Origin of the Modern Day Pharmacy

Origin of the Modern-Day Pharmacy

For this project I chose to research the modern-day medicine of Native Americans. In this paper I will discuss their ancient methods as well as what is has become and how long it took for it to evolve to what it is today.

At times we often wonder what we would do without doctors, pharmacies, and medicine. The truth is, there was a time when our ancestors had none of these things. How did they survive? Well, the answer to that question would be plants. Yes, you heard right, plants! When they would fall ill, there were no doctors to diagnose and no pharmacies to purchase medicine from so they had to come up with their own remedies. For example, you may have heard of an Indian Paintbrush before. To us, it is just a pretty wildflower, but to them it was a remedy used for several things. According to Handel and Compton (2005), “Weak flower tea was used for rheumatism, as a contraceptive and for venereal disease. Flowers and leaves of several varieties of Indian paintbrushes were mixed with bear grease to promote hair growth” (p.2). So you see, something as beautiful as this flower that grows wild in certain seasons was actually used with purpose thousands of years ago.

The next question would probably be, “so if this was thousands of years ago, what about now?” Well, the answer to that is pretty simple. It is pretty much the same as it was with only a few differences. Native Americans believe that the combination of herbs, spirituality, and magic heals all. They use medicine men and women to heal, but before any type of treatment is begun they get a clear understanding of the individual’s condition (Native American Medicine, 2012). This is the first step to any treatment because there are different herbs and rituals for each condition. Some conditions call for herbs and rituals and some call for only one or the other. This is all up to the medicine man/woman.

Although their pharmaceutical practices have not changed much, they...