170 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY IBull. 175 



play in Mohave diagnostics the role of a "catchall" or "wastebasket" diagnosis, 

 which can be made to fit a variety of obscure ailments,** 



Case Materiai. 



When making a general study of Mohave dreams, I deliberately told several 

 of my ovrn dreams to my Mohave friends, in the expectation — which turned out 

 to be correct — that if I shared my dreams with them, this would encourage them 

 to tell me theirs. Two of my dreams were diagnosed as symptomatic of hiwey 

 lak. Since neither of these dreams resembles the dreams mentioned by the 

 various informants as being pathognomonic of hiwey lak, one is forced to con- 

 clude that a certain type of anxiety dream tends to be considered symptomatic 

 of hiwey lak, no matter what its actual content may be, especially perhaps 

 if it is dreamed after listening to accounts of hiwey lak. This point is of sufficient 

 importance to justify the publication of these — now respectively 37- and 28-year- 

 old — personal dreams.** 



Dream A: 



Dreamer. — The anthropologist. I had this dream when my 14i/^-year-old 

 younger brother died under rather tragic circumstances in 1924. I dreamed 

 that he came back and this made me so happy that I ran around on all fours. 

 (1924.) 



Associations. — Even nowadays (1936), when I am very sad, I sometimes dream 

 of my dead younger brother. I was only 16 when he died. 

 Eivsu: Tnpo:ma's interpretation (1936). — 



(a) Your brother longed for you and came back to see you. 

 (a) The shock of seeing him made you run on all fours in dream, 

 (c) The reason you dream of him when you are unhappy is that he thinks 

 of you. He never forgot you. 



Dream B: 



Dreamer. — The anthropologist. Exutus ipse puellam quam amo exutam 

 bracchio teneo. Then I, or my double, chase myself. Still carrying this bur- 

 den, I take off and fly away, while my pursuer remains on the ground. (1933.) 



Associations. — I met this person just before my first Mohave field trip and 

 thought a great deal about this meeting. 



Tcatc's interpretation (1936) . — This is a dream of good luck. 



Eivsu: Tupo:ma's interpretation (1936). — I am sure Tcatc was afraid to 

 tell .vou the truth, because she is very fond of you. So am I, but I think you 

 should know the truth. 



(a) Your attire means that you will become poor. (Hivsu: Tupo :ma knew 

 that I was quite "broke" in 1936.) 



(h) Your flying off means that you will meet someone else and have better 

 luck. 



^ In fairness to the Mohave diasnosticlan, it should be stated that such fashionable 

 "catchall" diagnoses also ocoir in occidental psychiatry. Thus, at the turn of the century 

 the favorite "when In doubt" diagnosis was hysteria, whereas today the diagnosis of 

 schizophrenia Is often applied so Indiscriminately that many thoughtful psychiatrists are 

 beginning to bend over backward to avoid making this diagnosis whenever It Is at all 

 possible to do so ... . partly perhaps to forestall the possibility that the patient so 

 diagnosed would be subjected to so-called shock therapy, or to a lobotomy. 



™ Additional reasons that favor the publication of such personally revealing material 

 will be found in part .3, pp. 97-101. 



