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"Human behavior is always motivated by certain purposes, and these purposes grow out of sets of assumptions which are not usually recognized by those who hold them. The basic premises of a particular culture are unconsciously accepted by the individual through his constant and exclusive participation in that culture. I t is these assumptions-the essence of all the culturally conditioned purposes, motives, and principles-which determine the behavior of a people, underlie all the institutions of a community, and give them unity" (HsiaoTung Fei and Chi-I Chang 1945:81-82)."Human beings in whatever culture are provided with cognitive orientation in a cosmos: there is 'order' and 'reason' rather than chaos. There are basic premises and principles implied, even if these do not happen to be consciously formulated and articulated by the people themselves. We are confronted with the philosophical implications of their thought, the nature of the world of being as they conceive it. If we pursue the problem deeply enough we soon come face to face with a relatively unexplored territory-ethno-metaphysics. Can we penetrate this realm in other cultures? What kind of evidence is a t our disposal? . . . The problem is a complex and difficult one, but this should not preclude its exploration" (Hallowell 1960: 21).

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BY GEORGE M. FOSTER HE transfer of much Spanish culture to the New World, and its subsequent assimilation with native American Indian elements to form modern Hispanic-American culture, was accomplished by both formal and informal mechanisms. State and Church formulated elaborate plans to guide colonial policy, particularly in government, religion, education, and social and economic forms. But also countless unplanned and informal contacts with the native peoples modified Spanish custom and belief in such areas as folklore, music, home economics, child training, and everyday family living. In medicine-particularly folk medicine-both formal and informal mechanisms have been important in the development of modern Spanish-American beliefs and practices. This paper points out a number of relationships between the two areas and raises several more general questions which are suggested by the data. Spanish medicine at the time of the conquest of America was based largely on classical Greek and Roman practice, as modified during transmission by way of the Arab World, first through Persia and such famous doctors as Rhazes (c. 850-925) and Avicena (980-Io37) and then such Hispano-Arabic physicians as Avenzoar of Sevilla (I073-II6I). The systems of these men, as they influenced thought in Spain, are revealed in a series of books reprinted or published for the first time 1The Spanish data in this paper are taken from the sources given in this footnote and from my field notes from the towns of Alosno,