History of Latin American Dermatology

HISTORY OFDERMATOLOGYIN MEXICOGILBERTO ADAME MIRANDA, MARÍA ISABEL ARIAS GÓMEZ,ROBERTO ARENAS, PABLO CAMPOS MACÍAS, LEÓN NEUMANN SCHEFFER,YOLANDA ORTIZ, RAMÓN RUIZ MALDONADO, AMADO SAÚLMexico is a country located in thecentral part of the American continent;geographically it is part of North Americaand from the historical and social point ofview it is part of Latin America. The territoryof what is today Mexico saw theemergence and development of the Meso-American civilization. When theSpaniards arrived, at the beginning of thesixteenth century, they were amazed bythe presence of indigenous peoples possessing an advanced culture, with a well-definedpolitical and social structure and a major store of knowledge in diverse areas, includingmedicine (Figure 1).Figure 1. Indiandoctor. Use ofherbs. Mural atthe NationalInstitute ofCardiologyPre-Hispanic or pre-Columbian period■ Pre-Hispanic or pre-Columbian periodMedicineAs in all primitive peoples, Indian medicine mingled with magic and knowledge withsuperstition. The priest and the sorcerer were the only ones that fought against disease,the former by assuaging the anger of the gods and the latter by conjuring with the actionsof the stars and evil spirits 1 . The Meso-American peoples had learned to differentiatebetween diseases, identifying them with specific names, and possessed diversetherapeutic procedures. One of the most developed areas was botany; their knowledge ofherbs made invaluable contributions to European medicine (Figure 2). Ignacio Chávezpoints out: “Never did pharmacology receive — nor will it ever do so again — a contribution257