery and for the encouragement of the study of anatomy." It
dealt with unclaimed bodies, and entitled any qualified medical prac-
titioner to secure a body for dissection. Section 9 required a personal
security of $100 and two securities of $50 each to be given, that
decent interment be given the bodies after they had served the pur-
poses required. 

In 1870, "An ordinance respecting practitioners in medicine and
surgery," was passed. Its preamble outlines its object. 

"Whereas, it is expedient to amend 'The Medical Ordinance,
1867,' and to bring the same into uniformity with the Imperial Legis-
lation, by providing for the registration, in British Columbia, of the
members of the medical profession already registered in the United
Kingdom under the Imperial statute the 21 and 22 Victoria Cap.
90, etc." 

These ordinances continued in force until 1886, when the Medical
Act, 1886, was passed. 

It is interesting to read the minutes of the early meetings of the
Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, formed under
the Medical Act, 1886, as manv familiar names are encountered, for
now we are reading modern history. Accordingly, a few extracts are
here inserted. 

First meeting held in Victoria May 1,1886, in the office of Dr.
Powell. 

Present, Drs. Powell. Trew, Davis and Milne. 

Absent, Drs. Tunstail, Cluness, and L. McTnnes, all the mem-
bers having been notified of their election bv the Deputy Provincial
Secretary and a notice sent to the members to be present. 

610 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Moved by Dr. Davie, seconded by Dr. C. N. Trew, that Dr. I.
W. Powell act as Chairman — carried. 

Moved by Dr. Davie, seconded by Dr. Trew, that Dr. Milne act
as Secretary^carried. 

Moved by Dr. Davie, seconded by Dr. Trew, that Dr. I. W.
Powell be elected President of the Council — carried. 

Moved by Dr. Davie, seconded by Dr. Milne, that Dr. C. N.
Trew be elected Vice President of the Council — carried. 

Moved by Dr. Milne, seconded by Dr. Trew, that Dr. Davie be
elected Treasurer — carried. 

Moved by Dr. Trew, seconded by Dr. Davie, that Dr. Milne be
elected Registrar and Secretary — carried. 

A letter was read from Mr. Elwyn, Deputy Provincial Secretary,
with a certified list of the registered practitioners under the Medical
Ordinance Act of 1867, also a list of the members, who had regis-
tered since the passing of the Medical Act of 1886 to the date of
April 26, 1886. 

This list comprised the following names, which are entered in the
same order in the present Register of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of British Columbia. Those who are dead at the date of
writing, viz., 1913, have been so indicated: 

J. S. Helmcken; Hy. Harrison, dead; Geo. L. Milne; Jno. C.
Davie, dead; W. M. Hendrickson, dead; J. H. Robotham, dead;
M. S. Wade; Sibree Clarke; Wm. jacks, dead; Jno. Garrow, dead;
Hugh Watt; C. N. Trew, dead; S. J. Tunstall; I. W. Powell; E. B.
C. Hannington; L. K. Mclnnes, dead; E. Stevenson, dead; A. Mc-
Swain, dead; G. A. Deardon, dead; D. Cluness, dead; W. H.
McNaughton Jones, dead ; R. J. Bently, dead ; W. W. Walkem ; J. B.
Mathews, dead; J. M. Lefevre, dead; H. M. Cooper, dead; F. W.
Hall, dead; J. L. Hall, dead; R. B. Clark; L. T. Davis; E. J. Ofifer-
hans: E. A. Praeger, dead; T. S. Hall; J. D. Helmcken; W. J.
McGuigan, dead; D. L. Beckingsale; J. A. Sweat; R. C. Morrison,
dead; D. L. McAlpine. 

Also, during this first meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to Mr.
T. Elwyn, Deputy Provincial Secretary, for conducting the first
election, and an honorarium of $25 granted. 

Dr. Powell, the President, and Dr. Trew, the Vice President, were
appointed a committee to select a design for the seal of the Council. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 611 

Moved by Dr. Milne, seconded by Dr. Trew, that the British
Columbia Medical Council, now assembled, representing the medical
profession of this province, express their thanks to Hon. Mr. A. E.
B. Davie, Attorney-General, for introducing the Medical Act and
successfully carrying it through the Local Legislature, and the Medi-
cal Council consider, that to him is due, chiefly, by his personal
efforts, the passing of an act which we consider will be a benefit to
the inhabitants of this province and an advantage to the medical
profession. 

It was also decided that the first examination under the act be held
at Victoria August 3rd, at 8 P. M., and subsequent days as required. 

May 26th was fixed as the date of the next meeting, in New West-
minster. This meeting adjourned to June 2nd, at which meeting the
Board of Examiners was appointed: Dr. L. Mclnnes, anatomy and
materia medica; Dr. Milne, chemistry and physiology; Dr. Davie,
surgery and pathology; Dr. Trew, practice of medicine and medical
jurisprudence; Dr. Powell, obstetrics and diseases of women and
children. 

The next meeting was held August 3rd, at Victoria, when Dr.
Cluncss resigned on account of ill health and Dr. Harrison was ap-
pointed in his stead. 

Apparently no one came up for examination at this meeting. 

At the meeting at Victoria on November 2, 1886, Dr. W. A. Dc
Wolf Smith applied for examination and passed, being the first one
to be entered in the Register by examination. 

The election to the council being a yearly affair, the second elec-
tion resulted in Drs. Milne, Powell, Hannington, Trew, McGuigan,
Davie and Tunstall. Dr. Trew was elected President and Dr. Davie
Vice President. 

On June 8, 1887, three candidates for examination having pre-
sented themselves, the second examination was held. The three
candidates successfully passed and were ordered registered in the
order of, Drs. D. M. Eberts, Jno. Duncan and A. Robertson. 

It was also resolved at this meeting, that meetings of the Council
be held alternately, on the Island and on the Mainland, on the Island
at Victoria, and on the Mainland, alternately at New Westminster
and Vancouver, this being the first recognition of Vancouver. 

Dr. Trew, the President, having died since the previous meet-

602 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

In such cases, she had to repair to a Shaman who had the wolf or
otter for his guardian spirit, and after he had treated her, her chil-
dren would not die. She must not look on a corpse when it was
being prepared for burial; if she did, the navel-string would become
twisted around the child like the string tied around the corpse. 

The husband also had restrictions placed on him. If he hunted
black or grizzly bear, the child would be still-born. If he killed
willow grouse or fool hen, the child might be foolish. If he killed
squirrels, the child would cry much when young. 

During birth, the mother lay on her side with head and shoul-
ders somewhat elevated and took hold of a rope. Many women had
recourse to elderly experienced women, but others never accepted
help, except from their husband or some woman in the house. The
midwives usually received a deerskin blanket for fee. 

The after-birth was taken away and hung up on a branch. If
a dog or snake touched it, the mother would have no children. The
navel-string was cut with a knife and tied with something soft, as
hare's or squirrel's hair and smeared with pitch. Immediately
after the birth, the father went outside and fired an arrow, which
prevented swelling of the navel. To-day he fires a gun. 

The piece of navel-string, after dropping ofif, was sewed up in a
piece of ornamented buckskin, with glass beads, fawn's hoofs, bone
beads, etc., attached to it and tied to the head of the cradle. These
jingled when the cradle was rocked. Today sleigh bells are used
instead. If this piece of navel-string were lost, the child would
be foolish. 

The mother is given a hot herb drink immediately after the birth.
For six weeks after, she must bathe daily in a stream. The child,
after birth, was washed in warm water in which spruce bark had
been boiled, to make it strong in after years. 

Turning from medicine to surgery, there is not much to relate.
As the Indians were incessantly at war, they must have acquired
some knowledge of treating wounds and setting bones. Where
there was a demand for such assistance, sooner or later methods of
treatment must have been elaborated, but the writer has found no
such references in the works consulted. But the flow of blood
must have been stanched, when possible, by bandaging, and broken
bones held in place bv splints. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 603 

As to actual operations, James Teit describes the following as
practised among the Thompson Indians: 

Opening boils; the boil was pierced with porcupine quills and
the matter squeezed out. To prevent recurrence, the matter was
rubbed on a grave pole. 

For pains in joints; the joint afifected was pierced with long,
sharp awls. 

For cataract ( ?) the eyeball was touched with the rough charred
bone of a black bear. The thin skin forming the cataract adhered
to the rough bone and was thus raised slightly and pierced with an
awl or cut with a verv sharp knife. 

Removing warts; they were cut off close to the skin and black
moss, which had been exposed to the fire until hot, was applied. 

Cauterizing; powdered charcoal was placed on afifected part
and burned. A similar custom is practised in Japan today. 

And lastly, when an Indian dies, McDonald describes what be-
comes of his spirit. 

"When a corpse is buried, the doctor or medicine man, with many
gesticulations and contortions, pretends to receive, in his closed hands,
the spirit of the departed, which he imparts to some animal or some
other Indian, by blowing on the object; if an Indian, he takes the
rank of the deceased and also his name, in addition to his own." 

P.ART TI. 

T/h' JJ'hilt- M nil in Medicine. 

Our information, regarding the advent of the first white medical
man in British Columbia, is not very positive. 

Juan Perez, in the Spanish ship Santiatjo, visited the West Coast
of what is now known as Queen Charlotte Islands in 1774, and about
this time Quadra's voyages took him up into this region. It is
possible that they had surgeons in their ship's companies, but we
liave no record. 

However, in 1778, Capt. James Cook, on his third and last voyage,
visited these shores in the Resolution and the Discovery; and with
his advent appear the first medical men. William Anderson was
surgeon of H. M. S. Resolution, and John Law surgeon on the
Discovery. 

604 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Poor Anderson died of consumption on August 3, 1778, and Cook
has made the following record of him : 

"Monday, August 3, 1778 — Along the Alaskan Coast. 

"Mr. Anderson, my surgeon, who has been lingering under con-
sumption for more than twelve months, expired between 3 and 4
this afternoon. He was a sensible young man, an agreeable com-
panion, well skilled in his own profession, and had acquired consid-
erable knowledge in other branches of science. 

"The reader of this Journal will have observed how useful an
assistant I have found him in the course of the voyage, and had it
pleased God to have spared his life, the public, I make no doubt,
might have received from him, such communication on various parts
of the natural history of the several places we visited, as would have
abundantly shown that he was not unworthy of this commendation. 

"Soon after he had breathed his last, land was sighted to the
westward, twelve leagues distant. It was supposed to be an island,
and to perpetuate the memory of the deceased, for whom I had a
very great regard, I named it Anderson Island. 

"The next day, I removed Mr. Law, the surgeon of the Discovery,
into the Resolution and appointed Mr. Samuel, the surgeon's first
mate of the Resolution, to be surgeon of the Discovery." 

Anderson, as well as serving as surgeon, was also the naturalist
of the expedition. 

During a trip in a launch, by some members of the expedition,
a small inlet, situated in Northern British Columbia, was explored.
Some of the sailors, seeing the rocks covered with mussels, ate heartilv
of them as they would have done in England. But all who partook
of them became violently sick, with vomiting and purging, and the
party became so weak that they regained the ship with difficultv.
One poor fellow died in spite of treatment and constitutes the first
recorded death of a white man in British Columbia. 

Following the publication of Cook's Journals in 1784, many
traders frequented these waters, to barter for furs, but I find no
record of any professional men in their crews. 

In 1792, Galiano and Valdez, in the Spanish warships Sutil and
Mexirana, explored the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the Gulf of
Georgia, and thence on to the west coast of what was later called
Vancouver Island, anchoring at Nootka. Here they were joined by 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 605 

the transport Aranzuzit, on which was a surgeon named Luis Galvez
Galiano observes, "that the crew had great confidence in his skill." 

Contemporaneously with these Spanish explorers, Capt. George
Vancouver appears. He left England in 1790, returning home in
1795, having been sent out to take over this region from the Spanish
and also to explore. His command consisted of two ships, the Dis-
covery, one of Cook's old ships, in which Vancouver had accom-
panied him on his last voyage, and the Chatham. 

Cranstoun was surgeon on the Discovery with two surgeon's mates
under him, while Walker was surgeon on the Chathatn with one
surgeon's mate. 

At Nootka, in 1792, Cranstoun was invalided home and Menzies
took his place. 

Archibald Menzies deserves special notice. He was a. naturalist
of note and had joined the expedition as the scientific man of the
party. He was born at Weims, Perthshire, Scotland, and educated
as a surgeon at Edinburgh University. As a surgeon, Vancouver
complimented him at the end of the voyage by showing that no lift-
had been lost by sickness during the voyage, after he succeeded
Cranstoun. 

One of the handsomest trees of our coast is the arbutus, with
which his name will always be associated. Quoting from a footnote
in Meany's "Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound" : "To many
readers, this will prove the most attractive and most interesting
member of the entire expedition. He was the naturalist. At the
present time, students, especially of botany, in the western portion
of America, are familiar with his name, though few of them have
taken the trouble to learn about the man. How many men, women
and children have admired the Madroiia tree of the western forests!
Bret Harte has sung its beauties in a poem concluding with this
stanza : 

" 'Where, oh, where, shall I begin 

Who would paint thee. Harlequin? 

With thy waxen, burnish leaf. 

With thy branches' red relief. 

With thy polytinted fruit. 

In thy spring and summer suit. 

Where begin, and oh, where end. 

Thou whose charms all art transcend.' , 

606 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

"Ask a botanist the name of this beautiful tree and he will tell
you that it is the Arbutus Menziesii; and then, if he loves the work,
his face will lighten up as he adds, 'That name is in honour of
Archibald Menzies, the naturalist of the Vancouver expedition,
who discovered this and many other plants on our shores.' " 

Menzies made great collections of plants and other objects ot
natural history. A set of his collections is in the British Museum,
another at Kew, and a third in the herbarium of the Botanical Society
of Edinburgh. He also published an account of the voyage in
Louder's "Magazine of Natural History." 

Following these men is a blank of many years, although other
surgeons must have visited this then remote country, in the ships of
war which occasionally came this way. But in 1850 we come to more
solid ground, and following that time the trail is blazed more plainly. 

In i8c;o the Hudson's Bay Company brought out a surgeon tc
Victoria in the person of John Sebastian Helmcken. 

Dr. Helmcken was born in London, England, in 182;, and
received his professional education at Guy's Hospital. 

On his arrival and for years afterwards he was, as he quaintly
puts it, the leading practitioner from San Francisco to the North
Pole and from Asia to the Red River of the North. None will
dispute this claim, for he was the only doctor in all this vast extent.
One of his duties was to put up the medicines for the various Hud-
son's Bay Company's trading posts up the coast and in the interior,
for Victoria was the distributing point. 

The factors at these posts had to do their best to treat what came
their way, and as their medical skill was nearly a negative quantity,
the medicines sent, had to be divided into their proper doses and
properly labelled. Accordingly, as the doctor still relates, he had
to make up so many dozen purges, so many dozen pukes, ior medi-
cine was a vigorous science in those days, so many doses of (juinine
or calomel, and ofT these deadly missiles were sent to wreak their due
effects. However, no casualties were reported, which we must at-
tribute cither to the rugged constitution of the early pioneers or the
skill of the doctor. 

Besides being a valuable man in his profession, he was possessed
oi many other qualities which made him of great service to the
community. He was elected to the first Legislative Assembly estab-

596 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Sometimes they pretended to suck the disease out, and by sleight 

'of hand, produced from their mouths some foreign substance said 

to be the cause of the disease. Some possessed hypnotic power, and 

some even ventriloquism. There is no doubt that the majority 

believed themselves possessed of tlie power they claimed. 

Their diseases were believed to be due to natural causes, witch-
craft, neglect of certain observances, or the influence of the dead. 

Natural diseases were generally cured by the use of certain
medicines, a list of manv of which Teit enumerates in his work.
They include decoctions, eye-washes, eye-salves, powders for run-
ning sores, burns, et^., ointments for sores, etc. 

The Thompson, Shuswap and Nicola Indians also make use of
sweat baths. A hut is formed of bent willow withes over which are
spread blankets, and hot stones are placed inside. After having a
sweat bath the patient takes a bath in cold water. 

The calling of a Shaman was generally hereditary in his family,
the order being usually from maternal uncle to nephew. Before
he died he revealed his spirits to his successor, who might start with
a comparatively feeble spirit and acquire stronger and stronger ones.
This nephew, when he came to grow up, ceased to live with his
mother. There he was thought to have too easy a time and became
an object of contempt. He was generally sent to live with the uncle
to whose place he was to succeed. There he was put through a
rather severe discipline, being kept at work out in the cold, to inure
him to hardship, etc. 

Whether a man were a Shaman or not, he could increase his
physical powers, or obtain property, success in hunting, fishing or
w^ar, by rigid abstinence from food and drink, by remaining away
from his wife, bathing in the sea, taking sweat baths, etc. He would
drink warmed salt water often and take fresh water afterwards,
when all the contents of his stomach were ejected, leaving him so
much cleaner. 

Paul Kane, speaking of his experiences among the Clallums and
other tribes inhabiting Vancouver Island, says, "I have never heard
any traditions as to their former origin, although such traditions
are common amongst those on the east side of the Rocky Mountains.
They do not believe in any future state of punishment, although in
this world they suppose themselves exposed to the malicious \nt\u- 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 597 

ence of the 'Skoocoom' or evil genius, to whom they attribute all
their misfortune and ill luck. 

"The good spirit is called 'Hias-Soch-a-la-Ti-Yah,' that is, the
great high chief, from whom they obtain all that is good in this life,
and to whose happy and peaceful hunting grounds they will all
eventually go, to reside forever in comfort and abundance. 

"The medicine men of the tribe are supposed to possess a myste-
rious influence with these two spirits, either for good or evil. They
form a secret society, the initiation into whicli is accompanied by
?, great ceremony and much expense. The candidate has to prepare
a feast for his friends and all who choose to partake of it. and make
presents to the other medicine men. A lodge is prepared for him
which he enters, and remains alone for three days and nights with-
out food, whilst those already initiated keep dancing and singing
around the lodge the whole time. After this fast, which is supposed
to endue him with wonderful skill, he is taken up, apparently life-
less, and plunged into the nearest cold w^ater, when they rub and
wash him until he revives; this they call 'washing the dead.' As
soon as he revives, he runs into the woods and soon returns dressed
as a medicine man, which generallv consists of tlic light down of
the goose stuck all over their bodies and heads with thick grease,
and a mantle of frayed cedar bark, with the medicine rattle in his
hand. He now collects all liis property, blankets, shells and orna-
ments, and distributes the whole amongst his friends, trusting for
his future support to the fees of his profession. 

"The dress of a Shaman differed somewhat in accordance with
the kind of spirit speaking through him. Usually he wore a dancing
blanket, carried an oval rattle and hail a number nf bone 'head-
scratchers' hung around his neck. His hair was allowed to grow
long and was never combed or cleaned. Sometimes he wore a bone
stuck through it, at others he wore a cap slanting up on either side
to a ridge on top, and sometimes he wore a circular fillet. He al-
ways wore a long bone through the septum of the nose. 

"Sometimes, when he got his power from one of the 'Ocean
People,' the Shaman put two flicker feathers in his head dress. He
carried a short piece of board on which he beat time with a short
baton, and had a carved hollow bone through which he carried on
his spiritual combats and blew awav disease. Generally he had an 

598 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

assistant to beat a large drum for him, which was hung up for the
purpose in the sick man's house. 

"When a person is sick they send for a Shaman, asking him to
heal him. When he arrives the people beat time. At the same
time, when they ask him to come, they give him presents in order
to secure his good will. Elk skins and slaves are often given in
this manner. Then the Shaman takes his rattle and his bone tube,
through which he blows on the affected part of the body. 

"Early in the morning, he and all the patient's relatives drink
salt water as an emetic, and they fast for four days. Difring all this
time, the Shaman swings his rattle and dances. He goes around the
fire, the left hand towards the middle of the house, trying to find his
power, one of the 'Above People.' Finally, he says that the guardian
spirit informed him that the patient would be well, at such and such
a time." 

The use of the bone tube was not confined to the Indians of Brit-
ish Columbia, as the following description bv J. G. Kohl, of an
Indian doctor treating a sick child in the region north of Lake
Superior, proves : 

"The doctor's chief instrument was a hollow, verv white and
carefully polished bone. This bone, which was about two and a
half inches long and the thickness of the little finger, the doctor
repeatedly swallowed, then brought it up again, blew on the child
through it, sucked up the skin through the tube, and then ejected
the illness he had drawn out into a basin, with many strange and
terrible convulsions. All this was accompanied by an incessant
drumming, rattling and singing of the assistants of the doctor." 

Besides calling in the services of a Shaman, in cases of sickness,
internal remedies were used; but it appears from the following
prescription, that actual experience of the virtues of the constituents
had a comparatively small share in their composition. 

On arising in the morning, one must go out without eating any-
thing and collect the following articles : 

1. Four roots from each of two distinct species of fern. Each
root must be taken from a diflferent plant and all four must be col-
lected before the next is proceeded to. 

2. A little hemlock bark from four different trees. 

3. Bark from four alders. 

I 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 599 

4. Bark from four crabapple trees. 

5. Four mussels, shell and all, taken from four dillferent places
along the shore. 

6. Barnacles taken from the east side of four dififerent stones.
All these must be placed upon the surface of a flat rock and 

mashed up together by means of another stone. Then the follow-
ing must be added : 

7. Salt water from the crest of four waves caught in the hollow
of the hand on the beach. 

8. A handful of water from each of four dififerent rills on the
beach. 

9. A handful of stagnant water taken from the east side of each
of four dififerent poo's in the forest. 

10. Four young spruce trees, about six or eight inches high,
found growing upon as many old dead trees. 

1 1. Finally, four hard round stones must be taken from as many
dififerent places along the shore. 

The collector must take all of these things home, and if he meets
anyone on the way, he must not speak to him. On reaching the
house he must pass around it, keeping it to the left, until he comes
to the front door.- Instead of entering here, he must pass on in the
same direction to the back door and enter. If there is no back door
he must pass around to the front door again. 

Arrived indoors, he first puts his four stones into the fire. If
any of these burst it is thought that the person will die, though it is
known that this does not always happen. White stones are said to
be the best to choose because they do not break easily. Ne.xt a pot
containing the remaining articles collected, is placed upon the fire,
and the contents warmed enough to drink. There is sufficient water
at first, but later a (]uart of fresh and salt water in equal proportions
may be added. The sick person drinks as much as possible, every
morning, before eating anything, and continues doing so for four
days. Then he stops, but if it agrees with him, a new mixture may
be made. 

Not only were medicines employed in cases of sickness, but their
use was far more extended. I'hus there was medicine for carving,
for dancing, for acquiring property, etc., a love philtre, or woman's
medicine. 

600 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

There seems to have been another set of medicines, which con-
sisted of simple extracts from plants and shrubs, founded on expe-
rience and of some actual medicinal value. These, however, were
not valued nearly so highly as the symbolic compounds. 

Since the word "xil" may mean medicine or leaf indifferently,
it would seem that leaves formed the principal constituent of the
older remedies. 

Some of the customs could be interpreted as an attempt at Pre-
ventive Medicine, although completely clothed in superstition. 

There were many things that a pregnant woman was not per-
mitted to look at and many things which she must not eat. Among
the latter were the cormorant and the abelone. If she ate the for-
mer, the child would defecate all the time; if the latter, it would have
its neck turned around. She must not chew gum. If she looked
at a bull-head, the child would be as ugly as one. If, on the other
hand, she mashed upon her abdomen some of the small, white Hies
found on the beaches, and rubbed them around, the child would
be good looking. No one in the house, where there was a pregnant
woman, might look out of doors. He must go out and look. If he
happened to forget he must go outside, turn once to the left and then
go in again. When a pregnant woman was lying down, one must
not pass between her and the fire. Infringement of either of these
latter regulations would give the woman a hard time in bringing
forth. No boy was allowed to play with bow and arrows in the
house where she was, for he might put out the child's eyes. When
she slept, she must not turn over while lying down, but get up and
then lie down on the other side. This was a regulation for the earlv
stages of her pregnancy, to. prevent the embryo splitting in two. 

After the child was born, she had to sit still for ten davs, with
a broad belt of cedar bark around her, and then bathe. 

After the birth of the child, the navel-string must be buried deep
in the forest, where no dog or other animal could dig it out. 

During his wife's pregnancy, a man must not talk triflingly to
other women he was in love with, otherwise his wife would die. 

Piihertx. 

Among the people of the West Coast, at the time of puberty, a
girl was kept indoors behind screens for about twenty days. If she 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 601

sat near the fire her face would become red and stay so. She fasted
for six days from the commencement of this period. During the
whole twenty days she was only allowed a few drops of water a day.
The abstinence made her healthy and no accident would befall her. 

She must not talk or laugh during all this time. If she did she
would become either talkative or too much inclined to laugh. 

After the twenty days were over, the girl took a bath and none
of the water was allowed to be spilled. It was taken back into the
woods. If this were not done she would not live long. Whatever
she did at the time would remain with her always. 

Until four years had passed she must eat no fish but black cod.
They thought that the other hsh would become scarce if she ate them. 

The girl's eyes had supernatural powers. In Tason Harbour a
girl once stopped a dog, which was rolling down hill, by looking at it. 

If anyone having a pain or sickness, continually, in one place,
went behind the screen in the rear of the house and let the girl scratch
the place, it would be cured. 

Among the Masset, a girl was not allowed to eat fresh fish, else
when she grew up she might have consumption. She must not eat
seaweed or later in life she would be troubled with diarrhoea. She
must not eat clams, mussels or sea eggs for the same reason. 

Pregnancy. 

When a married woman was with child, for the first time, both
she and her husband had to go through certain ceremonies similar
to the puberty ceremonies, otherwise many evil consequences might
result. While bathing, the woman prayed, "May I have no trouble
when I am giving birth. I rely on thee, Dawn of the Day. Pity me." 

She was not allowed to touch or eat the flesh of the porcupine
or anything killed by an eagle or hawk, since if she ate them, it was
said, that her child would resemble them. If she ate the flesh of a
hare, the child would have hare lip. She must not eat black bear
flesh, for if she did she would have no more children. She must
not eat food of which a mouse, a rat, or a dog had eaten part, for if
she did, she would have a premature birth. If she stepped on the
tracks of a wolf or otter her child would be still-born or die shortlv
after birth, and her children ever afterwards would die in infancv.

590 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

ticularly to those of the coastal region. Every family of standing
had its own body of slaves, both male and female. These did all the
rough, dirty and laborious work, such as fetching water and gather-
ing firewood. These slaves were acquired either by purchase or
taken in war. 

Mention should also be made of their secret societies and their
"potlatch" ceremonies. The former was peculiar to the coastal
tribes and the initiation ceremonies were sometimes very elaborate
and peculiar. Space does not permit us to treat of these at length
here. The latter, or "potlatch," is a kind of gift-feast and is a most
ingeniously devised system, peculiar to the Northwest tribes of
America, for acquiring social prestige and influence, and at the same
time laying up a provision for the future. By a well-understood
rule, which is observed with a greater punctiliousness than any
observance among ourselves, every recipient of a gift at a potlatch
gathering is bound in honour to return another of double value to
the donor or his legal heirs at some future time. And in this repay-
ment his relatives and fellow-clansmen arc expected to aid him if
necessary. They indeed become his sureties; and the honour of the
family, clan or even tribe is involved in the repayment of the gifts. 

The property usually distributed on these occasions consists in
the main of skins, horses, personal clothing, blankets, guns, canoes,
and, since the advent of the dollar, money. On one historic occasion
presents to the value of $15,000 are known to have been distributed,
chiefly in the form of blankets, the old time measure of wealth. On
another the gifts consisted of 134 sacks of flour, 140 pairs of blankets,
a large quantity of apples and other provisions, and $700 in currency.
From two to five thousand Indians meet together at these potlatch
gatherings. About twenty-five years ago one of the Vancouver Island
chiefs gave a great potlatch to about twenty-five hundred persons
brought together from dififerent tribes. He feasted and entertained
his guests for over a month, and then sent them home with his accu-
mulated savings of the five previous years. This prolonged feast
spread his fame far and wide over the Province, and he was there-
after looked upon as one of the greatest of chiefs. 

Though it is now made illegal to hold potlatch ceremonies on
account of the disorder and inebriety sometimes witnessed thereat,
there can be no doubt that in earlier pre-trading days before the 

« 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 59i 

introduction of "fire-water" the effect of such a custom as the pot-
latch was on the whole good and beneficial, engendering as it did
feelings of good will and friendship between settlement and settle-
ment and tribe and tribe, and making war almost impossible between
them. 

h 

1^ 

CHAPTER XTX
MEDICAL 

liV ROBERT E. M'KECHNIE 

Part 1 

The Indian in Medicine. 

In writing a History of Medicine in British Columbia, the
narrative would not be complete, without including reference to
the customs of the primitive inhabitants of the country. This is all
the more true when one remembers, that these ancient customs of
treating disease, are still, to some extent, practised in this province
among the Indians in the remoter districts. 

White, in his History of the Warfare of Science with Theology,
says, "Nothing in the evolution of human thought appears more
inevitable, than the idea of supernatural intervention in producing
and curing disease. The causes of disease are so intricate that they
are reached only after ages of scientific labour. In those periods
when man sees everywhere miracle and nowhere law, when he
attributes all things which he cannot understand to a will like his
own, he naturally ascribes his diseases either to the wrath of a good
being or the malice of an evil being. This idea underlies the con-
nection of the priestly class with the healing art: a connection, of
which we have survivals among rude tribes in all parts of the world,
and which is seen in nearly every ancient civilization." 

A comparison between the beliefs of the causation of disease,
as held in pAirope during the dark ages, with those held by the
North American Indian is interesting. 

Thus, especially prejudicial to the true development of medical
science, among the first Christians, was their attribution of disease to
diabolical influence. 

Vol 1— ;!s 

594 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

St. Augustine said, "All diseases of Christians are to be ascribed
to these demons." 

Gregory of Nazianzus declared, that bodily pains were provoked
by demons, and that medicines were useless, but that they are often
cured by the laying on of consecrated hands. 

St. Gregory of Tours gave examples to show the sinfulness of
resorting to medicine. 

Naturally, the belief thus sanctioned by heads of the Church
created a demand for amulets and charms of all kinds, and under
this influence we find a reversion to old pagan fetiches. 

In discussing the North American Indian, Parkman says, "A
great knowledge of simples for the cure of disease is popularly
ascribed to the Indian. Here, however, as elsewhere, his knowledge
is in fact scanty. He rarely reasons from cause to effect, or from
effect to cause. Disease is, in his belief, the result of sorcery, the
agencv of spirits or supernatural influences, undefined and indefin-
able. The Indian doctor was a conjuror, and his remedies were to
the last degree preposterous, ridiculous or revolting. The Indian
doctor beat, shook, or pinched his patient, howled, whooped, rat-
tled a tortoise-shell at his ear to expel the evil spirit, etc. He relied
far more on magic than on natural remedies. Dreams, beating of
drums, songs, magic feasts and dances, and howling to frighten the
demon from his patient, were the ordinary methods of cure." 

Till' Sluiiiinn or Medicine Man. 

Among the Indians there was no separate class of priests, and as
the belief was general that disease was due to spirits entering into
the body, it naturally followed that the medicine man was priest
as well. Thus I. R. Swanton states that there was no priesthood,
among the Haida, distinct from the Shamans. 

A Shaman was one who had power from some supernatural
being, who "possessed him," and who chose him as the medium
tiirough which to make his exisfcnce felt in the world of men. When
the spirit was present the Shaman's identity was practically abol-
ished. For the time, he was the supernatural being himself. So
the Shaman must dress as the spirit directed him, and when the
spirit was present, spoke the latter's own language. 

I 

BRITISH COLUMBIA "iiJS 

The cause of disease, as well as of success or failure in the affairs
of life, as hunting, war, love, etc., was uniformly some supernatural"
object or some natural object supernaturally placed in the disordered
part. Pursuant to the adage that it is a poor rule that does not
work both ways, we find that diseases in the supernatural beings may
be caused bv natural objects invisible to them. These are plainly
seen by the Shamans. Every war party must be accompanied bv a
Shaman, whose duty it was to find a propitious time for making an
attack, etc., but especially to war with and kill the souls of the
enemy. The death of their natural bodies was certain. 

James Tcit's Dcsi ription of Shnmntiisni. 

Shamans accomplished their supernatural feats by the help of
their guardian spirits, who gave them instruction by means of visions
and dreams. When called to visit a sick person, he appeared with
his face painted red, and either wearing a large fur hat decorated
with eagle tail feathers, and wiili the skins of small animals as
pendants, or else having these ornaments fastened in his hair. Some-
times he wore a kind of a mask. Around his ankles and knees he
wore strings of deer hoofs which rattled as he walked or danced. 

He did not accept payment from the first patient he treated, and
when he failed to effect a cure he returned his fees to tiie relatives
of the deceased. If a Shaman were well paid for his services, his
guardian spirit was well pleased and was more liable to help him. 

Before beginning to treat a patient, the Shaman frc(]uently pulled
out a long pipe from which hung eagle feathers and took a smoke,
for smoking was looked upon as a means of communication between
the Shaman and his guardian spirit, as well as between him and the
spirit world. 

Having painted his face, and sometimes his hanils and chest,
red, he divested himself of his robe and shirt, and proceeded, by
means of incantations, to expel the disease from the hodv of iiis
patient. During the greater part of the time he kept up his song.
gesticulating sometimes with his arms and bodv while he kept time
with his feet. Sometimes he would break into a kind of a dance,
in which he went through many jerking and jumping motions with
his body and legs. He also often blew on the body of his patient
and rcpeatedlv made passes over it \\ ith his hands.