CHEROKEES OF NORTH CAROLINA — GILBERT 547 



and wife the wording of the formula likens each unto a noxious animal 

 so that repulsion is set up between the conjugal pair. The wife will 

 then leave her husband or vice versa, unless counterspells are 

 resorted to. 



At times the love spell fails to move the object of attention and the 

 reciter's love interest is then turned to hatred and a desire for revenge. 

 He may practice a spell of unattractiveness on her and make her re- 

 pulsive to all men. Or he may continue to ply her with love spells 

 until she makes a clown of herself through her overdemonstration of 

 passion toward him. Thus he attains revenge on her. 



FORMULAS AND DISEASE 



Disease and its causes have always been a moot problem for man- 

 kind. About the simplest explanation would be that of Pandora's Box 

 in which the disobedience of a command brought sorrows and disease 

 on man through feminine curiosity. The Cherokees, like other races, 

 found it necessary to deal with disease both from the psychosomatic 

 approach as well as from the practical or herbal approach. As in the 

 case of the ancient Aryan Atharva-Veda the Cherokee formulas enable 

 the apothecary to confront the many ills to which the flesh is heir. 



The suffering caused by disease is associated in the Cherokee mind 

 with the suffering caused by the anger of some other personality, 

 whether mental or physical anguish. Disease is the requital for the 

 anguish caused some other personality for actions, conscious or uncon- 

 scious, on the part of an individual. In a sense then, disease is a form 

 of conflict in which the symptoms are the equivalent of the blows ex- 

 changed by the boxers in a pugilistic contest. The animal spirits, 

 as Olbrechts says (1932, p. 19) , such as the Little Deer, the White Bear, 

 and others, are the tireless and valiant defenders of their particular 

 animal clan and mete out justice or take vengeance by sending disease 

 to neglectful and disrespectful hunters. In other words, all disease 

 is from due cause and this cause must be searched out and compen- 

 sated for before the disease can be cured. 



Diseases of one class are sent by medicine men to other people and 

 are made to display symptoms calculated to inspire the wrong remedy. 

 These are spoken of as "ordeal" diseases and are sent by conjurers to 

 each other "as a joke" or to test their knowledge and aptitude in ward- 

 ing off attacks. 



The curative methods pursued by the medicine man, as well as the 

 matter of materia medica, are treated at length by Olbrechts (1932, 

 pp. 60-77, and ff.). Suffice it to say here that the treatments were 

 often well conceived and well administered in terms of the theory of 

 disease herein presented. Many examples of curative formulas are 

 given by Olbrechts in the work cited. 



