Medicine is constantly developing and is discovered in many different objects and ways. Forms of medicine date back thousands of years but are most closely linked to Native Americans and their contributions to the Europeans who came to America. The word medicine comes from the word medecin, a French word meaning doctor, which was introduced to Native Americans when many French doctors arrived in the new world. Native Americans used this term to describe virtually any healing or spiritual method they used. The Native Americans' form of medicine for treating illnesses and injuries was more similar to the herbs and remedies they produced. For example, to relieve the common cold and act as a throat aid, the roots of the sannich plant were mashed into a juice and then swallowed, which acted as a cough medicine. Native Americans did a lot of experimental trial and error with natural plants and herbs to determine their properties, effects, and which would benefit them the most. When the Spanish, English, and other Europeans arrived in America, Native Americans shared their knowledge of their remedies and other herbal medicines and healing practices with them. Europeans paid attention to these practices and soon began developing their own. One Spanish explorer who took a great interest in medicine was Francisco Vasquez Coronado, who eventually developed the first medical book in American in 1570. In the early 1600s colonization began in America and as more and more Europeans arrived, so did their diseases , which were rare in America. Some of the major diseases were measles, yellow fever, and smallpox, diseases that Native Americans had never come into contact with and could not fight off due to a lack of genetic immunity. the soldiers were attacked by diseases called dysentery, smallpox and typhus. Doctors soon realized that these diseases could be contained or less widespread by improving sanitation conditions. This was the time when vaccinations to cure smallpox were discovered and became mandatory in the United States. Another sanitation change introduced was the use of appropriate footwear and clothing for soldiers. By 1814 the army had raised its sanitation standards, helping to stop the spread of these common diseases. Looking at these times, medicine has slowly made progress over the past centuries. Native Americans were the main source of these new advances and helped contribute to Europeans and colonial medicine. Although remedies and herbs came from medicine in these early times, this was a way to restore health and help medicine evolve to where it is today.