Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

oIbrecIts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 71
knee, the wrist, the elbow, etc.—and are not more than 5 to 6 centimeters
long. From six to a dozen of them may be applied, usually
parallel, but in some cases half of them may be scratched from left
to right, the other half up and down, so that the whole presents a
network.
After any scarification, whatever ''instruments" may have been
used, an infusion of very pungent plants (see p. 53) is rubbed over
the scarified area; it is undeniable that this treatment is often efiBcacious
to allay the pains caused by neuralgia, nervous headache, and
similar complaints. Similar observations have been made by W. E.
Eoth^3 and by Prof. J. P. lOeiM^eg de Zwaan.^*
Generally spealdng, scarification is performed to cure such diseases
as are not permanently located in a definite part of the body, as
rheumatism, which may be more pronounced in the knee joints one
day and in the hip the next; or "pains moving about" (neuralgia),
for neuralgia of the teeth, for "pains appearing in different places,"
etc.
Fractures.—The knowledge and the professional skill of the medicine
men with regard to fractures is scanty indeed. The fractured member
is fitted together as nicely as can be managed and one or more
sticks are tied alongside of it; as soon as the patient reaches home two
boards are hewn, of which a casing is made, and that takes the place
of the sticks. Complete rest is prescribed and a decoction of tsfyu'
{Liriodendron tulipifera L., tulip tree, poplar, whitewood) is blown,
by means of the blowing tube (see p. 58), on the fractured limb. As
the medicine men put it themselves: "If everything has been fixed
nicely the bones will grow together again and heal; but often they
don't and then the man will not have the use of his limb again."
If a lower limb has been broken or disjointed and has failed to heal
sticks and simple crutches, not different from the simpler forms known
to the rural whites, are used.
A fracture which is fairly common is that of the collar bone; the
rough way in which Cherokee ball players handle each other during
the game often results in a player being tossed clear up into the air
and falling down headforemost. To avoid falling on his head, or
brealdng an ann, the head is held on one side, and the arms are held
horizontally extended. A broken collar bone is often the result.
Here again no other method of curing is attempted than blowing a
decoction of poplar bark on the shoulder and breast. The patient is
ordered to keep his arm at an angle of 45° in front of his breast, i. e.,
to take the position which in our hospitals is enforced by the suspen-
sion bandage. Most cases heal successfully.
^^ "An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians,"
Thirtieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn. (1915), p. 280.
""Die Heilkunde der Niasser," den Haag 1913, p. 135.