Traditional Kalmyk Medicine in the Second Half of the 18th Century (Evidence from Johannes Jährig’s Records)

Abstract

In the second half of the 18th century, the Russian Academy of Sciences arranged five physical expeditions under the supervision of outstanding scientists mainly of German origin. The objective of those expeditions was to increase knowledge regarding the bordering regions of the Russian Empire. One of the main points of the program of those academic expeditions was to study the traditional medicines of the peoples of Russia. The topic was especially actual and interesting since the relevant knowledge was scarce enough. One of the reasons the knowledge was that poor was that such kind of information was hard to obtain. For example, for the Kalmyks medicine was closely connected with religion and Kalmyk priests did not want to share their knowledge with other scientists. One of the scholars who provided lots of interesting materials regarding the topic was Johannes Jährig (1747-1795). His role in the collection of medical data and his personality is little known to the public. At the same time, he was admitted into the Russian Academy of Sciences upon P. S. Pallas’ request since 1774 and worked as his informer on various subjects for over sixteen years. Among Jährig’s materials there were numerous reports regarding the Kalmyk ethno-medicine of the late 18th century. Some of those reports were published in the leading journals of the Russian Academy of Sciences and other periodicals world-wide. The remaining materials are Johannes Jährig’s archived unpublished manuscripts. The most interesting of the latter are reports about application of snakes for treatment of tumors, application of magical spells and different medicinal herbs for treatment of varied diseases. Jährig’s materials also describe the Kalmyks’ methods for treatment of domestic animals, especially horses and hunting birds. In general, Jährig’s reports regarding the Kalmyk ethno-medicine of the mid-to-late 18th century are unique and many-sided materials for further historical studies, as well as for modern human and veterinary medicine which adds to the actuality of the research and signifies its cross-disciplinary nature.