Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

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60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Curing Methods
As we have seen in our paragraph on materia medica, the Cherokee
do not only attach officinal value to the intrinsic properties of the
simples used, but they expect as much, if not more, curing power from
cbser^4ng and complying with sundry regulations when selecting,
picking, preparing, and administering them.
We are again faced with conceptions of the same order, when it
comes to the actual use of the plants or of the other materia medica
not only the object used is of importance, but the method of using it
is of great consequence. A short description of these modes and
methods \\t11 form the object of the following paragraphs.
Whatever be the method used, the act of treating a patient is
usually referred to as Dt'Galo°" M^tsta'N'ti' "to work for him " (DaGtlo'°'=
wista'ne'a' "I work for him ") . This expression is also frequently used
when referring to "examining A^dth the beads" or to the nefarious
machinations of an enemy. It is also used by the people in everyday
language to render "to work for (someone)," i. e., to do manual
labor, and only when it is used in the medical jargon does it have this
restricted meaning of "treating a patient."
It will be superfluous to state that the enumeration as well as the
description of the different methods as they appear in the following
pages are the result of patient observation and of infoniiation from
many different sources, both oral and as v/ritten in the sundry manuscripts;
not one Cherokee medicine man realizes that his science can
boast of such a wealth of curing methods.
Some of the methods have no specific name in Cherokee. The
names of those that do have one wiU be found in the relevant formulas.
Administerinfj the medicine.—A given disease may be cured by
merely administering the decoction or the infusion of the medicine
prescribed. This procedure has been amply described on page 56 and
does not here call for any further comment.
Often the root or the bark of the simple prescribed is chewed by
the patient, instead of being drunk by him in a decoction or in an
infusion
Blowing the medicine.—In certain diseases, even if the ailment is
held to be of an internal order, the medicine is not taken internally
at all, but is sprayed over the patient, either over the whole of his
body or only over parts of it (e. g., over his head, his breast, etc.).
This is usually done by means of the blowing tube (p. 58). The
medicine man takes a long draught of medicine, A^thout swallowing
it, and then blows it vrith one continued jet over the patient.
Often, instead of blowing the medicine over the patient the medicine
man merely blows his breath. This may be done again by means of
the blowing tube, but this instrument is often dispensed with. It
could not be ascertained whether the use of the blowing tube is of
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