234 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



anxieties are an important concern of the Sioux. However, it does not seem 

 to attain the intensity as exhibited by the Wisconsin and Canadian Chippewa. 



For sheer intensity of health anxiety among the American Indian no 

 group can even approach the Navaho. This interest in health was pointed 

 out by early investigators of the Navaho such as Matthews who in 1897 

 observed (p. 40) : "All the great ceremonies which the writer has witnessed 

 among the Navahoes are primarily for the healing of the sick." Modern 

 students of the Navaho such as Kluckhohn and the Leightons have been 

 even more impressed with their preoccupation with health. The Leightons 

 (1942-A, p. 517), for example, point out that the majority of the thirty- 

 five principal ceremonies of this tribe are concerned with disease and curing. 

 Their study of types of uneasiness and fears (1942-B, p. 203) showed 

 that threats to health and body were by far the most important in the minds 

 of the Navaho in a series which also included threats to subsistence, social 

 security, liberty, housing, and religion. "The first thing which the collected 

 data reveals is the great preponderance of health concern over any other 

 type, health references forming sixty per cent of the total. Some of these 

 came to our attention because we were known to be physicians. However, 

 even if we subtract all references that seem influenced by our profession 

 which seem to be about fifteen per cent, health and body threats, totallmg 

 forty-five per cent lead all other types by a large margin." 



Kluckhohn and Leighton (p. 160) estimate that in the Ramah area the 

 Navaho men devote one-third to one-fourth, and the women one-fifth to 

 one-sixth of their productive hours to activities connected with religious 

 rites. This "... includes the periods they spend as patients, helpers, and 

 spectators; their trips to summon ceremonialists and to gather plants and 

 other materials; the extra chores in preparing food for practitioners and 

 guests and in hauling larger supplies of water and firewood than usual." 

 Considering that the majority of these rites are for curative purposes, it is 

 apparent from the great amount of time spent on them that curing holds an 

 important place in the minds of the people. The same writers further 

 estimate that about twenty per cent of the total family income of the people 

 in the Ramah area is spent for religious purposes. Further data to show 

 that the Navaho are unparalleled among the North American Indians in 

 terms of health anxieties seem unnecessary. 



If other studies on health anxieties among modern Indian tribes exist, I 

 have not been able to find them. Turning then from the modern picture 



