Modern Scientific Medicine did not arise de novo. It did not just happen. It was built on two fundamental principles: 1) that disease was caused by a physical agent or pathogen and 2) that the pathogen could be used to treat disease. Those principles came directly from the Yoruba Traditional Medicine. Europeans who came into contact with the Yoruba imported these principles into Europe from the Yoruba Traditional Medicine. European medicine at that time was bereft of any such principles.
The principle of Pathogenesis or disease causation
The Europeans learnt about disease causation from Yoruba medicine. The evidence is as follows.
Initial attempts by Europeans to settle in West Africa failed. Indeed, West Africa was known to them as ‘the white man’s grave‘. The common doggerel was: ‘one came out where twenty went in’. Mortality rates amongst European settlers were significantly higher in West Africa than anywhere else in the world. The Europeans blamed ‘bad air’ (mala aria) but the Yoruba taught them that something in the bite of the Efon (mosquito) was the culprit and that they, the Yoruba had the medicine to kill it. The causative agent was later discovered in 1800 to be a parasite.
The Europeans could not survive the infection because they had no knowledge of the disease or how to treat it. ‘Humoral medicine’, which was at that time the mainstay of European medicine, was ineffective. The disease was endemic in Yorubaland. The Yoruba survived it because they had treatment that was specific to it; herbs that they made from the leaves of the Dongoyaro, a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. The Dongoyaro tree was native to Yorubaland. It was later discovered that quinine was the active ingredient in the herb.
As a result of exposure to the Yoruba knowledge of how to treat malaria, European doctors and scientists in the 1700s learnt that disease was caused by a physical agent or pathogen, not by a ‘humoral’ agent as they previously theorised. European doctors and scientists learnt from Yoruba medicine that a disease was caused by a pathogen that was specific to that disease, and that a cure was effected only by killing that particular pathogen with the herb specific to it. The newly learnt knowledge of disease causation from Yoruba medicine led in the 1700s to the establishment in Europe of the science of pathogenesis.
The principle of Immunisation or disease prevention
The Europeans learnt about disease prevention from Yoruba medicine. The evidence is as follows.
European immigrants brought smallpox (Sopona in Yoruba) with them to the Americas. This resulted in devastating epidemics. Up to 95% of native Americans in some regions were wiped out. Motolinia, a Spanish Franciscan, wrote: ‘As the Indians did not know the remedy of the disease…they died in heaps…’. The European immigrants themselves were not spared; smallpox claimed up to 60% of their lives in some outbreaks. The standard ‘medical’ treatment for smallpox in those days in America was quarantine. There was in some places the ‘six feet rule’ where a family with an infected member was required to fly a red flag from a pole that had to be at least six feet high.
Smallpox mortality rates were lowest amongst the enslaved Africans despite lack of access to proper medical care or sanitation. This apparent immunity of slaves against smallpox caused some physicians to enquire why this was so. Onesimus responded to such enquiry disclosing to Rev Mather that immunity was achieved by the technique of immunisation in which a superficial incision was made on the skin of an uninfected person, powder made from pustular scabs from a recovered smallpox victim was directly rubbed into it. Rev Mather in turn persuaded his physician friend, Dr Boylston to trial the technique during the Boston epidemic of 1721. The technique substantially lowered the mortality rate. In 1725, Dr Boylston reported the success to the Royal Society in London, which aroused research interests all over Europe.
As a result of exposure to the Yoruba knowledge of how to immunise against smallpox, European doctors and scientists learnt that smallpox skin eruptions contained causative pathogens that could be used to immunise against the disease. European doctors and scientists learnt from Yoruba medicine that pathogens could be introduced into the body via skin wounds, and that pathogens so introduced could immunise against disease specific to that pathogen. The newly acquired knowledge of immunisation from Yoruba medicine led in the 1700s to the establishment in Europe of the science of immunisation (vaccination).
Comparing Traditional Medicines
The evidence that scientific medicine could not have originated from ancient traditions of medicine other than the Yoruba is as follows.
The European Traditional Medicine was based primarily on the concept of four humors linked to spiritual devotion. According to this tradition, disease was the imbalance of the bodily fluids of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile so that herbal preparations were non-specific and multi-targeted, aimed as they were at restoring the body’s self-organisation.
The Chinese Traditional Medicine was rooted in Daoism and the belief that the human body was a microcosm of the universe. According to this tradition, disease was a reflection of a systemic imbalance between Yin (coolness) and Yang (Hotness), and illness arose when Qi, the vital energy flowing through the body’s meridians, became stagnant, deficient or blocked.
The Indian Traditional Medicine was rooted in Ayurveda and the cosmic principles of the elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether. According to this tradition, disease was caused by imbalance of the three Doshas – Vasta, Pitta and Kapha – and treatment was focused on restoring harmony.
The Yoruba Traditional Medicine was focused on dealing with the deleterious actions of Kokoro or small creatures including creepy-crawlies, maggots, insects and worms. According to this tradition, disease was caused by Kokoro invading the body, and treatment was directed at killing it with herbs to which it was susceptible. Thus, of all the ancient traditions, only the Yoruba tradition was based on science (or an understanding of the physical and the natural), and was therefore the only tradition capable of fathering the Modern Scientific Medicine.