76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



(pt. 2, pp. 76-77) that they define this pathological process as a kind 

 of damming up of the libido sexiialis, whose final breakthrough 

 occurs in the form of a convulsive seizure. This view is in harmony 

 with modern psychoanalytic insight. One fact which may have en- 

 abled the Mohave to reach this conclusion is that, during the "tonic 

 phase" of a seizure, there is a concave arching of the back, known as 

 "arcus hystericus" — though it occurs also in true epilepsy — which 

 duplicates the posture of the male during orgasm.^^ The idea of a dam- 

 ming up, followed by a flooding, may have been modeled upon the 

 image of the periodic floods of the Colorado River, which played an 

 important role in Mohave economy (Kroeber, 1925 a) and may have 

 served the Mohave "psychiatrist" as a "thought model" for his theory 

 of convulsive seizures (Devereux, 1958 b) . 



The likelihood of this interpretation being correct is increased by 

 the fact that, in connection with another disorder of the sexual drive, 

 the Mohave specifically mentioned the occurrence of masturbation, 

 which is notoriously unable to produce an adequate psychic orgasm. 



SUDHU : RK 



This term is said to mean something like "to sneak after girls." 

 Etiology. — There is considerable confusion regarding the etiology 

 of this disorder. The shaman Hilyera Anyay, when asked whether 

 he knew of any case of priapism, made a somewhat obscure statement, 

 whose interpretation depends entirely on the significance one wishes 

 to assign to the term "halinok." This word, when used in conjunction 

 with a person, being, or entity believed to be capable of causing illness, 

 means literally "due to," "caused by," or "derived from." Thus, 

 ahwe: hahnok means "disease derived from contact with an alien" 

 (ahwe:). However, Hilyera Anyay used in his account the expres- 

 sion "liiku : pk hahnok," although hilm : pk is already the name of a 

 group of diseases (venereal diseases). In fact, this is the only re- 

 corded instance in which the term "hahnok" was used in connection 

 with an actual disease, rather than in connection with a pathogenic 

 agent. A reliable interpreter translated Hilyera Anyay's statement 

 as follows : "When such a person was (sic !) hiku : pk hahnok, in some 

 cases his penis stood up and never went down. I have heard of such 

 cases:" This statement does not make it clear whether Hilyera 

 Anyay viewed priapism as an actual epiphenomenon or symptom of 

 syphilis, or as a symptom of an independent disease entity called 

 "hikurpk hahnok," presumably related to syphilis, or meant to sug- 

 gest that priapism occurs in oversexed persons only if they also have 



^ Lordosis also occura In female white rats, when their excitement reaches a peak 

 during Intercourse. 



