218 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 175 



monograph, which the Mohave diagnosed otherwise, were actually 

 hysterical attacks. 



CASE 61 (Informant : Tcatc and E. S.) : 



Nyortc Kupu :yha (to die) ^.as a very nice girl, with beautiful hair. She 

 is said to have been a good singer. (The good singer is very popular in Mohave 

 society.) First she married IIu :kyev Anyay [Case 30], but had no child by 

 him. After his death she contracted another marriage and had a child by 

 her second husband. She died around 1928, at the approximate age of 60. I 

 used to play with her when we were both young. She was roughly 20 years 

 old when her fits began, and became less frequent as she got older. For example, 

 a man once told a funny story ... I don't recall the story, but it was a very 

 funny one, and we all laughed about it. However, Nyortc Kupu :yha just kept 

 on laughing and seemed unable to stop. The rest of us tried to stop her, but 

 she just kept on laughing. Finally we just watched her and let her laugh, 

 until she sat down and fell asleep. This happened to her a number of times. J 

 She would laugh at anything. This is the only such laughing fit I recall. 



Comment 



Tentative diagnosis. — Hysteria. 



This diagnosis is supported by the cogent observation that the frequency of 

 attacks decreased as she became older, and that her fits of laughing ended with 

 her falling asleep. 



CASE 62 (Informant E. S.) : 



When I was a student at Sherman Institute, we were rehearsing a play. 

 There were a lot of us, both boys and girls, on the stage. Suddenly one of the 

 boys made a remark about a mouse. He said that one of the directors of the 

 play looked like a mouse,"^ whereupon a Pueblo Indian girl of 17 began to laugh 

 hysterically and could not stop laughing, even when people slapped her and told 

 her to stop it. In fact, she didn't even seem to hear what was said to her. 

 She just laughed and cried, and then laughed and cried some more. Finally 

 they took her to the hospital and put her to sleep. After that she was all right 

 again. 



Comment 



Tentative diagnosis. — Hysteria. 



This story was first told to me in English, and then translated into Mohave 

 for Tcatc's benefit. She was then asked what, if anything, the Mohave did in 

 such cases. Her answer is recorded on page 216. Stimulated by this account, 

 Tcatc then proceeded to describe the case of Nyortc Kupu :yha (Case 61). 



PHOBIC STATES 



Classical phobias are characterized by the occurrence of anxiety 

 bordering on panic in the presence of certain situations or objects 

 which tlie phobic, for idiosyncratic reasons, defines as dangerous. 

 Common phobias pertain to cats, high places, stairs, bridges, enclosed 

 spaces, open spaces, etc., and some of them are known to occur in 



** Victorian ladies were notoriously prone to become hysterical when they saw a mouse, 

 because they were afraid that it might dive under their skirts and run up their legs. 



