siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

236 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
take medicine except in the presence of a medicine giver, but it seems
evident that only certain medicines were administered in this official
manner.
Mention has been made of the readjustment of the pillow in re-
sponse to certain symptoms. If one complained of a dead feeling
in the legs and thighs, the doctor would reduce the height of the
head end of the pallet so that the blood would flow less readily toward
the feet.
If a person had lived some time in one place and had had much
sickness, he would move. This was often at the direction of the
doctor, and if the latter told him to move at a certain time he would
do so, perhaps living in a tent until there was time to erect a house.
Sometimes a man would move a dozen times on 40 acres of land.
Simpson also described what might be called fractional sweat-
bathing. In preparation for this a hole was dug in the floor big
enough to hold a large pot. Over it crosswise were laid a number of
sticks sufficient to hold up a quilt. A kettle containing water and
medicines was then put over the fire and, after the contents had been
heated, it was placed in this hole, and the affected part laid over
it, the whole being covered with the quilt. If the doctor prescribed
it, a second kettle of medicine might be used after the first had
become cool. After the steaming was over, the patient shut himself
in his room and stayed there until the right temperature was
restored, or as long as the doctor prescribed.
The use of cow horns, as mentioned above, was universal in the
Southeast. Simpson says of it that in the first place the doctor took a
sort of punch consisting of a piece of glass fastened on the end of
a stick in such a manner that it covild enter the flesh only a certain
distance, placed the point of it on a small vein over the afflicted part
and drove it in with a little mallet. Then he clapped the wide end
of the horn over the spot and sucked at the small end until most of
the air had been removed, when he closed the hole by means of a bit
of cloth previously lodged in his mouth. After waiting a certain
time he drew the horn away and examined the blood it contained
in order to diagnose the ailment. Another reason was probably to
remove a foreign object which some wizard might have injected.
This has been mentioned already. They also extracted from a pa-
tient such objects as lizards, snakes, terrapin, millipedes, or ear-
wigs, which it was claimed were " aggravating him to death."
For grinding medicines the doctor used a little mortar made out
of a hard yellow or white flint which was worked out by beating
very carefully with another stone. In dimensions these varied from
the size of the fist to the size of a plate. If the workman was in a
hurry he heated the rock, but in doing so he was liable to break and