Tribal medicine: diviners and herbalists

SYNOPSIS The survival of African tribal medicine is discussed in relation to its legal status and therapeutical value. There are indications that it was not grossly deficient, at the time when White settlement began, in relation to either tribal needs or European medical practice. The associated pattern of ideas in tribal society is surveyed, and a parallel is drawn with attitudes to magic in European mediaeval society. Modern medicine is now firmly based on scientific method; tribal medicine remains essentially unscientific. If European precedent is followed, superstitious beliefs are likely to decline as the number of Africans trained in science and rational thought increases.