HEALTH PROFILES
John W. Vcrano and Douglas H. Ubelaker
According to some reports, American Indians generally were
in better health than the Spanish conquistadors. These health
profiles of an Aztec warrior and a Spanish conquistador were
written by scholars at the National Museum of Natural
History. Smithsonian Institution.
An Aztec Warrior
In Aztec society, success on the battlefield was a principal vehicle for social advancement, and most young men were eager to
become warriors. The battlefield was a hazardous place, however. . . . To treat its wounded the Aztec army maintained specialists who set fractured bones, realigned dislocated joints, and
cleansed and sutured lacerations.
Common health complaints included intestinal disorders,
headaches, coughs, and fevers. It was widely believed that disease was sent by the gods or was the result of sorcery, hence
l he advice of a professional healer was often sought—both to
cure a disease and to divine its source. There were many healers in Aztec society who specialized in particular ailments, and
treatment frequently combined ritual activities and herbal
remedies. Some twelve hundred plants were used by the Aztecs
for medicinal purposes. Most of these plants and plant preparations could be purchased in the marketplace from a vendor who
specialized in herbs, medicines, and curing paraphernalia.
The Aztec people were meticulous about personal hygiene.
They bathed regularly in streams and lakes, and took frequent
sweat baths as well. Most dwellings in Tenochtitlan had a
bathhouse, a small, circular structure that was heated by a fire
built against the outer wall. The bather entered the structure
and threw water against the wall to produce steam. Steam
baths were used for personal cleaning, as well as to treat
coughs, fevers, and joint problems. The Aztecs also recognized
the importance of dental hygiene and cleaned their teeth regularly with powdered charcoal and salt. . . .
A Spanish Conquistador
The Spanish conquistadores who made their way to the
New World were survivors of a long and harsh process of selection. Infant mortality was high in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe. One out of every three children died in the first
year, and less than half survived to age fifteen. Puor nutrition
and infectious disease were major contributors to this high
mortality. Vitamin deficiencies were common, and scurvy was
a familiar companion of sea voyagers. Recurrent outbreaks of
bubonic plague, smallpox, measles, typhus, and other infectious diseases periodically winnowed the population of Europe,
as did drought and famine. In terms of personal hygiene, the
Spanish conquistador had much to learn from his Aztec adver- '
sary. Bathing was a seldom-practiced ritual in sixteenth-century Europe, and cities of this period were not renowned for their
sanitary conditions.
While Europeans had a vague notion of the contagious nature of some diseases, illness more commonly was attributed to
astrological phenomena, curses, personal and moral dissoluteness, and, above all, divine retribution upon sinful man.
Medical treatments, which might include bleeding of the
patient and treatment with herbal remedies, were aimed at
restoring the balance of bodily humors—blood, phlegm, yellow
bile, and black bile. While a wealthy individual might consult a
university-trained physician for treatment of an illness, the
common man generally relied on barber-surgeons, apothecaries,
and self-taught practitioners. Barber-surgeons were the medical
personnel who accompanied the Spanish conquistadures and
early colonists to the New World. A general lack of confidence
in their medical skill is suggested by the fact that conquistadores frequently sought out Aztec practitioners for health complaints, in preference to their fellow countrymen.
The Spanish who came to the New World in the early sixteenth century were tough, wiry, battle-scarred adventurers.
Many showed the characteristic pockmarks left by a bout with
smallpox during childhood, as well as wounds sustained iji previous military campaigns. While they had little understanding
of how to protect their health or to treat their illnesses, they
were survivors, nevertheless. And like their Aztec opponents
on the battlefield, they had little fear of death.