Japanese Journal of Tropical Medicine
Online ISSN : 2186-1803
ISSN-L : 0303-836X
TROPICAL MEDICINE IN MALAYSIA A MIXTURE OF MAGIC, MYTH AND MODERN MEDICINE
UNGKU OMAR-AHMAD
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1969 Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 29-37

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Abstract
From ancient times primitive men resorted to magic as his first reaction to disease. Not equipped with later inventions and discoveries such as the microscopes modern drugs and electronic apparatus, primitive men seek the cause of disease in the realm of the unknown or the supernatural.
It cannot be denied that a number of modern medical remedies owe their origin to folklore, to old wives, tales and to the witch doctor. Quinine owes its origin to the medical rites of the Incas priests of Peru. penicillin has interesting links with the age old custom of applying moulds to septic sores. Our present day widespread application of vaccination owes its origin largely to the old native practice of the Turks.
In some advanced western countries and eastern countries such as Japan, the practice of magic in medicine has been almost entirely relegated to the past and it is read mainly as a matter of curiosity in books of legend and folklore.
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