194 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



slight cU'oi\'r. \oneival (li.sord(>r.s iiro among the native eoniphiints. 

 Hemorrhages from the lungs and nose are frequent. Boils and "old 

 sores" and varieose veins give many of the people trouble. Their 

 eyes sutfer greatly from the cold wind and glare. Frequently they 

 experience toothache and neuralgia. Indigestion and constipation 

 are the most common ailments. 



When the sufferer realizes that death impends or that much further 

 agony is in store for him, from primarih" a superstitious motive, and 

 secondarily a desire for I'clief , he asks and secures the aid of his rela- 

 tives and friends in ridding him of his life. 



PSYCHOLOGICAL DATA. 



A thick skin, if not less delicate " end organs" of sense and "pain 

 nerves" than those of the Caucasian, renders the Eskimo on St. Law- 

 rence Island more indifferent to cold and exposui'C gcneralh" than is 

 the case with the average white man. Th^y endure the extraction of 

 a tooth remarkably well, in spite of the fact that their teeth are large 

 and doubtless strongly locked in their jaws, as they frequently serve 

 the purpose of a vise. A highlj^ developed nervous sj^stem is prob- 

 ably Inilanced by an abundance of animal A'itality. Nervous prostra- 

 tion could hardly occur among these people, while neuralgia of the 

 face and head is not infrequent, due no doubt principally to decayed 

 teeth. The bodily vigor usually is so great that mental activity does 

 not impair it. 



The development of the upper sinew of the forehead indicates the 

 keen percc^ptive penetration of these natives. Usually the ej^esight is 

 very powerful, distinguishing small objects at long range. Exposure 

 to fferce cold blasts of wind does, of course, impair the eyesight gradu- 

 ally, in connection with exposure to the glare of the simlight on the 

 sjiow. The old men thus frequently become blind, while the old 

 women lose their sight or impair it greatly by sewing with only a dim 

 light from a native seal-oil lamp to aid them. It is abuse, however, 

 that injures their sight. If cared for, the e3'es would continue to give 

 the mind accurate details of the ol)jects perceived. 



The purely mental action in perception also appears to l)e corre- 

 spondingly well developetl. Likewise the powers of representation 

 and conception tippear to be highly organized. The imaginative func- 

 tion is witnessed by the al)ility of these natives to adapt themselves to 

 changing conditions (|uickly and to invent devices in emergencies of 

 sudden crises. They are alert, observant, ready, but not slavish in 

 imitation, and are possessed of considerable ingenuity. To judge from 

 a slight acipiaintance with their language, they are rather given to 

 analysis than synthesis, and hence I do not find a tendency to group 

 many objects possessing one attribute in common, of diverse forms, 



