212 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



of infantile magical objects. The conjectural nature of our interpre- 

 tation is due partly to the relative paucity of ethnological material, 

 and partly to the fact that the entire psychoanalytic problem of 

 "good" and "bad" objects is still in a somewhat chaotic state.^^ A 

 fuller and more dogmatic interpretation of insufficient ethnological 

 material, in terms of a still incomplete theory, is, hence, undesirable, 

 since it would violate the most elementary rules of scientific discretion. 

 Though admittedly tentative, the interpretations given above are 

 likely to be correct, especially as regards oedipal factors. Indeed, 

 the fact that the mythical, counter-oedipally possessive, ^^Cathena'' 

 (Bourke, 1889) had to be intoxicated — perhaps with datura — ^before 

 her sons could marry, "suggests a definite link between dimgs and 

 oedipality and therefore also between oedipality and charms. 



ALCOHOL 



The Mohave had no alcohol in aboriginal times. It is therefore un- 

 derstantable why, even though some people are nowadays known to 

 drink too much, the Mohave continue to consider drunkenness not as an 

 aboriginal neurosis (yamomk) but as an alien form of misconduct 

 or badness (ala:yk). Since this work seeks to present primarily 

 Mohave theories concerning psychiatric illness, the Mohave view, that 

 alcoholism is not a neurosis, made it necessary to relegate a discus- 

 sion of Mohave drinking to a special Appendix (pp. 505-548). Need- 

 less to say, from the strictly psychiatric point of view, alcoholism, 

 of course, is a genuine neurosis. 



♦s We suggested elsewhere (Devereux, 1953 a) that good objects turn into bad ones as a 

 result of their being ejected. 



