650 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



unknown ; for how frequently one encounters, in all ranks and classes 

 of society, individuals who, in spite of refined teachings and surround- 

 ings, exhibit an unmistakable taste for charlatanism in some of its 

 many forms, secular and spiritual ! 



" Medicine " as exemplified among the savage races and tribes of 

 America is practically one and the same with the " shamanism " of 

 the European and Asiatic nomad, the "fetich" of the native African, 

 and the " obi-rites " and " voudoo-worship " of West India blacks and 

 negroes of the Gulf States ; a careful examination of all reveals not 

 only a common origin, but a unity of purpose. 



The " medicine " of the Indian is his religion and philosophy ; 

 and it comprises everything in life and Nature, real or imaginary, 

 superstitious or occult ; and withal it is a mystery so subfile in its 

 many factors as utterly to defy specific definition, or perfect eluci- 

 dation. 



The " medicine-man " is no more a physician, in the modern and 

 enlightened acceptation of the term, than an ape is a man because it 

 chances to assume the erect posture and mimic the attributes of the 

 human race ; there is a blight analogy, but nothing more. The savage 

 knows absolutely nothing of the relationships existing between cause 

 and effect, of the action of remedies as remedies, of physiological con- 

 ditions and phenomena, or indeed of any agency that is not directly 

 born of the occult. He supposes the world and its circumambient ether 

 to be permeated by spirits, good, bad, and indifferent, who determine 

 the fortunes of men and regulate the phenomena of Nature in accord- 

 ance with individual will and fancies ; and who also bear some mys- 

 terious and indefinable relationship to each other, and to one " Great 

 Spirit " or Supreme Power who figures under a variety of guises and 

 titles, according to circumstances and surroundings, such as " The Old 

 Man," " Nine-bouzche," " Si-ce-ma-ka," " Kitche-Manito," "Great 

 Manito," etc. Manito, Manit, or Manitou, however, is not an appel- 

 lation alone singular to the Supreme Power, but under certain condi- 

 tions is equally applicable to any and all spirits ; in other words, it may 

 be used generically as well as specifically. Then, too, there are cer- 

 tain sprites or gnomes, " Little Men," invisible dwarfed inhabitants of 

 portions of the earth, who would seem to be satellites of the spirits 

 proper, but whose position in savage demonology is by no means satis- 

 factorily defined. 



Good spirits receive little attention, and are never objects of wor- 

 ship, since their acts, influence, and purposes are obviously for the 

 best. But the evil and half-way malevolent demand constant super- 

 vision and placation, lest the smooth workings of Nature be interfered 

 with, and the normal destinies of man perverted. A journey through 

 the Indian country affords ample evidence of this belief in frequently 

 recurring offerings suspended from trees, bushes, and wands, or con- 

 spicuously exposed upon rocks, knolls, and open places, such as broken 



