1900-1.] D^N]^ Surgery. 



19 



will, I think, explain the curvedness and inner indentations of Mr. 

 Meredith's crooks. It is nezncelh'tces or scarifying. This is very 

 commonly resorted to in all cases of rheumatism, local aching and 

 mal de raquettes, or the spraining of the instep resulting from too 

 severe snow-shoeing. It is also regarded by many as a panacea 

 against several other ills of a temporary nature. It consists in scratch- 

 ing numerous lines on the afflicted limb, followed, in many cases, by a 

 liberal application of the bruised root of the hemlock plant (Conium 

 maculatum). 



Now let the reader glance at Mr. Meredith's crooks. What is more 

 natural than to suppose that the indentations thereon were designed 

 as so many teeth of a stone currycomb intended to lessen the labour 

 of the native surgeon, as the scratches must be very numerous, while 

 work done with a single point would necessarily result in a useless flow 

 of blood from the first scarifications and unduly prolong the sufferings 

 of the patient ? On the other hand, the crooked outlines of the 

 bleeder are easily explained by the use the implement is put to. Its 

 curvedness is simply a means of having it fit the various parts of the 

 arm or leg whereon the simultaneous scarifications are produced. 



That this is not a mere fancy of mine can readily be inferred from 

 the fact that this peculiar method of bleeding is not confined to the 

 Dene race. We read in the paper by Mr. J. Mooney already referred 

 to that, among the Cherokees, " there are two methods of performing 

 the operation (of blood-letting), bleeding proper and scratching, the 

 latter being preparatory to rubbing on the medicine which is thus 

 brought into more direct contact with the blood." He then explains 

 that "scratching is a painful process. ... In preparing the young 

 men for the ball play, the shaman uses an instrument somewhat 

 resembling a comb, having seven teeth, made from the sharpened 

 splinters of the leg bone of a turkey." He further enters into 

 minute details concerning the operation which he says is performed 

 " on each arm below the elbow and on each leg above and below 

 the knee." 



So much for the curvedness of Mr. Meredith's implements. The 

 indentations noticeable on some of the outer or straight edges may be 

 explained by the fact that finally "the instrument is drawn across the 

 breast from the two shoulders so as to form a cross, ... so that the 

 body is thus gashed in nearly three hundred places."* 



Vn. Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, p. 334. 



