154 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



but simply developed and institutionalized an already present, but 

 previously only latent, nexus. In brief, he did not revolutionize Mo- 

 have medical theories but expanded and elaborated them in a manner 

 which, both substantively and procedurally, fitted the basic orienta- 

 tion of Mohave culture and medicine. 



The Data 



Hivsu: Tnpo:ma's statement {1932). — Some women contract a sexual ill- 

 ness called hiwey lak (anus, pain) which is caused by a ghost pregnancy. A 

 woman who was never pregnant and never lost a child cannot dream of being 

 pregnant with a ghost child and therefore cannot have pseudocyesis. This ill- 

 ness is contagious and is transmitted through intercourse. The man's sperm 

 carries it to the woman and the woman's discharge during the orgasm transmits 

 it to the male.'" You should ask Harav He:ya and Ahma Huma:re for in- 

 formation about this illness. They are specialists in its treatment and know 

 more about it than I do. 



Comment 



It is extremely interesting that, just as in the case of hikw:r (pt. 4, pp. 117- 

 12S), Hivsu : Tupo :ma gave a relatively uousupernaturalistic, down-to-earth ac- 

 count of the manner in which hiwey lak is transmitted, whereas the two experts, 

 Harav He:ya and Ahma Humarre, gave highly supernaturalistic explanations. 

 Yet, even this nonspecialist's theory of the transmission of this disorder by means 

 of the genital secretion of living persons is ultimately rooted in the mythical 

 theory of the ti'ansmission of venereal disorders by means of saliva. It is 

 simply restated in more realistic terms, modeled upon the now-known means 

 whereby true venereal disorders are transmitted. This observation tends to 

 strengthen the thesis presented elsewhere (Devereux, 1958 b) that real science 

 comes into being when culturally and supernaturalistically "tainted" or 

 "obfuscated" knowledge is stripped of its cultural connotations, thus making 

 possible a subsequent elaboration of the factual core of what was previously 

 nothing more than "temple science." 



It is also tentatively suggested that the mythical theory that venereal dis- 

 eases are transmitted by means of saliva, i. e., while kissing (Kroeber, 1948), 

 may not date back in its entirety to aboriginal times, since the practice of 

 kissing does not seem to be an ancient one. If that is so, then the nefarious 

 effects attributed to kissing (saliva) may, in part, reflect a resistance to ac- 

 culturation which is rooted in the belief that the aliens, and all their works, 

 are harmful to the Mohave (pt. 4, pp. 128-150) and in the attitude that occidental 

 techniques of lovemaking are obnoxious (Devereux, 1948 f, 1950 a). If 

 this view is correct, then it is necessary to predicate a connection between the 

 foreign illness (pt. 4, pp. 128-150) and at least the type of hiwey lak caused by 

 ghosts, since, as Fatliauer (1951) has shown, there are also many other indica- 

 tions that the Mohave equate ghosts with aliens (pt. 4, pp. 128-150). On the 

 other hand, due consideration must also be given to the probably ancient 

 Mohave belief that the body fluids of a slain monster produced harmful small 

 creatures (see further below), and that dreams of contact with the various 

 secretions of a spouse (pt. 4, pp. 128-150) or of a slain foe or witch occur in 



"» This etiological theory, preaumably inspired by the "transmission through the saliva" 

 theory mentioned In the Mnstnmho myth (Kroeber, 1948), may explain why hiwey lak is 

 thought to be a veneral disease. 



