Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 293
of disease. To the rubbish of the yard is also often imputed such a
role.]
The measure worm is driven out with white switches by the little
wizards, who finally dispose of him by putting him in the branches of
a post oak {Quercus stellata Wang.) upon the mountain. Throughout
most of the formula the medicine man speaks directly to the disease
spirit.
The meaning of the sentence with regard to the white knife is
obscure and could not be satisfactorily explained by either of the two
medicine men who were familiar with the formula.
The ceremony was described jointly by two medicine men. The
medicine man first prepares a sort of pestle or stamper of the wood of
siili', Diospyros virginiana L., common persimmon, about 3 or 4 inches
long and an inch in diameter at the large end. The stamper must be
newly made in every case, but why this should be so, or why the
wood selected should be persimmon, the medicine man could not
explain. One of these instrmnents [collected by Mr. Mooney] forms
part of the Cherokee collection in the United States National Museum,
Washington, D. C.
The medicine man recites the first paragraph while warming the
stamper over the fire. He then presses the broad end upon the several
aching places a nmnber of tunes. The same operation is repeated
[during the recitation of] every one of the three [next] paragraphs, after
which he blows four times upon each of the sore spots. The whole
ceremony is repeated four times before noon, the expression
i;Do''t8GwuD8' ("all day ") in the prescriptions [often] being understood
to mean until the completion of the fourth and final ceremony about
noon. After this final application the medicine man scratches the
patient about the joints with a brier (see p. 70) and rubs into the cuts
a warm infusion of four varieties of fern (tGo'^^li) (see p. 71).
The taboo list for a rheumatic patient as given by the two medicine
men includes the aG0''"l9 or sun perch; the Ga'^siina' or drumfish,
also called buffalo fish; the tsi;'ntGi"'tsty5'''sti or hornyhead; the
a'ndiitsa' or speckled trout; the squirrel, siilo*'"b; and the buffalo,
yaN'sa'. The taboo extends through life, and with the exception of
the tsi;'ntGt"'tsiy5°'sti which is prohibited in a number of diseases on
account of its tendency to rapid decay (see p. 182), is owing to a
mythic connection between the disease and the tabooed animal.
This formula in fact furnishes a perfect illustration of the ideas underlying
the whole theory and practice of medicine among the Cherokees.
The disease, rhemnatism, is caused by the measure worm, because the
cramped movements of the patient resemble those of the worm. The
remedial herbs used are ferns, because, as these plants grow, their
fronds unroll and straighten out, just as the medicine man wishes the
contracted muscles and limbs of the patient to do.