By Margaret Lowenfeld

Consideration of the attitude of mankind towards disease and physical suffering, shows the existence of two streams of thought. In early days religion and, in savage peoples, the witch doctor regarded disease as the punishment of sin, and the measures taken to combat it were measures concerned with the spiritual condition of the sufferer. Parallel with this conception, common usage and the outlook of the barber surgeon interpreted illness as the logical result of mistakes in diet and in the hygiene of living.