Etiology time, and often lacked fresh fruit and vegetables. Without knowing the precise cause, Captain James Cook suspected scurvy was caused by the lack of vegetables in the diet. Based on his suspicion, he forced his crew to eat sauerkraut, a cabbage preparation, every day, and based upon the positive outcomes, he inferred that it prevented scurvy, even though he did not know precisely why. It took about another two hundred years to discover the precise etiology: the lack of vitamin C in a sailor's diet. An etiological myth, or origin myth, is a myth intended to explain the origins of
History of medicine in the Philippines surveyors of herbal medicines at the localities where they were assigned. Common disease during the Spanish period in the Philippines were diarrhea, dysentery, and leprosy. There were also the presence of cholera, inﬂuenza, smallpox, beri-beri, dysentery, bubonic plague, scurvy, rheumatism, asthma, syphilis, tetanus, toothache, and ulcers. Many Filipinos believed in "pasma" (a resulting condition similar to spasm which involves the occurrence of hand tremors, sweaty palms, numbness and pains after the body's exposure to "unhealthy cold" and water), the state of "nausog" ("distress" caused by an unfamiliar person), and "personalistic sorcery". It was in 1830 when the "true pharmacies" were