Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 75 



Comment 

 Tentative diagnosis: Epilepsy. 



CASE 11 (Informant : Pulyi : k) : 

 A man, of the HalypotS. gens, is known to have fits. 



Comment 

 Tentative diagnosis: Hystero-epilepsy? Epilepsy? 



CONFIRMATORY CASE MATERIAL 



In 1933 the late M. A. I. Nettle, M. D., reservation physician, stated that, 

 between 1911 and 1933, she had known at least two Mohave epileptics, both of 

 whom died status epilepticus. Unfortunately, I failed to ascertain which of 

 the persons whom the Mohave knew to be suffering from seizures were those 

 whom Dr. Nettle had definitely diagnosed as epileptics. Hrdlicka (1908) men- 

 tions an epileptic girl child from Fort Mohave. 



According to the Mohave, even whites may suffer from atcoo : r 

 hanyienk. 



CASE 12 (Informant E. S.) : 



A certain American post-ofiice employee at Parker also had convulsive seiz- 

 ures of the atcoo : r hanyienk type. One morning Huskiv Itcerk (dove feces) 

 happened to go uptown and saw this man come out of the post office. Then, 

 suddenly, he saw him fall down on the sidewalk and "act crazy." Some women, 

 who happened to be nearby, came to see v>hat was the matter with him. They 

 were looking at him, when the man suddenly broke wind (epileptic defecation?), 

 whereupon the women just turned around and went away. After a while the 

 man got up and was all right once more. In telling this story Huskiv Itcerk 

 commented that, when an accident happens, the women are always there ; they 

 stand around and want to see more of it. 



Comment 



B. S. volunteered the above case history immediately after he translated 

 Tcatc's account of two Mohave cases of atcoo : r hanyienk. Its significance lies 

 in the fact that the Mohave diagnosed the illness of a white person as atcoo : r 

 hanyienk, which proves that the illnesses of whites are held to be identical with 

 those of the Mohave. A detailed discussion of this finding, with confirmatory 

 material, will be found iu part 8, pp. 485-501. 



The case of this white epileptic was apparently not widely known, since, when 

 it was mentioned to Pulyi : k, he said that he hadn't heard the story before. 



General comment 



Wlien speaking English, the Mohave generally designate seizures 

 of all types by the term "fit." Atcoo : r hanyienk is believed to be due 

 to an incapacity to discharge sexual tension even by means of mastur- 

 bation or coitus that culminates in ejaculation. This view implies 

 that the Mohave have some insight into the fact that a physiological 

 orgasm need not necessarily also entail a psychic orgasm, even if the 

 ejaculation is pleasurable. It will be seen in connection with the 

 Mohave etiological theory of another derangement of the sexual drive 



492655—61—6 



