Samoan Herbal Medicine: 0 La‐’ aau ma Vai Fofo‐ o Samoa

The inspired combination of Dr W. Arthur Whistler of the Botany Department of the University of Hawai’i and O le Siosiomaga Society (the organization founded in 1990 for conservation of Western Samoa’s natural heritage) presages a work of importance. Whistler first surveys traditional Samoan medicine, drawing on the accounts left by nineteenth‐century missionaries and by later ethnographers. He considers that:

Chapter II: “Modern Samoan Medicine” is a realistic, profusely illustrated commentary on the symbiosis of Samoan medicine and Western medicine, concepts of sickness and health, Samoan ailments (including supernaturally‐induced ailments such as ma’i aitu), traditional Samoan healers, herbal medicine...